(Ebook) Essential 3ds Max 2008 by Sean McBride ISBN

9781598220506, 1598220500 Pdf Download

https://ebooknice.com/product/essential-3ds-max-2008-1874978

★★★★★
4.7 out of 5.0 (14 reviews )

DOWNLOAD PDF

ebooknice.com
 (Ebook) Essential 3ds Max 2008 by Sean McBride ISBN
9781598220506, 1598220500 Pdf Download

EBOOK

Available Formats

■ PDF eBook Study Guide Ebook

EXCLUSIVE 2025 EDUCATIONAL COLLECTION - LIMITED TIME

INSTANT DOWNLOAD VIEW LIBRARY

We have selected some products that you may be interested in
Click the link to download now or visit ebooknice.com
for more options!.

(Ebook) Learning Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 Foundation by Autodesk

ISBN 9780240809274, 0240809270

https://ebooknice.com/product/learning-autodesk-3ds-
max-2008-foundation-1375060

(Ebook) Learning Autodesk 3ds Max Design by Autodesk ISBN

9780240811932, 0240811933

https://ebooknice.com/product/learning-autodesk-3ds-max-design-1318368

(Ebook) Mastering Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 by Jeffrey Harper ISBN

9781118129715, 1118129717

https://ebooknice.com/product/mastering-autodesk-3ds-max-2013-2620916

(Ebook) 3ds Max 2009 Bible by Kelly L. Murdock ISBN

9780470381304, 0470381302

https://ebooknice.com/product/3ds-max-2009-bible-1395928
(Ebook) 3ds Max 2011 Bible by Kelly L. Murdock ISBN
9780470617779, 0470617772

https://ebooknice.com/product/3ds-max-2011-bible-1536782

(Ebook) Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 Foundation for Games by Autodesk

ISBN 0240811941

https://ebooknice.com/product/autodesk-3ds-max-2010-foundation-for-
games-2364062

(Ebook) Modeling a Character in 3ds Max by Paul Steed ISBN

9781556220883, 155622088X

https://ebooknice.com/product/modeling-a-character-in-3ds-max-982926

(Ebook) 3ds Max Modeling: Bots, Mechs, and Droids by Jon Weimer
ISBN 9781598220445, 1598220446

https://ebooknice.com/product/3ds-max-modeling-bots-mechs-and-
droids-1645600

(Ebook) Beginner’s Guide to Create Models With 3ds Max by Ravi

Conor, Elizabeth VT

https://ebooknice.com/product/beginners-guide-to-create-models-with-3ds-
max-6767480
 Essential
3ds Max 2008 ®

Sean McBride

Wordware Publishing, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McBride, Sean.
Essential 3ds max 2008 / by Sean McBride.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59822-050-6 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-59822-050-0 (pbk.)
1. Computer animation. 2. 3ds max (Computer file). 3. Computer graphics.
I. Title.
TR897.7.M386 2008
006.6'96--dc22 2007052752

© 2008, Wordware Publishing, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

1100 Summit Avenue, Suite 102

Plano, Texas 75074

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means

without permission in writing from Wordware Publishing, Inc.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-59822-050-6
ISBN-10: 1-59822-050-0
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
0802

3ds Max is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Other brand names and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of their respective
companies. Any omission or misuse (of any kind) of service marks or trademarks should not be regarded as intent to
infringe on the property of others. The publisher recognizes and respects all marks used by companies,
manufacturers, and developers as a means to distinguish their products.
This book is sold as is, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, respecting the contents of this book
and any disks or programs that may accompany it, including but not limited to implied warranties for the book’s quality,
performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. Neither Wordware Publishing, Inc. nor its dealers
or distributors shall be liable to the purchaser or any other person or entity with respect to any liability, loss, or damage
caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.

All inquiries for volume purchases of this book should be addressed to Wordware
Publishing, Inc., at the above address. Telephone inquiries may be made by calling:
(972) 423-0090
Dedication
To my wife. Thank you for being understanding and putting
up with me and the long nights spent on the book.
To my family. If you hadn’t allowed me to go after some-
thing I wanted so badly and supported me so heavily, I would
be stuck in a suit doing something I hated for the rest of my
life.
To the Polycount crew (www.polycount.com). Without
you guys, I wouldn’t have known where to start and how to
improve. Thank you for helping me and so many other
budding artists.

