How to 3D Planet Geometry in 3ds Max

3D Studio Max 11 minutes read

How to 3D Planet Geometry in Max

Let’s start by, making the planet geometry. Make a sphere (Create > Standard Primitives > Sphere) with the follow settings:

  • Radius: 40
  • Segments: 100 (Use the Modify panel to modify the parameters of the selected item )

You don’t of necessity need 100 segments. It depends on what coldness you look at the planet. If you need to avoid serious geometry you might use less segments. The good thing is that you can always modify this parameter later.

planet_geomatry_01

Image 2. An easy Sphere object is the geometry for 3D planet render.

Planet Matter

The material formation is probably the most important and complicated part of this text image tutorial. The goal is to make a material that has both large and little details.

Apply a Standard matter to the Planet

Let’s affect standard material to the planet:

  • choose the Sphere
  • Open Material Editor (Rendering > Material Editor…)
  • Apply standard matter to the selected object (Sphere)

Super example

The planet material is going to utilize bump maps so we should turn Super-Sampling on. Only put, Super-sampling is an ant aliasing technique that increases the rendering quality. (As a rule of thumb you should turn Super Sampling on at smallest amount always when you utilize bump maps, reflection maps, or bitmaps as diffuse maps.) To turn super sampling on:

  • Expand the Super-Sampling rollout
  • Turn off: Use Global Settings
  • Turn on: Enable Local Super-Sampler
  • Select Adaptive Halton from the drop-down list
  • Increase excellence value to 1,0

(These are settings for high quality super-sampling which is very time consuming. If your rendering slows down too a great deal I recommend changing the local super-sampler from Adaptive Halton to Max 2.5 Star. Max 2.5 Star is not the best but it’s very quick. You could for instance use that for now and use Adaptive Halton for the last render.)

Bump Map

Bump maps are an extremely big part of this material. We are going to make bump details by combining several different procedural maps with the help of a Composite map. There are two reasons why we use several procedural maps (instead of now one):

  • By combining several procedural maps we can make both large and little scale details
  • Single procedural map isn’t random enough to produce credible results

In picture 3 you see the whole bump map plan of this material. You can just copy the settings or read along and get one step at a time to understand the reasoning behind these settings.

 

planet_geomatry_02

Image 3. The bump map design for the 3D planet objects.

big Scale Details with Splat

Initial we use a procedural map called Splat to create outsized craters:

  • Expand the Maps rollout
  • insert Composite Map as a bump map
  • modify the Opacity of the Layer 1 to 20 (this decreases the strength of the bump map effect)
  • insert Splat to the first slot of Layer 1 and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Size: 10
    • Iterations: 4
    • Threshold: 0,3
    • Color #1: Black
    • Colour #2: White

(The composite map itself doesn’t have some effect. It’s just a container that is able to hold several maps. Inside a composite map, every map behaves as a separate layer. The layers work pretty much like in Photoshop, for example they have opacity settings plus they can have masks.)

Render a test image to make out the effect of the Splat bump map. The rendering should look like in picture 4.

planet_geomatry_01

Image 4. The effect of Splat as bump map.

Little Scale Details with Splat

Let’s add little scale details to the surface. We can do this simply by adding sub-maps to the Splat map:

  • Insert Noise map to the black color component of the Splat. create the following regulations to the Noise map:
    • Noise Type: Turbulence
    • Levels: 10
    • Size: 0,8
  • Insert Speckle map to the white color component of the Splat. create the following adjustments to the Speckle map:
    • Size: 3

Now let’s create a 3D planet render again to see how the surface looks similar to. Now the craters are less visible and covered with little scale details (picture 5).

planet_geomatry_01

Image 5. Very little details created with Noise and Speckle maps.

Another Layer of little Scale Details

Let’s enhance the effect by adding another layer of tiny scale details:

  • make a new layer to the Composite map
  • Modify the Opacity of the new layer to 40.
  • insert Speckle map to first slot of the Layer 2 and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Size: 2

Render a test image to see the result (picture 6). Now there are even more tiny details. Craters are less visible and look more real.

