Introduction

In this tutorial I want to show a relatively easy technique for making a chainmail in 3ds Max using a displacement map and mental ray. In this example I'll show how to make the displacement map and how to get a good quality render with as few artifacts as possible using a simple Arch & Design material. The idea is that you can use this setup to create a tileable chainmail texture like I used on this knight (Fig.01).

Step 1 : Modeling

In this tutorial I want to show a relatively easy technique for making a chainmail in 3ds Max using a displacement map and mental ray. In this example I'll show how to make the displacement map and how to get a good quality render with as few artifacts as possible using a simple Arch & Design material. The idea is that you can use this setup to create a tileable chainmail texture like I used on this knight (Fig.01).


Once you have positioned the first few, duplicate out. How many you create is up to you, depending on the variation and size of your final texture. Merge all the rings together and give them an appropriate name. You can play around with some variations in the rings for more realism etc., just keep in mind that it makes a tileable version of the material more difficult to pull off (Fig.03).