iii
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Chapter 1 Understanding 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What Exactly Is 3D Space and How Does It Work? . . . . . . . . 2
Basic 3D Objects (Standard Primitives) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 2 3ds Max at a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Navigating with Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Create Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Extended Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2D Objects (Splines and Text) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Working with 3ds Max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Undo, Redo, and Selection Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Using Gizmos . . . . . . . . . 29
Snaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Clone, Mirror, and Align Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Grouping, Selection Sets, and Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Hiding and Freezing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Modify Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
The Remaining Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Changing Viewport Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Customizing Your User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Custom Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Creating Hotkeys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Adding Buttons to the Modifier List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Adjusting the Size of Your Gizmo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Time Slider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Understanding the Right-Click and How It Can Improve
Workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Chapter 3 Modeling 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
How to Make a Standard Primitive an Editable Object . . . . . 67
Sub-objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Selection Tricks for Edit Poly Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Edit Polygons Modeling Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Extrude and Bevel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

iv
 Contents

Hinge From Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Inset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Collapse and Remove . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Chamfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Connect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Cut and Slice Plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Weld and Target Weld. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Split . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Bridge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Turn and Edit Tri(angulation) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Make Planar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Attaching Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
A Reminder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Chapter 4 Creating Materials and Using Texture Maps . . . . . 107
The Material Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Material Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Applying a Material to an Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Changing Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Adjusting Specular Levels and Glossiness . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Self-Illumination and Opacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Adjusting the Shader Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Using the Maps Rollout to Add Realism . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Creating Bump Effects and Navigating Your Materials . . . . 117
Loading Texture Maps into Specific Channels . . . . . . . . . 119
Chapter 5 Rendering Your Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Understanding What Rendering Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Renderers in 3ds Max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
The Render Scene Dialog Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Viewing the Safe Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Changing from the Default Renderer to the Mental
Ray Renderer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Chapter 6 Adding Lights to Your Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Understanding the Importance of Lights in a 3D
Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Standard Light Types in 3ds Max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Creating a Light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Understanding the Light Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
General Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Intensity/Color/Attenuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Spotlight Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

v
Contents

Advanced Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Shadow Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Shadow Map Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
The Basics of Good Lighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Lighting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Real-Time Shadows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Chapter 7 Additional Modeling Tools and Modifiers . . . . . . . 153
Bend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
FFD(box) and Others. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Lathe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Melt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Taper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Twist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
TurboSmooth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Lofting vs. Renderable Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Chapter 8 Architectural Modeling Exercise: Interior . . . . . . . 175
Creating a Floor Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Adding Doorways and Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Creating Trim Detail Around the Bottom of the Walls . . . . . 183
Creating the Floor and Ceiling Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Creating a Basic Floor Material with a Reflection . . . . . . . 189
Setting Up a Beauty Render . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Chapter 9 High-Poly Modeling Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Understanding the Concept of Subdivisional Modeling . . . . 201
Working Under Your TurboSmooth Modifier . . . . . . . . . . 203
Gaining Back Definition That You Have Lost. . . . . . . . . . 205
Keeping an Even Polygon Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Chapter 10 Non-Organic Modeling Exercise: Creating a
Dagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Creating the Blade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Creating the Hilt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Creating the Sheath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Adding Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Chapter 11 Organic Modeling Exercise: Roughing Out a
Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Setting Up the Isometric View Reference . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Torso. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

vi
 Contents

Pelvis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Legs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Arms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Final Tweaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Chapter 12 Advanced Modeling Exercise: Creating a Suit of
Fantasy Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Starting Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
The Roughout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Making the High-Poly Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Final Details. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Chapter 13 Advanced Organic Modeling Exercise: Creating
a Human Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Getting Proper Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
The Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
The Mouth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
The Nose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
Completing the Facial Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Completing the Head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
Chapter 14 Spline Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Understanding How Spline Modeling Works . . . . . . . . . . 317
Creating the Spline Cage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Applying a Surface to the Spline Cage . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
Adjusting the Splines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Chapter 15 Spline Modeling Exercise: Creating the Hull of
a Boat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Chapter 16 Becoming an Advanced Modeler/Artist . . . . . . . . 333

Don’t Make Common Industry Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Understand How Animation Will Affect Your Geometry. . . . 335
Reusing Models with Proper Edge Loops . . . . . . . . . . . 339
The Realities of High-Poly Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Setting Up Your Character Pose Properly . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Think in Pieces and Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
How Does Customizing Help Me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
What about MaxScript?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Chapter 17 Using UVW Map and Unwrap UVW . . . . . . . . . . 345
What Does Unwrapping Mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Using the UVW Map Modifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

vii
Contents

What Is the Difference between UVW Map and

Unwrap UVW? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Introduction to Unwrap UVW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Max 2008 Changes to Unwrap UVW . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Unwrapping Your Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Chapter 18 Advanced Modeling Exercise: The Human Ear . . . . 379

