Overcoming the Limitations of DWF Export

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Project Management > Publishing to DWF >

In the previous lesson, you learned how you can export 3D scenes to the DWF format preserving geometry, materials and layers. You have also learned that by default, the DWF file format does not recognize lighting effects and shadows.

In this lesson, you learn how to overcome these limitations by using Render to Texture.

Set up the lesson:

From the\tutorials\viz\ directory, open dining_room.max.
The scene shows a dining room with various objects that have pre-applied materials. A single main light illuminates the scene and three fill lights have been added to simulate global illumination.

Using Render to Texture

From the Rendering menu, choose Render to Texture.
The Render to Texture dialog opens.
Press Ctrl+A to select all objects in the scene.
On the Objects To Bake rollout, all the object names display in the Objects to Bake list.
On the Output rollout, click Add.
The Add Texture Elements dialog opens.

NoteIf you don't see the Add button, resize the dialog or use the pan cursor to drag the panel upwards.
Choose CompleteMap, and then click Add Elements to close the dialog.
NoteAs the name implies, a complete map contains all subset maps like diffuse, shadows, specular highlights and others.
In the Selected Element Common Settings group, click the button labeled 512.
NoteThis value defines the resolution of the output bitmap in pixels. 512 is a good compromise between image quality and display speed. The higher the value, the better the quality but be aware that increasing texture resolution increases display speed and render time.
In the Baked Material rollout, click the Create New Baked radio button below the Save Source (Create Shell) radio button.
From the Create New Baked drop-down menu, choose Architectural.

NoteThe Architectural material type is in this case is favorable as the baked material is automatically set in self illumination mode. This ensures that the baked material is no more dependent on lighting setups in the scene and makes it a good candidate for DWF Export.
Go back to the Output rollout. In the Selected Element Common Settings group, click the Target Map Slot drop-down menu and set it to Diffuse Map.

NoteSetting the Diffuse map as a target ensures the newly created map goes into the Diffuse map channel, which will now contain color information, highlights, shadows and other elements
At the bottom of the dialog, click Render.
Rendering the textures may take a few minutes, depending on system performance. When the textures are rendered, you should be able to see the end result in the Camera viewport.
From the File menu > Save As and name the finished model dining_room_baked.max.
From the File menu, choose Export.
Ensure the Save as Type drop-down is set to Publish to DWF. Name your file dining_room-shadows and click Save.
In the DWF Publish Options dialog, turn off Use Default DWF Lights, and then click OK.
You won't need to use the DWF Viewer's lighting because the lighting effects in your scene will now be published.

The file takes a little longer to load in the DWF viewer but when it does, you notice that lighting effects and shadows are now included in the file.

TipAll the materials in the 3ds Max scene have now been replaced with a Shell material type. To reassign the original materials, in the Baked Material rollout, select Keep Source Materials, then click the Clear Shell Materials button.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned how to access the DWF Publish Options dialog, export your 3D scene in DWF format, and how to set up Render to Texture for baking textures in order to see the lighting effects and shadows in the Autodesk DWF Viewer.