reflections/shadows in 3dsmax with ink and paint?

[Sam Ketner]

Hi there--I'm trying to do a 3d studio max animation of our robot. We want the robot to look hand-drawn (using the ink-and-paint shader) but reflections of the robot to appear photoreal. In fact, we want the floor surface not to appear at all--just shadows and reflections. Unfortunately I'm not used to 3ds Max and the interface doesn't seem at all obvious. I'm attaching a picture of an example (done in Cinema4d). Any suggestions?

Mods, sorry I posted this earlier in the CAD forum.

[White_Orpheus]

First off, I'm not sure if you're allowed to use C4D.
Second off... well, I guess there is no second point, as I don't know much about ink 'n paint. I'd check out if C4D is legal if I were you.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by White_Orpheus

First off, I'm not sure if you're allowed to use C4D.
Second off... well, I guess there is no second point, as I don't know much about ink 'n paint. I'd check out if C4D is legal if I were you.

No, you have to use 3dsMAX only for animating (video post/editing is different) BUT, I think he's saying he made that in C4D and wants to know how to do it in MAX...which I unfortunately can't help you with (no Ink 'n Paint experience). You could try making it cast shadows on an object and then just turn off that object visibility. (this may or may not work, i don't know)

[Capt.ArD]

you can make the shadows show up by setting the object visibility to 0. but i don't think you can do the same for reflections. I have used Ink'n paint a bit, but if i understand your problem, then that doesn't matter.

if you have time/patience, you can just photoshop every frame to put in what you want. not fun, but it's possible.

[sketner]

OK, I got it to work in 3ds Max (attached.)
(I'm the original poster, just using a school computer.)
It requires raytrace materials and there's still a faint ghost of the underlying plane--I'm not sure why. Obviously this is not a good example because of the posing of the teapots vs. the environment map. Is there any way to get the environment to show up in the viewport (aside from active view?)

Still no luck getting the reflection to NOT be Ink and Paint, and the shadows aren't clear enough.
Thanks!

[Capt.ArD]

that looks pretty hot, man. props. tweak your placement and your plane's shape a bit to get the lip to show right.
did you photoshop that together or is that all max? that's probably the one thing i havn't tried yet, video/photo compositing.

[Mahalis]

Originally Posted by sketner

OK, I got it to work in 3ds Max (attached.)
(I'm the original poster, just using a school computer.)
It requires raytrace materials and there's still a faint ghost of the underlying plane--I'm not sure why. Obviously this is not a good example because of the posing of the teapots vs. the environment map. Is there any way to get the environment to show up in the viewport (aside from active view?)

Still no luck getting the reflection to NOT be Ink and Paint, and the shadows aren't clear enough.
Thanks!

You might have to do a multipass render - I can't remember how it's done in Max, but if you render a reflection channel without Ink & Paint and composite that with the Ink-&-Paint-ized remainder of the animation, that should take care of it.

[sketner]

Originally Posted by Mahalis

You might have to do a multipass render - I can't remember how it's done in Max, but if you render a reflection channel without Ink & Paint and composite that with the Ink-&-Paint-ized remainder of the animation, that should take care of it.

Thanks!