Tutorial 8: DreamScape Daemons

In 3ds Max, select File->Open, and from your \Scenes\DreamScape\Tutorials folder, select the Tut8-start.max file.

Go to the Command Panel->Create->Geometry, and from the dropdown menu, pick DreamScape Objects.

 

 

Click on the Sea Surface button to select it, then in the Top viewport, drag out a Sea Surface mesh that is 200 units in Width and Length.

 

 

Switch to the Modify panel, and with the Sea Surface object selected, under the Details group of controls change the GridDetail spinner to 8.

Open the Material Editor and click on the Get Material button.

From the Material/Map Browser choose DreamScape: SeaMaterial.

Apply the SeaMaterial to the SeaSurface01 object by dragging and dropping it onto the Sea Surface.

Select the Create Panel->Helpers and choose DreamScape Daemons from the dropdown menu.

 

 

Click on the Simple Wave daemon button, and in the Top viewport, click and drag out the Simple Wave helper icon anywhere in the viewport.

 

 

The Simple Wave daemon can be thought of as a space warp for the DreamScape objects, and in the case of the Simple Wave daemon, it helps create large swells in the Sea Surface. This is good if you want to create deep oceanic effects.

 

Go back to the Modify panel and select the SeaSurface01 object.

Scroll down to the DreamScape Daemons rollout and click on the Pick button, then click on the Simple Wave icon.

In the Modify Panel, scroll up to the Parameters rollout and within the Simple Mesh group of controls change both the WidthSegments and Length Segments to 128.

 

 

Select the SimpleWaves01 helper object and change the Height spinner to 0.5.

Change the Grid Detail spinner to 8 and the Grid Spacing spinner to 3.

 

Increased grid spacing will increase the overall wavelength of the swells.

 

Currently, the Simple Waves waves will move in the opposite direction from the waves created by the Sea Surface object. We can correct that by rotating the Simple Waves icon 180 degrees about the Z-axis, or by using a negative speed. We will use the latter.

 

Set the Speed spinner to -1.0.

If you scrub the Time Slider now, you'll see that you get many small waves moving right to left, with bigger swells coming less often.

 

On your own, you can now render out the entire animation to your local hard drive to see the results.