After Autodesk discontinued Showcase, Inventor users were left with a void in their lives as to what software they should use next. One of the reasons is that Inventor’s renderer was not very good (hence using Showcase). Autodesk’s answer to this was to use either VRed or 3DS Max.

VRed is a great product. It is the big brother of Showcase (kinda) BUT it is an additional cost. With Showcase, you were getting a great product and not having to pay extra for it (it came bundled with the Product Design Suite).

Then there is Max….ooooh.

That program.  So difficult to learn.  So many buttons.

This week I took it on myself to start breaking down Max. I am going to dumb it down so that even a child will be able to create a material and make a pretty picture.

I scoured the Internet and have found that there are many tutorials out there but it all seems to be intermediate. If I wanted to use any of the material I found I would have to do an essentials course first and I do not have time for that. I need to get into the meat and bones of the program. Just tell me what settings I need to make glass, wood, brick face.

What I am going to outline in my next few blogs is the typical workflow that an Engineer who needs to render will do. Import a model, create materials, assign materials, assign lights and RENDER!!!! All in one easy to find spot.