Mastering Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010

by Gerhard, Mark; Harper, Jeffrey; McFarland, Jon

• ISBN13: 9780470402344
• ISBN10: 0470402342
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-08
• Publisher: Sybex

Summary

Transform flat drawings and concepts into impressive 3D models with 3ds Max Design 2010 and the comprehensive instruction in this in-depth guide. The expert authors use their real-world experience to show you how to get the most out of Autodesk's powerful visualization tool with this in-depth reference and tutorial.

Author Biography

About the Authors

Mark Gerhard is a 3ds Max Design guru and application engineer. He was one of the first artists hired by Autodesk to test the first version of this software in 1990, wrote many of the tutorials that ship with 3ds Max, and continues to train 3ds Max users.

Jeffery M. Harper uses 3ds Max to create architectural and civil engineering visualizations as well as models, stills and animations used in Computer Based Training Programs.

Jon McFarland uses 3ds Max Design to create visualizations of proposed facility construction and expansions and teaches 3ds Max Design courses at the university level. He has written six books, including AutoCAD 2010 and AutoCAD LT 2010: No Experience Required.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xxi
Getting to Know 3ds Max Design 2010	p. 1
Introducing the New 3ds Max Design 2010 Features	p. 1
Getting Started	p. 4
Touring the Interface	p. 5
The Menu Bar	p. 5
The Quick Access Toolbar	p. 7
The Information Center Toolbar	p. 8
The Main Toolbar	p. 8
Docked and Floating Toolbars	p. 9
Toolbar Flyouts	p. 13
The Viewports	p. 13
Tools for Working with the Viewports	p. 14
Getting to Know the Command Panel	p. 17
Understanding 3ds Max's Tools	p. 18
Working with Objects	p. 24
Selecting and Moving Objects	p. 24
Rotating and Scaling Objects	p. 28
Copying and Object	p. 32
Selecting Multiple Objects	p. 34
Naming Selection Sets	p. 40
Editing Named Selection Sets	p. 41
Getting the View You Want	p. 44
Understanding the Perspective Viewing Tools	p. 44
Using Multiple Viewports	p. 50
Changing the Viewport Display and Configuration	p. 53
Working with the Custom UI and Defaults Switcher	p. 60
The Bottom Line	p. 63
Introducing 3ds Max Objects	p. 65
Understanding Standard Primitives	p. 65
Adjusting an Object's Parameters	p. 67
Accessing Parameters	p. 73
Introducing the Standard Primitive Objects	p. 74
Modeling Standard Primitives with Modifiers	p. 78
Adding a Modifier	p. 78
Accessing Modifier Parameters	p. 81
Placing Modifiers Where You Want Them	p. 84
Using the Modifier Stack Tools	p. 86
How 3ds Max Sees Objects	p. 88
Making Clones That Share Properties	p. 88
Creating an Instance Clone	p. 89
Creating a Reference Clone	p. 91
Scaling and Rotating Objects with Transform Tools	p. 94
Making a Clone Unique	p. 98
Cloning a Modifier	p. 98
Introducing Extended Primitives	p. 101
Modeling a Couch	p. 101
Working with Groups	p. 108
Grouping the Components of the Couch	p. 108
Working Within Groups	p. 110
Disassembling Groups	p. 112
The Bottom Line	p. 113
Creating Shapes with Splines	p. 115
Drawing with Splines	p. 116
Drawing Straight-Line Segments	p. 117
Constraining Lines Vertically and Horizontally	p. 119
Drawing Curves	p. 120
Lathing a Spline	p. 122
Modifying a Shape Using Sub-object Levels	p. 124
Adjusting the Lathe Axis	p. 125
Flipping Surface Normals	p. 127
Smoothing Spline Corners	p. 128
Adjusting Tangent Handles	p. 132
Creating Thickness with a Spline	p. 134
Outlining and Extruding Splines	p. 138
Drawing Accurate Line Splines	p. 138
Giving Walls Thickness	p. 140
Using Grids and Snaps to Align Objects Accurately	p. 142
Adjusting a Wall Location	p. 149
Combining and Extruding Primitive Splines	p. 152
