The Web-Resources Exchange

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* This is the unofficial Max Faq, written by Stefan Jansson. Unfortunately
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* he was very busy and unable to post it to comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio
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* and alt.3d.studio. I thought that these newsgroups really need a FAQ due
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* to lots of dumb questions who could easily be answered by looking into
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* the manuals.
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* Personally I am not a 3D Guru, so your help and tips are very welcome to
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* keep this FAQ alive. I will do my best to keep the links and topics
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* concerning technical things up-to-date.
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*
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* Have Phun =)
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* MrTux (mrtux@gmx.net)
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Hello all MAX'ers,

Today is Monday and that means another MAX FAQ update. Attached to
this message you'll find the FAQ zipped up. Just un-zip the file
and then open it with Wordpad (if you use Notepad you might end up
without line breakes which is kind of hard for your eyes!).

The latest revision of the FAQ should also be avalible from one of
the five mirror sites:

The Unofficial Max FAQ @
http://go.to/maxfaq (maintained by MrTux)

Jarek Dukat's site:
http://www.nautilus.com.pl/jarek

Davy's MAXForum:
http://www.maxforums.org

Matthew Clementson's site:
http://www.StudioBlue.co.uk/

Laurent M. Abecassis site:
http://maxwizards.virtualave.net/maxfaq.htm

Comments and suggestions are very welcome. Send them to me at

stefan.jansson@era-a.ericsson.se

Think that's all for today. Read and enjoy :-)


Kind regards,

/Stefan Jansson


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* *The Unofficial 3D Studio MAX Frequently Asked Questions*
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* *********************************************************
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* Written By
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* Stefan Jansson
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************************************************************** Public Domain
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*
*
* About the "Warez-Thing"
*
*
*
* alt.3d.studio and comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio are SERIOUS newsgroups.
*
* WE DO NOT GIVE YOU ILLEGAL COPIES OF PIRATED SOFTWARE OR LINKS TO FIND
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* IT IN THE NET. THE SAME GOES FOR SERIAL'S, CD'KEYS, AUTH. CODES ETC.
*
*
*
* For all of you who lost their documentation and any other evidence to show
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* and do a search on 3D Studio MAX or look at chapter 16 of this FAQ (I will
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* update the book reviews as soon as possible).
*
* So these newsgroups are NOT the right place to ask for any kind of warez
*
* thing. Please go elsewhere.
*
* On the other hand please, please stop flaming these warez users cause this
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* will always continue in a neverending thread about the pro's and con's of
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* warez and these newsgroups are NOT the place to discuss this. Just ignore
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* warez posts, please!
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*
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* Stefan has stated this in chapter 2.8 of this FAQ but I found this so
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* important that I put it at the beginnning.
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*
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* Have Phun =)
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* MrTux
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Published: 3/4-00

Revision History:

3/4-00 -

27/3-00 - Nothing new.

20/3-00 - Nothing new.

13/3-00 - Added "3.1 Keyboard shortcuts" with all hotkeys for MAX
R3.x

6/3-00 - Nothing new.

28/2-00 - Added "How do you stop your .WAV file from looping?" to
the sound section "11.1 General"

21/2-00 - Updated section "11.1 General" with the "Foley Studio MAX"
sound plugin. It seems very cool so go and check it out!

14/2-00 - Nothing new.

7/2-00 - Happy 1:st year anniversary "The Unofficial 3D Studio MAX
FAQ"!!! Yes, it's now one year since I started posting the
FAQ to the alt.3d.studio and
comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio
newsgroups. There hasn't been much updates to it the last
few weeks as I'v been busy with other things. Hopefully
this will change.

31/1-00 - Nothing new.

24/1-00 - Nothing new.

17/1-00 - Updated "2.1.3 Version Status" to be R3.1.
- Updated many "R2.5" to be "R3.1"

10/1-00 - Nothing new.

3/1-00 - Nothing new but a small millennium later(!)

27/12-99 - Some spelling errors fixed (thanks Ewald!)

20/12-99 - Nothing new.

13/12-99 - Nothing new.

6/12-99 - Nothing new.

29/11-99 - Nothing new.

22/11-99 - Updated "2.1.4 System Requirements for 3D Studio MAX R2.5"
to be valid for MAX R3
- Updated "2.1.7 Short about 3D Studio Viz" for Viz R3
- Updated "3 The MAX user interface" with information from
Kinetix website.
- Updated "6.2 Mapping technique" with "Is there any
"unwrap" plugins that will unwrap the texture
coordinates?"
- Added section "12.6 How to create gold"
- Updated "16.7 Models" with another link to Star Wars
models
- Updated "16.9 Free Plugins" with an address to Mankua who
gives away the TLUnwrap plugin for free!

15/11-99 - Updated section "10.11 Outputting the animation to video
or film" with "Q: What is the best way to output my
animations to videotape? Least loss??"... it's all about
Digital
Video!!!
- Updated section "16.6 Materials" with another link for
textures
- Updaterd section "6.2 Mapping technique" with an
explanation for transluctant materials
- Updated section "5.2 Shapes" (Can Adobe Illustrator be
used in combination with MAX?) with the decimal separator
problem in Illustrator AI88 files.

8/11-99 - Deleted section "1.6 The Unofficial 3D Studio MAX FAQ
mailing list"
- Added "I have a problem with my R3 dongle" to section
"2.9 Questions about the MAX hardware protection"
- Updated section "5.5 Mesh Modeling" with MAX R3 beveling
info in "Does anyone know how to bevel the edges of a
box?"
- Added the sound plugin flexsound to section "11.1 General"
- Added www.cyba3.co.uk to "16.13 Schools teaching 3D"

1/11-99 - Nothing new.
(I'm back! Will start updatging the FAQ again)

25/10-99 - Nothing new.
(Still in the Philippines!!)

18/10-99 - Nothing new.
(Still in the Philippines!!)

11/10-99 - Nothing new.
(Still in the Philippines!!)

4/10-99 - Nothing new.
(I'm in the Philippines on vacation!)

27/9-99 - Updated "4.2 Basic operations in MAX" with "The axis
restriction doesn't seem to work in MAX3. Is this a bug?"

20/9-99 - Nothing new.

13/9-99 - Nothing new.

6/9-99 - Nothing new.

30/8-99 - Updated section "Outputting the animation to video or
film" with "What is that "Video Color Check" button for?"

23/8-99 - Updated section "10.3.3 What is a "codec" and which one is
- the best?" with the address to CodecCentral.
- Updated section "10.3.3 What is a "codec" and which one is
- the best?" with a list of many codecs and some comments
- Intruduced section "1.8 Abbreviations and terms used in
this FAQ"

16/8-99 - Updated "10.3.3 What is a "codec" and which one is the
best?"
- Updated "16.1 Manuals and books" with what R3 includes

9/8-99 - Updated "2.6 MAX bug report" with "Suddenly I can't rotate
any objects..."

2/8-99 - Updated "2.1.3 Version Status"
- Added "2.2 Buying a second hand MAX copy"
- Updated "2.9 Questions about the MAX hardware protection"
- Added "How do I import Adobe Illustrator paths to 3D
Studio MAX?" to section "13.9 Import/Export other
softwares <->
3D Studio MAX"
- Splitted "15.1 General about the PC system setup and OS"
into sub-chapters.
- Added "Which Service package should I install on top of
Windows NT core?" to section "15.1.1 Running MAX in a
dual-boot setup (Win9x together with Win NT)"
- Added another link to a texture resource for section
"16.6 Materials"

26/7-99 - Updated "2.5 MAX bug report" with "Bad AVI class..."
- Updated "14.2.1 The Basics" with "Can I change controller
types at a certain frame?"

19/7-99 - Updated "2.5 MAX bug report" with a problem with bmm.dll
- Updated "13.7 MAX vs. other 3D software" with how to get
started in the 3D animation business
- Added chapter "17 Miscelaneous" and "17.1 How do I create
a demo reel?"
- Updated "6.1 Basics" with "How do I apply a bitmap to my
3D object?"

12/7-99 - Updated "6.1 Basics" with the difference between Shading
types Blinn, Constant, Phong and Metal
- Added en explanation of "Camera match" to section "9.9
Camera matching / Motion Tracking"
- Added "12.4 How to create ice"
- Updated "15.4 Other additional hardware" with a Q about
Renderdrive

5/7-99 - Added Intel Indeo, Soerensen, Xing and Cinpak to section
"10.3.3 What is a "codec" and which one is the best?"
- Updated "16.2 Magazines" with Design4 (former KTX World)
and 3D Creature Workshop
- Updated "16.3 News" with additional 3D newsgroups
- Updated "16.12 Other related Internet resources" with
Autodesks Q's and A's search engine

28/6-99 - Added "12.17 How to create mist/fog"

21/6-99 - Updated "6.2 Mapping technique" with how to use Alpha
channels
- Updated section "16.6 Materials" with a link to
FreeTextures
- Created section "16.11 On-line chat"

13/6-99 - Updated section "4 MAX Basics" with how to get rid of the
"spalsh" screen when MAX is starting up.

7/6-99 - Nothing new.

31/5-99 - Nothing new.

25/5-99 - Nothing new.

17/5-99 - Introduced the section "2.2 How do I reach Kintetix and
their resellers?"

10/5-99 - Section "5.1 Basics" has been updated with some
suggestions on what methods to use when starting to model.
- Updated "13.2.1 Character Studio" with how to use
Hypermatter together with CharacterStudio.
- Added "13.2.5 The Incredible Commic Shop / Cartoon Reyes"

3/5-99 - Added "10.3.8 About Photoshop plugins in Vidoe Post"
- Added "9.10 Track View"

26/4-99 - 15.2.2 Problem with core.dll an/or I get an "invalid page
fault" introduced
- Whole FAQ has been spellchecked

19/4-99 - Section "4.2 Basic operations in MAX" updated with Array
- Section "9.1 Basics" updated with how to scale animations
- Section "7.2 Working with Lights and shadows" updated with
how to create a flickering light
- Section "15.5 Benchmarking MAX" updated
- Corrected some minor faults

12/4-99 - Minor updates and corrections

5/4-99 - "12.1 Making water in MAX" updated with another example
(A7:)
- Material section "6.1 Basics" updated with "What is a
shader?"
- The presentation of MAX at "2.1 Presentation" is updated

29/3-99 - "2.7 Questions about the MAX hardware protection" updated

22/3-99 - Added "Leadtek" to the "15.2.2 Presentation of...."
section
- Modified the "2.5 The 3D Studio MAX Help system" section

15/3-99 - modified section "15.2.1 An introduction" for graphic
cards
- added "15.2.2 Presentation of different graphic cards"
- added "10.11 Outputting the animation to video or film"

8/3-99 - Section "15.4 Benchmarking MAX" created
- Just minor updates and spelling/grammar corrections

1/3-99 - Added the section "1.6 The Unofficial 3D Studio MAX FAQ
mailing list"
- Added section "1.7 When asking questions in the
newsgroups"

22/2-99 - Added a tip to the section "6.5 Seamless texture bitmaps"
- Added section "16.4 News, Reviews, Galleries and more..."
- Added section "12.16 How to create a pearl necklace"

15/2-99 - Section "10.1 General" updated with explanation of
"Z-buffer"
- Minor things updated and added

8/2-99 - Section "16.11 The "Drained" section - lots of inspiring
3D Artists" added
- Small Q's and A's added from the newsgroups

1/2-99 - Section "6.2 Mapping technique" - added a planar map
technique
- Section "4.2 Basic operations in MAX" - problem when
rotating, problem with axis restriction.
- Section "5.4 Patch modeling" - new basic explanation
- Section "5.6 NURBS Modeling" - Just a note added
- Section "13.7 MAX vs. other 3D software" - MAX vs. AM


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* INDEX
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INDEX
-----

1 About this FAQ
1.1 What is it and where does the information come from
1.2 The Purpose of this FAQ
1.3 Who is maintaining the FAQ
1.4 Disclaimer
1.5 FAQ Internet mirror web sites
1.6 When asking questions in the newsgroups
1.7 Abbreviations and terms used in this FAQ

2 About 3D Studio MAX
2.1 Presentation
2.1.1 First some sales promotion(!)
2.1.2 The "MAX" story
2.1.2 Who uses MAX?
2.1.3 Version Status
2.1.4 System Requirements for 3D Studio MAX R2.5
2.1.5 Pricing
2.1.6 Support forums for 3DS MAX
2.1.7 Short about 3D Studio Viz
2.2 Buying a second hand MAX copy
2.3 How do I reach Kintetix and their resellers?
2.4 3D Studio MAX demos and version updates
2.5 MAX File format
2.6 MAX bug report
2.7 The 3D Studio MAX Help system
2.8 About piracy, cracks, serial numbers and CD-keys for 3D Studio MAX
2.9 Questions about the MAX hardware protection

3 The MAX user interface
3.1 Keyboard shortcuts

4 MAX Basics
4.1 Backups
4.2 Basic operations in MAX

5 Modeling
5.1 Basics
5.2 Shapes
5.3 Primitives
5.4 Patch modeling
5.5 Mesh Modeling
5.6 NURBS Modeling
5.6.1 NURBS Basic explanations
5.6.2 Working with NURBS
5.7 Modeling 3D landscape
5.8 Digitizing real models into 3D format
5.9 Compound Objects
5.9.1 Boolean
5.9.2 Morphing

6 Materials
6.1 Basics
6.2 Mapping technique
6.3 About Raytracing
6.4 Seamless texture bitmaps

7 Lights, shadows and fog
7.1 Lighting - the basics
7.2 Working with Lights and shadows
7.3 Working with Volumetric Lights
7.4 Working with fog
7.5 Lights in animations

8 Particles
8.1 Particle fundamentals
8.2 How to use particles

9 Animating
9.1 Basics
9.2 Forward Kinematic
9.3 Inverse Kinematic
9.4 Real time animation / motion capture
9.5 Dynamics
9.6 Space Warps
9.7 Combustion
9.8 Camera
9.9 Camera matching / Motion Tracking
9.10 Track View

10 Rendering
10.1 General
10.2 Rendering scenes and animations
10.3 Video Post
10.3.1 General about Video Post
10.3.2 How do I create an animation from Video Post?
10.3.3 What is a "codec" and which one is the best?
10.3.4 About Focus / Depth of Field in MAX
10.3.5 About Motion Blur
10.3.6 About Lensflare
10.3.7 About making objects Glow
10.3.8 About Photoshop plugins in Vidoe Post
10.4 VRML
10.5 Virtual sets / MAX animations within live movie
10.6 Network rendering
10.7 Batch rendering
10.8 Render resolutions
10.9 Rendering animations for the WEB
10.10 Problem with the "Rendering Window"
10.11 Outputting the animation to video or film

11 Sound
11.1 General
11.2 Lip synching

12 How to create...
12.1 Making water in MAX
12.2 How to make gas
12.3 How to create glass
12.4 How to create ice
12.5 How to create metal
12.6 How to create gold
12.7 How to create mercury
12.8 How to create mirrors
12.9 How to create sparks
12.10 How to model an hourglass
12.11 How to create an underwater explosion
12.12 How to create lens flare or shiny stars in space
12.13 How to create liquid
12.14 How to create lightning effects
12.15 How do I create a computer mouse?
12.16 How to create smoke
12.17 How to make an object "implode"
12.18 How to create a pearl necklace
12.19 How to create mist/fog

13 Plugins and additional software
13.1 General about Plugins
13.2 Commercial Plugins
13.2.1 Character Studio
13.2.2 Sandblaster
13.2.3 Genesis VFX
13.2.4 Bones Pro
13.2.5 The Incredible Commic Shop / Cartoon Reyes
13.3 Free/shareware plugins
13.3.1 Free Blob/Metaball modeler
13.3.2 How to use Bomb2
13.3.3 How do I create infinite planes?
13.3.4 Description of peoples "favorite" free plugins
13.4 Plugin Manager
13.5 Writing Plugins for 3D Studio MAX
13.6 Additional software
13.7 MAX vs. other 3D software
13.8 Import/Export AutoCad <-> 3D Studio MAX
13.9 Import/Export other softwares <-> 3D Studio MAX

14 MAXScripts and Expression Controllers
14.1 MAXScripts
14.1.1 The Basics
14.2 Expression Controllers
14.2.1 The Basics

15 Hardware and Workstation Setup
15.1 General about the PC system setup and OS
15.1.1 Running MAX in a dual-boot setup
(Win9x together with Win NT)
15.1.2 Running MAX in a dual-CPU system
15.1.3 Running MAX on an overclocked CPU
15.1.4 Running MAX on a non-Intel CPU
15.2 Resource problems with MAX and Win9x
15.2.1 Resource problems
15.2.2 Problem with core.dll
15.3 Graphic cards
15.3.1 An introduction
15.3.2 Presentation of different graphic cards
15.3.2 Which Graphic card shall I buy and what shall I be looking
for?
15.3.3 Can a Voodoo I/II (3DFX) card be used to accelerate MAX?
15.4 Other additional hardware
15.5 Benchmarking MAX
15.6 Video Editing hardware

16 MAX Related Resources
16.1 Manuals and books
16.2 Magazines
16.3 News
16.4 News, Reviews, Galleries and more...
16.5 Tutorials
16.6 Materials
16.7 Models
16.8 Commercial Plugins
16.9 Free Plugins
16.10 Other FAQ's
16.11 On-line chat
16.12 Other related Internet resources
16.13 Schools teaching 3D
16.14 The "Drained" section - lots of inspiring 3D Artists

17 Miscelaneous
17.1 How do I create a demo reel?



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* - 1 - About this FAQ
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1 About this FAQ
----------------

1.1 What is it and where does the information come from
-------------------------------------------------------

This if The Unofficial 3D Studio MAX frequently asked
questions (FAQ). The information found in here originally
comes from posts in the ALT.3D.STUDIO, COMP.GRAPHICS.
PACKAGES.3DSTUDIO and ALT.BINARIES.3DSTUDIO internet
newsgroups.


