Help: Vray Rendering n' stuff

[Ki11a_FTW]

Question 1: Ive had Vray for quite a while, but ive never known how to make the shadows look like this:

http://www.vray.us/vray_documentation/media/04_render_box_U40_V2__S.png

If someone could link me to a good tutorial that would be good :)

Question 2: Can someone link me to a tutorial that shows you how to make semi-decent diffuse maps.

I know most of you are thinking "well just use google". I Tried but could not find a good one, or without ones where you had to pay for a DVD.

Thanks in advance. Also +rep for whoever gets me links :haw:

[Phopojijo]

For the first one: Like what specifically? The soft shadows or the effect of the light going through the glass?

[Ki11a_FTW]

http://www.pixelstudio.nl/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/start_vray-shadows-area20.jpg
Like when you make a box then render it with vray, you get a real life looking shadow of the object

[Phopojijo]

Ahh...

Well soft shadows are all about having light coming from a non-point source.

In Maya you accomplish this by taking a large surface... giving it a lot of incandescence... then turning on Final Gather in Mental Ray's settings. This way, the light is not all coming from one direction... so shadows fade off at the edges (the "shadow" is composed of SOME of the surface-light being blocked, but not ALL... where as a point light you either see it or you don't. The more of the surface is blocked... the harsher the shadow... hence: the edges are lighter as your model is only BARELY blocking the surface light)

Not sure how to do that in VRay though.

[DEElekgolo]

Make 2 vray lights facing the objects. And have indirect illumination turned on with medium settings and you should get good results. I made a vray WIP render template a while back that you may use.
http://deelekgolo.deviantart.com/art/Vray-GI-Template-99926790
Once you setup the lights like you want them you just need to render and your outcomes should be good.
Here (http://www.siger.lt/ccount/click.php?id=3) is a good maxscript I used in a lot of my WIP renders.
http://www.siger.lt/d_files/studiosetup04.png

And here (http://www.vray-materials.de/all_materials.php) is a good site full of vray materials.

[Ki11a_FTW]

But like, i don't even know how to get the the V-ray menu either

[DEElekgolo]

Press F10.

[Ki11a_FTW]

Ive known that, ive made some clay renders before, but with that menu, i see nothing mentioning V-Ray
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/7517/igetthis.jpg
E: also when i try to run that script , nothing happens

[DEElekgolo]

When you run the script you must add it to a tool bar or bind it to a hotkey. Also oat the bottom that that image. You must click "Assign Renderer" and to the right of "production" click the "..." And select Vray.

[paladin]

I cant find a link to the VRAY demo for max 8. any help?

[DEElekgolo]

I cant find a link to the VRAY demo for max 8. any help?
http://www.vray.us/media/vray_for_3dsmax_viz/vray_demo_15017_max80_x86.exe

[paladin]

veilen dank