Combining Splines	p. 153
Joining Closed Splines with Boolean Tools	p. 158
Creating a Solid Form with Splines	p. 161
Introducing the Spline Types	p. 165
Editing Splines	p. 169
Placing and Beveling Text	p. 170
The Bottom Line	p. 175
Editing Meshes and Creating Complex Objects	p. 177
Creating Openings in a Wall with Boolean Operations	p. 177
Hiding Shapes That Get in the Way	p. 178
Creating the Shape of the Opening	p. 180
Subtracting the Opening from the Wall	p. 181
Creating Multiple Openings in a Single Wall	p. 184
Making Changes to the Opening	p. 184
Tracing a Sketch	p. 187
Using a Bitmap Image	p. 188
Scaling the Image Plane to the Model's Size	p. 191
Tracing the Image	p. 194
Building Objects from Traced Lines	p. 196
Editing Meshes	p. 205
Creating a Tapered Wall	p. 206
Converting the Spline to a Mesh	p. 209
Moving a Single Mesh Vertex	p. 213
Tapering the Top of the Wall	p. 218
Using Instanced Clones to Create Symmetrical Forms	p. 222
Adding a User Grid to Aid Tracing	p. 223
Building the Tower Walls	p. 224
Adding the Vaulted Ceiling	p. 228
Creating the Smaller Towers	p. 235
Drawing the Remaining Walls	p. 239
Attaching Objects to a Mesh	p. 243
Smoothing Meshes	p. 246
Smoothing within a Mesh	p. 246
The Smooth Modifier	p. 249
Creating Objects Using Box Modeling	p. 251
Preparing a Box for Box Modeling	p. 251
Using the Transform Toolbox	p. 258
Creating Clones with Array and Snapshot	p. 261
Creating a Column Grid With Array	p. 261
Creating a Multitransform Polar Array	p. 265
Creating Multiple Clones Using Snapshot	p. 267
The Bottom Line	p. 270
Creating AEC Objects	p. 271
Creating a Parametric Wall	p. 271
Creating a Parametric Wall	p. 272
Adjusting the Wall's Parameters	p. 274
Adding Doors and Windows to Walls	p. 274
Changing the Door's Parameters	p. 277
Adding Doors to Existing Openings	p. 278
Creating a Parametric Window	p. 281
Changing Elevations with Stairs	p. 283
Setting Boundaries with Railings	p. 288
Adding Foliage to a Scene	p. 292
The Bottom Line	p. 295
Organizing and Editing Objects	p. 297
Naming Objects	p. 297
Renaming the Ceiling Fixtures	p. 302
Organizing Objects by Layers	p. 303
Setting Up Layers	p. 304
Assigning Objects to Layers	p. 305
Assigning Color to Layers	p. 308
Understanding the Icons in the Layer Dialog Box	p. 312
Lofting an Object	p. 313
Setting Up the Shapes to Form the Pedestal	p. 313
Lofting an Object	p. 316
Using Different Shapes along the Loft Path	p. 318
Fine-Tuning a Loft Object	p. 321
Using the Instance Clones to Edit the Loft	p. 327
Using the Noise Modifier	p. 330
Modeling with Soft Selection	p. 332
Extruding with the Sweep Modifier	p. 338
Aligning Objects	p. 341
The Bottom Line	p. 344
Light and Shadow	p. 347
Lighting Your Model	p. 347
Understanding the Types of Lights	p. 347
Adding a Spotlight to Simulate the Sun	p. 349
Moving a Light	p. 351
Editing a Spotlight	p. 353
Changing the Light Type	p. 355
Rendering a View	p. 356
Ambient Light	p. 359
Faking Radiosity	p. 361
Adding a Highlight with an Omni Light	p. 365
Looking at Omni Light Options	p. 369
Adding Shadow Effects	p. 373
Softening Shadow Edges	p. 374
Understanding Shadow Maps	p. 375
Using Ray-Traced Shadows	p. 379
Using Advanced Ray Traced Shadows and Area Shadows	p. 381
Playing in the Shadows	p. 382
Using Two Suns	p. 383
Adding a Second Sun	p. 385
Using Unseen Objects to Cast Shadows	p. 387
Using a Clone to Cast Shadows	p. 389
Using the Light Lister	p. 391
Using Scene States	p. 393
The Bottom Line	p. 396
Enhancing Models with Materials	p. 397
Understanding Bitmap Texture Maps	p. 397
Diffuse Color Maps	p. 398
Surface Properties	p. 402
The Physical Qualities Rollout	p. 403
The Special Effects Rollout	p. 405
Adding Materials to Objects	p. 406
Adding a Map Path to Help 3ds Max Find Bitmaps	p. 406