1.2 The Purpose of this FAQ
---------------------------

The purpose of this FAQ is to spread information on how
to use the 3D Studio MAX application and to let newcomers
to the newsgroups know about already discussed topics.

Hopefully this will lower the number of questions asked over
and over again.


1.3 Who is maintaining the FAQ
------------------------------

The FAQ is for time being maintained by Stefan Jansson.
You can reach me at:

stefan_jansson_@hotmail.com

Suggestions on how to enhance this FAQ together with
news and other information are greatly appreciated.


1.4 Disclaimer
--------------

Please note that the maintainer of this FAQ can't be held
responsible for what's written in the FAQ as most parts
are taken directly from the newsgroups. If you feel that
some aspects or comparisons are wrong please let me know.

All copyrights and trademarks are held by their respective
companies. Products mentioned are not necessarily endorsed.
This FAQ may, and should be freely distributed (no charges
should be made or fees taken for use or viewing of this
document).


1.5 FAQ Internet mirror web sites
---------------------------------

This FAQ is mirrored at the following Internet sites:

Davy's MAXForum:
http://www.maxforums.org

Jarek Dukat's site:
http://www.nautilus.com.pl/jarek

Matthew Clementson's site
http://www.StudioBlue.co.uk/3dsfaq/

1.6 When asking questions in the newsgroups
-------------------------------------------

When you are new to the 3D Studio MAX Internet newsgroups (like
all other newsgroups) you should start by looking at the old
posts before placing your question. Many many times the same
questions are asked over and over again. If you feel that you
are new to MAX and have some basic questions you can almost be
sure that your questions have already been asked and answered.
By quickly browsing through the headers of the old messages you
might save time and some frustration for others. Also don't
forget to scan trough this FAQ as many of the "beginners" questions
are gathered in here.

Another good thing to know is that you should try to avoid
posting binary pictures to a "non-binary" newsgroup. Try putting
your image on a website instead and just refer to it with a
link. This will make people with slow modems more happy.

When reading the messages in the newsgroups you might come
across some abbreviations. Below you find the most common
ones with an explanation to what they mean:

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
IMNSHO = In My Not So Humble Opinion
LOL = Laugh Out Loud
ROTFLMFA = Rolling On The Floor Laughing My F***ing Ass off
AFAIK = As Far As I Know
<g> = grin

:-) = smiling face tipped to the left
:-( = sad face tipped to the left
;-) = smile with a wink tipped to the left

Lastly, try not to SHOUT! Writing with capital letters are considered
shouting and being rude.


Cheers and happy MAXing!

/Stefan


1.7 Abbreviations and terms used in this FAQ
--------------------------------------------

There are quite a few abbreviations used in this FAQ and also in the 3D
"world". This is a comprehensive list of some of the most common terms
and words.

3D Three Dimensional
Discreet Part of Autodesc inc. and the publisher of 3D Studio MAX
KTX Kinetix, today renamed to Discreet
WWW World Wide Web


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* - 2 - About 3D Studio MAX
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2 About 3D Studio MAX
---------------------


2.1 Presentation
----------------

The following paragraphs are taken from http://www.3dartist.com/ and the
Kinetix web site http://www.ktx.com.


2.1.1 First some sales promotion(!)
-----------------------------------

3D Studio Max is published by Discreet (former Kinetix), a division of
Autodesk, Inc.

Move to 3D Studio MAX R3.1

Has your imagination gone beyond what your 3D animation software can do?
Move to 3D Studio MAX R3.1 from Kinetix, the leading 3D software package on
the NT platform. In its first year, 3D Studio MAX outsold every other
professional 3D package. Now it's even better. Faster. More powerful. Packed
with over 1000 new features and enhancements. The second release of
3D Studio MAX is a powerhouse package for film and video production:
balanced
for superb image quality, speed, freedom of animation, and world-class
special effects, all within a rich and accessible development environment.
For games development, 3D Studio MAX raises the bar for interactivity and
excitement, combining stunning effects with new levels of openness,
extensibility, fast modeling, and interactivity all in one highly
cost-effective package.

Defining the Edge

3D Studio MAX is production proven, delivering the results you need to win
in this business. While every other package is re-tooling to become object-
oriented, 3D Studio MAX is already in its second-generation Windows NT
release.
It's object-oriented architecture is perfect for this fast-changing industry
because it enables developers and Kinetix to create startling new features
and plug-in applications that quickly integrate into the core package.
With more than one hundred plug-ins on the market, new ones coming out
all the time, and the ability to create your own, you'll always be on
the leading edge.

MAXimum Animation
3D Studio MAX makes it easy for you to animate everything! Immediate visual
feedback makes it the most intuitive package around, freeing you to
concentrate on what you want to create instead of the steps you have
to take to build it.
You don't have to transition between subsystems; everything's fully
integrated. You can translate your creative ideas into astonishing results,
model beautifully smooth NURBS-based forms, animate with advanced dynamics
and
particle systems, and combine selective raytracing with optical effects to
render the highest-quality animation for film and television production. 3D
Studio MAX also makes it easy to integrate 3D scenes for seamlessly
composited video and film by matching scene cameras to those in the real
world, with 3D motion tracking, camera matching, using audio cues to
time events, and rendering post effects based upon 3D scene information.

MAXimum Power
3D Studio MAX is fully multi-threaded, harnessing the power of multiple
processors and free network rendering for incredible scalability. OpenGL and
Direct3D[tm] support ensure the fastest hardware-assisted graphics to
visualize your ideas quickly. Super-fast and beautiful scanline rendering,
with the ability to selectively raytrace any part of the scene, helps you
create spectacular images while meeting deadlines. MAXScript, a powerful
scripting language for customized control and external communication,
accelerates your workflow. Fast drag-and-drop control of materials, maps,
and models creates a fluid work environment. 3D Studio MAX software
leverages the NT platform for you, providing a solid, cost-effective
solution
for you to grow your business.

Create, Produce, Astonish!
3D Studio MAX software leverages the NT platform for you, providing a
solid, cost-effective solution for you to grow your business. So if you're
serious
about staying on the edge, take a look at 3D Studio MAX. You don't have to
wait for other packages to switch to new architectures and add in the
features you need. 3D Studio MAX is ready for you now.


2.1.2 The "MAX" story
---------------------

The following sections are taken from the Kinetix website.

When 3D Studio MAX was released in the Spring of 1996, it delivered the
first object oriented animation system designed for Windows NT. While many
were
taken with its unified interactive environment, or the ability to animate
virtually anything and revisit operations at any time, 3DS MAX's thorough
extensibility was probably its most important innovation. Studios quickly
developed custom production tools, game developers forged conduits to their
engines, and scores of seamless plug-in products were available to the
rapidly growing MAX community in less than a year.

The MAX Team rapidly built upon the solid 3D Studio MAX foundation,
delivering a feature rich Release 2 just 18 months after MAX first shipped,
and
following that with an impressive Release 2.5 a mere 7 months later. While
it may
have appeared to some that 3DS MAX simply achieved feature parity with some
older
3D systems, those using it realized those same abilities delivered
substantially more power and possibility when integrated into MAX's unified,
objectoriented NT environment. That fact was certainly not lost on many, as
MAX
has become the chosen tool for over 90,000 animators around the world.

Now, just 3 years after 3DS MAX was first available, and less then one year
after R2.5, Kinetix is proud to announce 3D Studio MAX Release 3 - a very
significant release that revolutionizes the workflow and productivity of
animators and studios alike. While the 3D Studio MAX architecture has served
well, the growing needs of animators and the competitive nature of their
industry showed Kinetix that improvements to core areas were needed to
ensure MAX artists would continue having what they required to stay in the
lead for the years ahead in both efficiency and capabilities. MAX R3 does
not
shy away from large issues or answer problems with work-arounds - it
delivers
fundamental architectural innovations, and significant workflow improvements
that take advantage of those innovations, to deliver an outstanding creative
tool for 3D animation.


2.1.2 Who uses MAX?
-------------------

Recently, 3D Studio MAX and other Discreet software has been used to create
such premiere productions as the motion pictures "Lost in Space" and "Deep
Rising," television's "Ally McBeal" and "Van-pires," and broadcast
commercials for Cap'n Crunch, NFL on FOX, Stick-Ups and Schick razors.

Using 3D Studio MAX, a host of game developers have produced some of today's
hottest interactive entertainment titles, including "Tomb Raider I and II",
"Red Alert", Duke Nukem A Time to Kill", "Diablo" and "Warcraft".


2.1.3 Version Status
--------------------

3D Studio Max release 3.1 is the current version. Upgrade price from version
2.5 costs about $795 and a new full license is ~$3500. If you are a student
you can get the "Student" license to a reduced price (see the "3D Studio MAX
demos and version updates" section below). Note that upgrading from R3 to
R3.1
is free!


2.1.4 System Requirements for 3D Studio MAX R3.1
------------------------------------------------

* Intel-compatible processor at 200 MHz minimum (thoroughly multi-threaded
to take full advantage of multiple processor systems; dual Pentium II
system recommended)
* 128 MB RAM minimum
* 250 MB HD Swap File (amount depends on scene complexity)
* Graphics card supporting 1024x768x16-bit color. (OpenGL and Direct3D
hardware acceleration supported, 24-bit color, 3D graphics accelerator
preferred)
* Windows-compliant pointing device (specific optimization for Microsoft
Intellimouse)
* CD-ROM drive

* Optional: sound card and speakers, cabling for TCP/IP-compliant
network, 3D hardware graphics acceleration, video input and output
devices, joystick, midi-instruments, 3-button mouse.


2.1.5 Pricing
-------------

Full professional licens; U.S. list price is $3,495. Pricing "on the street"
is around $2,900. Upgrade U.S. list price from MAX R2 is ~$795. Talking
about
3D Studio MAX R3 the list prices that was presented at the Game Developers
Conference are:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
YOU HAVE | YOU WANT
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
| MAX R3 New MAX R3 Upgrade* MAX R3 Transfer** MAX
R2.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
{nothing} | $3,495.00
$3,495.00
3DS MAX R2.x | $795.00
3DS MAX r1.x | $1,495.00
$895.00
3DS DOS R1-R4 | Ask Kinetix
$2,495.00
3DS VIZ R1-R2 | $2,000.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
* Upgrades allow the previous hardware lock to be maintained (kept)
** Transfers require a surrender of previous product's hardware lock

The "Education" license for MAX R3.1; U.S. list price is $998.98. You do
need to prove that you are a student and sign an Autodesk Application
Agreement
form. There are also some bundle packages that includes plugins such as
Character
Studio and Painter 3D. Check Kinetix web site for more up to date
information.

Contact dealers who advertise in 3D Artist to comparison shop. Beyond
initial price, keep in mind the value a good dealer can provide to you in
terms of technical support and follow-on service, including speed of
delivery when
you need some add-on product.

*** IMPORTANT ***

Discreet/Kinetix also started to use a "territory" system which limits you
to by the software from only the dealers closest to you. Give Kinetix a
ring and get the full story to be sure before you shop around.


2.1.6 Support forums for 3DS MAX
--------------------------------

KTX webboard at http://support.ktx.com/. The webboard features the following
sections where you can read and place questions:

- Plugins Tech Support Forum
- Forum Guidelines
- Newsflash and Press Releases
- FAQ's
- Installation and Setup
- Documentation
- Tutorials
- General Support
- MAX 2.5 Support
- Hardware
- Networks
- NURBS
- Plug-ins
- Digimation Tech Support
- Character Studio
- Support Uploads
- Support Downloads
- Documentation Downloads
- Images Library
- Animations Library
- MAX Scenes Library
- MAXScript
- SDK Support
- 3DSMAX R2 Diner
- Job Postings / Resumes
- Seeking Customer Success Stories
- Logos and Signature File Library

This is an enormous source of information. You can either logon as "Guest"
which gives you read-access or apply for a read-write account if you want
to place your own questions.

2.1.7 Short about 3D Studio Viz
-------------------------------

Kinetix has been shipping 2D Studio Viz R3.0 since about September 99. The
list price for a single user license is about U.S. $1,995(?). Check the
Kinetix web site for more information.


2.2 Buying a second hand MAX copy
---------------------------------

Autodesk (Kinetix/Discreet) will not allow -anyone- to transferre their
3D Studio MAX licese to someone else. This means that you as a second hand
owner of MAX are not allowed to participate in their upgrading program with
discounted prices. You have to pay the full price for the next release of
MAX. Do research this statement before buing any second hand copy or you
might end up with a non-upgradable license.


2.3 How do I reach Kintetix and their resellers?
------------------------------------------------

On the Internet
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kinetix in general can be reached on the Internet at:

http://www.ktx.com

For bug reporting go to:

http://www.ktx.com/cgi-win/polyform.exe/bugform

You can send Kinetix feedback at:

http://www.ktx.com/cgi-win/polyform.exe/feedback

If you want to talk to Kinetix sales, send the mails to:

peter.burval@autodesk.com


Resellers via FAX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From outside the United States and Canada, fax your request for

information to:

1-415-507-6110 Latin America Fax

1-408-517-1748 Asia Pacific Fax

+331-45-11-50-32 Europe, Middle East and Africa Faxs


2.4 3D Studio MAX demos and version updates
-------------------------------------------

Q: Is there a demo of 3D Studio MAX Rx.x available?

A: No. Today there is only a full retail version and a student version of 3D
Studio MAX. Both costs money. The limitations on the student version is that
you can not use it for commercial purpose but otherwise it's a full featured
version (i.e. no parts are taken out) and by the way, it DO come with real
manuals. The student version just shows a splat screen when you start MAX
that states that the version is not for commercial purpose.

In the past two years I believe they've changed the rules regarding 3DS Max
student licenses -- they are non-transferable, meaning you can't sell your
copy once you've bought it (you can sell the professional version). The good
news is that upgrading to a professional license from a student license is
cheaper than buying a new professional license -- or so the salesperson
told.

Other than the actual applications the best you can manage without having to
pay anything is a non-interactive demo CD that Kinetix will send you for
free if you ask on their site www.ktx.com. Perhaps you can get a reseller
to show you the program in action, but there are no guarantees.


---

Q: Is there any significant addition to 3.1? I have rX, Necessary to
upgrade?

A: Go and check all the new features at:

http://www.ktx.com/3dsmaxR3/html/whats_new.html


2.5 MAX File format
-------------------

Q: Where can I find the file format for 3D Studio MAX Rx.x?

A: 3D Studio MAX uses a -very- complex file format. More complex and totally
different from the previous 3D Studio DOS version. The 3D Studio DOS file
format can be found at www.wotsit.org but no one has up till now come with a
clear and complete description of the 3D Studio MAX file format. This is why
most 3rd party applications uses plug-ins to MAX instead of an "import"
function.


---

Q: How to convert 3D Studio files to MAX file format?

