The 3D Studio Max application is huge, and it has tremendous flexibility. New users can easily be intimidated by the interface, even if all they want to do is create some animated text. 3D Studio Max 3 Visual QuickStart Guide can help any new user get off the ground and start rendering in a matter of a few hours or less.

This lightweight guide was designed from the ground up for students. It sits comfortably in one's lap, it is easy to get through, and the table of contents is thorough. Too bad it doesn't have a spiral binding--the conventional bookbinding is the only thing keeping it from lying flat, open, and accessible on one's desk.

Each page contains two columns: one for a short, step-by-step tutorial, and the other for matching pictures. About half the pages have tips on things to do and things to avoid for any given topic, some of which may be new to you (using the F5, F6, or F7 commands to constrain the movement of an object to one axis, for example).

The first two chapters cover getting started and navigation and display options. The next three chapters cover creating and distorting a basic shape, followed by a chapter on animation. Do not underestimate these introductory chapters--even jaded, experienced users will likely glean some new keyboard tricks.

The remaining chapters begin to leave the basics behind as they go into more detail on topics like animating, rendering, building complex objects, texturing, and using cameras and lights.

Few book series are as thoughtfully produced as Peachpit Press's Visual QuickStart Guides. Each one is inexpensive, concise, and informative. 3D Studio Max 3 Visual Quickstart Guide is no exception. --Mike Caputo

Book News, Inc.
Introduces the basic concepts and operations for building worlds both real and imagined with the 3D graphics program. The guide shows how to create, model, map, animate, and render objects with the illusion of moving in space. -- Copyright © 1999 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR All rights reserved Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR

Book Description
The market for skilled 3D artists is booming, and the tool-of-the-trade most in demand is 3D Studio MAX, from Kinetix (a subsidiary of Autodesk). This pricey but ubiquitous program is the choice of professional artists (working on Windows NT or 95) everywhere for creating 3D images for print and screen, plus animations for television, movies, and the Web. The addition of the dimension of depth makes 3D software exponentially more complex than normal graphics software, both conceptually and operationally. Factor in the additional dimension of time in the animation component and the complexities go through the roof. This book, like all books in Peachpit's VQS series will be an excellent introduction to 3D Studio MAX 3 for beginners, incorporating lots of step-by-step instructions, with plenty of visual examples. The author is an experienced 3D Studio MAX teacher as well as an accomplished digital artist and her illustrations will be unusually appealing for a book on this subject.

Book Info
Presents a visual approach to learning 3D Studio MAX, using pictures to guide you through the software and show you what to do. Softcover.

From the Back Cover
The market for skilled 3D artists is booming, and the tool-of-the-trade most in demand is 3D Studio MAX, from Kinetix (a subsidiary of Autodesk). This pricey but ubiquitous program is the choice of professional artists (working on Windows NT or 95) everywhere for creating 3D images for print and screen, plus animations for television, movies, and the Web. The addition of the dimension of depth makes 3D software exponentially more complex than normal graphics software, both conceptually and operationally. Factor in the additional dimension of time in the animation component and the complexities go through the roof. This book, like all books in Peachpit's Visual QuickStart series will be an excellent introduction to 3D Studio MAX 3 for beginners, incorporating lots of step-by-step instructions, with plenty of visual examples. The author is an experienced 3D Studio MAX teacher as well as an accomplished digital artist and her illustrations will be unusually appealing for a book on this subject.

Excerpted from 3D Studio MAX 3: Visual QuickStart Guide by Michele Matossian. Copyright © 1999. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
In nature, light flows like a luminous tide, revealing and concealing form. Reflection, refraction, radiation, and diffusion effects appear spontaneously. In the digital world, every effect of illumination has to becalculated. Rendering algorithms, normal alignments, G-buffers, and Z-buffers determine the display of light and shadow. Where calculation fails, the eye of the artist must compensate. The best lighting effects are achieved by artists who make themselves students of nature. Artists who practice painting, photography, and cinematography develop sensitivity, awareness, and a practiced eye. Working with light and shadow has very practical applications. For instance, suppose you create a model of an office building for a prospective client. The client will want to see what it will look like under different lighting conditions. How will the building cast shadows? How will shadows be cast upon it? At what angle will light enter the windows at different times of the day and year? This chapter outlines the light sourcesavailable in 3D Studio MAX and how tocontrol them.Creating LightsYou can create five types of lights in 3D Studio MAX 3. As with cameras, the parameters for the different types of lights are nearly identical. By default, all lights are turned on when you create them. Shadows are turned off by default, except for sunlight system shadows. Omni lights: The omni light is the most generic type of light. Its rays shine in all directions from a single point in space, like a lamp that does not have a shade (Figure 11.1).Default lights: By default, 3D Studio MAX includes a single, dynamically positioned omnilight at the viewer positionin each shaded viewport. Or you can use two omni lights in any viewport. The brighter light, or key light, is positioned above and to the front of the origin. The dimmer light, or fill light, is positioned lower and to the right of the origin. These lights are invisible and unselectable until you add them to the scene.Spotlights: Spotlights illuminate an area within a cone of projection, similar to a stage light. Spotlights, like cameras, come in two varieties. Target spotlights point at a target that you set. Free spotlights have no target, so they can easilybe maneuvered (Figure 11.2).Directional lights: Directional lights have a cone or projection and light controls similar to spotlights. The difference is that directional lights illuminate an entire scene unidirectionally, as if the source is millions of miles away and the rays are traveling parallel to each other. Like spotlights, directional lights can either be targeted or free (Figure 11.3).Sunlight System: This is a hybrid light source that combines a free directional light with a Compass object. The compass helps you orient the light to a specific direction in the scene. The orbital distance, time, and location settings give the sun altitude and place it in the sky at a particular time and geographic location.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The market for skilled 3D artists is booming, and the tool-of-the-trade most in demand is 3D Studio Max, from Kinetix (a subsidiary of Autodesk). This pricey but ubiquitous program is the choice of professional artists (working on Windows NT or 95) everywhere for creating 3D images for print and screen, plus animations for television, movies, and the Web. The addition of the dimension of depth makes 3D software exponentially more complex than normal graphics software, both conceptually and operationally. Factor in the additional dimension of time in the animation component and the complexities go through the roof. This book, like all books in Peachpit's VQS series will be an excellent introduction to 3D Studio Max R2 for beginners, incoporating lots of step-by-step instructions, with plenty of visual examples. The author is an experienced 3D Studio Max teacher as well as an accomplished digital artist and her illustrations will be unusually appealing for a book on this subject.

SYNOPSIS

"3D Studio Max 3: Visual QuickStart takes an easy, visual approach to teaching 3D Studio MAX, using pictures to guide you through the software and show you what to do. It works like a reference book - you look up what you need and then get straight to work with no long-winded passages - concise, straightforward commentary explains what you need to know.

From the Backcover

FROM THE CRITICS

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