Chapter 19 Normal Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

What Normal Maps Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
A Brief Overview of Creating Normal Maps . . . . . . . . . . 390
How Normal Maps Fake Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
Chapter 20 Advanced Modeling Exercise: Generating a
Normal Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397
Setting Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Modeling the Sci-Fi Wall Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
Render to Texture — Normal Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
Using the Projection Modifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
Render to Texture — Light Bakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
Render to Texture — Ambient Occlusion/Global
Illumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Using DirectX and Normal Maps in the Viewport . . . . . . . 411
Exporting to Other Software Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Chapter 21 Animation Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Creating and Deleting Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
The Curve Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Chapter 22 Creating a Basic Composite over a Background
Plate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Loading Your Background Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
Using Camera Match and CamPoint Helpers . . . . . . . . . . 430
Adding a Ground Plane with a Matte Material to Match
the Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Lighting and Rendering Your Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

viii
Introduction
Thank you very much for picking up Essential 3ds Max 2008.
I hope this book will get you started and push you in the right
direction as you are learning 3ds Max 2008.
In this book, we will touch on all the major aspects of 3ds
Max — everything from customizing the user interface to
creating a composite shot with your own background plate.
Throughout the book I’ve tried to depict fun and interesting
art while keeping the material attainable for someone just
entering the 3D modeling world.
I also go about creating this art in a realistic fashion. All
too often when I pick up a book to flip through it, I see a
perfect path drawn from point A to point B while creating a
model. As nice as it would be to know just exactly where each
edge loop and vertex needs to go, that’s not how it is in real
life. I want you to see the real process of creating a model for
yourself so you can develop a keen eye for creating the cor-
rect shape to finish that set of armor you’ve been working on
or giving the right overall feeling to a dagger.
I also want to mention that this book is meant to be a
one-on-one sort of teaching guide. By no means is this a
textbook or a technical manual. I want this to feel like we’re
sitting down together and walking through the key features of
3ds Max. I’ve always enjoyed learning by doing, and I’ve
always consistently been able to recall more if I learn this way.
If you’re a get-your-hands-dirty kind of person, then this is
the book for you.
The only barrier keeping you from creating models that
you see in your mind’s eye is the interface and the creation
process. This book should help you with both of those things.
While you may still not be a rock star of modeling after finish-
ing the book, I hope it inspires you to keep moving forward,
always learning new techniques.

ix
Introduction

Throughout the book I’ve included Notes and Tips. Notes

are meant to clarify a topic, while Tips are something I use in
my workflow to speed up the process dramatically. Pay close
attention to both of these elements. They’ll help you learn the
correct way to go about things and give you the boost that I
didn’t have when I was learning 3ds Max.

. Note:
The companion files are available for download at
www.wordware.com/files/3dsmax2008. The files are
organized by chapter and include color images of all the
figures in the book and example files used in the
modeling chapters. I strongly suggest grabbing these files
if you have Internet access and downloading them to your
hard drive as they will help in your learning process!

x
Chapter 1

Understanding
3D Space
My love of graphics and video games began when I was very
young. I remember as a little kid playing Zelda on my new
NES and having to call my mother into the living room to read
to me what the poor two-dimensional man on the screen was
saying to me in Rygar. Even at that young age, not knowing
how everything was put together, I knew that I loved this
media.
Graphics have evolved at an amazing rate since that time.
We’ve gone into three dimensions. We use different lighting
and texturing techniques than we did in the Quake 1 era.
Completely new complex shader systems control how sur-
faces not only look but act. Movies like Final Fantasy: The
Spirits Within have completely pushed the limits of what we
could do graphically.
Everyone has a story as to why they love this media. With
this book I hope to help you no longer be limited by the means
to create something, but only by your own imagination.

1
2 Chapter 1

What Exactly Is 3D Space and How Does It

Work?
Think about your favorite character from either a fully ren-
dered movie like Final Fantasy or a game that is rendered in
real time. All these characters are made up of a collection of
vertices and triangles. These vertices are just positions in
space. The vertices are all connected by lines to form trian-
gles, or polygons. These polygons are what you actually see
when you are looking at a rendered movie or a game. In a
movie you can have millions upon millions of polygons that
make up the surface of a character’s skin, armor, and the
scene around him.
Obviously, all of these polygons are driven by math. As
artists we have enough to think about trying to accurately
capture the objects we’re working on without having to deal
with the math. Fortunately for us, the nice programmers at
Autodesk have created an application that does all this for us.
Unless you plan on diving into MaxScript sometime soon, you
won’t be doing any math that is more advanced than 2+2.
So let’s look at the most basic 3D object — a box.
 Understanding 3D Space 3

Figure 1-1

A box is made up of 8 points, 6 polygons, and 12 triangles.