A1: This is exactly what the help file says in 3D Studio MAX release 1,
about the 3DS format. Anyway, I do not want to have a discussion about
what the help file says. I just would like someone to tell me how to
make a 3DS file with UV co-ordinates, and I know is possible because
I have some samples.

When you import a 3DS file, you get the following:

- Backgrounds (solid, gradient, and bitmap).
- Fog, Layered Fog, and Distance Cue.
- Ambient light level.
- Subtractive transparency is converted to 3DS MAX "Filter" transparency
and the filter colour is set equal to the diffuse colour.
- Transparency falloff settings.
- All map channels that are enabled. Map channels that are turned off in
the .3DS file do not import into 3D Studio MAX.
- All map parameters, including UV transforms, Negative, Mirror, and
Rotation. Some Map Parameters such as Blur, Luma, and RGB and Alpha work
much differently in 3DS MAX. These values are converted to new values that
produce a similar affect.

- Mask bitmaps are imported as a 3DS MAX mask texture.
- When materials with both Texture 1 and Texture 2 are imported, a
composite texture is created and added to the Standard materials Diffuse
channel.
- Reflection maps, auto-cubics and mirrors.
- Automatic reflection map Nth frame and Map Size settings.
- SXP translation for Marble and Noise materials.
- 3DS/DOS IK joint parameters.
- 3DSurfer patch data.

The following information is not imported in a 3DS file:

- Morph keys
- Keyframer instances
- Map channels that are turned off
- Custom .cub-format cubic maps
- Decal transparency using the RGB colour of the upper-left pixel of the map

A2:

I'd just upgraded from 3D Studio MAX r1.2 to R2 and I have some projects
that I want to continue with but for some reason the 1.2 files are in
a .3DS format and R2 says that it can't recognize them.

Is there anything I can do?

Use File\Import instead of File\Open!


2.6 MAX bug report
------------------

Q: Objects move when the Transform type in is brought up!

A: This is a pretty major bug with Max from version 1 and through to 2.5 and
Viz 2.

When you right click one of the transform buttons to bring up the transform
type-in, the x co-ordinate in world space is often highlighted, when I go to
the x box for screen space (or whatever co-ordinate system I have chose)
sometimes the object, and the numbers change or move. I haven't worked out
when exactly or why it does this, it appears that it is less likely with
multiple selections. Either way it is a serious bug, I have to undo this
slight move if I am lucky enough to spot it happening. At best it is
inconvenient, at worst my model is not accurate which in my work
(architectural and interior) is not an option.

In fact there seems to be an issue with all the dialogs in Max and moving
your cursor to and from them and working with the objects.


---

Q: Suddenly I can't rotate any objects in MAX 2.x any more! What has
happend?

A: It happens sometimes. Go to File | Preferences | Viewports | Move/Rotate
Transforms and check the 'Rotation increment' parameter. I should be 0.5,
but sometimes 3D Studio MAX sets it to 0.0. If MAX has other strange
settings,
try deleting the 3smax.ini file and restart the application. MAX will then
re-create the .ini file with it's initial values.


---

Q: I have a problem with the Sentinel driver and my parallel port

A: There is a serious, though fortunately not widespread, bug whereby the
Sentinel (dongle) drivers have problems interfacing with some parallel ports
on certain machines. The symptom is about a 10-second delay in mouse
movements. There are a number of threads on the subject in the Kinetix
On-Line 3DS Max
R2 channel. And Kinetix says it is hard at work on solving this problem as
quickly as possible.


---

Q: When using MAX and Photoshop at the same time I get an "The dynamic link
library bmm.dll could not be found in..." error.

When I have MAX and Photoshop both open and I press any key while in
Photoshop. I get an error message which reads: "The dynamic link library
bmm.dll could not be found in the specified path -
D:\3dsmax2.5\stdplugs;,;
E:\WINNT\System32;E:\WINNT\system;E:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 5.0;
E:\WINNT\system32;E:\WINNT ..." and then there must be more but the
message box runs out of room.

This is not a Photoshop problem. I have seen it with different programs.
It is not caused by MAX itself, but by the MAX's Asset Manager. If you
close the AM before switching to PS (Alt+Tab), the error will not occur.
I remember reporting the problem to Ktx, and AFAIK it will not happen
in MAX R3.


---

Q: Why do I get the message "Bad AVI class..." when I try to render my
anim.?

A: There is a bug-fix for that at Kinetix website.


2.7 The 3D Studio MAX Help system
---------------------------------

Q: Can Netscape be used instead of Internet Explorer for the MAX Help
System?

Can I use Netscape instead of Explorer for viewing the helping support
in MAX? If I must use only Explorer can I use the very first versions?

A: I think you cannot use Netscape for this, because it's a compiled html-
format for IE only. It's not very wise and nice of Kinetix to put this "must
for beginners" in there (in dependency with IE4) though it slows down your
whole system.

There are two files on the MAX CD called HH.exe and HHCTRL.OCX. These files
are standard for Win98 (where a good part of the MS documentation is in CHM
format). You will get them automatically with all newer SDKs from Microsoft
(like DirectX and MSDN Library), and they also come together with those
"electronic books" (book contents on accompanying CD). One example is the
latest "Programming Windows" (Charles Petzold). Alas, I'm afraid these two
files won't make it without the IE4. The Petzold book CD states, for
example,
"you will need the latest version of IE to use this electronic book" -- and
includes an IE 4.01 setup in fifteen or so languages.


Heard of a file on the MAX CD (sth with hhie4 or so) which can replace IE.
Have a look.


2.8 About piracy, cracks, serial numbers and CD-keys for 3D Studio MAX
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Both the ALT.3D.STUDIO and COMP.GRAPHICS.PACKAGES.3DSTUDIO are "serious"
newsgroups and it will never pay off to place questions on how to find
cracked versions of either 3D Studio MAX or any other plugins/applications.
The same goes for serial numbers or CD keys. Please take your questions to
one of the "warez" newsgroups, and yes, the "Z" in the end of "warez" stands
for pirated software (as well as appz, serialz and crackz). Now we have said
it once and there's no need for repeating it, OK?!


2.9 Questions about the MAX hardware protection
-----------------------------------------------

Q: Can I move my hardware dongle between machines?

A: Yes. As long as you have one dongle connected to the machine that you are
working on for the moment you can run MAX.


---

Q: Can I start MAX on one machine with the dongle connected and then move
the dongle to another machine?

A: No. MAX scans for the dongle periodiclly and not just when starting up.


---

Q: Do I have to send my old dongle back to Kinetix whan upgrading MAX?

A: Some people have been asked to send their old dongle back and some
have not. You better check with Kinetix what's the deal for your specific
country/area. If they ask for your old dongle back be aware of that your
old version of MAX will not run, neither will any of the old plugins.


---

Q: Can I have more than one hardware dongle connected to the same machine?

(i.e. a hardware dongle for both MAX 1.x and 2.x)

A: Yes. Read your manuals for the correct order of plugging your dongles in.


---

Q: Can I use my old version of MAX with just my new dongle plugged in?

A: No.


---

Q: I have problem with my R3 dongle.

A: Yes, they've made a bunch of bad ones. Go to

http://www.ktx.com/hardware_lock_notice.html

for the details on getting a replacement.

---

Q: Is it possible to buy another hardware protection dongle from Kinetix?

I haven't had the need, but can't you buy a second dongle from
Kinetix? I'm sure if you're a registered user, they'll oblige. 'Course,
it'll probably cost you, but then again it'll save you time and
aggravation...

A: No - that is not how it works. The dongle is designed to stop you from
using the one license in two places. Why should Kinetix give a second dongle
unless you purchase a second license?

Do like I do. Take the dongle in to work in the morning - and bring it home
at night. No big deal. Kinetix will not replace the dongle in the case of
theft, fire, etc. You must insure for the cost of a new license. This is
stated near the back of the 2.5 user guide I believe.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 3 - The MAX user interface
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


3 The MAX user interface
------------------------

Since MAX R3 was released the userinterface is now highly customizable.
The following section is taken from the Kinetix website.

Custom User Interfaces (CUI) can be defined, saved, and recalled when needed
to accommodate the tastes of individual artists or the needs of specific
tasks.
The CUI layouts include the position and display of major 3DS MAX interface
elements (e.g., toolbar, command panel, etc.), custom toolbar definitions
and positions, button and icon definitions, tooltips, scripts, and color
infor-
mation. The CUI layouts are transportable files and are accessible from
across the network to ensure artists have the layout they need when they
need it.
Any number of custom toolbars can be created with any number of custom
buttons.
Toolbars can float, dock, or be placed in the Tab Bar for convenient access.
Individual toolbars can be hidden and recalled as needed. Custom Buttons can
reference keyboard shortcut actions, macros, or scripts and may have custom
tooltips and images for easy recognition. Button faces can be text or have
a customizable icon image (hundreds included). Buttons can be dragged and
dropped between toolbars for rapid creation. Button images are high quality,
24-bit color with 8-bit masks to work seamlessly with your choice of Windows
Interface colors. Buttons can be small (traditional MAX) or large (the new
default) to comfortably accommodate a range of display resolutions.

3.1 Keyboard shortcuts
----------------------

The following list is the hotkeys defined by default in MAX R3.x. This list
was extracted and refined by Chris (krice@pkd.org). Thanks Chris!


(t) = toggleable command

command: -> keyboard shortcut


---------- Main U.I. ----------


Adaptive Degradation (t) -> o
Adaptive Perspective Grid Toggle -> Shift+Ctrl+a
Align -> Alt+a
Angle Snap (t) -> a
Animation Mode (t) -> n

Background Lock (t) -> Alt+Ctrl+b
Backup Time One Unit -> ,

Change to Back View -> k
Change to Bottom View -> b
Change to Camera View -> c
Change to Front View -> f
Change to Isometric User View -> u
Change to Left View -> l
Change to Perspective User View -> p
Change to Right View -> r
Change to Spot/Directional Light View -> Shift+4
Change to Top View -> t
Change to Track View -> e

Cycle Selection Method -> Ctrl+f
Cycle Subobject Level -> Insert
Cycle Through Snaps -> Alt+Space

Default Lighting (t) -> Ctrl+L
Disable Viewport -> d

Display Cameras (t) -> Shift+c
Display Edges Only (t) -> Ctrl+e
Display First Tab -> Alt+1
Display Geometry (t) -> Shift+O
Display Grids (t) -> g
Display Helpers (t) -> Shift+h
Display Lights (t) -> Shift+l
Display Particle Systems (t) -> Shift+p
Display Safeframes (t) -> Shift+f
Display Select-By-Name Dialog -> h
Display Space Warps (t) -> Shift+w

Edged Faces (t) -> F4
Expert Mode (t) -> Ctrl+x

Fetch -> Alt+Ctrl+f
Forward Time One Unit -> .
Freeze Selection -> 6

Go to End Frame -> End
Go to Start Frame -> Home
Grid Display All (t) -> Shift+g

Hide Command Panel (t) -> 3, q
Hide Floating Toolbars (t) -> 4
Hide Main Toolbar (t) -> Alt+6
Hide Tab Panel (t) -> y, 2
Hold -> Alt+Ctrl+h

Interactive Pan -> i
Interactive Zoom In -> [
Interactive Zoom Out -> ]

Lock User Interface (t) -> Alt+0

Match Camera To View -> Ctrl+c
Material Editor -> m
Maximize View (t) -> w
MAXScript Listener -> F11

New Scene -> Ctrl+n
Normal Align -> Alt+n
Nudge Grid Down -> Numpad -
Nudge Grid Up -> Numpad +
NURBS Shaded Lattice Toggle -> Alt+l, Ctrl+4
NURBS Tessellation Preset 1 -> Ctrl+1
NURBS Tessellation Preset 2 -> Ctrl+2
NURBS Tessellation Preset 3 -> Ctrl+3

Offset Snap -> Alt+Ctrl+Space
Open File -> Ctrl+O

Pan View -> Ctrl+p
Percent Snap (t) -> Shift+Ctrl+p
Place Highlight -> Ctrl+h
Play Animation -> /

Quick Render -> Shift+q

Redo Scene Operation -> Ctrl+a
Redo Viewport Operation -> Shift+a
Redraw All Views -> 1
Render Last -> Shift+e, F9
Render Scene -> Shift+r, F10
Restrict Plane Cycle -> F8
Restrict to X -> F5
Restrict to Y -> F6
Restrict to Z -> F7
Rotate View Mode -> Ctrl+r, v

Save File -> Ctrl+s
See-Through Display (t) -> Alt+x
Select Ancestor -> PageUp
Select Children -> PageDown
Selection Lock (t) -> Space
Shade Selected Faces (t) -> F2
Show Last Rendering -> Ctrl+i
Snap (t) -> s
Sound (t) -> \
Spacing Tool -> Shift+i
SubObject Selection (t) -> Ctrl+b

Texture Correction -> Ctrl+t
Transform Gizmo (t) -> x
Transform Gizmo Size - -> -
Transform Gizmo Size + -> =
Transform Type-In -> F12

Undo Scene Operation -> Ctrl+z
Undo Viewport Operation -> Shift+z
Unfreeze All -> 7
Unhide by Name -> 5
Update Background Image -> Alt+Shift+Ctrl+b

Viewport Background -> Alt+b
Viewport Box Mode (t) -> Shift+b

Virtual Viewport (t) -> NumPad 1
Virtual Viewport Pan Down -> NumPad 2
Virtual Viewport Pan Left -> NumPad 4
Virtual Viewport Pan Right -> NumPad 6
Virtual Viewport Pan Up -> NumPad 8
Virtual Viewport Zoom In -> NumPad 7
Virtual Viewport Zoom Out -> NumPad 9

Wireframe / Smooth+Highlights (t) -> F3

Zoom Extents All -> Shift+Ctrl+z
Zoom Extents -> Alt+Ctrl+z
Zoom In 2X -> Shift+Numpad +
Zoom Mode -> z
Zoom Out 2X -> Shift+Numpad -
Zoom Region Mode -> Ctrl+w


---------- Track View ----------


Add Keys -> a

Backup Time One Unit -> ,

Edit Keys Mode -> e
Edit Ranges Mode -> F3
Edit Time Mode -> F2

Expand Object Toggle -> o
Expand Track Toggle -> , t

Forward Time One Unit -> .
Function Curves Mode -> F5, f

Lock Selection -> Space

Move Highlight Down -> Down Arrow
Move Highlight Up -> Up Arrow

Nudge Keys Left -> Left Arrow
Nudge Keys Right -> Right Arrow

Position Ranges Mode -> F4

Redo Scene Operation -> Ctrl+a
Render Last -> F9
Render Scene -> F10

Scroll Down -> Ctrl+Down Arrow
Scroll Up -> Ctrl+Up Arrow

Undo Scene Operation -> Ctrl+z


---------- Material Editor ----------


Render Last -> F9
Render Scene -> F10

Undo Scene Operation -> Ctrl+z


---------- Schematic View ----------


Backup Time One Unit -> ,

Forward Time One Unit -> .

