New 3ds Max Video Training Module

Hello Guys and Gals,
Up and ready on the MBM site is the new 3ds Max 'How To' Module entitled "Just fix it in Post"! If you use 3ds Max to produce animated sequences as Final Renders then you may well appreciate the insights this module contains on dealing with High Render Times and Unwanted Artefacts in your finished Footage. The title, "Just fix it in Post" describes both the workflow and solutions presented in this module. Both Combustion & 3ds Max Composite are used to demonstrate Compositing fixes but the techniques used can Easily be transferred to After Effects, Nuke, Fusion or any decent compositing App.

Check out this latest release from the MBM Team - 3ds Max 'How To' Module 1: "Just Fix it in Post"

Or indeed check out the Module Intro 1st if you like! :-)



Best regards from the MBM Team.

Part 8 of the Roughcast & Pebbledash Module.

Hey Everyone,

As the title points out here is Part 8 of the ongoing quest to create a quick Roughcast and Pebbledash surface using 3ds Max and Mental Ray. (Remember though that the techniques will work with ANY of 3ds Max Plugin Render Engines.

As always watch the Youtube Version here (or on Youtube) or alternatively use the link to grab the Hirez .MOV file from the MBM Website.
DOWNLOAD HERE!
Enjoy.

PhysX for 3ds Max Part 3 Released

Howdy Guys and Gals,

Time for a new MBM Module release;

With a Total Combined Runtime of 3Hrs and 18 Mins (approx) for all 3 Modules, the ‘PhysX Crash Course’ from MentalBoutMax is the Ideal way for 3ds Max Artists to get Up & Running in no time at all with the new Advantage Pack PhysX Toolset.

This Final Module (Part 3) focuses entirely on the Extremely Important 'Constraint' Tools in PhysX!

The final 3 scenarios cover Automated Secondary Animation (Character/Object interaction), Breakable Contraints and we even create a simple Custom RagDoll to be your very own Stuntperson!

No new movie for this one as the 'Intro' movie in the previous post covers ALL of the scenarios in the Entire PhysX Crash Course! You can see the links below to investigate this release further.

Regards
MBM Development Team

Online NewsLetter:
www.mentalboutmax.biz/pagehtml/NewsLetters/Nov2010/NLetter_Nov_2010_Ed1.htm

Shop:
www.mentalboutmax.biz/Shop/department/crash_course_series/

PhysX for 3ds Max Crash Course!

Hello Guys and Gals,
October 2010 brings not only New Modules from the MentalBoutMax team, but a Brand New concept for us in the form of The 'Crash Course' Series. As our very first offering we have released Parts 1 & 2 of a 3 Part presentation that will get you Up, Running and Fully Conversant with the NEW PhysX simulation tools found in the 3ds Max 2011 Subscription Advantage Pack!. With Part 3 coming soon we are confident that even Max users who have never touched Physics Simulations in 3ds Max's 'Reactor' toolset will be getting Cool results with 'PhysX' in no time at all!

Enjoy - MBM Dev Team

YouTube 'Overview' Movie:



QuickTime Mpeg 4 Version:

FREE RoughCast & PebbleDash Module Part 7

Hey Everyone,

Part 7 of our Free Roughcast Creation Module has been uploade to YouTube for you your viewing pleasure, check it out and Enjoy!

Watch the YouTube Version Below (or over at our YouTube Channel)




DownLoad the HI Rez Quicktime From MBM (Right Click and 'Save Target As'.

Enjoy
Bri and the MBM Team

The "Autodesk Entertainment Live Tour" 2010

Hey Guys and Gals!

As some of you may know the Autodesk Entertainment Live Tour is coming to Manchester in the UK this Tuesday ( tuesday 28th september ) and the team from MBM will be attending!

Its always good to see the direction that your programs are taking and keeping up to date with them as well. So if any of you are in the Manchester area and are planning to attend we would love for you to say hi and see what they have got in store for us all.

The Event is being held by the Autodesk team at:

Manchester
Tuesday 28 September
Malmaison Hotel
Piccadilly, Manchester

Regards
Joel

Part 6 of Roughcast & Pebbledash Creation:

Hey Guys and Gals,
Part 6 of our Free Roughcast Creation set has been up on
YouTube for a couple of weeks now and have finally gotten
around to being able to add it to our Blogs (that is both
here and over at www.mentalboutmax.biz/Blog)

Watch the YouTube Version Below (or over at our YouTube Channel)



DownLoad the HI Rez Quicktime From MBM
(Right Click and 'Save Target As'.

Enjoy
Bri and the MBM Team

New Site, New Shop, New Series:

Hey Everyone,
Well, the new site and all of its relevant trappings has gone live and the MBM team certainly hope that the new approach meets with the approval of MBM's existing and Potential customers.
From a marketing point of view it would probably make sense to Highlight ALL of the requested features that have been taken care of, but to be honest it is easier just to say 'Go check it out for yourselves'. :-)

www.mentalboutmax.biz

Give us your thoughts, give us your feedback, give us your suggestions. Anything and everything that will make MBM Training material fit your needs.

Be sure to create some bookmarks for our YouTube channel and our FaceBook profile so that you are keeping current with Everything that we get up to here at MBM!

We have also recently launched what will eventually become the Official MBM Blog over at www.mentalboutmax.biz/Blog
We will continue to 'cross' post between the 2 Blogs for quite a while, but be sure to Bookmark the new address in your favourites ASAP.

Regards The MBM Dev Team.

Part 5 of our Free Roughcast & Pebbledash Module!

Hey All,

Time to let part 5 of our 'Quick Creation methods' module
for Roughcast & Pebbledash wall surfaces out into the wild.

Again this section uses both photoshop & 3ds Max to create
the required maps and renders.

