making a black and white image out of 3d max

[cavalcantipaula]

Hi everyone, I am in need of some help here!! I am trying to convert my 3D max perspective into a black and white contour line drawing. I have no clue how this can be done. One guy in my class has done it. He said nobody knows how to do it, only him...and he is not willing to share with us how. too bad...maybe someone will be able to help me. He said he did in 3Dmax, but...I am not sure if he exported to another program to create the black and white perspective. Does anyone know what I am talking about, and would like to give me some input, pleaseeeeeeeeeee... I am trying to do that so I can place in my SPEC book, that requires the drawings to be unrendered. So...anyone???

[Cad64]

So he won't share huh? That's not very nice.

Ok, I'll tell you how to do this, but you have to promise me that you're going to go into your class tomorrow and tell every one of your classmates how to do it.

1. Open your Render Scene dialog
2. Make sure you have Mental Ray selected as your renderer
3. Select mental.ray.hidden.line.contours from the "Preset" list box at the bottom of the dialog. This will open another pop-up dialog, so make sure both presets are selected and click "Load"
4. Hit "Render" and you will get a black and white contour line rendering

[Cad64]

Another way to achieve a similar type of rendering is to use the "Ink 'n Paint" material. Set the Paint color to white and leave the Ink color as black.

You will then need to apply this material as a Material Override in your Render Scene dialog 'Processing' tab. Check the 'Enable' box and then drag and drop the material from your Material Editor to the Material Override button that will become accessible once you check the 'Enable' box.

Now hit Render and see what happens.

[cavalcantipaula]

oh my god, it is so easy the first way you said. I tried right away and ....it looks amazing. That is what I wanted and thank you, thank you , thank you... Next time I go to class, I will share with everyone, no doubting. I will try the second approach as well, it seems a little more complicated, but I like the look it gives too, I search "paint 'n Ink" I found really helpful things. I am new at this, so...you don't even know what you can really do, or exist in 3d max. So..again...thank you so much!!

[Cad64]

Glad to help, and yes, it is pretty easy to create this effect. I don't know why your classmate was being so secretive? It's not like this is some big mystery and only he knows the answers.

Don't be like him. Distribute this information and help your fellow students. And be sure to come back if you need any further assistance. We are here to help, unlike some people.

[cavalcantipaula]

I have tried the “pain n’ ink” approach. It is much better than the other one. It gives a crispy edge in everything, but when I click the button “render”, I see it rendering black and white, BUT…as soon as the rendering is finish, it disappears! It gives me a blank page. It doesn’t’ stay there so I can save. Does anyone know why this is happening? Is there a button I have to click for the rendering to stay on my screen?

[Cad64]

Does the render window stay open or does it close after rendering? Is it just the rendered image that disappears?

[cavalcantipaula]

It is just the rendering image that goes away. The rendering window stays, and the rendering screen turns all white. I don't know what is going on!

[Cad64]

Not sure, probably something is set incorrectly in your render settings?
Can you zip the file and post it here?

[arch15]

Just wondering whether you guys found out what was wrong with the rendering settings. I have the same problem when I render with the ink 'n paint in 3d max, the rendered image just turns to white even though it shows the black and white image during the rendering process... By the way, any idea if there is a chance to get the effect of the mentalray.hidden.line.countours-render directly in Autocad as well?