Redo Scene Operation -> Ctrl+a

Undo Scene Operation -> Ctrl+z


---------- Video Post ----------


Add Image Filter Event -> Ctrl+f
Add Image Input Event -> Ctrl+i
Add Image Layer Event -> Ctrl+l
Add Image Output Event -> Ctrl+o
Add New Event -> Ctrl+a
Add Scene Event -> Ctrl+s

Edit Current Event -> Ctrl+e
Execute Sequence -> Ctrl+r

New Sequence -> Ctrl+n

Undo Scene Operation -> Ctrl+z


---------- NURBS ----------


Affect Region -> Alt+a

CV Constrained Normal Move -> Alt+n
CV Constrained U Move -> Alt+u
CV Constrained V Move -> Alt+v

Display Curves -> Shift+Ctrl+c
Display Dependents -> Ctrl+d
Display Lattices -> Ctrl+l
Display Shaded Lattice -> Alt+l
Display Surfaces -> Shift+Ctrl+s
Display Toolbox -> Ctrl+t
Display Trims -> Shift+Ctrl+t

Local Select Sub-Object By Name -> Ctrl+h
Lock 2D Selection -> Space

Select Next in U -> Ctrl+Right Arrow
Select Next in V -> Ctrl+Up Arrow
Select Previous in U -> Ctrl+Left Arrow
Select Previous in V -> Ctrl+Down Arrow
Select Sub-Object By Name -> h

Set Custom Tessellation -> Alt+4
Set Tessellation Preset 1 -> Alt+1
Set Tessellation Preset 2 -> Alt+2
Set Tessellation Preset 3 -> Alt+3

Switch To Curve CV Level -> Alt+Shift+Z
Switch To Curve Level -> Alt+Shift+c
Switch To Imports Level -> Alt+Shift+i
Switch To Point Level -> Alt+Shift+p
Switch To Surface CV Level -> Alt+Shift+v
Switch To Surface Level -> Alt+Shift+s
Switch To Top Level -> Alt+Shift+t

Transform Degrade -> Ctrl+x


---------- Edit/Editable Mesh ----------


Attach Mode -> Shift+a
Auto Edge -> Shift+v
Auto Smooth -> a

Bevel Mode -> Shift+b
Break Vertices -> b

Collapse -> l
Create Mode -> c
Cut Mode -> Shift+c

Delete Isolated Vertices -> r
Detach -> t
Divide Mode -> d

Edge Invisible -> i
Edge Level -> 2
Edge Turn -> Shift+t
Edge Visible -> v

Element Level -> 5
Explode -> x
Extrude Mode -> e

Face Level -> 3
Flip Normals -> f

Hide Selected -> h

Ignore Backfacing in Selections -> Ctrl+b
Ignore Visible Edges (for Polygons) -> Ctrl+i

Next Subobject Level -> +

Object Level -> 6

Polygon Level -> 4
Previous Subobject Level -> -

Select By Vertex Toggle -> Ctrl+v
Select Open Edges -> o
Show Normals -> n
Slice Plane -> s
Slice -> Shift+s
Soft Selection Affect Backfacing -> Ctrl+f
Soft Selection -> Ctrl+s

Unhide All -> u
Unify Normals -> Shift+f

Vertex Level -> 1

Weld Selected -> w


---------- FFD ----------


Switch To Control Point Level -> Alt+Shift+c
Switch To Lattice Level -> Alt+Shift+l
Switch To Set Volume Level -> Alt+Shift+s
Switch To Top Level -> Alt+Shift+t


****************************************************************************
**
| - 4 - MAX Basics
|
+===========================================================================
===+


4 MAX Basics
------------

Q: How do I get rid of/change the splash screen when MAX is starting?

A: Put your own image in the MAX root directory and name it splash.bmp!


4.1 Backups
-----------

Q: MAX backup files

Max 1.2 crashed on me whilst working on a large file (20 MB). After
restarting the machine I tried to load the file again but it doesn't
want to open. I assume the crash has corrupted the file. Is there
any way of saving the work, it's needed quite urgently!!!

A: Try looking up your backup files. Max saves your work-in-progress
periodically (you can specify how often) The file you were working on
might be held in your "scenes" directory. Show "all files", and they
should come up as Autobak1.mx, Autobak2.mx, and so forth.


4.2 Basic operations in MAX
---------------------------

Q: Problem when rotating object

I'm using max R2 and tried to rotate a sphere around its pivot.
Instead of rotating around the pivot it rotated around the point I
clicked before dragging the mouse to rotate the sphere ... ?

A: When Snap to grid is ON, objects rotate around mouse point. Disable
Snap to grid (button on bottom).


---

Q: Problem when rotating object

I want to rotate objects from a point where I want and MAX always
use the middle of the object to rotate. I transformed the pivot but
no changes.

A:

1. Go to hierarchy, affect pivot point only
a. Change your pivot to where you desire
b. Exit, and go back to the create tool
2. Change your icon up top from selection center to its individual pivot
3. Rotate on the local axis

These steps make it even easier if you want to rotate more than one thing
at a time, useful for saving steps.


---

Q: Problem when rotating a group of objects

I'm having serious problems when attempting to rotate a particular
group. When I attempt the rotation, the objects in the group scatter,
each one rotating about a seemingly different axis. I also tried
linking all objects to the central object instead, but they still
scatter.

A: Make sure 'Reference Co-ordinate System' is not set to local and
'Use Selection Center' is selected for the axis location.

RefCoSys is a dropdown list and axis location is flyout button
next to it, both at the toolbar...


---

Q: It seems like axis restriction does not work when Snap is turned on

When I select some objects, activate only the Y-axis restriction
I can move the objects in X and Y-direction?!

A: Snapping does not have to override axis-restrictions. Bring up the
grid and snap settings dialog (e.g. Right-click the snap button). The
Options-tab shows at the bottom:

Translation:

Use Axis restriction.

Checked: Transformations obey axis-restrictions

This will make Snap and X/Y/Z-restriction work together.


---

Q: The axis restriction doesn't seem to work in MAX3. Is this a bug?

A: No! If you have selected restriction to X axis and by mistake put your
mouse on the Y axis arrow when moving the object, the Y axis will override
your X axis restriction. Make sure that you don't put your mouse on any of
the pivit points arrows when you move your object. You can also change the
size of the pivot arrows.


---

Q: How do I align a Viewport to an object's face?

I'm trying to align a user view with an object face. This was possible
in 3DS R4. Is there a way to do that in MAX R2?

A1: Just hold down the "Align" button in the toolbar at the top for a second
or two and all the other alignment options should appear.

A2: You could use a grid. Align the grid on object's face, in the view menu
activate object grid, configure the view grid....


---

Q: Problem when doing a circular Array

Can anyone explain to me how to make a circular array of a particular
object in 3DSMAX? Say for instance I wanted to array a symbol so that
it became the 12 points on a clock-face. I've tried following the
manual's advice, but no matter what I do, I just seem to get my object
spinning off into the distance as it rotates, rather than the effect
I'm after.

A: The MAX array dialog is a bit confusing. Pay particular attention to the
proper x,y,z axis you wish to array in. Enter the number in the array, (12
in your case) and the degrees between them (30) and make sure the re-orient
box is checked. Also make sure you move the pivot point to the appropriate
place and use it as the rotation point. In this case the center of the face
of the clock. With those things all properly entered you should get what
you're after.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 5 - Modeling
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


5 Modeling
-----------


5.1 Basics
----------

Q: Can someone give me some "general" thoughts about modeling before I
start?

A1: Hmm, well I am not professing to be an expert, but I think I have a firm
grasp of the ungraspable......so here goes:

My personal modeling technique involves mental visualization...if I can
visualize the object/scene/etc in my mind's eye, I can much more easily
come to grips with making a model/scene/lighting.

Step 1: Concept, idea.

Step 2: Visualization: see your object within the limitless bounds of your
brain.

Step 3: Examine in all possible details, and from all possible angles, any
real world objects or scenes which are similar to your concept/idea. If none
exists, try and find something that is close, or try sketching with pencil
and paper
or even working with clay, paper or any other materials available.

Step 4: Go to work, repeating steps 1-3 as many times as necessary.

Other, more specific, notes on design: as you note, sharp sided objects look
very CG and getting the smoothness or sharpness out will almost always raise
your poly counts significantly. For many objects, bump mapping can produce
some very believable imagery, but for close up work, this will almost always
be insufficient. In one particular scene I have, I made spline drawn
"cracks" for some stones in a temple, in addition to which the stones were
beveled
and booleaned on the edges and corners. The poly count on these stones went
up
quite a few thousand percent, and the results are still not quite perfect
for me and require additional working. This image is on my website, in the
3D
section, if you want to make any comments, and/or view it to see what I
mean.
This scene was mostly produced in trueSpace3, but additional elements,
lighting and objects were added in trueSpace4, to take advantage of ts4's
new render engine and shaders. The following address will take you directly
to
that page:

http://www.nakedhoof.com/truespace.html

For symmetrical objects, the mirrored modeling technique works very well.
I would highly recommend for organic/lifeform models that additional
modifications be made to any mirrored parts to give them more natural
features. When working with nurbs, modification of points after this will
be very simple to do and subtle changes will add _tons_ of character to
your creature or human characters.

A2: TIP: For polygonal character modeling, it's always smart to use the
p-nurbs script. Working on low poly meshes allows much faster feedback
when working and you can always apply a meshsmooth for final output.
R 2.5's poly cutting and slicing brings the modeler into LW's league.
Going too high in poly count and optimizing ends up in uneven nasty meshes.
Maybe R3's optimize modifier will improve.

A3: I'm certainly not an expert, but I wrote a tutorial on modeling using
cross-sections a while ago. It was written following a model I built in
LightWave, but I've received a number of e-mails from people using other
programs saying that many of the techniques translated very well into their
particular program. If you're interested, it's in the tutorials section of
LightWave World at: www.lightwaveworld.com

If I had to pick out the top 5 tips from my tutorial, they would be:

1 - The basic idea of approaching a modeling task differently (using cross
sections in my case). There are countless ways to model an object,
there's no reason to start with a cube every time.

2 - The technique I used to model the wheelwells of the car.

3 - The technique I used to model the body seams between the doors, fenders,
hood...

4 - The technique I used to model the lights and license plate cutouts in
the front and rear bumpers.

5 - The importance of modeling all the little details. Not that I
specifically showed how to model any of the smaller details, but I
tried to show their importance. The weather-stripping around the
windows, the emblems, the door handles... These details aren't
particularly hard to model, but they make a huge difference in the
overall appearance of the completed model.

A4: Definitely, like someone said before, get your hands on a 3D model of
the subject you'd like to model. Though I know it can't always be done, it
helps immensely. It doesn't have to be the same object though. For
example, if you are modeling an alien's legs, and you don't have any
idea on how to start, just go to your local toy stores and browse the
action figures or cartoons, you'll invariably end up seeing something that
you'll like and you can use that as a launching point.

Specifically for modeling, I always start with something at the base
level or near the ground. For example, a lot of my meshes that I made
are mechs or walkers. For those, I almost always started with the legs
and then worked up. They helped with the proportion and made it easier
for me to visualize the object.

Another tip is to model rough stand-ins for the rest of your
incomplete model so you can see how it's going. I mean model them almost as
if you were just sketching them on the paper. Just rough cubical or simple
representative shapes for you model.


---

Q: What "method" should I use to model more complex creatures/forms?

I am new to 3d studio Max so please excuse what I know is a lame question
but I am getting really frustrated.

I have been through the Sams tutorial book amking geometric shapes and
various architectual structures. This is fun and I'm getting prety good
at material mapping etc. The thing is that I really want to make some
more complex models like cars and creatures, etc. I do not understand how

you

do this. If I wanted to make a car for instance how to I get the complex
curves and nooks that make up the car? Do I loft the basic shape then use

fit

deformation? Should I be using NURBS? How do people get these nice
detalied models that look as though they were sculpted vertex by vertex?
I dont mean to ramble but I really do feel like I have hit a brick wall

here.

I see other meshes that contain a nice amount of detail and I cannot

figure

out how it is accomplished. I am sure this is a vague stupid question but

if

anyone can reccomened a book on advanced modeling that will help with
this and organic shapes please let me know. Im tired of modeling chess

pieces :-)


A1: There are no stupid questions... unless they are about warez, are
plainly spelled out in the manual, or are about something totally unrelated
to this NG.

The thing that you are dealing with is a large part of becoming a good 3D
artist. For just about every model that you can make, there are a dozen
other ways to make them. One person might use Nurbs, while another might
use meshes with mesh smooth. The idea here is that the modeling choices are
based upon several factors. I will see if I can list some of the factors,
but there are lots... so I will probably not get them all. Modeling is
based upon, the tools you have, the tools you know, the abilities of
different tools, the level of detail needed, the time at hand, the
importance upon the scene, the need for something to be altered, the need
for the model to be animated, and various others that I can not think of.

Let me give you an example... take your car for example. If you do not have
the NURBS tools, then you will not be able to use them (da)... but you do,
but I expect that you are not really familiar with them. If this was for a
client, and they needed it fast... you would not screw around trying to
learn NURBS, and do the work at the same time. If the model is not so
organic... say it is a hummer you are creating, then Nurbs might not be the
way to go. If the car sits way off in the distance, then you might just
model something real quick, take a still of it, and put that still onto a
flat plane so as to increase render time on the final output. If you are OK
with Nurbs... enough to get something done, but not really good enough to be
able to animate it well (not that a car would require this so much, but this
is an example) then you might go with what you know if there is a time
crunch. Or you might go with what you do not know so as to learn it. I
think that you get my point.

Alot of models that people create are actually sculpted vertex by vertex...
this can be a time consuming thing... but everybody does it... that is one
of the best way to tweek a model to make it look just right. But there are
also alot of tricks that people use, which do not give themselves away in
the final rendering. The bump map is one of my favorites... when I teach my
3D classes, it is always funny to see people look at a surface with a strong
bump map, and they kind of cringe thinking that they might have to model
that vertex by vertex. But that is only one example.

3DCafe.com has some good tutorials... as well as numerous others... I will
let other responses tell you more about those. What I did to learn was look
around my life, and find things to model so I could get better... I would
even model somethings with several different ways, so that I could compare.
In not too long, you will be able to look at something and say... "hmmm... I
would use NURBS for that", or "I think that putting this much glow on this
kind of particle system would get that effect the best"... point being that
it all comes with experience. Look at what others have done, there are a
million galleries of 3D images, and think about how you might have done
that. Even try to model something that another has done, that way you know
that it is possible, and you just have to find out how. But do not try to
claim rights, or pass the other stuff off as your own... this is a small
world, and you will get caught. I do not know if you ever saw that guy who
ripped an image of a porn site, and then stuck it in a 3D environment, and
called it his own. It was really impressive, until one of the regulars
picked it out... then it was funny.

Put up a site with the work that you have done, and tell us to go look at
it. We would love to crit your work... but beware that people do not pull
punches around here, and mud might sling. But this is also one of the best
ways to learn... having people look at your stuff, tell you where it lacks,
and tell you how you might fix it.


A2: Forget NURBS to begin with, in MAX, they are complex and are really
suited to high res characters and sphereical objects where you don't
want to see any edges. MAX is great for polygon modelling and has a
lot of very useful tools. The basic methods used are:

* Applying an edit mesh modifier to basic primatives and and turning
Sub-Object/Vertex on selecting groups of verties moving and working
with them. Also by using Sub-Object/Edge you can split faces, slice
through an object to create more detail or select an edge and extrude
it using the extrude button or by pressing the shift key and moving
the edge where you like you can extrude a lot quicker. You can also
edit in the Sub-Object/Face mode which allows extruding of faces and
control over smoothing.

* Another method I use is to create your model out of splines, using
edit spline attach all the splines together and then apply an edit
mesh which converts all the points along your splines into verties.
Using the Editmesh Sub-Object/Face/Buit Face button you can then build
faces using these verties. This is a rather slow technique but is
very good for building basic low poly shapes and finer detail can be
added with the techniques explained above.

* The easiest would be to use patches to create basic surfaces. If
you apply an "Edit Patch" modifier you can go to Sub-Oject/Edge mode
select an edge and add another patch either square or triangular. In
Edit Patch Sub-Object/Vertex mode you can then move these around weld
various verties etc. to form your basic shape. For refinement you can
then apply an Edit Mesh modifier and use any other of the techniques
discribed above.

* Another option is to create you own primitives by creating spline
profiles then applying an "Extrude" or "Lathe" modifier or Lofting
them (which is another whole story) then apply any of the above
techniques.

Baiscally, it is just a matter of trying all these and any other
techniques you can find and finding what works for you. It's not
something that can be acheived on a Sunday afternoon it takes years of
experiementation to get any good. I've been at it for two years
almost full time and I'm still learning new techniques every day.


---

Q: How can I copy modifiers from one object to another?

A: Just click Modifier Stack icon, select modifiers to copy and click Copy
button. Then select other object, go into modifier stack again, and here
you can paste previously copied modifier - but fist you have to select
something in the stack where you want to paste other modifiers (you can
paste a modifier between two other modifiers). Note that this only works
in MAX R2.x+.


---

Q: How to scale selected points or polygons within sub-object?

A: Select the vertices and use the scale button right next to the move and
rotate button on the toolbar. Dragging the mouse pointer up or downwards
on the screen will increase/decrease the vertices scale.


---

Q: How do I select the front vertices of a sphere without selecting the one
in the back?

I'm having trouble with is selecting and moving the correct vertices,
say for example you're working on a sphere, often when I go to select a
vertex (in the front view) I accidentally select the vertex in the rear
of the sphere instead of the one on the front. It's hard to explain but
imagine trying to select a vertex and instead of selecting the one

closest

to you, you select the one farthest away (on the Z axis) I thought if
there was a way to somehow freeze the rear part of the object, or any
part that you don't want to modify, it would overcome this problem, but
there doesn't seem to be any way to do this at sub-object level.