Understanding Material Libraries	p. 411
Editing Materials	p. 412
Using Bump Maps	p. 413
Creating a New Material	p. 415
Adding Material Mapping Coordinates	p. 417
Understanding Mapping Coordinates	p. 422
What Happens When You Add the Mapping Coordinates	p. 422
Adjusting the UVW Mapping Gizmo	p. 423
Using the Standard Material	p. 430
Map Scalar Modifiers	p. 432
Adding Entourage	p. 435
Hiding Unwanted Surfaces with Opacity Maps	p. 435
Adjusting an Object to a Bitmap Shape	p. 441
Assigning Materials to Parts of an Object	p. 442
Creating a Multi/Sub-Object Material	p. 442
Applying a Submaterial to an Object's Surface	p. 444
Exploring the ProMaterials	p. 447
Adjust the ProMaterial Parameters	p. 448
Using the Material Explorer	p. 450
The Material Utilities	p. 451
Modeling with Displacement Maps	p. 454
Using the Displace Modifier	p. 455
Using the Material Editor to Create Displaced Geometry	p. 457
Converting a Displacement Map into an Editable Mesh	p. 461
Creating an Editable Mesh from a Displacement Map	p. 463
The Bottom Line	p. 465
Using the 3ds Max Camera	p. 467
Understanding the 3ds Max Camera	p. 467
Adding a Camera	p. 468
3ds Max 2010 Viewport Improvements	p. 473
Editing the Camera Location with the Viewport Tools	p. 473
Setting Up an Interior View	p. 478
Creating an Environment	p. 480
Making Adjustments to the Background	p. 482
Immersive Environments for Animation	p. 488
Creating a Believable Background	p. 488
Using a Texture Map and Hemisphere for the Sky	p. 489
Using Render Types	p. 494
Render Elements for Compositing	p. 496
Matching Your Scene to a Background Image	p. 498
Setting Up the Model and the Image	p. 499
Adding the Background Image	p. 500
Adding the Camera Match Points	p. 502
Aligning the Camera Match Points to the Background Image	p. 504
Fine-Tuning a Camera-Matched View	p. 506
Matching the Design Image Quality to the Background	p. 507
The Bottom Line	p. 508
Working with External Files	p. 511
Gaining Access to Materials and Objects from Other Files	p. 511
Arranging Furniture with XRefs and the Asset Browser	p. 519
Replacing Objects with Objects from an External File	p. 521
Substituting Objects for Faster Viewport Performance	p. 523
Importing Files with the Asset Browser	p. 525
Arranging Furniture with XRef Scenes	p. 529
Using the Rendered Frame Window	p. 534
Printing Images	p. 535
Opening Multiple RFWs for Comparisons	p. 535
Zooming, Panning, and Controlling Channels in the RFW	p. 536
Obtaining Colors from External Bitmap Files	p. 538
Using the Asset Browser on the Internet	p. 538
Tracking and Locating a Scene's Assets	p. 541
Creating Panoramas	p. 543
Publishing a DWF File	p. 548
The Bottom Line	p. 551
Using mental ray	p. 553
Understanding mental ray	p. 553
Setting Up mental ray	p. 556
The Material Editor and mental ray	p. 559
Using Photon Maps	p. 563
Testing the Photon Map Effects	p. 565
Final Gathering	p. 579
Reviewing the Basic mental ray Workflow	p. 582
Contour Renderings	p. 583
Using the mr MultiMap Material	p. 587
Skylight Global Illumination	p. 590
Image-Based Lighting and Skylight	p. 593
Using High Dynamic Range Images	p. 596
Using mr Proxy Objects	p. 598
Using Lighting Analysis	p. 601
The Bottom Line	p. 607
Understanding Animation	p. 609
Understanding the World of Video Time	p. 609
Creating a Quick-Study Animation	p. 610
Adding Camera Motion	p. 611
Adjusting the Camera Path	p. 613
Viewing the Camera Path	p. 613
Controlling the Camera Trajectory Visibility	p. 616
Creating a Preview Animation	p. 617
Understanding Keyframes	p. 618
Increasing the Number of Frames in an Animation Segment	p. 621
Accelerating and Decelerating the Camera Motion Smoothly	p. 623
Editing Keyframes	p. 625
Adding More Frames of Additional Camera Motion	p. 627
