First of all start 3ds max with an empty scene. Then start material editor and choose a first empty material slot. Name it “Hologram Material” or something similar, so you can easily recognize it in the material library.

In the “Shader Basic Parameters” section of our hologram material check “2-Sided”. Now we move to “Blinn Basic Parameters” section. Here change the “Diffuse” color to a dark green. I used the settings R: 20 G: 80 B: 17. Of course you can use other color settings if you don’t like this one. Check the “Color” in “Self-Illumination” and use the same color settings you used for diffuse.

In “Extended Parameters” just change the “Advanced Transparency” -> “Type” to “Additive”.

Next, click on the “Opacity” map slot and choose “Falloff”. Set the “Falloff Type” to “Perpendicular / Parallel”. Then in “Falloff Parameters” click on the map slot next to white color and choose “Noise”.

For the “Noise” map use the following settings: “Noise Type: Fractal”, “Size: 10”, “Levels: 10”.

Note: Depending on the size of the object you are going to use the material on, you should change the size setting so you don’t get a grainy look.

Now we will add a glow to the hologram object. So, select the object and the right click on it and select “Properties”. In the “Object Properties” -> “General” window, change the “Object ID” from 0 to 1 (or some other number).

Now go to “Rendering” -> “Video Post”. Click on the

 button, from the drop down menu select “Perspective” (or a Camera) and click ok. Next, click on the

 button and from the drop down menu select “Lens Effect Glow”. Click on the “Setup” button. Under “Object ID” option put the same number you used in Object Properties.

In the “Preferences” tab I used the following setting for glow: “Size: 6.0”, “Color -> Pixel -> Intensity: 50.0”. Click OK.

Note: These glow setting worked fine for me, but if it’s not the case with you, just change Size and/or Intensity settings until you are satisfied.

Click on the

 button, change the rendering settings if needed and click on “Render”. Final result I got can be seen on the next picture:

This is the basic material setup and some still thing can be improved. Examples:

1)      Try adding a “Raytrace” map to “Refraction” slot and lowering the “Amount”.

2)      Try adding a “Raytrace” map to “Reflection” slot and lowering the “Amount”.

3)      Try changing “Advanced Transparency -> Falloff” settings in the “Extended Parameters” rollout (In/Out and using different Amt values).

In the next part of this tutorial I’ll explain how to animate the material to produce a nice appearing effect.