3ds Max 9 Bible

Let me paint a picture of the writing process. It starts with years of experience, which are followed by months of painstaking research. There were system crashes and personal catastrophes and the always-present, ever-looming deadlines. I wrote into the early hours of the morning and during the late hours of the night-burning the candle at both ends and in the middle all at the same time. It was grueling and difficult, and spending all this time staring at the Max interface made me feel like … well… like an animator.

Sound familiar? This process actually isn't much different from what 3D artists, modelers, and animators do on a daily basis and, like you, I find satisfaction in the finished product.

Tutorials aplenty

I've always been a very visual learner-the easiest way for me to gain knowledge is by doing things for myself while exploring at the same time. Other people learn by reading and comprehending ideas. In this book, I've tried to present information in a number of ways to make the information usable for all types of learners. That is why you see detailed discussions of the various features along with tutorials that show these concepts in action.

The tutorials appear throughout the book and are clearly marked with the "Tutorial" label in front of the title. They always include a series of logical steps, typically ending with a figure for you to study and compare. These tutorial examples are provided on the book's DVD to give you a firsthand look and a chance to get some hands-on experience.

I've attempted to "laser focus" all the tutorials down to one or two key concepts. All tutorials are designed to be completed in 10 steps or less. This means that you probably will not want to place the results in your portfolio. For example, many of the early tutorials don't have any materials applied because I felt that using materials before they've been explained would only confuse you.

I've attempted to think of and use examples that are diverse, unique, and interesting, while striving to make them simple, light, and easy to follow. I'm happy to report that every example in the book is included on the DVD along with the models and textures required to complete the tutorial.

The tutorials often don't start from scratch, but instead give you a starting point. This approach lets me "laser focus" the tutorials even more; and with fewer, more relevant steps, you can learn and experience the concepts without the complexity. On the book's DVD, you will find the Max files that are referenced in Step 1 of most tutorials.

In addition to the starting point files, every tutorial has been saved at the completion of the tutorial steps. These files are marked with the word final at the end of the filename. If you get stuck in a tutorial, simply open the final example and compare the settings.

I've put lots of effort into this book, and I hope it helps you in your efforts. I present this book as a starting point. In each tutorial, I've purposely left out most of the creative spice, leaving room for you to put it in-you're the one with the vision.

Seventh time around

This book is now in its seventh edition and, like aged cheese, is getting better with time. This edition is packed with the maximum number of pages that can be bound into a paperback book, so if you're planning on taking a book to read on a subway ride, take this book and leave all the others behind. I'd hate to think that I caused some loyal readers back pain.

Several changes have been made in this edition. First of all, many of the older tutorials have been retired to make room for the new features. I've also included a new Quick Start that takes you through adding hair to a character. I've also made room for several new chapters covering the new features.

Although I've strived to make the book comprehensive, there are some features that have fallen by the wayside and only remain in the software for backward compatibility. The Dynamics utility, for instance, has been replaced with the much more agile reactor system. These deprecated features are mentioned, but not covered in depth. If you need to learn about these features, I suggest you look for a previous edition of the 3ds Max Bible where these older features were covered.

How this book is organized

Many different aspects of 3D graphics exist, and in some larger production houses, you might be focused on only one specific area. However, for smaller organizations or the general hobbyist, you end up wearing all the hats-from modeler and lighting director to animator and post-production compositor. This book is organized to cover all the various aspects of 3D graphics, regardless of the hat on your head.

If you're so excited to be working with Max that you can't decide where to start, then head straight for the Quick Start. The Quick Start is a single chapter-long tutorial that takes you through the creation and animation of an entire scene. This Quick Start was included in response to some feedback from readers of the first edition who complained that they didn't know where to start. For those of you who were too anxious to wade through a mountain of material before you could create something, this Quick Start is for you.

The book is divided into the following parts:

• Quick Start-This single chapter (which is actually a chapter in Part I) is an entire animation project presented in several focused tutorials. It is designed to whet your appetite and get you up to speed and producing animations immediately.

• Part I: Learning the Max Interface-Whether it's understanding the interface, working with the viewports, dealing with files, or customizing the interface, the chapters in this part get you comfortable with the interface so you won't get lost moving about this mammoth package.

• Part II: Working with Objects-Max objects can include meshes, cameras, lights, Space Warps, and anything that can be viewed in a viewport. This part includes chapters on how to reference, select, clone, group, link, transform, and modify these various objects. It also introduces modifiers and the Modifier Stack.

• Part III: Modeling-Max includes several different ways to model objects. This part includes chapters on working with spline shapes, meshes, polys, patches, NURBS, and compound objects like Lofts and Morphs.

• Part IV: Materials and Maps-With all the various materials, maps, and parameters, understanding how to create just what you want can be difficult. These chapters explain all the various material and map types and how to use them.

• Part V: Cameras and Lighting-This part describes how to control and use cameras and the Multi-Pass Camera effects. It also includes coverage on how to create and control the standard lights, as well as coverage on advanced lighting, radiosity, and global illumination.

• Part VI: Animation-To animate your scenes, you'll want to learn about keyframing, Animation modifiers, the Track Views, constraints, and controllers.

• Part VII: Dynamic Animation-This part covers creating animation sequences using physics calculations. It includes coverage of particles, Space Warps, the cool features of reactor, and using forces to animate hair and cloth.

• Part VIII: Characters-I cover creating and working with bipeds, bone systems, rigging, and character crowds. I also provide coverage of the various inverse kinematics methods.

• Part IX: Rendering-To produce the final output, you can render the scene as described in this part. In addition, this part discusses environments, Render Effects, network rendering, raytracing, and mental ray.

• Part X: Post Processing-After a scene is rendered, you can add in special effects and combine shots using compositing. Render Elements allows you to render only certain pieces of a scene. This part also describes the compositing process using the Video Post interface.

• Part XI: MAXScript and Plug-Ins-This part provides details on using Max's scripting language, MAXScript, and on using plug-ins.

• Appendixes-At the very end of this book, you'll find four appendixes that cover the new features of Max 9, installation and system configuration, Max keyboard shortcuts, and the contents of the book's DVD.