A1: Go into Edit Mesh>vertex and drag-select the vertices you want to hide,
then click the "Hide" button in the Miscellaneous panel of Edit Mesh>vertex
and you'll no longer be able to grab them by accident.

A2: This is the way I work with vertex-selections. (I'm not saying it's the
ultimate right way, but it works for me.)

When selecting vertexes, I use maximized User viewport in wireframe mode.
I choose any vertex and then I 'Arc Rotate Selected' (my keyboard shortcut
is Alt+S) to see where that one specific vertex is lurking. I rotate view
so that it's easy to see, and select it. (Remember also that Undo works with
selections as well). If I'm working with faces I use viewport in 'Smooth'
and 'Edged Faces' mode.

Sometimes it's better to simply select all (my shortcut Ctrl+A) and
deselect unnecessary with Alt+Drag. Or use Select Invert (my Alt+I).

When I'm selecting objects in a complex scene, I sometimes use Shade
Selected function (my Shift+S) with Wireframe viewmode.


---

Q: Anyone can suggest to me how to make windows and tyre holes for
a complex car body without using Boolean operations.

A: If you want create through hole - create shape, then mirror it and
add both shapes to ShapeMerge object.


---

Q: How do I cover holes in MAX?

I got a face scan with some holes in it. So I want to close the holes.
but since there are many vertices which I want to keep, how can I do
this efficiently in Max 2?

A: Try applying CAP HOLES modifier. If the mesh is OK, Cap Holes will
make work great for you.


---

Q: Lower Polygon count on high-res models:

Is there an easy way with 3D Studio MAX 2 to decrease polygon count from
a nice, high res model to something quake could use and get more than 1

fps?

A: You can use the "optimize" button in Modifiers, this will reduce the face
count.


---

Q: How do I "bend" a tube?

I've recently started using MAX, and I'm having a bit of a problem. When I
create a Tube (for example) and I want to bend it as it follows a curved
path. It won't bend. While attempting to bend, twist or add noise, the
gizmo will adjust properly, but the object remains the same.

I've read through the tutorials on this section, but it isn't helping. I'm
familiar with 3D studio r 3&4 but can't seem to get past this simple
problem. Any suggestions?

A: You probably have to give the object more segments (done at creation
or by modifying it later). An object will only bend at its vertices, so
the more vertices the smoother bend. Hope this answered your question!


5.2 Shapes
----------

Q: How do I make my splines show when I render my scene?

A: Just goto modify the spline and check the "Renderable" check box under
"Rendering" You can even specify the thickness


---

Q: How do I connect two splines together?

I've got a simple question that I can't figure out at all! How do you
join multiple 2D lines together in 3D Studio Max 1.2?? How would I
connect the end of a line to the end of an arc?

A: Attach the two shapes first (under the modify parameter of
the line), then under sub-object, move the two vertices or
splines close together, and it will ask if you want to
connect them.


---

Q: I just want to connect a mirrored spline to the original.

God I feel like an idiot. This seems so basic and I can't make the damn
thing work!

Could somebody please explain to me why I can't get CONNECT vetoes
to work under the edit spline rollout? I've checked the manual, the
online help system, Max fundamentals and Inside Studio Max, no luck!

Here's what I'm doing...

1. Created a spline
2. Mirrored the spline
3. Opened edit spline
4. Selected the end point of the spline
5. Clicked on CONNECT
6. The cursor changes to a cross (or plus sign)
7. I drag the cursor from the original spline end point to the mirrored
end point
8. a dotted line appears as anticipated
9. Nothing happens the two splines are not connected.

A: Select the spline, apply Edit Spline modifier, go to subobject/spline,
mirror it there, move a bit so the endpoints of both splines meets
each other and confirm welding.


---

Q: How do I get a solid face from a closed shape/spline?

If I draw 3 consecutive lines, how do I close them and make them into a
solid polygon ? (Instead of a wireframe one)

A: Go into edit mesh at the face level and rummage around in the
miscellaneous
section, you'll find an option to "build face", this lets you create faces
by connecting sets of 3 vertices between the lines. Make sure they're all
the same object though.



---

Q: How do I refine my arc spline, i.e. how do I get more vertices to smooth
it?

A: Create a spline arc. In Modify panel - General parameters, set
interpolation
steps to a higher value (default is 6, highest is 100).


---

Q: How do I create leaves using splines?

I'm sure lots of people here have INSIDE 3D STUDIO MAX vol 2 (advanced
materials and modeling). On the cover is a pic of a lake with a frog
hanging for its life on a long leaf. I'm trying to model my own
leaves in that style....

Am I doing it correctly?... I created the basic 2D leaf shape with the
line tool. I then want to apply some bend and twist (maybe others)
modifiers to it, but it needs some "faces". So I apply a couple
iterations of the "Mesh Smooth" modifier. That gives me some
resolution to play with but all faces go to the center of the leaf. I
guess I can live with/ that. Then I fiddle with/ the bend, twist, etc.
modifiers until my leaf looks good.

Question: Is this the right way/best way to approach this?

A: Every way that works is good. If you are doing a scene where leaves are
in the center of attention (zoomed in) then you should consider taking a
cross-section and doing a loft. That makes the leaf very realistic and
it's much easier to bend it or apply some other modifier on it (displace
can make a cool looking dent in it). If you are doing lots of leaves where
it's not important how good they look then I would suggest the method you're
using.


---

Q: How the heck do you fill regular shapes in 3D Studio Max 2 i.e. Squares,
Circles, etc.?

A: There are many ways (as always in MAX), and they are quite different.

1.Adding any Mesh-based modifier will effectively convert the spline to a
mesh first. These include EditMesh, MeshSelect, UVW map, Material, Normal,
Relax, Smooth, UVW X-Form etc.

Note that an EditMesh modifier is much "heavier" than a MeshSelect modifier
in
terms of Geometry Pipeline overhead. An EditMesh modifier is supposed to
keep
selections, change normals, smoothing groups, MatIDs etc. A MeshSelect
modifier
does just the selecting, so it is a good idea to avoid using EditMesh unless
you have to change many different properties of the mesh at the same time.
Also, when creating a text that is going to be flat and mapped, it is easier
to add the UVW modifier directly to the spline instead of first adding and
EditMesh or MeshSelect and after that UVW map...

NOTE: In case you add an EditMesh modifier and you are SURE you will never
need the spline settings again, you can convert the mesh to EditableMesh by
collapsing the stack. This will greatly speed up MAX...

2.You can click or right-click the "Edit Stack" button if you are sure you
will
never need the spline settings again. From the list, select "Convert To:
Editable Mesh". This is not really the MAX style, since you cannot edit
the
history of the object anymore. But it is there and if you are 100% sure,
you
may use it.


3.Adding an Extrude modifier with height of 0 (as suggested by another
posting)
will LOOK like a solid shape, but it will have MUCH MORE vertices/faces!
In the case of a default circle, EditMesh generates 28 verts/26 faces.
The Extrude modifier generates 56/108! This is because there will be top
and
bottom capped splines, and also side faces with height 0. (Like a flat
cylinder)


---

Q: Can Adobe Illustrator be used in combination with MAX?

I have been looking at using a drawing application such as Illustrator
to create my basic shapes instead of creating them with MAX's tools.
Any suggestions or comments on this approach to creating models.

A: Yes, that is a great approach. Not only can you be more precise, You can
do
it more easily. Illustrator paths can then be brought in and manipulated. I
do
it this way exclusively. Really good idea and extremely fast. Note, if you
are
using 3DS4 the paths comes in open, meaning that they will not be valid
shapes
until you weld their vertices. In 3DS MAX, this is not a problem tough. Just
make sure to save your Illustrator paths in AI88 format. Also, if you have a
problem with importing your splines from Illustrator to MAX change your:

My Computer | Control Panel | Windows Regional Settings | Properties
Number: Decimal symbol to "." and Digit grouping symbol to ","

This will work for any other language than English.


5.3 Primitives
--------------

Q: Why is the Teapot in the Primitives?

A: Way back when at Cornell I believe, when those smarties there were first
figuring out shading models and raytracing, they found that a teapot shaped
like the max primitive encompassed many of the characteristics needed to
test
their methods.

As far as why it is a primitive, I've come to a conclusion about the release
of max 1: it was a shell for the technology. Much like quake (if you follow
that sort of thing), the folks at Kinetix strove to get max to the point of
being an acceptable package, and then released it before it had features
comparable to, say, softimage. They knew that the extensibility was on a
whole
new level and that people would drool at the ease with which they could
implement new stuff...

Along the lines of people developing stuff for max 1, I believe that Kinetix
was really counting on people getting the SDK and just going nuts making
cool
plugins. The reason why they included things like the teapot and ring
array, among other things, was so that they could demonstrate the
possibilities of primitives and systems, respectively.

Now I don't think too many animators have found the teapot primitive to be
useful at all, but PROGRAMMERS on the other hand probably found it immensely
informative because by looking at the source code (which is included on the
max 1.1 CD), they could see how non-contiguous meshes could be implemented
as parametric primitives (i.e. teapot), and exactly what was possible with
systems.

Kinetix had to rely on 3rd parties to develop most of the cool stuff for max
1
after its initial release, because they gambled the get it to market before
it
was a truly full-feature product from the animator's point of view.

3D Studio MAX R2 is the result of them buying the time and making the cash t
do it right. And I don't think that anyone is complaining now because MAX R2
is an amazing product.


5.4 Patch modeling
-------------------

Patch modeling is when you have sheets of polys with splines at their
edges, and to manipulate the 'sheet', you manipulate the spline handles.
It's like a poor-mans-nurbs, in that you don't get dependant tools (blends,
trims at all), and the curves aren't 'infinitely smooth', you have to
control how much MAX tessellates the patches, which isn't always a bad
thing, in fact it's very handy for keeping levels of detail down when not
needed.

A good example of how to use patches is on chuggnuts site (http://www.
chuggnut.demon.co.uk/), look at the one about heads.

A question/answer you might have thought of might be:

'once I've built up an outline of the shape I want (say a head) in splines,
how do I make it a surface?'

The answer is 'by hand', unless you have Surface Tools by Peter Watje. This
is blatantly copied from Chugnuts site, apologies to him!

Using the splines as a reference (I normally freeze my outline before
starting), create a small quad-patch at some easy-to-start-at point. Go
into sub-object mode, grab those handles, and pull the patch into shape,
covering a smallish area. Once it looks right, add a patch to one of the
patch's edges, move that one into shape, and so on. It's like taking little
sheets of clay, attaching them to the previous piece, pushing it into
shape, attaching another piece, and so on. A more complete explanation can
be found at chuggnuts site.

Surface Tools, on the other hand, will magically create patches between
splines, however from what I've read (I don't have surface tools), the
methodology is similar to doing it by hand, just do one piece at a time,
make sure it's correct, and slowly work over the rest of your outline.


---

Q: Is there any way in MAX to always view a primitive in its actual
triangles?

Say, if I make a simple cube, is there anyway I can force it to display
all
12 triangles instead of 6 tetragonal sides? I don't simply mean the
ability
to select 'face' instead of 'planar' in Edit Mesh/Face, but to operate
like
that universally. Seeing the dividing edge of a plane in 'face' mode
doesn't do me a damned bit of good if I want to grab it in 'edge' mode.

A: If you don't want to permanently change the visibility of the hidden
edges, try the following to view them as dashed lines:
1) Select object
2) Right-click on it
3) Choose properties from the bottom of the resultant pop-up menu
4) In the "Display Properties" area of the Object Properties dialog box
uncheck "Edges Only"
5) Hidden edges should now be displayed as dashed lines.


---

Q: How do I create low-poly count models?

What is the best way to do low polygon modeling without primitives in
3D Studio Max 2.5 or should I get another program I find it very
difficult to do it right in 3DS I tried everything but I think 3D Studio
is a bit limited in this area.

A: I'm not sure what package you are using to create these polygons in,
but here are a few pointers which will be relative to EVERY single 3-sided
POLYGON in the UNIVERSE!

1. It is made up of three points (each called a vertex)
2. These in turn produce a FACE with a NORMAL. (the thing that
is perpendicular to the face and determines its orientation)

That's really it! There are no complications there. Everything from 3DS
to alias-wavefront to maya to SI and even good old OpenGL 3D uses
these two simple points to represent polygons.

I take it you are using 3DS MAX, since this is the newsgroup for it.

Do the following! (Reading the Manual would be a good start! but since I
guess you don't actually own it I'll give you a couple of pointers.)

Use the Edit Mesh and under Gizmos, use FACE to ADD FACES. Depending on
whether you select the vertices in Clockwise or Anti-Clockwise rotation,
the normal and hence the orientation will be determined. This is the
underlying point about not being able to see the polygon you just created.
It's facing the other way and -yes- you can flip it!

You really ought to read some more on the subject. Try consulting the many
excellent tutorials produced by many artist around on the subject. Point to
www.3dcafe.com or www.3dsmaxx.com or countless others.

The subject of creating low polys is more an art. The more you do it, the
quicker and better you get at it. After a while you'll begin to appreciate
how much hard effort is put into the simplest of the things.


---

Q: How can I create a quad-patch with more than 25 segments

A: Make two patches and join them. Make them with snap turned on, so they
fit
each other, then select one of them, go to modify, apply edit patch
modifier.
Turn off subobject mode. Click attach button and pick the second patch. Turn
on subobject/vertex and select vertices on the common edge of both patches.
Click weld. Now you have one big patch!


5.5 Mesh Modeling
------------------

Q: What is the difference between "Edit Mesh" and "Editable Mesh"?

A: It can get confusing, Editable mesh has many more options than a pure
edit
mesh modifier. Also collapsing the stack to Editable mesh reduces memory
requirements as it doesn't need to store the stack info. With the mesh as
Editable, you go into the edit faces bit, select the faces you want, give
them an ID and apply a UVW Map modifier to them. You can collapse after each
operation or add edit mesh modifiers if you wish. These rules aren't hard
and fast, just use whatever option makes sense for what you're doing.

You'll find a good little tutorial in the help files that will walk you
through the process of using Unwrap. It's not universally useful, but great
for real time models and maps.


---

Q: Does anyone know how to bevel the edges of a box?

Max 2.5 has a bevel modifier but it works only in shapes
and not in objects. Maya NT has a modifier that when
you selected the edge, it can be beveled with different
parameters to choose from and can be used to any edges
of an object. Note: Bevel works on edges in MAX R3!

A1: In MAX R3 it's finally possible to bevel edges or whole objetcs.
For MAX R2.x users you can try to use the meshsmooth modifier on it.
If this isn't giving you want you want, then just use edit mesh and
move vertices.

A2: So I guess neither of you have had a look at the extended primitives
panel yet huh.. :) There's a primitive there called chamfer box. That'll
do the trick.

A3: You can download the free EditMesh2 plugin, the latest version has a
bevel face function in it. Another option is to use the "Extrude" option
in Edit Mesh or Editable Mesh. The Extrude lets you choose a height and
percentage for the beveled face.

A4: This is one of Max's greatest failings in my eyes. There is the ability
to
bevel faces (with the modified EditMesh2 plugin) but this *adds* a new face
with a chamfered edge rather than just extracting a chamfer from an existing
mesh. You can also use Booleans to cut pieces from the mesh, but it's only
good on simple mesh parts.

With this in mind, you should plan all your models with this taken into
consideration. You can make models by using methods like extruding chamfered
or filleted splines, using Bevel profile to create objects with fillets,
chamfers and blends built in at construction time. It can be a pain,
but if you plan your modeling carefully, it can be done.

Stuff like this is a lot easier in a Solid modeler like SolidWorks or even a
good Nurbs program like Rhino. Let's hope Max 3 has some new features like
this added to it.

A1: You can use the Greeble free plugin that comes with the 3D Studio Max
R2.5 f/x book. Just make sure that you turn off "Widgets", otherwise you
will
end up with all kinds of strange shapes on the face.


---

Q: How can I model a car using 3D MAX 2 or LightWave 5.6?

I'm looking for a tutorial, thanks!!!!