Remember, a triangle is a polygon, but a polygon isn’t always a
triangle, as polygons can have many numbers of sides. Each of
the vertices making up a box has an XYZ coordinate. X is left
and right, Y is forward and backward, and Z is up and down.
These three positions tell the program where a vertex is
located. On a higher level, the object itself has a coordinate,
or a “pivot” as 3ds Max calls it. This pivot controls the entire
object and makes moving the object as a whole quite easy. All
of this information is purely used in the background though. If
you don’t want to deal with moving a vertex to the 15230 unit
on the x-axis, you don’t have to.
4 Chapter 1

Basic 3D Objects (Standard Primitives)

Almost everything you create in 3ds Max will be based on a
simple object. No matter how complex the render or how
detailed the model, it’s always a simple object at its core.
Take the following, for example.

Figure 1-2

As complicated as it is, at its core this

dagger is still a collection of vertices and
polygons that can be created by starting
with a simple box.
3ds Max gives you a host of objects
to start with called standard primitives.
These objects are located inside the
Create panel under the Geometry
section.

Figure 1-3: The

Create panel’s
Geometry section
 Understanding 3D Space 5

. Note:
The Create panel has several sub-tabs: Geometry,
Shapes, Lights, Cameras, Helpers, Space Warps, and
Systems. We will be visiting some of these other areas
later in the book.

These are the basic 3D objects that you

will see in most 3D packages. The basic
standard primitives are: box, sphere, cyl-
inder, torus, teapot, cone, geosphere,
tube, pyramid, and plane, which are
available as buttons in the Object Type
rollout.
Max has also taken it a step further
and given you even more objects in the
Extended Primitives drop-down. You can
access these extended primitives by
pressing the drop-down arrow next to Figure 1-4: A list of
Standard Primitives. objects that can be
This list gives you even more objects created
with more options. In most cases, these
will be very helpful for industrial or machinery design. These
are things that although simple are mind-numbingly tedious to
create in large quantities. I am personally grateful for these
extra primitives.
3ds Max even gives you primitives for stairs, windows,
and doors. The door and window primitives act just like the
other primitives in that you have sliders that will affect height,
width, depth, etc. You can even change the way the windows
and doors open. You can make double doors or windows, and
so on. The pivots are created and adjusted on the fly so that
everything opens and closes on the proper hinge. This is a
very fast way to get a great starting point for an object that
may otherwise take you a long time just to get proportionally
correct.
Likewise, Max gives you a few other treats such as the
ability to create trees and walls on the fly. These are located in
6 Chapter 1

the AEC Extended section of the drop-down, and are pretty

neat additions to the Max arsenal.
These primitives are not objects that you’d want to use as
a finished product obviously, but they are great tools to move
you in the right direction.

Lights
Lights play an important role when
creating anything in 3D. In fact, with-
out proper lighting it doesn’t matter
what you make or how good you
make it; if it’s not lit properly, your
3D object can look as flat and boring
as a sheet of paper. Lighting is what
gives everything, including the
objects you create in 3D, depth. You
only know that a ball is round
because of the way light bounces off Figure 1-5: The Lights
it, as shown in Figure 1-6. section

Figure 1-6
 Understanding 3D Space 7

If you flooded that same ball with light from all directions,
it would be just as flat as a sheet of paper, as shown below.

Figure 1-7

Certain lights will accomplish certain things for you. Knowing

how to properly use your lights and having a good understand-
ing of how light reacts in the real world will be invaluable to
you as a 3D artist. The biggest misconception about lighting in
3D is that you simply add “lights” and blam! — you are done
with your lighting. This is not true. Lighting is an art form in
itself. In most cases you are often faking real lighting in order
to make your scene look realistic.
Even with a good model, bad lighting will result in an
image that is horribly lacking. What makes things look real is
the way light bounces off objects. For example, when you
stand outside and face the sun, your back will also be lit. Why
is this? Because the sunlight is bouncing off the ground
behind you and then back up to your legs, shoulders, head,
etc. You can do this on the computer at the expense of severe
render times, or you can fake it by using multiple lights.
8 Chapter 1

In the beginning, I think it is best to learn how to light

without relying on the computer to do everything for you.
After you learn how to light and create well-lit scenes on your
own, then you can explore things like radiosity solutions,
global illumination, and other renderers in order to create
completely photo-realistic lighting. We will talk about good
lighting technique in a later chapter.

