> > Alon and Flyby and Phoib. any progress on ra2 normals?

> I currently have other priorities to spend my free time on. I bought me finalRender, a new rendering engine for 3dsmax and due to its complexity, I need to spend a lot more time on it.

is anyone still working on the normals now?

> > Alon and Flyby, since you two have access to 3d studio i was wondering if you were familiar with the fresnel effect. i was just reading a little about it. the fresnel effect is where reflective surfaces become more reflective the more of a glancing ange they are looked at. are there options you can play with in 3d studio to do a fresnel effect?

> Fresnel is only one of the options that are found in the falloff map. The Falloff types are :
> -Towards/Away
> -Perpendicular/Parallel
> -Fresnel
> -Shadow/Light
> -Distance Blend

> Fresnel blends between 2 materials based on adjustments to the Index of Refraction (IOR).
> It results in dim reflections on surfaces facing the view, with much brighter reflections on angled faces, creating highlights like those on the sides of a glass. This works best in combination with 2 different raytracing settings in each slot. Idial for metal, high polished or glass objects...

is 3ds max scientifically accurate or does it let you do things so ridiculous that no material in real life could behave that way? ok i know there are things like cartoon shaders that make things look like cartoons but is there at least a mode of 3dsmax that has only complete realism?

> > does anyone know if gmax will have all material effects such as bump maps etc or will it only allow one texture for use as a diffuse color map which is all that games use nowadays?

> You know, if you're so keen on your individuality and like to keep your secrets so close to your chest, then you shouldn't be surprized that you're completly on your own for everything.
> So go download Gmax yourself and check it out..

i can't downoad it coz i have a 56k modem.