A: Using 3D Studio Max , you can model a very nice car at a very low amount
of polys using only the sub-object panels. Here's how I did it on my
attempt:

1) Get a straight front, back, and side shot photo of the car you want to
build. You don't have to use those orthographic views, anything that
gives you a good understanding of the 3D structure of the car will do,
but
with the ortho view you can use them as a back ground in Max. And with
Lock
Pan/Zoom it can be really helpful. And you can use the images as
material
later too.

2) Outline the entire car, sans tires, in the side view.

3) Convert the line to editable mesh

4) Then use Sub-Object > Edge > Divide and Turn to make the seams of the
doors and plane breaks. This is where the most of your work will be.

5) Then just start pulling vertices to where they should be in 3
dimensional space. This can get confusing if your mesh is dense so try
to
keep it low. At this point you should have about 200~300 faces, and
only half of the car. There's quite a bit of work here too, but if you
divided the car up sufficiently in step 4, you should be fine.

6) Build the tires and rear view mirrors here. Not too tough.

7) Now, mirror the car and attach and weld all the verts.

8) Assign material groups to the car, have the front, side, and back as
three separate groups.

9) Add mesh select to the modifier stack for each of the three mat groups.

10) Assign UVW mapping for each Mesh select.

11) use a multi-sub material in the Material Editor and if you have the
orthographic images you use them in their respective material slots
here.

12) You will probably experience areas where the different material groups
don't match up seamlessly. Add Unwrap UVW and then Edit. This is a
very
intuitive tool but VERY time consuming.

You might be saying, "what the heck can I do with 700 polys? a Volvo?"
Well. at least that's what I was saying. I was afraid the car will turn
out blocky and... well... Volvo-ish. But I was quite pleased.

[Image]

And one more thing, don't build the wheel wells, use a opacity map (like how
I DIDN'T but should have done in this image). You'll get a smoother curve
and
have lower polys. Same for the wheels. It might seem unnecessarily complex
but it's kind of like riding a bike, once you've got it, you've got it.


---

Q: How to make a smooth transition between two objects?

I am building a jet and I am trying to make smooth transition from one
object to another. For instance where the wing meets the body I do not
want
a hard seam. Is there a command that will smooth the two meeting
objects? I
am expecting I need to merge the two object into one then apply some
type of
modifier but I do not know which to use.

A: If you have max 2 you can try the connect function, that will give a
smooth
blend, otherwise select the vertices around the joint (after a Boolean join)
and apply the meshsmooth modifier. Make sure you save the model before doing
any Boolean work as you may need to go back if it looks horrible.


5.6 NURBS Modeling
-------------------

5.6.1 NURBS Basic explanations
------------------------------

Mind that the following paragraphs only cover the NURBS functionality up to
version 2.0 of 3D Studio MAX. Even the new MAX R2.5 books only very shortly
discuss the new NURBS tools (like trim).

1. I don't know how much you know about Nurbs, but generally what you
have to do (in Max) is draw a set of nurbs curves arranged as a series of
cross-sections that define the shape of surface you want to build. Once the
curves are built, you attach them together in the modify panel and perform a
"u-loft" on them, joining them one after another until the curves are all
surfaced. You then repeat the process for the other surfaces you want to
build and finally "blend" the edges of the various surfaces together to form
the whole section. Each surface can be rotated and scaled as with any other
object. You can adjust the shape of the surfaces with the spline control
points or the surface control point depending on how the surface was built
in the first place. The other way is to make a normal mesh object and
convert
it into a nurbs surface which you can then sculpt via the control points,
you
have the option of adding more surface curves to the object to increase
detail
in the places you need to work on. If you haven't yet, download the tutorial
files from Kinetix and work through the nurbs examples, they will give you
an
idea of how to proceed with the two main construction methods. Hope this
helps.

2. Nurbs are quite a nice way to model, it's not some black art and
certainly
nothing new to the world, just Max. It's simply another way of constructing
surfaces, what you do is create a set of support structures rather like the
framework for an aircraft, then, just like an aircraft, you skin it.
Although this sounds fairly similar to normal lofting, you don't have the
limitations of polygon objects at the end of it. Nurbs are much more
flexible, the surface has what are called control points, these work in a
similar way to the freeform deformation modifier in that as you pull these
around, the skin deforms with it in a smooth, fluid fashion.
A control point also has a "weight" setting, this means it has a sphere of
influence around it and you adjust this to give either a sharper or smoother
bend. If you make a surface and find you need more support structures or
frames, you can add these afterwards and then modify the frame and it will
deform the skin. Creating extra detail is easy with this method, something
you'd have problems with using polygons.
You can also convert normal mesh primitives to Nurbs. This lets you start
with a fairly good set of building blocks to work from, modifying and adding
detail as you go. Surfaces can be lathed, extruded, blended together, lofted
but not trimmed. This is a major limitation in Max. It can make some objects
a real pain to complete satisfactorily. In the aircraft example above, you'd
need holes in the fuselage for the wings, tail-plane, cockpit etc. In a
complete set of Nurbs there is a trim option to cut shapes from a surface,
Max cannot do this in version R2 so you have to find other ways to get
around
this (just a side note: MAX R2.5 DOES have this feature).
The other major pieces missing are rail lofts and 3 or 4-sided nurbs
patches.
You can get around these without too much trouble, it just takes time.
I hope this gives some idea of what makes Nurbs so powerful and useful, in
future releases Max should acquire the full set, until then, Nurbs are a
flawed gem...still very desirable, but not perfect.

3. Nurbs are cool because you can use them to quickly create very
complex surfaces that are very smooth. Basically, you draw
curves representing the contours of an object, then connect
them with NURBS surfaces. Changing the curves will change the
shape of the mesh.

Or, if you prefer, you can use NURBS surfaces like patch grids,
pulling them into the right shape. If you want to make very
precise changes, you can convert the surfaces to curves, tweak
the curves, and regenerate the surfaces.

NURBS are kind of like the best of both lofting and patch grids with
most of your favorite MESH tools thrown in. They have a million
options and can be really frustrating - but you can make very
complex objects very quickly.

They are worth the upgrade IMHO


5.6.2 Working with NURBS
------------------------

Q: Is it possible to convert a normal spline into a NURBS point curve?

A1: MAX R2.0 - Yes, draw a NURBS curve. Then under 'modify' chose 'attach
multiple' and select all of your "normal splines". Goto 'sub-object' 'point'
select and delete the NURBS curve that you made at the beginning. You need
the first NURBS curve in order to convert your splines. This is way the
first
NURBS curve is deleted in the end as it is now no longer needed.

A2: MAX R2.0 - Yes but not as simple I we might want to. You have to attach
the spline to a nurbs curve and then detach it again, then the spline is
converted into a nurbs curve....

A3: MAX R2.5 - Convert spline to Editable Spline, then click stack icon
again
and click convert to: NURBS curve

A4: MAX R2.5 - Download a script from
http://www.nautilus.com.pl/jarek/max.html
that automatically converts splines into nurbs curves


---

Q: How do I convert a NURBS object to an Editable Mesh?

A1: Either convert to editable mesh with the stack button or use
the Nurbs mesher in the modifications panel.

A2: Apply *NURBS Mesher WSM to your NURBS object


---

Q: How do I convert a polygon character model into NURBS?

I've modeled a male humanoid character from polygons and I would like
to turn him into NURBS. Any ideas?

A: Apply a Slice modifier to your mesh and choose Refine Mesh. Don't use
Slice button in editable mesh subobject mode. The modifier gives you
edge selection. Make a straight vertical or horizontal edge using slice
plane. Then collapse stack to editable mesh (important!). Go into subobject/
edge mode - you will see that newly created edge is selected, now click
Create Shape button, choose smooth. Repeat this operation until you have
enough curves extracted from mesh's surface. Then you can loft them.


---

Q: I'm making spines on a cactus for a close up so they have to look
just right.

My cactus is a NURBS U-Lofted surface and has distinct ridges of spines
running up and down the trunk.

Scatter came closest, but I need the spines in a straight line.
Scatter puts the spines on randomly.

Think of a straight line of trees on hilly ground. Is there any other
automated way to align multiple objects to the skin of an object?

A: One way to do it would be this :
- create new splines (or NURBS curves) running vertically along
each of the ridges from top to bottom of your cactus.
These will be used as paths.
- create one "spine" object and position it at the top of the cactus on
one of the splines
- assign a path controller to the "spine" object and choose the spline
path as it's path.
- now do a snapshot array on the "spine". Here you can specify the number
of copies (or instances) you want on each ridge.
- repeat for each ridge.


---

Q: NURBS surface goes invisible when I try to move it!!

When I am trying to move a selected NURBS surface in subject surface
level, the selected NURBS surface will become invisible while I'm hold

my

mouse's left button and it will come back after the button released.
It is so annoying that I can't move the surface precisely!
Please tell me help to solve this problem.

A: There's an option tick box at Object level in NURBS that lets you choose
whether this happens or not. I think it's called surface degradation or
something. But please don't post a message in here in a couple of days
saying "My NURBS surfaces are moving too slowly! How can I work with
them" :)


5.7 Modeling 3D landscape
--------------------------

Q: Is there any way to create 3D-landscapes based on 2D-bitmaps
(for example grey level bitmaps) with 3DS-Studio ?

A1: Use the 2D Bitmap as a Displacement Map

A2: Use the mesh displacement modifier with a greyscale map.

A3: yes, it's called "Displace" and it works on an imported bitmap. However
it's quite memory intensive; I'd recommend using a 30x30 grid, applying a
UVW map(with channel 1 selected), then slapping on the Displace, quickly
followed by an optimize filter. The nice thing about this approach is that
you can apply a material based on channel 1 and use bitmaps for opacity and
colour or bumps and whatever and pretty tightly match them with the bitmap.

A4: Yes! I use the Bryce 3D terrain editor. I create a terrain, copy the
image to my clipboard, paste it into PhotoShop, & save it as a bump. I then
create a box in MAX R2, give it a length and width of 200 units, a height of
1 unit and give it plenty of segments (length and width) for resolution. Go
to edit mode, use displacement modifier, add the .bmp file and viola! A
terrain!


---

Q: My terrain generating software, generates triangles in 3DS format.
To minimize the number of triangles used in a scene, I hoped it was
possible to soften the edges in Max by using PONG effect on the
material.

So far this is not working any good, the terrain get to hard edges
when rendered.

A: If I understand you correctly, your problem is with geometry, not
materials. If you want to "soften" a polygonal object use a relax modifier
on it. To reduce the number of polys, use an optimize modifier.


---

Q: How do I create a landscape based on contour lines?

I'm trying to create a terrain based on contour lines (i.e. lines that
depict points of equal height) traced from an actual map. The surface
is a bit complicated (going up and down irregularly) and I'm trying to
find what's the best way to model this in MAX. I'd appreciate any help.

A1: In MAX R2.5, the NURBS tools would make this easy. Just do a U-loft
between each contour line!

A2: If you use MAX 1.x then I think there is a commercial plugin called
"SurfaceTools" that will do exactly what you are asking. Building faces
based on splines.

A3: If this doesn't have to be completely accurate you can give a try to
the metamountains script. To get it as close to your map as possible, you
can trace the splines (or every odd one or so if you want to save time)
and move the appropriate splines upwards the appropriate distance. When
you activate the script you can create mountains that can be moved about
and will blend in seamlessly with the surrounding landscape. Use the
splines as a rough guide in the front and side views and you can get
pretty close. If you want to make this landscape seamless with several
other landscapes, you can rewrite a few bits in the script and make it
patch based rather than mesh based (so you can do edge welding...it's a
little slower though and makes for denser objects). If you want the
patch option but are not comfortable with MAXScript, drop me an e-mail
and I'll send you a modified version of the script.


---

Q: How do I get a landscape in MAX from a DEM file?

A: DEM2MAX is an import plugin, that allows you to import landscapes
defined in the Digital Elevation Models into 3D Studio Max. It also
provides methods to set the color of the landscape depending on the
elevation of the faces. Get your favorite landscape into 3D Studio MAX!
Look at http://www.habware.at/duck2.htm. If you are looking for DEM's
try http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/doc/edchome/ndcdb/ndcdb.html. This is
the motherlode of DEM files.


5.8 Digitizing real models into 3D format
-----------------------------------------

Q: What options are there to "scan" a real object into MAX?

I am currently taking a traditional sculpture class (I'm a sculpture
newbie :). After struggling with "virtual sculpture" as provided via

the

modelers of various 3D programs, I'm finding the experience of mooshing

clay

around with my fingers a lot of fun. Quite different from fighting to
hide/show portions of a model to get at a certain vertex, etc.

The question: Is there any (reasonably) inexpensive way to digitize
clay sculptures? There was a deal on the Microscribe digitizing arm at
Siggraph (I think it was like $2500 or something) which sounded like a

lot

at the time, but now I'm thinking was probably worth it... On the other

hand,

I know there is Photometric software out there which is relatively

cheap -

but I don't believe it has the accuracy for detailed sculptures(?)

Any thoughts? Other brands of digitizing arms I don't know about?
Service bureaux that take the sculpture and digitize it for you (if so,

how

much?)
Ways to slice a sculpture up and scan it in on a flatbed scanner? Other
ideas?

A: I'm a sculptor/digital artist. (Creating digital 3D art is like sculpting
with boxing gloves on. Stick to the analog stuff if you can.) Shoot for a
laser scan. The fixed arms are all crap. Many digital projects are created
using scans of sculptures-- Toy Story (used wand pointer with/ 3D space
tracker), Xena/Hercules etc.. I work with real-time computer models so no
need for a scanner, but sure resources are easily available on Net. Just a
few years ago the cheapest flatbed 2D scanner was $1,000 or so. Now they are
$100. I hope the same price reductions are happening in the laser scanner/
CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) industry. Good luck.


5.9 Compound Objects
--------------------


5.9.1 Boolean
-------------

Q: How do I use Boolean and what can be done to prevent problems?

In MAX r1.0, r1.2 and R2.0 the Boolean operation often causes
trouble. The Boolean function was re-written for MAX R2.5 and is
now called Boolean2. Even though there now exist a more reliable
Boolean operation for MAX 2.5 and 3 many users still struggle with
the old r?.?, r1.2 and R2.0 versions. Below you will find some short
and handy tips on how to minimize these problems.

A1: If you have a user account on the Kinetix homepage site, there
is an excellent write up on doing Boolean operations

Here are some points to consider when using Booleans:

1) Each operand must have an intact surface topology. (see point 6 below)
That means no missing, no overlapping faces and no unwelded vertices. The
surface should be one continuous closed surface (mind though that a real
unclosed object like Patch Grid is also considered as a valid Boolean
object, and yes - this is a little fussy!). Look at the surface in a shaded
mode
with smoothing applied - suspect any place that the smoothing does not look
right.

Max has a great tool for checking a mesh - temporarily apply the STL-CHECK
modifier and click the "Check" box near the bottom. You can set it to
highlight either faces or edges where there are problems and report how many
errors it finds. To fix, use the vertex weld (target) and build face tools.

You can turn on "Force 2-Sided" in the viewport configuration and look for
rogue faces in a mesh.

Another point while on the subject of surface integrity: All the Face
Normals of an operand must be consistent. If not, the Boolean can get
massively confused. For example, flipped normals can turn a Boolean
intersection into a Boolean subtraction! Things get worse if some faces are
facing one way and adjacent faces are flipped. As well as using the shaded
viewport to look for normal problems, you can turn on "Show Normals" in the
editable mesh sub-obj/face rollout. Fix normals here or with a Normal
modifier. Normal problems are often seen on geometry imported from CAD
programs.

2) Each operand should consist of only one "element" in the area of the
Boolean, i.e., you should not attach two meshes together and then try to
subtract a third mesh that overlaps more than one element. If the object is
a mesh, you can use the Element selection tool under sub-obj/Face to see
which parts of a mesh are a single element.

3) I find that Booleans often work best if between one of the operands is a
relatively simple object (such as a box). Two complex objects often cause
problems. The reason is that everywhere two faces intersect in space, a new
edge and vertices must be added - with complex objects the chance of success
diminishes. The Booleans in 3DS/Max work surprisingly well considering the
complexity of the algorithm, but they are not yet perfect.

The exception to this is if using a simple object will result in too many
long skinny faces (see point 5 below), in which case it is best to segment
the intersecting face somewhat to create more vertices for the

4) For persistent problems, "jog" or move one operand slightly with respect
to the other. Problems arise if two vertices are _extremely_ close to each
other in space, two faces are co-planar or two edges are co-linear.

