Free Resources

We believe in sharing our knowledge & expertise to the CG community. Below you will find various videos, tutorials, and resources – all for free. If you like what you see and want more free resources, sign up for our newsletter (shown at the left side). It’s free and takes a minute to register. After registration is complete, you will be taken to CGschool's partner site, 3DATS free resources page.

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Videos / Webinars

 Want the latest 1hour+ webinars we offer?  Become a CGschool free member and watch the full-length webinars you see below plus many more.  Click here to register>>

An In-Depth Look at the VRay Proxy - DOWNLOAD (144 MB)

LIVE ONLINE SESSION - RECORDING (WMV)
Requires GoToMeeting Codec

This webinar provides an in-depth look at this incredibly powerful feature that many 3ds Max users would now say they simply couldn’t work without. During the discussion, you will learn the difference between static and dynamic geometry, you will see the best ways to quickly generate and manipulate proxies, you will be shown how to control the memory consumption of proxies, and you will learn how to alter materials placed on a proxy. All objects and are not created equal, and proxies are no exception!

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The Many Ways of Building Walls - DOWNLOAD (188 MB)

LIVE ONLINE SESSION - RECORDING (WMV)
Requires GoToMeeting Codec One of the most commonly asked questions between fellow 3D visualization artists is, “How do you create your walls in 3D?” The question is bound to be answered a number of different ways depending on who you ask and their experience level, but the question is so important to so many of us because walls are usually the first part of a building that we create and arguably the most important.

Tutorials

Creating Site Plans - Part 1 of 3

In this, part one of a three part series, you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about modeling site plans for architectural visualizations. The tutorial contains 25 pages of tips, tricks and routines presented by the crew at 3DAS.

Creating Site Plans Part 1- 2.7 MB PDF
Supplemental Files (MAX, DWG) - 2.6 MB ZIP

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Creating Site Plans - Part 2 of 3

In this, part two of a three part series, you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about modeling site plans for architectural visualizations, including: Paver Bandings, Road Lines, Mulch, Water, Parking Stops, Vegetation and more! The tutorial contains 20 pages of tips, tricks and routines presented by the crew at 3DAS.

Creating Site Plans Part 2 - 1.2 MB PDF
Supplemental Files (MAX, DWG) 9.1 MB ZIP

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Creating Site Plans - Part 3 of 3

In this, part three of a three part series, you will learn everything you ever wanted to know about modeling site plans for architectural visualizations, including: Applying materials, Lighting, Rendering, Animation and more! The tutorial contains 19 pages of tips, tricks and routines presented by the crew at 3DAS.

Creating Site Plans Part 3 - 1.7MB PDF
Supplemental Files - 7.9 MB (ZIP, MAX, MAT, DWG, NOV, JPG, TGA)

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A Little Background Information

Backgrounds are a critical part of just about every type of 3D scene. Although they are a relatively simple element to add to a scene, backgrounds can just as easily be a source of frustration and problems for 3ds Max users. The following discussion explains each of these categories and subcategories and looks at methods to implement each type of background.

A Little Background Information - 3.9MB PDF

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Critical VRay Settings – Part I

To say that VRay is a complicated program would be an understatement!  Ironically enough, however, it has become the most ubiquitous engine in the visualization industry because of, among other things, its simplicity.  Although it contains a large number of settings which should ideally be separated from critical settings and grouped into an advanced section all alone, it is nonetheless a fairly easy program to digest when you know which settings are critical and which can be left for exploration down the road.

Critical V-Ray Settings Part I - 1.7MB PDF
Scene Files - 1.5MB MB ZIP

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Managing system resources

A frustrating reality of working in any 3D program is waiting on the computer to process information. In the ideal 3D world, you could build all your scenes without regard to file size, available RAM, CPU speed, rendering times, or any number of things that complicate the design process. However, since most of us have to be aware of our computers' limitations, we have to manage the way we build objects and assemble our scenes. In this article, we're going to take a close look at some tools and procedures that can improve system resource management.

Managing System Resources - 534 KB PDF
Scene Files - 7.4 MB ZIP, MAX