I wanted to share some recent experiments using Greeble and ScatterFX, two plug-ins for 3DS Max. Both create procedural (i.e. near automatic) tiling of 3D textures onto a shape, environment, etc. Both help satisfy one of the great aesthetic advantages of stereo 3D, the way that complex texture works across z-space.

Greeble is free, super simple and procedural, but it's limited to just boxes on boxes. That's the plug-in I used for the first and last shots in the montage below. ScatterFX, on the other hand, is a plug-in with a lot of power: I used it to distribute 3D models onto shapes. The models in the following montage include a wire whisk, a speaker, and a small bush (rendered purple on the flying ball). The downside to ScatterFX is that the resulting image is excessively complex, polys on top of polys. That's led to numerous crashes and very slow renders. That's part of why the shot flying into a ball made up of whisks is so low-res, because an HD render of that shot causes my PC to make some evil noises. I'm sure there are work-arounds, and ways to make the models less complex; I just haven't gotten that far into the plug-in, yet.

Another caveat, briefly: my last shot, with the composited neuroscientist, has some weird convergence issues going on, around her feet. I tried to cover up one problem, and created another, but I haven't bothered going back to re-render that one, since they're all just tests.

Enjoy!

3D Tests: Greebles + ScatterFX - YouTube

I'm even happier about this batch of animated 3D textures. No actual greebles, this time, but playing with Clone modifier, ScatterFX, superflow, and other techniques to transform simple 3D models into greeblicious animated depth textures. Some of it is pretty trippy, especially if I let the shots play out.

All work done in 3DS Max, rendered using 3D Hippie's Stereocam rig, and aligned in After Effects. Models include: a gear (first and last shots), a stepladder, a wire whisk, and a bush. Enjoy!

3D Tests: Animated Depth textures (3DS Max) - YouTube