Max makes it easy to adjust one operand and instantly see the result - just
go into the Boolean sub-obj/Operand mode, pick one operand from the list,
and move it a little. Turn on Show Hidden Ops and turn on viewport shading
to make this much easier.

Sometimes I read advice to tessellate one or both operands, probably to
solve the same problem, but this has never been too successful for me. If
more faces are needed (see 5 below), I think it is better to add them
without tessellation.

5) The Boolean algorithm does not seem to like very long skinny faces. (see
point 6) Turn on the edge display of the mesh and examine the edges
carefully. I like to use the low-level mesh editing tools, especially the
edge Turn tool to fix skinny faces. This takes a little practice to use
effectively, but it is well worth the effort.

When creating primitives that will be used in a Boolean, add enough segments
to eliminate long skinny faces. For example, add a few height segments on a
long cylinder.

When lofting, lathing, extruding, or otherwise creating a mesh from a spline
that will later be part of a Boolean, plan the spline to eliminate problem
faces from the beginning. One way to check a spline is to temporarily apply
an Edit Mesh modifier, turn on the edge display, and look for long, skinny
faces. These can generally be eliminated immediately by dropping back to the
spline in the stack and adding a few well placed vertices around the
perimeter of the spline with the refine tool, clicking on the "Show End
Result" button to check the result. I also like to segment a spline by hand
and make all the segments linear instead of relying on the automatic curve
segmentation - this puts vertices and faces exactly where I want them in the
result.

When lofting an object intended for a Boolean, make sure the shape is closed
before lofting and doesn't just look closed - weld the vertices if
necessary.

6) Special care is required for multiple Booleans on the same object. The
result of a Boolean, by necessity when working with mesh object, is a whole
bunch of added little faces and vertices. Since life is not yet perfect, the
result may be an imperfect mesh with some of the problems mentioned in above
(1, 5). Because of this, after each Boolean operation it is best to collapse
the result into an editable mesh, examine it carefully for problems, and
make sure they are fixed before going to the next step. Failure to do this
will assure failure of the Boolean - it is guaranteed to get worse at every
step! I like to:

- zoom way in and look carefully at the result
- use the STL-CHECK to verify the surface integrity
- adjust the operands if necessary
- collapse the stack to a mesh
- select and weld all vertices
- use vertex weld/target, face create, etc. to fix any surface problems
- use edge turn and divide to adjust any long skinny faces

In addition, you most likely need to work on the edges where the two
operands meet - there may be a bunch of tiny faces around the edge that add
no value and cause all kinds of problems later. I generally zoom way in and
manually drag-weld extra vertices using the vertex weld/target tool. This
collapses the unnecessary faces and makes the next Boolean much more likely
to succeed. Max makes it easy to see what is going on with the 3D vertex
snap and "Edged Faces" viewport shading mode.

Save all intermediate Boolean results before collapsing by either hiding a
copy or writing just that object to a separate file.

If you need to create an animated Boolean on a multi-Booleaned object, plan
the construction so that the last Boolean is the animated one.

If you need to undo a Boolean, be sure to undo far enough back - for example
undoing a Pick does not undo the Create Boolean operation - use the undo on
the Edit menu to make sure.

7) Some people recommend to turn the Boolean Optimize off.

Taken from an excellent write-up by John K. Jordan

A2: Re Boolean and MAX objects - MAX objects are hollow!

It's simple, Max uses surfaces, not solids. In the real world, If you put a
large box inside your bedroom and tried to subtract the box from the room,
nothing would happen as it's in fresh air, it's the same with Max.
All Max's objects are hollow, if one is completely inside the other there
isn't anything it can do with them, they need to overlap so the two surfaces
can interact.
It's a different story with true solids though as they have substance all
the way through, Unfortunately Max has yet to acquire these.

A3: Although I'm no expert on MAX (yet..) I have done a lot of Boolean stuff
with many packages, including 3ds r1 through 3, ansys FEA, I-deas, etc.
Mostly
with the real need for a clean and closed result. Here's what I found in
general about Boolean operations in ALL packages.

1) The ratio of lines (length and width) should be approximately the same,
and as simple as possible. VERY IMPORTANT! if you try to Boolean a object
with
long lines to a ref object with many short, the operation may work, but the
results will be less desirable... subdivide and maintain clean lines.
general rule of thumb for FEA meshing (very critical meshes) has been to
try to shoot for less than 4/1 ratio of the width/length on any face...
2) the cleanest booleans are with straight non- curved lines... you can
combine a curve, but it may turn back on itself, especially if SMOOTH points
are
selected... go edit as many points as possible and select CORNER if you can
instead. Also, select as many interfacing lines and make them straight
lines, not curves... if ya can.
3) disaster usually results when a curve meets a curve... this confuses many
packages often, especially with long curves and complex handles. the more
the handle pull away from the normal of a point at a distance, the more
chance
it will turn back on itself when cut or dissected. So, the Boolean will
either
fail, lose faces or flip the faces on ya. In general, combine on curve with
one straight line, or two curves with approximately the same ratio of length
to width points as the target object.

If ya do these simple rules, you can make simple, great fast and complex
booleans with well matched and aligned faces every time...
It's especially important to follow these rules with an aligned face. Make
them as straight and coplanar as possible, and the Boolean aligns them
fine...

Excuse spelling, had to write this in a hurry ;-)

I did an extensive check on a complex object using MAX r 1.2 and this
guideline worked fine.

A4:

simple thing: when I create a Boolean from e.g. a sphere and a box,
everything works quite fine. But when I use two spheres, one of them
noise-modified, Boolean operations simply don't work! How come?
Collapsing or optimizing didn't help

A few things you might want to try:

- move either operand slightly before the operation, sometimes the way the
faces are aligned with one another affects the operation.
- if an object is a instance or a reference it sometimes has an affect
(quite a bit lately for me in fact). Try making a fresh object, or a
basic copy
if you have to reproduce an object to use in a Boolean.
- make sure that your one operand is not entirely inside another, there has
to be some intersection of faces for it to work.
- and lastly....there is always the option of making a small sacrifice to
the god of booleans (quite a fickle fellow, he is)


5.9.2 Morphing
--------------

Q: How do I morph an object with different numbers of vertices?

I am trying to morph an object into another object. They objects have a
different number of vertices. Is this possible? If not could someone
please help me with this dilemma.

A1: The 3D Studio MAX "Morph" command can not morph two objects that have
different numbers of vertices.

A2: If the objects have different number of vertices you can use "conform"
instead of morph, and that CAN work. Results will vary depending upon
models.

A3: In addition to 3D morphing, do not forget 2D post-processing morphing
using some suitable program, like Elastic Reality. Sometimes it works better
and also looks better.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 6 - Materials
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


6 Materials
-----------


6.1 Basics
----------

Q: What is a "shader"?

A: As you probably know, the word "Shader" comes from Renderman where you
actually program how a surface has to behave. So a shader is a piece of code
to control surface properties. (Un)fortunately, MAX is an object-oriented
and very open system, where the functionality supplying a surface with any
kind of property descriptions is split into different plug-in classes. In
order to describe a surface, you have the following elements all working
together to build up what could be called a "shader":

*Face Smoothing groups and surface/vertex normals (in the mesh itself)

*Materials - an object class which describes the "root" of a "shader".
Note that some of them behave differently not only based on the information
described below (maps and shading types), but, in the case of Top/Bottom,
DoubleSided, Falloff etc. also based on Normal Vector info (see above)

*SHADING Types - a separate class (R3!) providing the maths to represent the
behavior of a surface when put into light. (How does the diffuse color mix
with the ambient and specular? Where does the shadow (ambient) color start
and the diffuse end? What properties does the specular highlight have? Is it
smooth or crisp? What is its form and orientation?) All the above is
provided by the shading types, Blinn, Phong, Anisotropic, Metal etc. Since
the f
ormer Constant shading type was based on the mesh's smoothing groups info
only, it
is now a simple switch, so you can have a constant (facetted) Blinn or Metal
material by just ignoring smoothing groups.

*Mapping Channels - these control the variable properties of the root
material by inserting either procedural or bitmap (pixel) information
provided by

*Maps - these provide 2D or 3D arrays of values which can control the
spatial behavior of the shader - variable property in every point of the
surface. They can be procedural (calculated with a formula) or explicit
(bitmaps).

Now imagine all the above working together (that's what they do anyway :o)
You have got something that could be called a "Shader".

Of course, sometimes people call the Procedural Maps "Shaders" probably
because they are the part that most visibly changes surface properties
(like you download a "Stratos" shader by Ishani and you get a Sky :o).
I also think the word is used in books partly to avoid redundant use of
the word "procedural map", and partly to make the whole sound more "high-
end" (read: Renderman-like)


---

Q: What is the difference between Shading types Blinn, Constant, Phong
and Metal?

A:

* 'Constant' shading is what is known as 'Flat shading' with this shading
each polygonal facet will be just that flat.
* 'Gouraud' shading is the next step and it takes the differance between 2
polygons and it creates a smooth gradient to hide the polygon edge it
also alows for highlights from light sources, [the interactive viewports
in
MAX use this] this is also the preffered shading used in video games.
* 'Phong' shading was envented quite a while ago and it allows real light
source accurate highlights hi-Quality bump mapping and reflections.
* 'Blinn' shading was designed by a guy whos last name was BLINN and is
simply phong with less harsh highlights which makes things more realistic
and
less plasticy.
* 'Metal' is like Blinn but has sharper highlights.


---

Q: How do I apply a bitmap to my 3D object?

A: In the pull down menu there is an option called 'material editor', open
that you will see 6 pictures of spheres each representing a different
material. If you select one, in the lower section of the window are the
material settings, if you drag that list up you will come to a section
called 'maps', next to the word 'Diffuse' click on the button marked
'None', when you do this you will see a list of options asking you what
you would like to put into the diffuse slot of this material, select
'bitmap', in the settings for bitmap you will see a button that will
allow you to choose the picture that you want to use for the material.
Add more maps to the other slots as necessary, adjust settings as needed
and name the material. Then below the 6 pictures of spheres you will find
a button that will allow you to add this material to your library. There
you have it.


---

Q: How do I get my bitmaps to show in the Shaded Viewport?

A: In the material editor, click the rubrics cube looking thing and voila,
the maps will show in the viewports for that material. Repeat for all others
you
want to show in the viewports. Mind though that you can only see 2D maps in
your Shaded Viewports (i.e. like bitmaps, checkers, gradients and also some
plugins like noise2d, cellulaR2d, digi-gradient and others). 3D maps will
only show when you do a Render.


---

Q: Why don't my bump/reflection-map show in the Shaded Viewport?

A: In Shaded Viewport you can't see bump mapping or reflective. Just the way
MAX is built. You have to do a test render of your scene to see the result.


---

Q: How do I remove a material from an object?

A: On the Material/Map Browser select New on the Browse From area, then
drag NONE from the material list to the selected object.


---

Q: How do I preview my object in Material Editor slot?

A: Do steps below, these marked with * are optional:

3(*). Zoom Extents
4(*). Create a Free Camera somewhere in the scene
5(*). Go to Views/Match Camera to View
6(*). Change to Camera view instead of the Perspective
7(*). Right-Click the Viewport name, turn "Show Safe Frame" on
8(*). Set the object to be inside of the green frame
9(*). Create some lights in the scene
10. Save the Scene to a MAX file
11. Open Material Editor
12. Click the "Options" icon
13. In the Custom Sample Object group, load the MAX scene you just saved
14(*). If you have done the Camera options listed above, check the "Load
Camera and/or Lights"
15. Click & hold the "Sample Type" button - a new flyout icon with a "?"
will appear - select it
16(*). Right-click the sample window, set the mouse to "Drag/Rotate" to be
able to rotate the sample in the window


---

Q: What is the difference between Material EFFECT Channels & UVW Channels?

A: UVW is the info that MAX needs to place any 2D texture (like bitmap,
gradient, checker) on the object. Material effect channel (BTW: it is not
Material ID, they are two different things) called also material g-buffer
is a special effect channel assigned to object through material and used
in Video Post to apply special effects, i.e. glow.


---

Q: Why does MAX R2.x only have two UVW channels?

A: MAX 2 has two UVW channels to enhance mapping possibilities. For example:
you have a head object and you want to texture it, but you have a problem:
you want your diffuse bitmap to be applied planar, but you have second
bitmap for skin bump and this one should be applied spherical... This is
where you
can use two UVW channels: you make one planar mapping (channel #1) and put
diffuse bitmap through this channel and second channel use for spherical
mapping. This way you can have two maps on one object mapped in different
ways. Note that MAX R3 allow the user to have up to 99 UVW mapping
coordinate
channels on each mesh!


---

Q: Why are the materials on all objects on the "World Creating Toolkit"
MAX CD grey?

I was just looking through the models that come with Max on the "World
Creating Toolkit" CD, and when I was looking at the "Stock Objects"/
Household, or /Furniture, etc. by dragging and dropping them from Asset
Manager into the Max perspective viewport, I would always getting a
warning saying the max file contained materials that were already in the
scene...
yet when I would view them in Smooth+Lit OpenGL, or render them out,
there were never any materials on the objects!!

I just wondered if this is what everybody else gets, or if I have some
kind of configuration problem preventing the materials on these objects

from

showing up (esp. since I *do* get materials on all the models in the REM
folder).

Partly I'm just hoping I don't have to surface these sample models,
since I currently am such a newbie I don't know how to apply materials

to

subobjects (e.g. I don't know to apply different materials to the

lampshade

versus the body of the lamp, when it coming into Max as a single

object).

A: The models that you refer to all seem to have the material "White
Matte". This material looks neutral grey in the viewports and when
rendered. It is up to you to apply materials.


6.2 Mapping technique
---------------------

Q: I want to put a different texture on each side of a cube!!!

A1: Use Multi/Sub-object material instead of the standard material. (In
the material editor click on the slot to the right saying STANDARD.
Choose MULTI/SUB OBJECT.) Now you can choose how many submaterials you
want. (Six in your case) All the new submaterials get their own material
ID. This material ID should be applied to the different faces of the cube
This is done by applying an edit mesh, go to sub level FACES, choose some
faces, scroll down and apply a MatID of your liking. BTW, It's in the manual
and the online help)

A2: It is also possible to just drag-and-drop a material from the
Material Editor onto your object. A Multi/Sub-Object material will
then be created automatically.


---

Q: How to make multi/subobjects blend together

Is there a way to apply a multi/sub-object material
in such a way that there is a blend between the materials?

A1: Try using a "mask" map as a diffuse map in a compound material (with
your multi-sub map as the 2nd map in the compound map). Use a paint program
to create the mask map

A2: Try the Blend material. I've never tried it but there's some tutorials
on the MAXWW site (http://www.maxww.com/)


---

Q: How do I create a transluctant material that let shadows show on the
front and backside of mesh faces?

I have a scene with a backlit transluscent material. The shadows are
visible on the backside of the material receiving the shadows but not on
the frontside. I want to see the play of the shadows on the material but
from the frontside. At the moment the shadow projects through the
material to the ground plane but does not register on the front of the
material itself. Any suggestions?

A: It's called Translucency and is a material plugin ( ?R2.x? ) put into
the Self Illumination slot. By Nik Foscarini. Gives a reasonable facsimile
of the "Rim lighting" effect i.e. shadows showing through a backlit object.
Find it here:

http://www.max3d.com/plugins/info/translucency/


---

Q: How do I use the Top/Bottom Material?

Hello everyone, I am a 3d Studio max2 user. Currently I am
doing on a snow peak mountain but I encountered some problems
with the materials part.

The mountain was a 200 x 200 units quad patch with length and width
segments of 2 each , then I gave the mountain a height of 100 units
using edit patch modifier, following I apply a noise modifier to the
mountain for some roughness.
For the materials part, I use a top/bottom type material for the snow
peak and the mountain itself. When I was experimenting out
with the material, I found that the mountain has to exceed a
certain height before the top/bottom material will be noticeable,
for e.g. in my case, the height of the mountain was 100 units high,
with the position of the top/bottom material at 60%, only the
top material is visible with hardly any bottom material seen
when rendered, unless I increase the height of the mountain
further or increase the position of the top/bottom material..
Could someone tell me why is this so? Is it not possible to
model a gentle slope with a top/bottom material
(with position of about 50% or less) applied to it?

