In this tutorial, I'll show how to create a realistic spider web in 3ds Max using inbuilt tools and simulation techniques. Later I will composite the spider web simulation in After Effects to make it look much convincing.

Preview

1. Creating Spider Web

Step 1

Open 3ds Max.

Step 2

Go to Create > Standard Primitive > Plane and create a plane in the front view.

Step 3

Keep its Length Segs and Width Segs as 80.

Step 4

Open the Modifier List and apply Cloth modifier onto the plane.

Step 5

With the plane selected, click on Object Properties button. In the Object Properties window, select plane and turn on Cloth radio button. It turns the plane into cloth. 

Click on OK button.

Step 6

Open the cloth modifier roll out. Select Group.

Step 7

With the extreme left column of vertices of the plane selected, click on Make Group button.

Step 8

In the Make Group window, rename the group name as Group001.

Step 9

With the Group001 selected, click on Preserve button. 

Step 10

With the extreme right column of vertices of the plane selected, click on Make Group button.

Step 11

In the Make Group window, rename the group name as Group002.

Step 12

With the Group002 selected, click on Preserve button. 

Step 13

Go to Space Warp > Forces > Wind and apply the wind force in the scene.

Step 14

With the cloth selected, click on Cloth Forces button. 

Step 15

It opens the Forces window. With the wind001 selected inside the Forces in Scene list, click on the forward arrow button. 

Step 16

Now the wind001 comes in the Forces in Simulation list. Click on OK button.

2. Applying Spider Web Texture

Step 1

I have a black and white image file of spider web which I will use as the texture for the cloth.

Step 2

Press M to open the Material Editor.  

Step 3

With an empty slot selected, click on Diffuse channel. It opens the Material/ Map Browser window. Select Bitmap and click on OK.

Step 4

Select spider-web.jpg image. This will be used as the texture of the cloth.

Step 5

Apply this texture onto the cloth. You can see the spider web patters on the cloth. But this is not transparent. To make it transparent, I'll remove the black color.

Step 6

Drag and drop the same texture from the Diffuse channel to Opacity channel. Select the Instance option and click on OK button.   

Step 7

Now you can see the black parts vanish and it becomes transparent.

2. Spider Web Simulation

Step 1

With the cloth selected, click on Simulate button. The simulation starts and you can see the spider web simulation in the viewport.

Step 2

Press F10 to open the Render Setting window. Render the simulation in image sequence till 200 frames and in TGA format (32 bits).

Step 3

Open After Effects. I have a live sequence which I import as a composition. I have to composite the spider web simulation in this scene.

Step 4

Import the rendered spider web image sequence and put it over the live plate. With the spider web layer selected, go to Effect > Generate > Fill and apply the effect onto the layer. 

Choose the color as white.  Now hit the play button and you will see a realistic spider web simulation over the live action footage.

Conclusion

You can make tremendous effects with cloth modifier in 3ds Max. I will bring more exciting tutorials on the different aspects of cloth modifier.