3ds Max: Substance to Arnold

Learn about the Allegorithmic substance-based toolset along with the Arnold renderer in 3ds Max. Explore workflow requirements for the Substance Bitmap2Material and Designer apps.

Introduction

• Welcome
• What you should know
• Exercise files
• The 3ds Max project folder
• A word on gamma and units
• How scenes are set up
• 3ds Max bugs that you may need to work around

1. An Overview of the Substance Toolset

• What are substances and why use them?
• The substance toolset
• Choosing your workflow mode
• Using substance files in 3ds Max
• The substance settings dialogue
• Using the 3ds Max asset library

2. Using Bitmap2Material inside 3ds Max

• Loading the Bitmap2Material node
• Setting up the Bitmap2Material node
• Building up your material
• Swapping out the bitmaps
• Creating bitmap output files

3. Working with Substances from the Designer Application

• An overview of your material
• Metal, rough to spec, and gloss conversion for Arnold v4
• Exporting a substance
• Using a substance with Arnold
• Improving your substance results
• Augmenting a substance using Max nodes
• Resolution tweak
• Plugin features

4. Working with Maps from the Designer Application

• Exporting map types
• Using EXR maps in Arnold
• Using 8-bit maps in Arnold
• Setting up a custom output

5. Working with Maps from the Painter Application

• An overview of your material
• Exporting your map types
• Exporting PSD files
• Using the EXRs in Arnold
• Using the PSD file
• Final render settings

Conclusion

• Next steps