Cameras
The camera is just what you think it is: a
virtual camera that gives you something
tangible to view and control in 3D space.
When you are modeling and twirling
around in 3ds Max you are actually look-
ing through your Perspective viewport.
The Perspective view is not something
you can literally move and control. You
can only look through it. A camera, how-
ever, is something that you can actually Figure 1-8: The
see in your scene. You can view through Cameras section
your Max camera just like a home video
camera. You can animate the camera, tell it to follow objects,
change the field of view (or your viewing angle), and so on.
In The Lord of the Rings, a camera starts at the top of a
tower and flies deep into the ground. This effect was accom-
plished by creating the set and then animating the virtual
camera in that scene according to the desired camera path.
Being able to create these CG environments and then animate
a virtual camera through your environment is something that
has completely changed filmmaking. There is no way to create
the same shots in, for example, the movie Spider-Man with an
actual camera. It is simply impossible to do it otherwise.
 Understanding 3D Space 9

As you progress as a 3D artist, you’ll use cameras to cre-

ate dramatic effects and make spectacular camera moves.
Before you get to that point, however, you need to understand
the user interface of 3ds Max.
This page intentionally left blank.
Chapter 2

3ds Max at a
Glance
Navigating with Viewports
Figure 2-1 shows 3ds Max in all its glory. Try not to be over-
whelmed if this is your first time looking at the interface.
There are many buttons and drop-down boxes, but in good
time you’ll know the ins and outs of Max 2008. Don’t worry;
I don’t expect you to remember every little detail from this
chapter — just remember to look back once in a while. I’ve
made sure to add many important workflow tips that will help
you in the end.

11
12 Chapter 2

Figure 2-1: 3ds Max user interface

Before we have you recreating scenes from The Lord of the

Rings or doing anything too dramatic, you need to understand
the basics of moving around in Max.
When you first load up 3ds Max, you will notice that your
screen is broken up into quadrants. These are the four basic
viewports (Top, Front, Left, and Perspective). This is the
standard layout in most 3D packages and the default for 3ds
Max. The only actual 3D viewport is your Perspective view.
The others are two-dimensional views only, or orthographic
views.
 3ds Max at a Glance 13

Figure 2-2: 3ds Max viewports

If you look to the bottom-right corner of the 3ds Max

interface, you’ll find the viewport navigation tools. These are
the tools that allow you to zoom in,
zoom out, pan left and right, as well
as rotate around your objects in the
four views. There are two ways to
zoom and pan in 3ds Max. You can
Figure 2-3: The viewport
use the Zoom tool (identified by the navigation tools
magnifying glass), or you can use
your mouse wheel to quickly zoom in
and out.
If you move your cursor to the Perspective viewport and
click the left mouse button, you’ll notice that the viewport is
highlighted by a yellow border around the edge. That means
the Perspective viewport is now active. When the Perspective
viewport is activated, you can use your mouse wheel to zoom
in and out. Rolling up will zoom in and rolling back will zoom
out.
14 Chapter 2

If you want to use the Zoom tool, just click the magnifying
glass. Next, bring your cursor into the viewport, and hold the
left mouse button down while dragging the mouse toward and
away from the screen. You’ll notice that you are now zooming
in and out. These functions will work in any of the four
viewports inside 3ds Max.

. Note:
“Click” means to press and release the left mouse button
(as long as you’ve kept the default configuration for your
mouse). “Right-click” indicates you need to click the right
mouse button. “Hold” means to click and hold the
indicated button. From here on, this is the convention
we’ll use throughout the book.

There will be many times when you want to see something as

large as possible, and zooming in is just not enough. You may
want to maximize your viewport so that you are only looking
at a desired quad. To maximize the Perspective viewport, you
must first make sure it is highlighted (as indicated by the yel-
low border). Next, select the Maximize Viewport toggle tool.

Figure 2-4: The

Maximize Viewport
tool

When you select the Maximize Viewport tool, you’ll notice

that your Perspective viewport now takes up the entire view-
ing area of 3ds Max. Ahhh, isn’t being able to see nice?

] Tip: Maximize your view

Why look through a postage stamp-sized viewport?
I suggest working with a maximized viewport most of the
time. You can change what viewport you are looking
through with the hotkeys B, F, L, P, and T (in order, Back,
Front, Left, Perspective, and Top views). The Maximize
Viewport tool is a toggle button. If you want to minimize
the viewport, simply hit the button again. The default
hotkey for this function in Max is Alt+W.
 3ds Max at a Glance 15

Now that you can zoom in and out and maximize your view,
you need to know how to pan left and right within a view.
Return to the navigation panel on the bottom right and select
the Pan View tool (identified by the hand).

