Tutorials

Flat Mirror

Step 1. - Reset 3D Studio Max
Step 2. - Go to the Top View
Step 3. - Go to the Create Panel and make a box. It does not matter what dimensions, whatever your like. Go to the Modify Panel and pick Mesh Select as modifier.

Step 4. - Select the top face. Your box should look like this:

Step 5. - Set the Material ID of the selected face to 1.

Step 6. - Make an inverse selection so that you select the rest of the faces.

Step 7. - Set the Material ID of the selected faces to 2.
Step 8. - Deselect the Face Sub-Object Mode

Step 9. - Open the Material Editor (m).
Step 10. - Go to the maps roll-out and click the reflection button. Choose Flat Mirror.

Step 11. - Click the radio button: Apply to faces with ID: and set that ID to 1 (standard, so you'll probably won't have to change anything).

Step 12. - Go back to the main material and apply these settings: Ambient/Diffuse Color: RGB(111, 129, 173), Specular: RGB(255, 255, 255), Specular Level: 100, Glossiness: 50. Make sure to apply the material to the box!

Step 13. - Close the Material Editor. And create a Teapot and place it on top of the box.
Step 14. - Go to the perspective view, move into position and press Shift + Q. What you should see is this:

Comments

Pokey
2012/01/10

I'm impressed! You've managed the amolst impossible.

Fran C
2008/02/01

Thanks for keeping the v. 5 tutorial up... I am still on version 5 because I got the educational version while in school and don't have the big bucks to upgrade. Love Max since the first time the instructor showed me how to do modeling.

Thanks once again!

Bill
2007/05/03

This site is really superb!!! Thank you for you work! Good Lucki

sveta
2007/04/29

Looking for information and found it at this great site...I

Bill
2007/04/28

A+fantastic+site%2C+and+brilliant+effort.+A+great+piece+of+work.b

Elza
2007/04/12

Found your site in google, and it has a lot of usefull information. Thanx.

Elza
2007/04/12

The site\'\'s very professional! Keep up the good work! Oh yes, one extra comment - maybe you could add more pictures too! So, good luck to your team!-

Bill
2007/04/10

This site is really superb!!! Thank you for you work! Good Lucka

ewan
2007/02/17

sorry about that, i pressed back and the postdata thing posted it again... please remove te second one and this if you can...

ewan
2007/02/17

thanks, t'was helpful :)

some bits of it are hard to understand but i managed to work it all out

ewan
2007/02/17

thanks, t'was helpful :)

some bits of it are hard to understand but i managed to work it all out

melinda
2006/12/08

Thanks for ur mirror tutorial. i like it.. I applied this to my iron table with glass on top. and to my dresser mirror.. easy to follow..

j
2006/12/04

nice job, but the tut isnt really explained well, i have 3ds 9 and i cant 'Go back to the main material'

Admin Edit: Hm, I probably mean that you have to go 'up' a level in your material hierarchy? So from your map back to the 'main level', where you can choose all the maps and the base settings (specular, glossiness etc.).
This tutorial is kind of... well... old. I made it back in 2001 I think.
There are many better ways to achieve a mirror effect and the method described doesn't even work with modern renderers like Brazil / VRay etc.
Pardon me if I don't explain it well, this tutorial is just pretty useless. :)

Spy3D
2006/10/27

Awesome~~, i love all of ur Tuts man, good work.

Great site to learn 3DS Max :) .

Bereket
2006/09/30

I don't know what to say

Oliver
2006/09/27

What is a "radio button" ?

Admin Edit: http://images.google.com/images?q=radio%20button

Zlatko Nikolic
2006/07/13