Rendering
- The supplied film-quality production scanline renderer provides an
optimal combination of rendering speed and quality.
- Plug-in rendering interface provides unusual developer opportunities
for integrating additional esoteric renderers into MAX.
- Production renderer is multi-threaded for maximum utilization of multiprocessor
systems. Up to 1.9x performance boost from the second CPU, with no extra
RAM required.
- Production renderer is based on Super Truecolour 64-bit computation.
This provides superb color fidelity and gamma correction without banding
in dark areas on both input and output.
- Photorealistic rendering output is supported at virtually any size
and bit-depth.
- Both field and frame rendering is supported.
- Workstation-quality A-buffer analytical anti-aliasing provides the
best anti-aliasing possible, with no rolling edges or scintillating lines.
- Motion-blur, supported for both objects and scenes, has assignable
shutter speed and blur amount.
- Super black rendering option provided for luminance keying.
- Ability to render only a region of a scene. The region can be blown
up to full-frame size to simulate perspective-corrected camera effects.
Region definitions can be saved with the file for later exact reproduction.
- Audible render termination options include beep or user-specified .WAV
sound file playback.
Network Rendering
- Client/Server architecture and the TCP/IP network protocol is used
to allow MAX rendering farms to live on the Internet. Any MAX-equipped
computer can take instructions via the net to start MAX (even when all
users are logged out) receive the scene and map files, and then submit
rendered files back over the net to a remote location.
- Network management is extremely fault-tolerant and low bandwidth. Rendering
slaves can be literally turned off in the middle of rendering jobs without
affecting the job. Overall net bandwidth is 1/10 that of 3DS/DOS network
rendering.
- A network queue manager (the client) with very complete net analysis
capabilities is supplied for managing network rendering processes remotely
(even from a laptop computer with a cellular modem). The client can schedule
rendering servers to only be available on specific days or arbitrary time
ranges.
- With only a single product license, up to 9,999 network machines can
be used for rendering.
Atmospheres
- Layered fog, full-screen fog and distance shading can be used for atmospheric
effects. This is animateable and features controls over fog horizon noise
characteristics. Fog is both color and opacity mappable, and these maps
can be complete trees of animated map components. Fog effects are pluggable.
- Volumetric fog effects provide true 3D 'chunky' fog that has animateable
variable density, size, uniformity, wind strength, and wind direction.
- Volumetric lighting effects for spotlights provide self-shadowing within
the light cone in addition to glowing light cones. Light cones can also
have animated smoke or haze effects, with uniformity and size controls
allowing the creation of 'dust motes' floating in the light. Volume effects
for Omni lights provide glows and animated plasma noise effects for explosions.
A plug-in interface allows for an infinite variety of volumetric lighting
effects.
- Environment shaders allow procedural backgrounds made of complex map
trees that move with the camera. These can be mapped to the scene to screen
coordinates, spherically, cylindrically, or shrink-wrapped (with no singularity
at the upper pole).
Lighting
- Light types include Ambient, Omni, Free Spot, Directional (sun) and
Target Spot.
- Lights can have both exclusion and inclusion lists, which control object
illumination, shadow-casting, or both.
- An unlimited number of named Spotlights can be used, with animated
control of color, cone shape and penumbra size, distance attenuation and
shadow-casting parameters. Shadows can be either shadow-mapped or ray-traced.
- Ray-tracing provides crisp colored and transparent shadows in any-sized
scene.
- Place Highlight function automatically positions a light based on the
part of an object that you click on based on your current view.
- Compound animated procedural maps can be assigned to spotlights and
those projected images can fill the volumetric effect, producing volumes
of animated light.
- Light shape can be either circular, oval, or rectangular (with animated
aspect ratios for slit-light effects).
Postproduction
- Video Post window allows compositing of unlimited layers of images
and animations with precise layering control.
- Layer events are pluggable, so any type of compositing operation is
possible within the system.
- Supports ability to cut and crossfade between multiple cameras win
the 3D scene.
- Entire 3D "movies" can be edited inside the program for first-generation
final presentations (to film, video or .AVI or .FLC formats).
- Includes plugable image-processing support (and accepts 32 bit PhotoShop
filters).
- Time-line control is supported with transition effects such as fade-in,
fade-out and user-customizable transitions. Image resizing and alignment
is supported.
- Multiple image-processing effects can be invoked for each frame.
- Scene motion blur supported with adjustable shutter speed control.
- Image events, filters, and layer events can be masked with other images.
- Maps can carry an effects channel property with them, providing precise
control over where Video Post image processing effects go (glows, halos,
etc.).
- Images can be saved in .JPG, .TGA, .TIF, .RLA, .BMP, .GIF, .FLC, .AVI
and .EPS formats.
- Rendered images can contain G-buffer channels for special effects (alpha
per pixel, z per pixel, material ID per pixel , node ID per pixel , UV
per pixel, surface normal per pixel, and unclamped color per pixel).
more
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