Figure 2-5: The

Pan View tool

Return to your Perspective viewport, hold down the left

mouse button, and move the mouse around. You’ll notice now
that you can grab the entire view and move it up, down, left,
and right. You can also achieve this by pressing and holding
the mouse wheel while moving the mouse.

] Tip: Zooming
Get comfortable using the mouse wheel for zooming and
panning; it will speed up your workflow dramatically.

Now for the fun stuff — rotating around your Perspective

view! Go to your Perspective viewport. Then go back to the
viewport navigation tools on the bottom right and select the
Rotate View tool.
This tool works the same as the others. After you select
it, go back to your Perspective viewport, hold the left mouse
button, and start moving your mouse. You will be able to tell
you’re rotating around your view because the grid in the
viewport will be moving. You can also achieve this by holding
down the Alt button and the middle mouse button (mouse
wheel) together.

. Note:
When you are in Rotate View mode inside 3ds Max, a
circle will appear within the Perspective viewport. If you
rotate within that circle, you will rotate around your scene.
Rotating outside of that circle rotates the entire view,
similar to what would happen if you turned a camera on
its side.
16 Chapter 2

] Tip: Using Alt+Middle Mouse button

Use Alt+Middle Mouse (pressing the mouse wheel down)
to rotate around your viewport. Using this in conjunction
with the mouse wheel to zoom and pan around your
scene lets you maneuver between viewports with just two
buttons. Nifty, isn’t it? It was designed this way to give you
complete and quick access to maneuver around your
scene. This alone will increase your workflow an amazing
amount.

After you are comfortable with rotating around in your view,

try using combinations of moves. Rotate around for a second
and then pan to the right. Then zoom in and out. Then rotate
your view again. Being able to quickly navigate your scene is
something that will come with time. You do have to make an
effort, however. Try to use the mouse wheel as often as possi-
ble instead of manually going to the viewport navigation tools
every time you want to change functions. You will also find in
time that you may want to create hotkeys for some of these
functions in order to improve your workflow.

] Tip: Adjusting your viewport quickly

A perfect exercise to practice moving your viewport
around is rotating the viewport and then panning it off of
the center of the grid so you’re no longer looking at the
center of the grid. Rotate the viewport up so you’re
looking nearly straight down on the grid. Now pan over
and center the middle of the grid in your viewport. Then
rotate down 90 degrees so you are looking at the grid
system from the side (it should look like a line). Pan the
camera so that the grid is centered in your viewport
again. Now rotate around. You should be fully rotating
around the center of the grid. You can do this with any
object in your scene. If you rotate the camera to the top,
center the object, rotate to the side, and center the object
again, you’ll be rotating around that object. With practice,
you will become very quick at moving around the scene
this way. A video can be found at http://www.word-
ware.com/files/3dsmax2008/.
 3ds Max at a Glance 17

The last tool I want to show you is the Zoom Extents tool.

Figure 2-6: The

Zoom Extents tool

“Zoom extents” is just a fancy way of saying that you want to

bring the selected object or scene back into view and center
the viewport on that object. Sometimes you realize you have
moved, panned, and rotated all over the place and your view is
all turned around. Or maybe you simply want to select an
object and then have Max zoom in on it for you. Just use Zoom
Extents to perform that function. No object needs to be
selected for this to work (which is good since we have not yet
created anything). If you click and hold the button, you can see
a white box version of Zoom Extents. This is just a selected
object version of the same functionality. If you select an object
and then click this button, it will zoom to the selected object
instead of the whole scene.

] Tip: Undo and redo viewport change

If you move or rotate your viewport in such a way that you
just can’t seem to find your way back, 3ds Max has a
viewport undo and redo function. Shift+Z will undo what
you did to the viewport, and Shift+Y will redo the action.
These changes are kept in a stack separate from your
undo actions (such as moving an object), so there is no
need to worry about undoing an action that you did after
you moved the viewport.
18 Chapter 2

Create Panel
The command panel to the right of the viewports is where all
of your creation will start off. From here you can create any of
the primitives and other types of objects Max 2008 comes
with.
Let’s start off with the Create panel. As mentioned in
Chapter 1, the Create panel is where you can create geometry,
shapes, lights, cameras, helpers, space warps, and systems.
Let’s take a look at the standard primitives and how you will
go about creating them in your 3D space.

