Step Four
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OK, let’s delete it for now and then choose an environment image with
which we will match the rain-fall. We could model an actual environment
for this purpose, but since our main focus will be the rain itself we
will use just an environment picture that shipped with 3dsmax (thanks to
autodesk). Press ‘8’ in your keyboard to open the Environment dialogue
box.
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| Figure 4. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Five
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Click on the button labeled “None”, then choose “Bitmap” in the Material/Map Browser window.
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| Figure 5. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Six
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Navigate to the “Backgrounds” folder under your 3dsmax’s root directory
> Maps which is the default maps installation folder of your 3dsmax
program.
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| Figure 6. Click here to view larger image. |
Step Seven
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Now, highlight “LAKESIDE.JPG” and click Open button.
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| Figure 7. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Eight
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Although the image has been set to be rendered as the background we will
need to set it up as the Viewport Background as well to aid our scene
arranging process. For that, activate the perspective viewport and press
‘ALT+B’ in the keyboard. Then check both “Use Environment Background”
and “Display Backgrund”. Click OK.
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| Figure 8. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Nine
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Now, you should see the Image in the Perspective view.
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| Figure 9. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Ten
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At this stage, we should set up a camera to assign it to the Perspective
viewpot. Choose Create > Cameras (Standard) > Target and then
drag in the Top viewport to place a camera. Go to Perspective viewport
and press ‘C’ in the keyboard t assign the camera to the view.
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| Figure 10. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Eleven
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While the Camera01 is still selected go to the Modify panel and check “Show Horizon”.
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| Figure 11. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twelve
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Showing horizon will let you see a black horizontal line in the camera
viewport which represents eye level. It will facilitate to adjust the
camera. You may see another same looking line in the view before showing
horizon. But that is grid line, not the horizon line.
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| Figure 12. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirteen
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Create a box in the Top viewport as shown. This box will be our water surface matched to that of the background image.
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| Figure 13. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Fourteen
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Now maximize and adjust the Camera01 viewport (using Truck/Orbit/Dolly
tools located at the lower-right navigation area) so that the water
surface box is set with the background images’ water portion.
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| Figure 14. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Fifteen
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Name the box as “water surface”. Then press ‘M’ in the keyboard to open the Material Editor.
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| Figure 15. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Sixteen
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The first empty slot should be selected by default. We will now make a
water material with this one. Set Specular Level = 102 (approx.) and
Glossiness = 49 (approx).
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| Figure 16. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Seventeen
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Go down and expand the Maps roll-out. Then click the None button in the
Bump slot. In the Material/Map browser window, choose Noise.
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| Figure 17. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Eighteen
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In Noise Parameters, set the Size value = 5. It may be adjusted further
later on while having a look on the rendered result for the water.
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| Figure 18. Click here to view larger image. |
Step Nineteen
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Now, assign a Flat Mirror map to the Reflection map (just under the Bump
slot). Flat Mirror is good enough as water kind reflection map.
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| Figure 19. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twenty
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Under Distortion group, increase the Distortion Amount value to 2 To get
enough noisy reflection. And to match the reflection with the Bump look
choose “Use Bump Map” option.
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| Figure 20. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twenty One
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Our Water Material is ready. Apply this material to the water surface in the viewport.
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| Figure 21. Click here to view larger image. |
Step Twenty Two
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Quick Render the Camera viewport to see the resulting water surface.
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| Figure 22. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twenty Three
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If you are not happy with the result, adjust the values in material
editor. Also you can adjust the diffuse color. And if you are happy with
the rendered image, let’s animate the water now. Turn ON the Auto Key
and go to the last frame of the animation. In the Material Editor, set
the Phase value = 10. You will not be able to see the resulted animated
water until you render out the whole animation which you do later on.
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| Figure 23. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twenty Four
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Now, for the Rain, create a Spray particle system in the top viewport covering at least the water surface as shown below.
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| Figure 24. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twenty Five
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Using the Front viewport, position the Spray enough above the water
surface. Also, rotate the Spray to simulate the natural rain-fall
direction.
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| Figure 25. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twenty Six
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If you play the animation you will perhaps understand that some
adjustments are needed to achieve the rain-look in the Parameters area
of the Spray.
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| Figure 26. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twenty Seven
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Go to the modifier panel and set the parameters of the Spray as Viewport
Count = 500, Render Count = 6000, Speed = 22, Timing Start = -100,
Timing Life = 100.
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| Figure 27. Click here to view larger image. |
Step Twenty Eight
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Quick Render the camera view again. You will see a raw particle looking which obviously you did not expect for the rain-fall.
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| Figure 28. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Twenty Nine
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We must apply a matching material to the spray which is representing the
rain-drops. Open the Material Editor again and select the second empty
material slot.
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| Figure 29. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty
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Apply a pure White color (255, 255, 255) to the Diffuse color (since
Ambient color is locked with the diffuse it should also be white as
well). Set the Self-Illumination value to 100.
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| Figure 30. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty One
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Apply the material to the Spray and have a Quick Render. Still it is not
a rain-like thing. We still need some adjustments for the object
properties of spray itself.
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| Figure 31. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty Two
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Select (if it is not already selected) and right-click on Spray01 and
choose “Object Properties” (it may be “Properties” in the earlier
versions of max).
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| Figure 32. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty Three
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In the Object Properties window > Motion Blur group, choose the
“Image” option and set the Multiplier value = 3.0 (a value of 2.0 may
work fine). Click OK to exit the window.
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| Figure 33. Click here to view larger image. |
Step Thirty Four
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Quick Render again. The appearance of the rain has been improved a lot.
But we can do further adjustments in the parameters of Spray.
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| Figure 34. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty Five
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While the Spray01 is still selected, go to modify panel again and set
the Render Count = 8000 and Drop Size = 1.5. These values and other
values may be played with later on when you practice.
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| Figure 35. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty Six
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Quick Render. You will see more improved result.
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| Figure 36. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty Seven
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But one important thing – if you notice the animation in the Left or
Front viewport you will see that the rain is penetrating and thus
passing through the water surface. We should not let it happen, rather
we should make the raindrops be stopped by the surface and do a little
bounce on the water surface.
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| Figure 37. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty Eight
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To do it, make a Deflector (Create > Space Warps > Deflectors > Deflector) aligned and matched to the water surface.
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| Figure 38. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Thirty Nine
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Select the Spray01. Then enable the Bind to Space Warp button in the
main toolbar and drag to the Deflector01 to bind the spray to the
deflector.
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| Figure 39. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Forty
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Play the animation in the Front or Left viewport. You will see that now
rain is not passing through the surface. But the bounce is too high. We
should lower it. We should also have some variations.
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| Figure 40. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Forty One
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Select the Deflector01 and go to its parameters in the modifier panel. Set the Bounce = 0.02, Variation = 23, Chaos = 4.
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| Figure 41. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Forty Two
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Quick Render to see the result. If you are happy you may like to render
out the animation. Before, that you should save the file. Because, at
the time of rendering the whole animation, if your computer becomes
unstable for other reasons (windows problem etc.) or electricity goes
OFF (which is a common problem in the non-developed country), you may
get the file corrupted after re-opening it. So, this is a good and safe
idea to save frequently the max file while working on.
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| Figure 42. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Forty Three
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To render the animation, press ‘F10’ to open the Render Scene dialogue box.
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| Figure 43. Click here to view larger image. |
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Step Forty Four
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Either choose “Active Time Segment: 0 to 100” option or Range option
with a specified range. Then go down and choose Save option with an .avi
file for the output. Hit “Render” button and see the result after
rendering of the whole sequence is finished.
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| Figure 44. Click here to view larger image. |
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