Introduction

Welcome to Introducing 3ds Max 2011. The world of computer generated imagery (CG) is fun and ever-changing. Whether you are new to CG in general or are a CG veteran new to 3ds Max, you’ll find this book the perfect primer. It introduces you to Autodesk 3ds Max 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 these 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.

Finally, this book explains the 3ds Max workflow. It explains how specific tasks are accomplished and why—that is, it explains how the tasks fit into the larger process of producing 3D animation. By doing that, these chapters should give you the confidence you need to venture deeper into 3ds Max’s feature set, either on your own or by using any of 3ds Max’s other learning tools and books as a guide.

Learning to use a powerful tool such as 3ds Max 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 3ds Max. Experience is king when learning the workflow necessary for any software program, and with experience come 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 3ds Max as a creative tool to achieve and explore your own artistic vision.

What You Will Learn from This Book

You will learn how to work in CG with 3ds Max 2011, but moreover, you will learn how CG works and you will be able to apply the basic techniques and concepts to any software package to accomplish anything you need, from modeling to animation. The important thing to keep in mind 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.

Who Should Read This Book

Anyone who is interested in learning 3ds Max should start with this book. No other series of books provides a better, more solid foundation than the Introducing series. Introducing 3ds Max 2011 will give you more than just the basics of software operation; it will also explain how CG productions are accomplished.

If you are new to CG, or you are a veteran looking to pick up another program, Introducing 3ds Max 2011 will give you the foundation you will need to progress further into Autodesk’s 3ds Max software.

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, Introducing 3ds Max 2011 contains several self-help tutorials for home study, as well as plenty of material to fit into any class.

How to Use This Book

Introducing 3ds Max 2011 approaches teaching CG by first giving you an informal look into the core concepts that make up this art form. The book aims to create a solid reference for you by showing you the commonly used toolsets and interfaces you will need to navigate to accomplish your goal. To reinforce the concepts, Introducing 3ds Max 2011 gives you hands-on exercises and tutorials, letting you flex your muscles and giving you a chance to try for yourself.

The process can be a bit daunting when you begin to learn a CG program. In that light, it’s best to explore the material in this book at your own pace, and allow yourself to digest not just the nuts and bolts, but also the workflow and concepts behind how and why 3ds Max artists work the way they do.

Once you have a firm grasp of the concepts introduced in this book, you will be ready to tackle more advanced material in the form of an intermediate class or even another book. Learning CG is a tough hurdle to get over, and you can rest easy knowing that this book is targeted to give you the tools you need to begin a longer, deeper study of the craft.

How This Book Is Organized

Chapter 1, “Basic Concepts,” begins with an introduction to the basic concepts of CG production as well as its terminology and general workflows and pipelines. This chapter gives you an overview of how CG is created and how 3ds Max relates to the overall process.

Chapter 2, “Your First 3ds Max Project,” creates a simple animation to introduce you to 3ds Max’s workflow and give you a sense of how things work. By animating a simple mobile, you will learn the basic concepts of creating and animating in 3ds Max.

Chapter 3, “The 3ds Max Interface,” presents you with the entire 3ds Max interface and shows you how to access all the tools you will need for a CG production. Beginning with a roadmap of the 3ds Max screen, this chapter gives you a rundown of the icons and explains their uses. You can use this chapter as a reference to which you can return for UI refreshers whenever they’re needed.

Chapter 4, “Modeling in 3ds Max: Part I,” is an introduction to modeling concepts and workflows in general. It shows you how to model using 3ds Max tools with polygonal meshes and modifiers to create various objects, including a bedroom dresser.

Chapter 5, “Modeling in 3ds Max: Part II,” takes your modeling lesson a step further by showing you how to model a complex object. You will use and add to the tools you learned in Chapter 4 to create a toy rocket model. You will learn how to loft and lathe objects, as well as how to use Booleans.

Chapter 6, “Character Poly Modeling,” rounds out your modeling lessons by showing you how to create organic, low polygon count models such as a soldier character you might find in a game.

Chapter 7, “Materials and Mapping,” shows you how to assign textures and materials to your models. You will learn to texture various objects, such as the toy rocket from Chapter 5, as you learn the basics of working with 3ds Max’s materials and UVW mapping. New to this edition is UV and pelt mapping to texture the soldier model, an important step in production.

Chapter 8, “Introduction to Animation,” covers the basics of animating a bouncing ball using keyframes, and moves on to creating a more complex animation such as a knife thrown at a target. You will also learn how to use the Track View—Curve Editor to time, edit, and finesse your animation.

Chapter 9, “Character Studio and IK Animation,” expands on Chapter 8 to show you how to use Character Studio to create and edit a walk cycle using the soldier model. You will also learn how to use 3ds Max’s IK system to rig a tank model’s gun.

Chapter 10, “3ds Max Lighting,” begins by showing you how to light a 3D scene with the three-point lighting system. It then shows you how to use the tools to create and edit 3ds Max lights for illumination, shadows, and special lighting effects. You will light the toy rocket to which you added materials in Chapter 7.

Chapter 11, “3ds Max Rendering,” explains how to create image files from your 3ds Max scene and how to achieve the best look for your animation by using proper cameras and rendering settings. You’ll also learn about different ways to implement raytracing, atmospheric effects, and motion blur when you render the toy rocket. New to this edition is the inclusion of mental ray rendering and a brief intro to HDRI lighting.

Chapter 12, “Particles and Dynamics,” introduces you to 3ds Max’s particle systems and space warps, as well as the reactor physics simulation system. You will animate dynamic objects colliding with one another using rigid body dynamics, and you will learn how to use soft body dynamics.

The companion web page to this book at www.sybex.com/go/intro3dsmax2011 provides all the sample images, movies, and files that you will need to work through the projects in Introducing 3ds Max 2011, as well as a demo version of the program.

Hardware and Software Considerations

Hardware changes constantly, and it evolves faster than publications can keep up. Having a good solid machine is important to a production, although simple home computers will be able to run 3ds Max quite well. Any laptop (with discrete graphics) or desktop PC running Windows XP Professional, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 (32- or 64-bit) with at least 1GB of RAM and an Intel Pentium Core2 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 2.4GHz Core2 or i5/i7 processor with 1GB of RAM, a few GBs of hard drive space available, and an Nvidia GeForce FX or ATI Radeon video card. Professionals may want to opt for workstation graphics cards, such as the ATI FirePro or the Nvidia Quadro FX series of cards. The following systems would be good ones to use:

• Intel i7, 4GB RAM, nVidia Quadro FX 1400, 400GB 7200 RPM hard disk
• AMD Phenom II, 4GB RAM, ATI FirePro V5700, 400GB hard disk

You can check the list of system requirements at Autodesk’s website at www.autodesk.com/3dsmax.

The Next Step

The next step is really up to you. Introducing 3ds Max 2011 is meant to give you a kick-start into learning CG. Your education beyond this primer can be from DVDs, classes, or more books, all bundled with a good amount of playing around and creating your own 3D productions. There is no better way to learn CG than to create something for yourself. Use these tools as a reference to help you get there.