the title says it all… I have no problem giving him the model, but what will he use to view it. Modeled in Arch CAD and now in Max… He wants the materials on it and everything… DO I export to SU and tell him thats all I have… Option… I need Options.. 
Thanx all..
Free Viewer
Easy to use
etc…
Thanx
Hrmm.. was this part of the original fee?
I’d suggest a release form to begin with, figure out what’s available to them, and then explain the work required to convert to another format.
I’m guessing that you’ve used VRay materials? How large is the model?
Nah… Great client… pays ahead of time… no problem there… just need a couple of options for him so I can quote a fee… any good software out there that u recommend… Yup… Vray mats… 1505885 vertices
sketchup would be a good option…how about the materials, are you using commercial textures?..I would check first, what is “everything” for him
… not exactly a small model, and none of the free open-source viewers I know of will handle that.
Export it to SU and go from there? Materials will need to be converted to Standard ones and any conversion glitches will have to be resolved.
yeah… the siding and tiny little details are all modeled… tried to export to SU from MAX and it crashes… but from CAD it is fine, just need to redo mats… but he wants the vray look… Hmmmm…
TBH, I think your client wants the impossible.
“Just say NO!” (like Zamo from Grange Hill!)
Yeah. Not going to happen.
Unless they’d like the model to be converted for use in a realtime engine or purchase Vray for SU and be trained to use it; it’ll be too expensive either way.
Forget it..
Free Viewer
Easy to use
etc…
No way
There are some people who seem to be able to use the unreal engine or quest 3d etc, to create architectual VR scenes…
I’m not, and I’m not totally clueless with 3d software 
It’s probably about 10x the work and costs to create such a thing than it took you to render it.
My 2 cents, convert the textures to standard and just send the .max file + maps if any and let him decide what to do with it
I suppose you could look into Deep Exploration for conversions, haven’t used it since version 3 but it did do a good job at the time, looks a little more robust now along with some crazy pricing schemes, entertainment bundle look like the best deal.
http://www.righthemisphere.com/products/client-products/deep-exploration-standard-edition
I would be more curious about what its going to be used for…because if its just for viewing you could go the quicktime/pano route or something similar.
that what i used to use, but I thought vray cameras could not be used or something like that…
Try an FBX file, and you can tell them to try Unity. You will have to get rid of the modeled details for sure, look into normal maps to get a similar look. Unity has a free version and a free web player…
Unity takes FBX files nicely.
What about a DWF file? It won’t look like vray but you can keep the material and bitmaps in it. On his end it’s a free download of the design review software.
Unity = Normal maps, lightmaps, multiple UVW map channels, texture and model optimization and it’ll look somewhat like the renders; with a lot of time invested/wasted.
I think you may need to discuss what he wants vs what he really needs?
Vray cameras can be used for panos. There was a version upgrade quite a while ago which allows an overide in the vray panel (spherical override, and 360 degrees- image should be 2x width and 1x height). You’d need some software to convert to quciktime pano, and they’ll need quicktime to view it.
http://gardengnomesoftware.com/pano2qtvr.php can convert equirectangular images to QTVR. there is a free version, and another version that can link hotspots etc.
Depends what your client wants to do with model.
I recently sent some sketchup models to a client for design review. He found it really useful to be able to look at the model from different angles, and modelled some windows in. I modelled that project in sketchup (nice snaps!:).
I’ve also sent them a previous project modelled in max as sketchup, but had problems with import in sketchup. the only format that came through was .dwg. it didn’t have materials, and i had to collapse to mesh for some of the extruded objects to export properly (could try workaround of max to cad to sketchup, or re-apply materials in sketchup depending on feasability- client was fine with me just sending them sketchup model with no materials).
Recently read about http://flatiron.3d-plugin.com/ on this forum. I’ve just downloaded it, but haven’t tried it out yet. I was thinking about texture baking and exporting to cult3d (o Unity) a while ago, but could also try in sketchup. Product won’t be the same quality as max/vray renders, but could give more depth to sketchup renders.
Not sure how sketchup will handle texture wrapping though. .3ds file i’ve exported to max and tried importing to sketchup haven’t come through. Could be file size or something incompatible in scene…
Images and animations (or QTVR) have better ‘image’ quality than VR though, and simpler for end user/s.
In re-reading the tread I picked up on a later post, was real time some thing the client needed, what is the client looking to do?
If you bake all your lighting into your texture maps then either Autodesk Design Review (DWF Viewer) or creating a 3d PDF that can be viewed and navigated using Adobe Acrobat Reader are both valid options and will retain the ‘Vray look’. Design Review also gives you the option to turn layers on and off as well as retaining your camera views. I don’t have experience of doing either but maybe someone else can advise you.
The bonus here being that they are for viewing purposes only and the model couldn’t be extracted, say to give to another firm for rendering additional views.
Quick light bakes dont really exist, theres a suprising amount of work to do a well detailed scene. I’m talking a good few days, more if you’ve got no experience with software to deliver it in. Add even more time if you’ve got high poly objects and need to create a low poly/bake normals.
Flatiron is pretty much essential for this too, it’ll save you days of time.
It’s an option, but do some working tests through the whole process before you cost up.
The RTTGroup demo might be something to check out too, although they don’t have any current plans for Max 2011 unless their user base requests it.
I’ve done some quick and dirty scenes with Unity and it is an involved process. I didn’t realize that Design Review had that capability; something to look into.