Image 6. 3D planet render later than adding the Speckle bump map.

Third Layer Produces tiny Mountains to a few Areas

The purpose of this last layer is to add tiny mountains to random areas of the surface. Mountains are created with a Noise map and randomness is achieved with Dent map mask.

  • make a third layer to the Composite map
  • insert a Noise map to the initial slot of Layer 3 and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Noise Type: Turbulence
    • Levels: 10
    • Size: 0,35
    • Color #1: White
    • Color #2: Black
  • insert a Dent map to the second slot (mask) of layer 3 and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Size: 700
    • Strength: 80
    • Iterations: 10

Now the bump effect is set. create a test render to see how it looks like. The rendering should look like picture 7.

image_06

Image 7. Planet render with the last bump map. There are big craters, tiny mountains, and other tiny details.

Diffuse Map

Diffuse color is made with two procedural maps inside of a Composite map. In the picture below (image 8) you see the whole diffuse map design. You can just copy the settings or read along to understand the reasoning behind these settings.

image_07

Image 8. Diffuse map design for the 3D planet render.

Colour Variations with Dent

Let’s use Dent map to add a few colour with random intensity variations:

  • Expand the Maps rollout
  • Insert Composite Map as a diffuse map
  • Insert Dent to the first slot of Layer 1 and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Size: 700
    • Strength: 20
    • Iterations: 10
    • Colour #1: 144,121,171 (RGB)
    • Colour #2: 123,103,146 (RGB)

Now the rendered planet should look similar to in picture 9. Now there are a few color variations but the in general coloring is motionless too monotonous.

image_08

Image 9. First part of the disperse map design is Dent.

Perlin Marble

Let’s add a few chaos to the colouring by using Masked Perlin Marble. (We use Mask because we want Perlin Marble to appear simply in a few parts of the surface.)

  • Make a new layer to the Composite map
  • Add a Perlin Marble map the first slot of Layer 2 and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Size: 50
    • Levels: 10
    • Colour #1: 176,164,190 (RGB)
    • Colour #2: 79,70,89 (RGB)
  • Insert a Smoke map to the second slot (mask) of layer 2 and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Size: 40
    • Iterations: 20

Render the 3D planet to see the end result. The image should look similar to picture 10.

image_09

Image 10. 3D planet render with the last diffuse map.

Self-Illumination Map

Then we are going to add a few self-illumination to the edges of the planet. Think of it as an atmosphere that picks up reflected light.

image_10

Image 11. Gradient Ramp parameters.

  • In the Maps rollout, set the Amount of Self-Illumination to 40.
  • Insert Gradient Ramp as self-illumination map and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Click on the gradient bar to add a fresh flag to it. Now there are total of 4 flags. create the following adjustments to them (image 11):
      • R=255,G=255,B=255, Pos=0
      • R=255,G=255,B=255, Pos=8
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=16
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=100
    • Gradient Type: usual
    • Interpolation: Custom

Now there is tiny rim of light in the edges of the planet (image 12).

image.11

Image 12. Rim of light is created with a Self-Illumination map.

Illuminating the 3D Planet

The illumination is carried out by with three back lights and one fill up light (Here you can read more about back, fill, and key lights). First we illuminate the planet from the top left side:

  • Make an Omni light to the top left side of the planet (Create > Lights > Standard Lights> Omni)
  • Increase the Multiplier of the Omni light to 3.
  • Move the Omni light until the illumination looks like in image 13.
image_12

Image 13. Planet render with a single Omni light.

Next we are leaving to make two additional Omni lights to illuminate the planet from the top and left sides:

  • Make second Omni light to the top side of the planet and third Omni light to the absent side of the planet.
  • Increase the Multiplier of the second and third Omni light to 2.
  • Move the lights until the illumination looks like in image 14.

Now the illumination is more attractive.

image_13

Image 14. Planet render with three Omni lights.

