Annoying 3ds max facts

These are things that I tend to forget between times I use

3ds max

– To rotate the view, ALT+Middle Mouse. If it isn’t working as you expect, your camera pivot is probably too far
– Move tool: W, Rotate Tool: E, Scale Tool: R, if they aren’t working as you expect (manipulator looks wrong), PRESS X to fix it.
– To zoom in and out use []

Blender
– To select an object, RIGHT click
– Middle mouse rotates view, Ctrl+Middle Mouse zooms
– Z toggles wireframe

Maya
– CTRL+A shows the attribute editor

cosine weighted hemisphere sampling

So, this post talks about cosine weighted hemisphere sampling.

Really its simple.

There are 2 ways to do this, both are outlined in Philip Dutre’s “Total Compedium”

Way #1
– generate points on the disk
– project points upward

Way #2
– Use these explicit formulae.

//generate 2 random floats, each between 0 and 1
RANDOM_NUMBER_1 = randFloat() ; 
RANDOM_NUMBER_2 = randFloat() ; 

PHI(aziumthal angle) = 2*PI*RANDOM_NUMBER_1 ;
THETA (elevation angle) = acos( sqrt( RANDOM_NUMBER_2 ) ) ;

That’s it! This is what you get: