The following pages will help you review for the fundamentals exam on Friday, September 10. More importantly, the concepts and skills listed are crucial to success later in the course, and to your use of 3ds Max in the future. 1.   User Interface and Navigation 2.   Creating and Organizing Geometry 3.   Transforming and Modifying Objects 4.   Lighting and [...]

User Inteface and Navigation Concepts & Skills: You should be able to identify and locate: -the menu bar -the file menu (i.e. application button) -the main tool bar -the graphite modeling tools -the command panel -the time and animation controls -the time slider -the status bar -the four standard viewports: top, left, front and perspective [...]

Creating and Organizing Geometry Concepts & Skills: You should be able to identify and locate: -the create tab -the layer manager -the ‘grid and snaps settings’ menu You should be able to: -create basic 2-d and 3-d primitives (e.g. box, square) via: -the mouse -keyboard entry -toggle between shaded and wireframe view (f3) -toggle ‘edged [...]

Transforming and Modifying Objects Concepts & Skills: You should be able to: change the basic parameters (e.g. height, diameter) of an object add segments to an object apply basic transforms (i.e. move, rotate, scale) to an object transform an object using the gizmo restrict a transform to 1 or 2 axes transform an object using [...]

  Lighting and Materials   Concepts & Skills:   You should be able to: toggle the material editor between compact and slate modes create a new material (e.g. arch & design rubber) name a material copy a material assign a material to an object reset a material create a new ‘standard’ material change the color [...]

Creating and Moving Cameras Concepts & Skills: You should be able to: create a free camera create a target camera position the camera body and camera target animate a camera’s movement using keyframes (see animation) animate a camera to move along on a path (spline) attach a camera’s target to an object Resources: Textbook part [...]

Animation Concepts & Skills: You should be able to identify and locate: the time configuration menu the RAM player the time slider You should be able to: animate an object using keyframes (either autokey or set keys) augment an object’s animation by moving keyframes on the timeline animate a camera configure an animation’s frame rate [...]

Editable Mesh/Editable Poly This tutorial describes the process of editing objects as an editable mesh or poly. When creating complex objects the standard primitives are often too simple to create a unique and abstract form. Editable mesh/poly gives you the opportunity to manipulate each component the object is composed of. These are vertices, edges, faces, [...]

NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational Basis Splines) are a type of spline which is particularly useful for modeling smooth 3d surfaces.  The lines themselves, called NURBS curves, are used to create NURBS surfaces or objects.  An overview of NURBS, with links and examples, is available here. In this tutorial, we will use NURBS to create highly curved [...]

A spline is a curved line, defined by three or more vertices.  It can be 2-dimensional, with all its vertices on a single plane, or 3-d. Splines allow the user to create smoothly-curved lines with high precision.  A spline’s shape can be controlled by changing the position, and other properties, of its vertices. In this [...]

This tutorial details the process of creating a digital ‘diorama’ using 3ds Max 2011. The basic idea is to map images onto 2-dimensional planes, and arrange the planes in 3-dimensional space to form the illusion of 3d objects in space.  It is sometimes also necessary to make certain parts of the mapped images transparent, isolating [...]

Open the underwater atmosphere preset to load an optimized light setup. Create a terrain. In this case we use a standard heightfield procedural terrain. Apply a suitable material for the underwater terrain. Create a water plane and adjust the height relative to the terrain. Place the camera below the water plane and above the terrain. [...]

Overview This tutorial describes one set of techniques usable to model a landscape-based scene using 3ds Max, plus Vue xStream as a 3ds Max plug-in. It also involves the importation of objects made in SketchUp. The tutorial assumes a basic understanding of 3ds Max.  The software versions used are 3ds Max Design 2010,  Vue xStream [...]

There are a few ways to create  digital terrain models in 3ds max. Under this posting are a couple brief tutorials on how to quickly create digital models of existing topography.