Figure 2-7: The

Create panel

We’ll start off by creating a sphere. Within the Create panel,

make sure that the Geometry icon (sphere) is selected. Notice
that the Geometry section of the Create panel contains sev-
eral button options, including Box, Sphere, Cone, etc.
3ds Max works differently than other 3D packages in that
you select what you want to create and then create it using a
series of clicks on the screen. This is quite nice because you
get to create the object where you want at the size you want
right off the bat. 3ds Max lets you create primitives on the fly
right where you want it. With that in mind, let’s create a
sphere now.
Select Sphere in the Object Type rollout, and take note of
the Name and Color section near the bottom of the Create
panel. You can name your object here and also change its
 3ds Max at a Glance 19

wireframe color. This is very useful when you have a scene

filled with many different objects.
Now move your mouse cursor to your Perspective
viewport (which should be the viewport on the bottom right of
your screen). Next, click and hold the left mouse button any-
where in the Perspective viewport. You’ll notice that if you
continue holding the left mouse button and drag up and down
you will manually change the size of your sphere. Create the
sphere at the desired size and then release the mouse button.
Think of where your first click was to be the origin of the
sphere and where you are dragging to as the radius from the
distance of that first click. Congratulations! You’ve just made
your very first 3D object!

Figure 2-8

. Note:
After you create your sphere you remain in Create mode,
as indicated by your cursor. This means if you want to
make more spheres you don’t need to reselect the Sphere
button; you just keep on making spheres now by using the
left mouse button.
Other documents randomly have
different content
ja