Adding Frames to the End of Segment	p. 627
Adjusting the Camera Motion Through a Keyframe	p. 629
Compressing and Expanding Time	p. 634
Adjusting the Camera Trajectory Using the Track View	p. 639
Increasing the Number of Frames Between Selected Keys	p. 644
Speeding Up the Preview Rendering Time	p. 645
Adding Frames to the Beginning of a Segment	p. 646
Other Options for Previewing Your Motion	p. 648
Moving the Camera Target over Time	p. 650
Controlling Lights over Time	p. 651
The Bottom Line	p. 654
Creating Animations	p. 655
Rendering the Animation	p. 655
Creating a Study Animation	p. 655
Creating a Quick Overall Study Animation	p. 658
Adding a Moving Car	p. 659
Automating Output of Multiple Still Images	p. 663
Setting Up a Camera for Elevations	p. 664
Setting Up the Four Elevations	p. 665
Rendering a Shadow Study	p. 670
Adjusting for True North	p. 670
Changing from IES Sun to a Standard Light	p. 671
Creating a Walkthrough	p. 673
Fine-Tuning the Camera's Orientation	p. 674
Adjusting the Camera's Timing	p. 676
Adjusting the Path	p. 678
The Animation File Output Options	p. 678
True Color vs. 256 Colors	p. 681
File Naming in Animations	p. 682
Choosing an Image Size	p. 682
The AVI Codecs	p. 683
The Bottom Line	p. 684
Atmospheres, Effects, reactor, and Particles	p. 685
Adding Atmospheres Effects	p. 685
Creating a Volume Light	p. 686
Adjusting the Volume Light Parameters	p. 689
Adding Fog	p. 690
Adding a Fire Effect	p. 695
Using Hair and Fur to Add Grass	p. 700
Adjusting the Hair and Fur Parameters	p. 701
Refining the Ground with the Hair and Fur Parameters	p. 702
Using reactor to Animate Objects	p. 704
Assigning Properties to Simulation Objects	p. 705
Assigning Simulation Objects to a Collection	p. 706
Setting Up and Running the Simulation	p. 707
Refining the Settings	p. 709
Using Particle Systems	p. 710
Creating the Initial Flow	p. 711
Adding and Editing the Operators	p. 713
Adding Materials and Space Warps	p. 715
Adding Deflectors	p. 718
The Bottom Line	p. 721
Using Other Autodesk Applications with 3ds Max Design 2010	p. 723
Creating Topography with Splines	p. 723
Updating Changes from an AutoCAD File	p. 728
Exploring Terrain Options	p. 729
Setting Up an AutoCAD Plan for 3ds Max	p. 732
Importing AutoCAD Plans into 3ds Max Design	p. 738
Extruding the Walls	p. 740
Extruding Exterior Wall Headers	p. 741
Extruding the Mullions	p. 742
Creating Interior Wall Headers	p. 743
Adding Glass	p. 745
Creating a Floor with Openings	p. 747
Exploring the Files Link Manager	p. 752
Editing Linked AutoCAD Files	p. 753
Understanding the Block Node Hierarchy	p. 755
Understanding the File Link Manager Options	p. 757
Understanding File Link Settings	p. 759
Using the Substitute Modifier with Linked Geometry	p. 765
Importing a Truss	p. 767
Importing Revit Files into 3ds Max	p. 770
Export the Revit File	p. 770
Link the Exported File in 3ds Max	p. 772
The Bottom Line	p. 774
The Bottom Line	p. 775
Getting to Know 3ds Max Design 2010	p. 775
Introducing 3ds Max Objects	p. 777
Creating Shapes with Splines	p. 780
Editing Meshes and Creating Complex Objects	p. 782
Creating AEC Objects	p. 785
Organizing and Editing Objects	p. 788
Light and Shadow	p. 794
Enhancing Models with Materials	p. 796
Using the 3ds Max Camera	p. 800
Working With External Files	p. 802
Using mental ray	p. 805
Understanding Animation	p. 809
Creating Animations	p. 813
Atmospheres, Effects, Reactor, and Particles	p. 817
Using other Autodesk Applications with 3ds Max Design	p. 819
Modifiers and Materials	p. 823
Modifiers	p. 823
Selection Modifiers	p. 823
World-Space Modifiers	p. 824
Object-Space Modifiers	p. 827
Materials and Maps	p. 844
Materials (Blue Spheres)	p. 844
Maps (Green Parallelogram)	p. 848
Index	p. 853
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.