YouTube Version:



Download the Hi Rez Quicktime Here!

Enjoy
Bri & the MBM Team

MentalBoutMax Round Up episode 2!

Hey everyone,

Here as promised is Episode 2 of the MBM round Up. News updates that will be of interest and use to the 3ds Max user Community. Enjoy.

Download MBM Round Up Ep 2 HERE!

MBM - Roughcast & Pebbledash Module Part 4

Hey Guys,

Time to rollout Part 4 of our Roughcast and Pebbledash creation
videos. Both 3ds max & Photoshop feature here as we try to very
quickly make use of quickly grabbed images for texture maps.

Enjoy
Bri

Watch the YouTube Version Here:


OR Download the Hi Rez Quicktime from the MBM site HERE!

New 'MentalBoutMax Roundup' Audio Newscast

Hello guys & gals,

Todays posting is a departure from the series of videos
we have been posting up over the past few weeks (as you
have no doubt noticed!!) because we want to bring you the
first Episode of our new 'MentalBoutMax Roundup'.
Download it, give it a listen, and then give us your
feedback on how we can produce this little show so as to
be of REAL use to the 3ds Max community in general, and
maybe also what you think our RoundUp might be able to do
for you.

DOWNLOAD Here and enjoy!

*Breaking News*
In typical fashion, after getting our little newscast recorded,
edited and uploaded, e-0n software go and update their PLE
version of Vue to 8.5 and so make little liars out of our
poor, under pressure, over worked research team! (Namely me)
So please ignore any statement in this MBM roundup regarding
the current version of the Vue PLE.
*End of Breaking News*

Bri

*NOTE* - Mp3 file has been swapped for an audio only .Mov

More on the MBM Upgrade!

Hey Guys,

As promised here is Part 3 of the Ongoing Free series of videos outlining some quick (ish) methods for creating Roughcast and Pebbledash surfaces in 3ds Max.

Youtube Version:


As always you can grab the Hi Rez Quicktime HERE!
(Right Click & 'Save As')

We also mentioned in our last post that there were other benefits that will come to customers from our use of a Full E Commerce shopping system! Well, something that we hope will be a BIG plus with our customers is the integration of a ‘Rewards Point’ system that will allow customers to accrue Reward Points based on the Monetary value of purchases made in the MBM Shop. The system will allow the redemption of those points as either a ‘money off future purchases’ service, or if enough points are accrued, you can use them to make an outright purchase inside the MBM shop. Hopefully you will agree that this feature means we are adding even more value to the purchase of your MBM Training Materials.

Hey Everyone,

2 reasons for todays Blog entry! FIRSTLY we are going to give you another little chunk of info regarding the upgrade to MBM’s Training offerings.

A SECOND reason for our post is that we want (as you can see below) to bring you Part 2 of our FREE RoughCast & Pebbledash creation module, All using standard 3ds Max tools. We do use Mental Ray as the renderer in this module but it could just as easily have been Vray, Brazil or indeed any plugin render engine for 3ds Max. Hope you enjoy.

RoughCast & Pebbledash Creation Part 2 - YouTube Version


if you prefer to watch this with a Higher Quality picture,
Go to MBM's YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/mentalboutmax

RoughCast & Pebbledash Creation Part 2 - Hi Rez QuickTime

Okay, onto our MBM upgrade info. Plenty more to tell yet. For instance a BIG PLUS to users will be the massive speed up regarding getting MBM training into the hands of users once they have purchased it. This will be accomplished by our making use of a FULL E Commerce shopping system that will automate the receipt of your download links so that getting your hands on your MBM training purchase should become pretty much instantaneous. (depending of course on the quality and speed of your Internet Connection!).

There are other benefits that come to MBM customers as a result of using an E Commerce system…but we think we will save them for future posts. :)

Bri
MBM Development Team

New MBM

Hey Guys,

Why, you may be asking, are changes being made with regard to the 3ds Max Training produced by the team here at Mental Bout Max? Well, that is a question that has a few different answers to it. Over the course of our next few Blog entries we will try to cover some of the rationale behind the changes being made, AND highlight the Ongoing Benefits that we hope will come to YOU the customer.

Reason Number One:

Probably the ‘Major’ reason for the changes that are currently underway at MBM has been the ‘need’ (that has been niggling away at the team for a while now!) to incorporate a number of things that customers have been enquiring about and making them an integral part of the MBM Training ‘experience’.


A BIG request that has come our way, has been for the MBM team to provide some FREE Training Material for Max users to get their hands on that though obviously different to our ‘Paid for’ modules, still enjoyed the same High Quality Content and Production Values enjoyed in the aforementioned MBM Training Modules.

Well, we have taken that request on board, and in the not too distant future we are looking forward to showing you what we have cooked up in that area! Which, naturally, we think you may quite like.

Until such time as we have that up and running though, I would like to present to you what will be the first of a whole series of FREE Training Videos that we will be releasing over the next few weeks, and that when collected together constitute a full MBM 3ds Max Module that has been previously unavailable to the general public up until this point! :)

There is of course much more to tell regarding our MBM Upgrade, but in the interest of short Blog posting and of course, good ’suspense’ building, we will hold off on giving you any more info on that until our next Blog post.

Until then, Stay Well, Stay Tuned, and Bye For Now.

Bri and the MBM Team

RoughCast & Pebbledash techniques Part 1


Link to Hi rez Quicktime.

New MBM Coming Soon

Hey Everyone,

You will notice by now that the Blog has been cleared of ALL previous posts! The reason behind that is simple. We are going to be re-launching the MBM site with a changed look and a New approach to our Render Engine Training. If you want to see how things work out, stay Tuned. :-)

MBM Dev Team