Reveal Details with fill up Light

Next we make a fill light to see more details in the planet surface:

  • Create a fourth Omni light to the top left side of the planet
  • Decrease the Multiplier of the Omni light to 0, 8.

Move the fourth Omni light until the illumination matches image 15.

image_14

Image 15. 3D planet render with four Omni lights.

Atmosphere for the 3D Planet

There are a lot of ways (materials, lens effects) to create an atmosphere for a planet but I think the best and easiest to manage is to do it with Volume Fog Environment Effect.

make a gizmo for the fog effect (gizmo is just a container that resolve hold the fog):

  • Make Sphere Gizmo (Create > Helpers > Atmospherics > Sphere Gizmo)
  • Use modify panel to modify the Radius of the sphere gizmo to 43.
  • Use Align tool to place the gizmo precisely to the center of the planet. (You can also use snap or just place it manually approximately to the middle of the planet.)

The gizmo should look like in image 16. It’s just a little larger than the planet.

image_16

Image 16. Sphere gizmo around the 3D planet.

Volume Fog surroundings Effect

Let’s add the fog result to the sphere gizmo:

  • Open environment settings (Rendering > Environment…)
  • In Atmosphere rollout, click Add… button, select Volume Fog from the catalog and click OK.
  • In Volume Fog Parameters rollout, click Pick Gizmo button and then click the sphere gizmo to choose it. Now the volume fog effect is applied to the sphere gizmo. create the following adjustments in the Volume Fog Parameters rollout:
    • Colour: 198,185,214 (RGB)
    • Density: 15
    • Noise Type: Turbulence
    • Uniformity: 1
    • Size: 5

Render a picture to see the result. The picture should look like in image 17. Now the planet is ready. As you probably see there are endless possibilities to make different materials by using composite maps to combine several procedural maps.

If you want to insert rings to the planet, read on.

image_16

Image 17. The last 3D planet renders.

Rings for the 3D Planet

Planet rings are pretty easy to create:

  • Make a Tube and create the following adjustments to it:
    • Radius 1: 43
    • Radius 2: 105
    • Height: 0
    • Height Segments: 1
    • Cap Segments: 1
    • Sides: 100
  • Use Align tool to place the tube to the middle of the planet.
  • Rotate the tube if you want to

Relate a Standard Material to the Planet Rings

  • Select the Tube
  • Open Material Editor (Rendering > Material Editor…)
  • Select a default material and relate it to the selected object (Tube)
  • Make the following adjustments in the Blinn Basic Parameters rollout:
    • Diffuse: 207,164,254 (RGB)
    • Self-Illumination: 100
    • Opacity: 0
  • Open Maps rollout, set the quantity of Opacity to 80 and add Gradient Ramp as Opacity map
  • create the following adjustments to the Gradient Ramp map:
image_17

Image 18. Gradient Ramp parameters.

    • In Coordinates rollout:
      • Mapping: Planar as of Object XYZ
    • In Gradient Ramp rollout, add 18 flags to the gradient bar (picture 18). Now there are total of 20 flags. create the following adjustments to them (or you could now be creative and make something similar):
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=0
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=48
      • R=32,G=32,B=32, Pos=50
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=52
      • R=72,G=72,B=72, Pos=54
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=56
      • R=139,G=139,B=139, Pos=61
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=66
      • R=99,G=99,B=99, Pos=67
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=68
      • R=62,G=62,B=62, Pos=72
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=76
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=78
      • R=23,G=23,B=23, Pos=79
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=80
      • R=52,G=52,B=52, Pos=82
      • R=14,G=14,B=14, Pos=84
      • R=27,G=27,B=27, Pos=87
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=90
      • R=0,G=0,B=0, Pos=100
    • Gradient Type: Radial
    • Interpolation: Custom

The Final 3D Planet Render

In image 19 you see the last planet render. If you learned how to master composite maps you should be able to make multitude of different materials that work well as 3D planet surfaces.

final_render

Image 19. The last 3D planet render.