[EvilViking]

I'm hoping Killakanz or someone else with a lot of experiance in 3DS Max can help me out with this:

Is it possible to get the W3D style transparency after importing W3D objects? Whenever I render them, the "transparent" areas are all bright colors. :/ Is it possible to have transparency?

Another question, not matter what type of light I use, I can't get shadows in my renders from these lights! The "Usa Advanced Lighting" box is checkd, but nothing. Eh, I feel like a n00b, moving from gmax to 3DS Max 6... ops:

[Pestilence]

There are to yas to do this, the Additive way and the Opacity Map
the additive is just as you may guess the same way you create mussle sprites n gmax, give the map an Add setting, its just in a different location in 3DS. heres way its located in the 3DS material editor, the check the Additive radio button

and the second way via an opacity map, you create a second skin map for the object but instead use it needs to be black and white. the white is null and the black designates the transparent regions of the map. then you load the map into the Opacity map slot for that objects material.

[Flyby]

The right way is to use the alpha channel of your bitmap:

-load the map in the diffuse map slot
-load the same bitmap into your opacity map slot.
-> enter bitmap mode in your opacity slot
-> under bitmap parameters-Mono channel output, choose ALPHA instead of RGB Intensity

Your model will now display the RGB bitmap (diffuse slot) and the correct opacity, you obtained from the Alpha mask.

As for lighting, I'm totally alien to the "new" GI lighting options in max.
I use the VRay render engine since 2 years now and haven't looked back since.

[TylerD]

To create shadows, I usually create an omni light from the lights tab and check the shadows box in the rollout, then position the light somewhere around the model. The render will then have shadows... but theyre a bit temperamental and can be inconsistent in their quality. If you apply some good material to a plane underneath the model you can improve the render dramatically, it just takes a hell of a lot of experimentation.
And one thing; dont use a black background! give it a slight tint of colour if you have to, but a lighter colour is much better for these kind of renders

[EvilViking]

Thanks for all the great tips, guys! I really appreciate it!

[Flyby]

If you use standard lights in 3dsmax, you should use the classical 3-light-setup , as they do in real studios :

a key light, a backlight and a fill-in light to add a bit more volume.

You can also use a 6 point light setup for all over scenery control : you place them according the faces of a cube, at a rather far distance from your scene. you then adjust their individual light contribution till you get what you want...a bit more work, but works in all cases..