Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009 (64-bit version)

Predominantly used in NPR or 'non-photorealistic' rendering, Piranesi also works well adding effects and interest to photorealistic images as here, in a beautifully detailed image by Jacek Mielewski, an architect at MAAG in Warsaw, Poland.

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This plugin enables Autodesk^® 3ds Max^® 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009 to render a scene to an EPix file or panorama.

Please note that this plugin is for the 64-bit version of 3ds Max 2009 and 3ds Max Design 2009 only. Please see our compatibility list for details of plugins for other versions.

To add the EPix plugin:

Copy the saveepix.bmi file to the Plugins folder in your 3ds Max installation folder.
Start 3ds max.
The EPix file plugin is added to the plugins.
To check that it is present:
1. On the File menu, click Summary Info.
  The Summary Info window is displayed.
2. Click the Plug-In Info button.
  saveepix.bmi is listed in the Plug-In Info window.

To save an image as an EPix file:

Ensure that every object in the image is named or has been assigned a named material.
Select the view to save.
On the Rendering menu, click Render Setup.
The Render Setup window is displayed.

Note that this window shows the 'Assign Renderer' section, which is where you set the default scanline renderer, as mentioned under Known issues. (It is important to use the default scanline renderer to generate a correct EPix file.)
On the Common parameters tab, scroll down to the Render Output section and click the Files button.
The Render Output File window is displayed.
Select the folder in which to create the new file and type a name for the new EPix file.
Select 'EPix Image File (*.epx)' from the list of file types.
Click Save.
Click Render in the Render Setup window.
The EPix file is created.

Creating Piranesi Panorama files

To install the script:

Copy stitch.exe and saveepix_panorama.mcr into the scripts\utilities folder of the 3ds max installation.
Note that you should create a Utilities folder under Scripts if it does not already exist.
Start 3ds max.
Run the script by clicking MAXScript > Run Script.
Browse to the scripts\utilities folder and open the saveepix_panorama.mcr script.
From the Customize menu, select Customize User Interface, click the Toolbars tab and, if required, choose Piranesi from the category list. Then drag a button for the 'Create EPix Panorama' action in the Piranesi category onto a convenient toolbar.

The button will be labelled 'Make EPP'.

To use the script:

Click the 'Make EPP' button.

Choose a camera and resolution, then click Create File.

Known Issues with EPix Generation
The Material channel in the EPix file uses the names and diffuse colours of materials, and uses the names and colours of objects without materials. If an unnamed object has no material, a name of the form "Unnamed 1" is generated.

The plugin is designed to work with the Default Scanline renderer. If you have problems using a different renderer, generate an EPix file with the Default Scanline renderer, then replace the RGB channel with one produced by your renderer using File > Import and File > Re-Render in Piranesi, as described below.

3ds max divides facets into triangles for rendering. In an EPix file produced from an anti-aliased rendering, the pixels on the edges of these triangles do not have the correct depths for Piranesi. We therefore recommend generating perspective views without anti-aliasing.

If you want to use an anti-aliased RGB channel:

In 3ds max:

use the default scanline renderer to render the scene with anti-aliasing turned off, to an EPix file
now render the same scene with the Mental Ray renderer with anti-aliasing switched on, to an image file, for example to PNG format
This produces a high quality RGB file. Make sure you have the same view and resolution as the EPix file.

In Piranesi:

open the EPix file in Piranesi
use File > Import to import the high quality image file
use File > Re-Render to replace the original RGB channel with the imported one
save the file