3ds Max Help

Hello,

I've been learning 3ds Max for a few weeks, and want to get started on my first serious project. I'm working on a NL2 theme park, and I'm trying to make a western mine themed area for my first ride. The only problem is that I'm terrible with 3ds max, and don't really know where to start with this project. I want to make some thing like this:



Any tips on how to make this? The main problem I'm having is creating good looking rocks. Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

[afro85]

Hi llamaboy123 this kind of natural scenery is incredibly hard to replicate with 3ds max (i'm not saying that is impossible though)
there are many technique to model a 3d rock and for 3ds max there is a rock generator if you search online!
To model a single rock it can take 5 minutes or months depending on the level of detail and polingons.
a single rock could be built out of a sphere with some noise effect with a rock texture or with a subdivided box you could manually change the vertex position to an irregular shape. In those cases you'll have a simple result that looks alike but is a bit blocky! for more detailed scenery like the one you chose here there is the sculpting technique that is basically what a sculptor would do but with 3d software like Autodesk Mudbox, the new cinema 4d 2014, zBrush etc...
This technique is not easy require hour of training and a good knowledge of texturing (you have to be familiar with UVW unwrap mapping)
Here some tutorials online that could help!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1wHKxLeK6I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCtjt1qudfQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7ZPC9pN8YY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hPafjw8flA

Hope this is helpful!

[mkingy]

As Afro said its hard - it might be worth creating some more simpler models like some station buildings and stuff that to get a feel of the program before moving onto the more difficult modelling!

Here is a link to my thread. There is a small tutorial on how to create a mountain:

project-314-intamin-blitz-t32958-25.html

It is pretty easy to do. There are a lot of tutorials about creating rocks.

Other things you can do:

- Create a plane. The more subdivisions it has the best result you'll get. But keep on mind the poly count. Edit Poly. Use Paint deform tool to create the mountain shape. Add some noise - displacement.

- Create a height map and use displacement. This will give you the best results, but it is the most complicated method by far.

I agree with the rest that you should start making simpler things.