Welcome to Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2015 Essentials. The world of computer-generated (CG) imagery is fun and ever changing. Whether you are new to CG in general or are a CG veteran new to 3ds Max designing, you’ll find this book the perfect primer. It introduces you to the Autodesk 3ds Max software and shows how you can work with the program to create your art, whether it is animated or static in design.
This book exposes you to all facets of 3ds Max by introducing and plainly explaining its tools and functions to help you understand how the program operates—but it does not stop there. This book also explains the use of the tools and the ever-critical concepts behind the tools. You’ll find hands-on examples and tutorials that give you firsthand experience with the toolsets. Working through them will develop your skills and the conceptual knowledge that will carry you to further study with confidence. These tutorials expose you to various ways to accomplish tasks with this intricate and comprehensive artistic tool. These chapters should give you the confidence you need to venture deeper into the feature set in 3ds Max, either on your own or by using any of the software’s other learning tools and books as a guide.
Learning to use a powerful tool can be frustrating. You need to remember to pace yourself. The major complaints CG book readers have are that the pace is too fast and that the steps are too complicated or overwhelming. Addressing those complaints is a tough nut to crack, to be sure. No two readers are the same. However, this book offers the opportunity to run things at your own pace. The exercises and steps may seem confusing at times, but keep in mind that the more you try and the more you fail at some attempts, the more you will learn how to operate the 3ds Max engine. Experience is king when learning the workflow necessary for any software program, and with experience comes failure and aggravation. But try and try again. You will find that further attempts will always be easier and more fruitful.
Above all, however, this book aims to inspire you to use the 3ds Max program as a creative tool to achieve and explore your own artistic vision.
Anyone who is interested in learning to use the 3ds Max tools should start with this book.
If you are an educator, you will find a solid foundation on which to build a new course. You can also treat the book as a source of raw materials that you can adapt to fit an existing curriculum. Written in an open-ended style, Autodesk 3ds Max 2015 Essentials contains several self-help tutorials for home study as well as plenty of material to fit into any class.
You will learn how to work in CG with Autodesk 3ds Max 2015. The important thing to keep in mind, however, is that this book is merely the beginning of your CG education. With the confidence you will gain from the exercises in this book, and the peace of mind you can have by using this book as a reference, you can go on to create your own increasingly complex CG projects.
Hardware changes constantly and evolves faster than publications can keep up. Having a good solid machine is important to production, although simple home computers will be able to run the 3ds Max software quite well. Any laptop (with discrete graphics, not a netbook) or desktop PC running Windows XP Professional, Windows 7, or Windows 8 (32- or 64-bit) with at least 2GB of RAM and an Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo/Quad or AMD Phenom or higher processor will work. Of course, having a good video card will help; you can use any hardware-accelerated OpenGL or Direct3D video card. Your computer system should have at least a 2.4 GHz Core 2 or i5/i7 processor with 2GB of RAM, a few GBs of hard-drive space available, and a GeForce FX or ATI Radeon video card. Professionals may want to opt for workstation graphics cards, such as the ATI FirePro or the Quadro FX series of cards. The following systems would be good ones to use:
You can check the list of system requirements at the following website: www.autodesk.com/3dsmax.
Autodesk 3ds Max 2015 Essentials is organized to provide you with a quick and essential experience with 3ds Max to allow you to begin a fruitful education in the world of computer graphics.
The companion web page to this book at www.sybex.com/go/3dsmax2015essentials provides all the sample images, movies, and files that you will need to work through the projects in Autodesk 3ds Max 2015 Essentials.
The Essentials series from Sybex provides outstanding instruction for readers who are just beginning to develop their professional skills. Every Essentials book includes these features:
You can contact the authors through Wiley or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/3dsMaxEssentials.