3Point Shader Lite

3Point Shader Lite contains the full shader capability set of of 3Point Shader, along with Quality Mode normal map rendering and ViewThief. It does not include the GUI controls found in the commercial release, instead providing access to parameters through an auto-generated interface.

Below: Comparison image showing 3Point Shader Lite default material next to the 3Point Shader Pro material.

3Point Shader Lite (UI)

This material uses a custom UI to control a subset of the 3Point Shader capabilities, letting you quickly and easily control the most common shader parameters, including normal map Quality Mode.

Requirements

3Point Shader Lite will install on 3ds Max 9 and up. Hard shadows, ambient occlusion and indirect lighting are supported to the extent that your version of 3ds Max allows. 3Point Shader requires hardware support for sRGB textures, typically by GeForce 8 and Radeon 4xxx graphics cards and up. Please use the latest drivers, 3ds Max service packs, hotfixes and run in Directx9 mode.

3Point Shader Lite is free for non-commercial use. Please read the Software License Agreement.

Installation

3PointShaderLite.zip contains the installer (3PointShaderLite_installer.mzp) and a directory of sample environment cube maps you can use in your scenes.

The installation requires administrator privileges in order to modify files within the 3ds Max sub-directories. Use "MAXScript->Run Script" to execute 3pointshaderlite_installer.mzp. The following installation process is automatic and will prompt for 3ds Max to close and restart. Before starting 3ds Max again, let the installation of "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable" finish; this may take several minutes.

Basic Usage

"3Point Shader Lite" and "3Point Shader Lite (UI)" will appear as new material types in the material editor. The "3Point Quality Normals" modifier will be listed under "Object space modifiers". Quality Mode must be toggled in the material for the changes to take effect. In 3ds Max 2009, creating a new "3Point Shader Lite" material will cause a small delay once per session.