How to Lightmap in 3dsMax

Community Forums/Graphic Chat/How to Lightmap in 3dsMax

Gabriel(Posted 2006) [#1]
Actually, you know what, never mind.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to say anything on this forum. So why bother saying it.

MODS: Plz delete. I have nothing to showcase.


stayne(Posted 2006) [#2]
I like your pool game.


Gabriel(Posted 2006) [#3]
Why bother?


GfK(Posted 2006) [#4]
Thing is, if you start a thread telling somebody they're wrong, you can guarantee that, even if they ARE wrong, they're going to come back and swear blind that they're right.

The best way to deal with things like this, is switch off, and let these people burn themselves out. I don't know who John is, but you don't have to prove anything to anybody. They can take your word for it and if that's not good enough, then its their problem - not yours.


Gabriel(Posted 2006) [#5]
Yep, you're quite correct. I let the slur on my character get the better of me. Now my secret's out: If you want to goad me, accuse me of lying.


puki(Posted 2006) [#6]
What secret?

Tell me, I want to know too.


Gabriel(Posted 2006) [#7]
That I'm the illegitimate son of ArchDuke Franz-Ferdinand and a small sausage roll called Timothy.


Ross C(Posted 2006) [#8]
Why don't you walk away!


puki(Posted 2006) [#9]
Father - is that you?


Naughty Alien(Posted 2006) [#10]
hmmm...where is story about Lightmapping in Max as topic said??


AdrianT(Posted 2006) [#11]
Best way to lightmap in 3dsmax. Use Bakersfield script from:

http://www.chuggnut.com/scripts/bakersfield/bakersfield.htm

It says Max 5 only, but it works on all versions since 5 and is a lot better set up than the built in texture baking tools. Don't be scared of the large UI. it's dead easy.


Pete Carter(Posted 2006) [#12]
for cinema 4d users there is a simular plugin called baker that works really well.


Chroma(Posted 2006) [#13]
dang...i came in here to read up on lightmapping in 3dmax...what's all this garbage?? :(


vivaigiochi(Posted 2006) [#14]
giusto anche io ero venuto qui per leggere sul ligthmapping in max...


Naughty Alien(Posted 2006) [#15]
Bakersfield script is fine, but same result you can achieve trough usual max lightmapping tools/from version5 and up/..point is, how to successfully export resulting lightmap with textured scene trough B3D pipeline..?? I did play with UV map channels, but it wouldn work..so, if anyone successfully did this, I'll apprechiate nice tutorial about this issue..


Liberator(Posted 2006) [#16]
1) Bust open 3dsmax. Make sure your scene is fully textured all under map channel #1. You can mix textures, as long as all the textures are UVW mapped/unwrapped under channel 1.

2) Add in lights. Set up the shadows exactly as you want them to be on the shadow map, do some quick renders from different angles to ensure the enviroment looks like you want it to with the current lighting.

3) Once you're happy with the lighting, combine all the meshes you want affected into one big mesh (you can always break it back up later). You can do this by putting an edit mesh modifier on an object, the use the "attach" tool to add all the mesh pieces together.

4) Once the scene is one mesh, make sure you have the mesh selected and hit the '0' key, or go to Rendering -> Render to Texture.

5) Inside the window that just popped up, locate the Output scroll. Click on the Add button. This will bring up a list Texture Elements. Select shadow map. Hit the Add Elements button.

6) Scroll down a bit more (still inside the Output scroll) and choose your texture size. I find that 256-512 is a good texture size for shadow maps. Once you've got that, scroll back up to the top of the window and find the Output Path field under the General Setting scroll. Select the folder where you want the texture to be created.

7) Hit render. Note that the resulting image that comes up is *not* the final rendering, it is a preview (this one does not have an alpha channel). The actual texture is located in the file path you saved to. Max just shows you that sample render as a preview of its progress.

8) Now you have your lightmap texture, all that's left is to assign it to the mesh. Close the Render to Texture window and check out the side bar where your modifier stack is. there will be an Automatic Flatten UVW modifier added to the stack. This is the UVW mapping you want to use.

9) This next step is unnecessary, but I highly recommend it. I say this coming from years of experience with this tool. The automatic UVW modifier is a bit different than the normal unwrap modifier and sometimes Pipeline does not export it correctly, so it's always best to use a normal Unwrap UVW modifier. Simply hit the Save button under Parameters tab in the Automatic Flatten UVW that was added to the stack. Save the UVW file. Delete the Automatic Flatten UVW off the stack and now add a Unwrap UVW modifier. Hit the Load button, and load back the .uvw file you just saved out.

10) Now that you have loaded back the UVW data, set the Map Channel to #2 (this is vital). All that is left now is to apply the texture in the material editor. Add your texture infomation to the first tab in a Blitz3d material, and make sure it is set to channel 1. Then, add the shadow map that you rendered out earlier to tab 2 in the blitz material. Make sure that one is set to channel 2.

And that will do it. Export it with pipeline and you will have a perfectly lightmapped scene all done from within 3dsmax.


IPete2(Posted 2006) [#17]
Thanks for this excellent step by step tutorial on exporting from Max.

I will hoefully get some time to try it very soon..

IPete2.