The ArchviewVR Toolkit for 3ds Max

One script to place your cameras, make a light proxy model, render every 360 and export a folder ready for ArchviewVR.

The Toolkit works in 3ds Max 2020 and newer, with Corona or V-Ray. Everything it makes goes into one project folder, which you then drop into ArchviewVR.

Get started

1. Download it. On your projects page, press Download toolkit. You only need to do this once.
2. Run it. In 3ds Max choose Scripting › Run Script and pick archviewvr-toolkit.ms, or drag the file into a viewport.
3. Choose a project folder at the top. It suggests an ArchviewVR folder next to your .max file and remembers it in the .max file.

The window opens in Simple mode. Switch to Advanced at the top right for every setting.

Simple

1. Place cameras. Click floors and a 360 camera drops in at eye height (1.5 m). A blue circle shows how far to the next one. Right-click to stop.
2. Test render, then Render all. Test render shows one camera quickly so you can check the lighting. Render all checks the scene is ready first. Pick a size (4K, 6K or 8K wide, always 2:1). Every camera is set to 360 and rendered to its name.jpg in the folder. Cameras already rendered are skipped, so you can stop and carry on later.
3. Export. If you haven’t made a proxy yet, it copies the selection (or everything visible), lightens the copy to about 150K polygons and exports it as model.obj. It saves points.json and checks the folder. Anything to fix is listed.

Then drop the folder into ArchviewVR.

Advanced

Cameras

• Click to place and Undo last, with your own eye height and spacing.
• Fill selected floors places a grid of cameras over the selected floor objects, away from walls (Keep clear of walls) and not under furniture.
• Rename in order names them ExportCam_001, ExportCam_002… with no gaps. Do it before you render.
• Animate render camera adds one camera called Render Camera that jumps to each of your cameras, one frame each (frame 0 is the first camera by name). Render Setup is set to the active time segment, saving to frames/frame_0000.jpg… in your project folder. Handy for render farms. Press it again if you add, remove or rename cameras.
• Check cameras lists cameras with no floor below, at an odd height, too close to a wall, far from the rest, or with a repeated name. Click one to select it.

Proxy

1. Copy the model. Copies the selection (or everything visible) onto the ArchviewVR_Proxy layer as separate meshes, and shows only the copies. It leaves out objects smaller than you set and glass, ignores smoothing and chamfers, and welds each copy. Tick Include proxies, Forest Pack and RailClone to use their full render mesh, or Include XRef scenes for XRef geometry. Your own objects aren’t changed.
2. Optimise the copies. Each copy is coloured from green (the lightest tenth) to red (the heaviest tenth), and the list shows the heaviest first. Click one to select it. - Optimise to target reduces every copy by the same share so the total lands near your target (150K to start). Press it again to go lower. - Make boxes turns the selected copies into simple boxes. Good for a dense sofa or bed. - Delete removes the selected copies. - Re-scan colours and lists them again. Show originals and Show only the proxy switch the view.

Render

Before every run the Toolkit checks the scene is ready and asks before it starts:

• Fixed for you: your model is shown again if the proxy was hiding it, and the ArchviewVR_Proxy layer is hidden so it can’t appear in the renders.
• Stops the run: a renderer other than Corona or V-Ray, a Corona setup with no pass, time or noise limit (the renders would never finish), camera names used twice, or not enough disk space.
• Worth knowing: Corona denoising off, every camera already rendered, or unsaved changes.

Test render makes one quick 2048 × 1024 render of the selected camera (or the first) so you can check lighting and exposure. It isn’t saved. Check the scene is ready runs the checks without rendering.

• Set up renders turns every camera into a level 360 camera at 2:1. With V-Ray it sets the render camera to spherical 360.
• Render all or Render selected saves each camera as its name.jpg.
• To stop: press Cancel in 3ds Max’s render window or hold Esc to stop straight away, or press Cancel at the bottom of the Toolkit to stop after the current camera.
• Name rendered frames is for a sequence rendered from Render Camera. Pick the folder with the frames and it copies each one into your project folder as its camera’s name.jpg, using the frames.txt list saved with the animation.

Tip: set up your lighting, exposure and denoising first. Every camera renders with the same settings.

Export

• Export saves the proxy copies (or the selection) as model.obj, every camera as points.json (positions, headings and the model’s units, so ArchviewVR never has to guess its size), then checks the folder.
• Check folder makes sure every camera has a render, every render is 2:1, no name is used twice, and model.obj and points.json are there.

The older Exporter

The simpler archviewvr-exporter.ms still works. Points files from either script, or a name x y z text file from your own script, are fine.