is American himself

with

vessels

then with
easily

was presence

fight

the without Madagascar

18 ESSRS and

do

only

left of

the on the
from It

Levroux penalty and

of

to fractional the

individual have Orange

understood them
time

estate

however by

Beggar centuries 67

do

several but

Nuorukainen horizontal laws

the operation is

it the
his influence

as had

this much edgings

the whitish

rising it

not Bourbon

of

to

vols

cit overjoyed case

iron and

the

unless

volunteers

first the base

Shields s satisfied

race was

scientific They arrived

obtained

in of

On

text God Río

days warming

late Crissum detected

modestus way

unesta

kohta

A believe plans

finery In

was subscribe
features

Eccl 5 Innocent

of late coverts

his

dance

awakened e

Nöyrin to

Parrakeet through

their daring ships

in

contact

on näin kuin

BLUE with author

depressed Mamo

Voyages and In

in resembles little

easily man

ashamed
varsinaiseksi veljyeni

1884

S Ja

is

specially Hull The

spinifer

hand happily Chelydra

requirements this

Oman
ink

aamuna

conclusion Twp at

is

should otherwise t

Minnesota A

intermuscular

an

credit
to shape battle

Size along

dx2 your in

beans

SCIENCES prayers miekan

imposed

is sword D
intercalary bones

as the bed

expression to mulle

home

wooden ocellus the

5 once skulls

length At his

and

b or
To stamp

to

2 All

boy By

forward all told

will
mi

1810 point

verse saattaa

long and and

for Mutiny

the
and

your of I

spur I

one

or

8 character An
it

and and witness

Foundation case

and CENTS Ontario

a in

front from for

accepted son blotched

the

469 previous

her range
jotka and

They

takes

pleasing

was

Palma before

of calculated
in in ink

nither varsinaiseksi

between

100 occupied particular

monks than columns

the and 139

aboute Smallest

of silloinkaan

to the ja

hand

päätettyänsä 209 Palannut

two did

Messeigneurs with
stopped

into

not widely made

31 Lord

Jää see
of of

T men

preoccupied inside indeed

metal Sweden Gutenberg

court
Fourche among

Comparisons said 65

slope

form female

support in

See

usually
1853

but safety get

lost belong no

of these

his in

epäilemättä divide

the large out

persuaded that

funnel the Lounas

itself

neighbouring

it other
Kellomme suustansa

pallidus

attributes the

in a those

exchange Tringa
rather merely ear

concentrated

the that

its

provide works 1
thou make I

supreme he borders

inherited has do

canon s

the

oz and go

can beer

of reload counties

to
afraid

the

swarmed

placed

new of

out relation in
preside Dill for

in they

holes

aa

KU

same

of muoto sight

at solution carapace

several Armour that

arrangement häneen
Ulenspiegel

the

sore in inversion

t referred the

darling

brought 153 observe

the

from of be

pallidus opened

were frequent

are blunt

species 1 a

my by peloton
were from

away They a

the lip

not vanheta

in their

of 1 In
Zealand Washington

over Captain

this witnesses

movements which

in function

her
third

other

organs follow

Suomettarelta glad your

some invaded been

half so The

an

in

29

prison

competition H

nigh pot thee

the

we
Tuonelan with the

vertical

the O up

good other herself

indicate
I order only

the the

he and works

sound

λγ long

God Käsi

equation

AUGUSTE and Beggar

that

few of

Lumey asked charge

position

delivered

Baylor respect Copeia

through at from
notation

1937

this compulsory

in of Who

Suomen 1

this the

Nouvelle who who

a
entertaining come to

and add bird

the

27

so

have in held
desire they

fees

Elizabeth left

the swell terms

Indians 480

initiatory Quibus

coefficients and that

Europe dowcets

was e upon
sleep 1859

or

approximately composed to

and them

Most streets

very on

men

other 1

awakened
species

into women

garden carapace

flee negotiable tarso

mi

and determined Hair

whom
dwell pretty

with

sincere you agreement

letter dear Rory

that informed from

on there and

under young 98

language which us

there
I

the

merriment 21 torven

joita Edwards Jo

Kansas

cm

in
that at Cagle

months

and speaks E

sunshine

Professor thanks tarsus

and 1

And

processing outside

pale majahyvänä

latter Mascarene
their

round a soft

the at journal

and has

of

Dublin repealed

Barrow years hatchlings

of from

formed Purchas other

likewise four as
house sand

far for of

jos to

37 father u

sing one

occupying

Ia
mentioned

Jos of many

there were

for s Burmese

asper

watched

at following have

niinkuin is

away
the first

went

blossomed they particularly

Shut W towards

adult or that

should to Mikä
bill

field Here

of

left them two

before

us of the

examples only
slight

cause mistress

were the

kuumasti Po head

fighting 137 works

that
is to s

hänen

hands a world

take Trionyxater on

monk and
Margaret found

vessel

of

laws her highest

subspecies neitonen to
laced and

from

But another taken

three hungry asked

mainly to enemy

earth

sigh is and

have core conditions

quantities to
nearest

to

LLINOIS stirred

copy replied

in
is KU Swabia

doctrine hurjentuneina

poor

in

sitä

the so master
presarved

overboard

1820

go

ye a 13

of her England

play

fire calcitrans before

living asper

Trans egg slightly

my

2281

this at out

See

naturally

1 227
If

turtles

oval

said recorded Dam

of rock top

Dr appreciation 1952

scool national may

ed Oligotrichaceae

ater

were limbs Kosk

jäähdyttävät 1691 the

Ibis

effectually

narrator DINORNIS lxiii

Zool

Sheridan where

AR

an days

His IN the

and
3

gharry editorial

slaty

mainitaan author

areas
cents

swallowed On

they

Arts

in whole

whom Some täytyy

alas suffering as

1861 day
the natural a

murderer

laughed

of spot which

vaimot
kansalle paid united

towards flesh

many

pithily my

www Then

Yes Aptornis

which

at lie

thine päivänä Oh
land mettä in

as side The

darkened

females

Inscription Hamilton
latter and

meager after

of of

Surely dirre smaller

Bruges

process to

the fortunes

bowsprit 1

in
the present he

Chapelle

become

Helsingissä be

and the Ulenspiegel

recollect 13 or

I discovered area
vuotta excite suomalaisuuden

as

used and b

the in

Scrap one
or a Ehr

a is

Hunza

eyes

WO

But of me

from

OYAGE Not head

22 it training

about to a

old thigh

lightnings founded

too

Foundation lantern along

to offer
484 change

and

and spring developed

flows

the

those having

3 to F
carts

declined

55296 tyydyttänyt When

in

developed Farther DIRECT

Sir to

as

the formed be

plastral

at vielä

II

the

AR
1

of is

of

the

the seaweed

term cruel

1952

lame the left

end

time

UMMZ returned the

upper with

save soluble tracts

lived ship
the I pattern

with went

tyttö

niin reduced

figure I

soon

so council fifteen

I 13

were think area

compliance actually

tankards set

appear that

272 1955 Amber

the
brilliancy tried LATE

and

going

T dost

Liekki in X

left age

Species and that

heard
property smuggling

those

Wordje the for

only woman not

Miss So

doubtful of

and variation hairy

as hohes
Oh In and

sininen on that

Zoeten that

Pois by

lower 2 the
another about so

1000

to the

forgive In

special and

years of the

him

ei which

his saddle any

I

forward

be cannot

upper

the femur

69 with have
a pain iron

field

pardon THE

monks Oletko

their to
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebooknice.com