A: I think you got caught by a common misconception about the Top/Bottom
material type. Top and Bottom (in this context) refer not to location
but to orientation. Check out the following excerpt from MAX's on-line
help:

"The object's top faces are those whose normals point up. The
bottom faces have normals that point down. You can choose
whether "up" and "down" refer to the scene's world co-ordinates,
or to the object's local co-ordinates."

On most types of terrain all the faces are turned upward so they get
assigned the Top portion of a Top/Bottom material. Only those faces on
the underside of overhanging terrain tend to face downwards. They would
be the only faces to receive the Bottom portion of the Top/Bottom
material.

You may be able to accomplish what you want to do with a Gradient map
applied to the terrain with cylindrical UVW mapping.


---

Q: How do I use an Alpha channel saved together with my image in a .TIFF
file?

A: Open the Diffuse map slot and apply your bitmap. Next open the Opacity
map slot and apply the same bitmap (that also includes your Alpha channel).
In the Opacity map, check "Alpha" under "Mono Channel Output". Now assign
this material to your object and you are done! A little note; when you
create your Alpha channel in Photoshop, black correspond to total
transparency
and white to opac in MAX.


---

Q: Is there any "unwrap" plugins that will unwrap the texture coordinates?

A: Yes there is! You can try the freeware plugin TLUnwrap from Mankua
(http://www.mankua.com/). This will unwrap your texture coordinates and
render an image of the resulting grid layout with or without already applied
textures. Another good utility is the Unwrap 1.0 for Max 3.0 utility from
Peter Watje. Find it at his site http://www.max3dstuff.com/


---

Q: How do I reset my mesh's faces to Material ID "1" again?

Is there a way to clear your material ID's from an object, or start from
scratch of you screwed them up? The CLEAR SELECTION button on the
SELECT BY ID pop up doesn't seem to do anything.

A: There is a simple way, just goto Edit Mesh, Sub-Object, Face. Select
all faces and assign ID 1 to it. Poof... all your faces are now ID 1 and
you can start over!


---

Q: How do I do to get two overlapping UVW-mapping co-ordinates?

This may be a bit obvious but does anyone know how the map two different
bitmaps with different UVW coordinates to the same object

A1: Each UVW map has a channel (1 or 2). You select the mapping as either
"Explicit UVW 1" or "Explicit UVW 2" for the bitmaps. Easy.

A2: You have to use UVW-channels 1 and 2. In material editor you
can use, for example, diffuse texture's mapping: 'Explicit UVW1'
and 'Explicit UVW2' for bump map.

Then apply two UVW Map modifiers to object, make second one
use Channel 2.

A3: Use Composite or Blend-maps (bitmaps should have Alpha channel for good
transparency results).


---

Q: Can I "layer" bumpmaps? Let's say an arm with bump-veins and
bump-muscles?!

Does MAX 2 have the ability to 'layer' bump maps? For example, let's
say I want a bump map of veins on my character. And I also want a bump
map of muscle striations on him too. Oh, and let's throw in a bump map
of snake-like scales on the character too!! Any way to combine these
maps in MAX? Thanks for any help...

A: Yes, you can use very complex combinations of different kinds of bitmap-
and procedural maps to make bumps (or diffusion or reflection or...)

Example bump map of complex glass plate surface I did
for one case (no bitmaps involved for resolution
independency).

BUMP-+-Composite
+-Cellular
+-Output
+-Mask
+-Cellular
+-Splat


---

Q: Assigning a bitmap to the background in MAX

I remember reading a message which explained how to assign a background
in 3ds max 2.5. Unfortunately I can't find that message again. So if
someone could kindly repost how to assign a background in 3ds max I
would
greatly appreciate it.

A:

1. Go to RENDERING > ENVIRONMENT this will open the Environment panel.
2. Click on the NONE button (underneath where it says environment map).
3. The material browser will open. Pick the BITMAP map by double clicking.
4. Now open the Material Editor.
5. Drag from where it says 'Map #x (Bitmap)'--what use to be the NONE
button--to an unused slot in the Material Editor. A black circle will
appear in the spot.
6. Now in the Material Editor under the Bitmap Parameters rollout there is
an empty button right after where it says 'Bitmap:', click it.
7. Open your background file.
8. Make sure the Environment choice is selected in the Coordinates rollout,
and pick which type of mapping you want. For a detailed description refer
to
the help file

If you also would like to see the bitmap in your viewport, go to View/
Background Image and check Use Env.Map and Display Background.


---

Q: How to make objects/materials look old and dirty

Is there a free plugin that makes textures/models look dirty or old?
Many of my models look so "new". Thanks...

A: I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and decided to try to
simulate the Dirty Reyes http://www.infografica.com/dirty/index.html effect.
I've included a picture which I'll base this on, it uses a Dirty Reyes demo
mesh which I rendered without Dirty Reyes using my own dirtying technique.

For this to work you need to be able to map the whole mesh as one (after
attaching all parts together) as with this gun, it was mapped from the side.
So, to start...
Place your object on screen, place 4 Omni-lights, 2 above and 2 below the
the object in the view to be mapped (left view in this case) and position
the lights at opposite corners, i.e. upper lights = top right and bottom
left of view lower lights = bottom right and top left of view.

Texture the object with all materials and render without shadows from the
left viewport at a large size and save the file as "Map colour".
Then make a plain white texture (Phong, ambient=black, diffuse=white, no
shine) and apply this to the whole object, turn on shadow maps for the 2
upper lights and render the left viewport again and save as "Map dirt".
Max's shadow maps will give a dirty appearance around the parts and bumps.

Go into Photoshop (or whatever you have) open "Map dirt" and increase the
contrast and decrease the brightness until the dirt map looks as you want
it, then select it and copy it. Open the "Map colour" and paste "Map dirt"
into it using the Multiply filter, this will combine the two to make a dirty
colour map. Crop the picture exactly to size...this is crucial if it's to
fit. Save the resultant composite as "Map comp".

Go back into Max and use Edit Mesh to attach all the pieces of the model
together to make it one piece, apply a planar UVW map to the joined object
and use fit in the left viewport, then with your white material, add the
"Map comp" image to the diffuse channel and add just a little shine.

Delete all the Omni-lights and set-up your new lighting as you want it and
add a camera. Render your picture and you should have a nice dirty texture
on your object and saved $400 + into the bargain.

If you're not sure this would work, look at my picture, then visit the site
in the top paragraph. You'll see the same model there, compare mine to
theirs and you'll see. My picture uses one shadow spot and two Omni-lights.

A2: Also take a look at the tutorial on the "Jar's Homepage" site that shows
a few methods of using compositors to make dirty and old textures. The
address
is http://www.nautilus.com.pl/jarek/max.html


---

Q: How do I planar map an object in MAX?

A:
1. Look at your model from the front view
2. Zoom in on only it, making it fit fully in your front viewport ("W"
maximizes the viewport)
3. Press SHIFT+G to get rid of the grid
4. Make sure you are in wireframe mode
5. Press your "PRINT SCREEN" button on the top right side of your
keyboard
6. Open PHOTOSHOP or whatever
7. Make a new image, mine is 1024x768 because that is my screen rez.
(the captured window)
8. Crop to your object's limits (a rectangle around it)
9. Make a new layer in Photoshop, or whatever program you use
10. Paint on that new layer
11. Save as a .tga (flattens the data)
12. Save as a .psd document (keeps your layers for further tweaking)
13. Go back into max (try using alt+tab to cycle through programs)
14. Apply UVW planar map that aligns to the front viewport (use the x,y,z
alignment buttons in the UVW selections menu)
15. Go to your material editor, give a normal unused material a name, say
"my texture" by typing it in the material #12, etc slot)
16. Go to diffuse and left click in the "NONE" slot and choose bitmap
17. Look for the "BITMAP: ____n_o_n_e_______" and left click on it
18. Find your map you saved as a .tga and use it
19. Make sure your cube (looks like a RUBIK'S CUBE blue and white
checkerboard cube) is left clicked on, this show the material
in the viewport
20. Left click on your object, making it white and active
21. Use the apply material to object button in the material editor, and
viola, you have a texture
22. Make sure to turn your viewport to a shaded view (right click on the
white lettered viewport's name in the top left corner of each viewport)


This is only good for projection mapping. If you want, you can UVW unwrap
your object, after applying cylindrical or spherical mapping, and take a
snapshot of the screen when it points come up, and paint that, and go
through
this process for those types of mapping

also, you can edit mesh, select sub-object face mode, and by hand separate
your model into left,right,top,bottom,front, and back planes, and paint them
as well (takes a long time, only really good for videogame characters and
backdrops)


---

Q: How to import and texture a complex DXF model

I want to texture a DXF model in MAX. Here's the deal. I have a cool DXF
of a dragon I would like to make a map for it in PhotoShop and have all
the details on it i.e. eyes, scales, and so one. Then apply it to the
dxf in 3ds.

A1: Three comments:

First off -- see if the DXF can be split into subparts -- trying to paint
the details of an eye on a bitmap that's applied to the entire object is an
exercise in futility.

Secondly -- I've had good success with "Divide and conquer" method. If you
have to apply this method to the whole dragon, then so be it; otherwise,
repeat for every subpart that you can separate.

1) have PhotoShop and MAX open simultaneously

2) create and save a PhotoShop file that's a grid of 4 to 6 coloured
squares.(i.e., the top left fourth is red, the top-right fourth is green,
etc.) Colour choice here is for contrast and placement reference only.

3) create a standard material in MAX whose diffuse colour is mapped to the
PhotoShop file in question. (Yes, MAX can read *.PSD files, but it's slow,
so only do this for Work In Progress.)

4) When you've drilled down to the bitmap in the Material Editor, check the
"show map in viewport" button - it's the isometric blue and white checked
cube.

5) Apply a "UVW MAPPING" modifier to the dragon/dragon part. Cylindrical
mapping is a good method to start with, but try and "Bury the seam" -- the
green line that indicates where "east meets west" -- and scale the cylinder
so there's a little "slack" on the top and bottom of the object.

7) Apply the material you made in (3-4) to the object. Note the
correspondence
between the coloured regions of the bitmap and the object, and the "SQUEEZE
AND STRETCH" of the object.

8) Rotate the UVW map until you're relatively happy with where the regions
fall.

9) create a layer in PhotoShop on top of the coloured squares and "rough
out" the details you plan on mapping onto the object. Do it quickly; you'll
have
to redo it at least a few times.

10) continue to add extra layers and extra detail. Don't forget to save in
PhotoShop and reload the bitmap in MAX to verify that you're on target.

Also, sometimes you will get into overkill and create detail that is either
invisible or obscured in shadow or the back of an object or underneath other
objects. Out of sight is out of mind.

(hint for scales -- apply a diagonal grid so the scales line up nicely, and
once you're happy with the scale, select circles that are bigger than the
grid squares and centered within them, then fill the selection on a gradient
fill
top to bottom.)

11) Next, paint in the bumps. Create a new alpha channel in the "channels"
palette in PhotoShop.(It'll be labeled "#4"). Fill it with 50% grey.

12) Make it AND the RGB channels visible at the same time. use the paint
tools on the alpha channel to paint white hi-lights where you want the
pattern to
appear to "rise up". Use the airbrush with a wide nozzle for rolling lumps,
a smaller paintbrush for ridges, and a black 1 pixel pencil for tiny
grooves.

A2: If you have PhotoShop or something similar, then I'd suggest rendering
the side view of the horse in Max at high resolution and painting directly
on
the rendered image in PhotoShop, try to avoid adding details at the edges of
the horse outline as these will smear across. You can even soften the
outline to smooth the mapping as it's applied.
When completed, crop the image *exactly* to the horse dimension itself then
planar map it back onto the horse using "UVW map-planar-fit". You'll find it
will match and fit the horse precisely.


---

Q: Problem with objects that only can be seen from one side

I'm trying to map a single material onto a landscape mesh. After
collapsing the stack and applying planar mapping (z aligned) I find
that the material can only viewed from the top and not through any of my
camera views. But if I apply a checker process map it can be seen all

over.

What am I missing?
Should I break the mesh up for simpler mapping? I don't know.

A: Reverse the normals on your mesh or use a 2-sided material.


---

Q: Animated material - one material uncovers another

I'd like to be able to move/animate one material to reveal the
underlying material.

A: To create a blending animation from one material to another do the
following:

Use the Blend material instead of a Standard material. Take your
two materials and assign them to the two slots in your Blend material.
Assign a Mask-map. Animate the Offset in the Mask bitmap rollout
to crate a fading effect ...takes some experimentation...


---

Q: How do I get the outline of my model onto a bitmap for painting?

Is there any method of flattening a 3d wireframe and exporting it as an
image file into PhotoShop so that I can accurately day a texture map
without having to be psychic and guessing the shape of the 3d model in

2d ?

Thank you for your help.

A: First thing you'll want to get is either texporter or Watje's uv unwrap
plugin for max1 or 2. This will allow you to export the wireframe's
unwrapped map to a bitmap that you can paint on it in PhotoShop and reapply.
The issue is how to get a map that a) has easily defined features so that
you can tell where, say, the arm is, the finger is, and such, and b) that
maps correctly with a minimum of pixel stretching and distortion. This is
one of the more difficult aspects of creating a quality model, and I'll go
through one way to solve it, but it always depends on the type of model that
you are creating. What works for a car, might not work for a human, and
might not work for a building. For this example I'll use a human.

The first thing you want to do is create the model in a position that
exposes as much geometry to a planar map as possible. That is, don't create
a guy with his arms crossed when you could make him in the classic base pose
(arms out, palms down, legs straight down). Once you're done modeling, copy
the mesh and collapse the stack. Next, you'll want to start selecting faces
and detaching them from the model. Usually you can get away with just
selecting the backside of the model and detaching it. By detaching I don't
mean creating two separate objects... merely breaking off the backside so
that you can move it independently. Before you do move those faces anywhere
though, copy the model again.

Now take those selected faces and swing them around 180deg so that they are
next to the front side. What you're going to do is apply a planar map to the
model and then morph it back into the original form. This is a standard way
to make a decal map of a model, where all of the maps are contained in one
bitmap file.

The only problem with this is that sometimes you'll get some stretching of
pixels along areas such as the side of the head and waist. What you can do
is just move those verts so that the model is as flattened out as possible.
You might even want to use a flattening modifier, or a NU scale Xform (avoid
NU scale though). You can also break off the arms, head, legs and have them
separate areas of the map. The one thing to be aware of, though, is that Max
won't let you morph back to an object that has had a mesh attached to it in
this situation, so it's important to
have your target already have the sections broken off, although not moved.

Just remember that UV Co-ordinates are stored in each vertex, so you can
move them wherever and they'll carry the map with them. Sometimes you really
need to get creative to map a model correctly.

If anybody has anything to add to this or sees any discrepancy, please speak
up.


---

Q: Best way to map a character ?

I need to map *ONE* texture map on a character. The object in not
jointed.
It has 2 legs, 2 arms a tail and a long neck. In addition it has 2 horns
turning down, next to the face. I don't know how to map the texture:
I've
tried a planar map but the back of the figure need to be different from
the front. I've tried with a cylindrical map tiled 2 times along the
circumference (?) but the arms look not good enough. Then I have the
problem with the horns,... Is it possible to define different maps for
the selected faces and apply a single texture over all the figure? How
to proceed?

A: You should try to get a hold of the October issue (I think) of Game
Developer there is a good article there of different ways to map characters.

To answer your Mapping per selected face question: Yes, you can use a
Multi-Sub object and use different UVW gizmos for different faces.
Cylindrical
for the horns, arms etc.


---

Q: How do I put a material along the rim of an oiltank?

I need to put a bitmap (a text, over some background) on the edge of a
circular object (the edge of an Oiltank): imagine some label on the
outer rim of a dish.

I EditMesh'ed the object, selected the faces where I wanted to apply the
label and gave them another ID (2); created a Multi/Subobject material;
gave the bitmap submaterial the ID:2.

The problem is that the faces, part of the Oiltank, are not planar but
follow a curved path, and my submaterial is not mapped correctly.

I tried to apply to the faces an UVWmapping modifier, although I'm not
expert at using it, and things went a little better choosing Box
mapping, but just for the central faces: the left and right faces are

still very

messed-up.

A: You need to use UVWmapping modifier with cylindrical mapping, with the
flat ends aligned to the top/bottom of the oiltank.


---

Q: How do I simulate heat "distortion"?

In an old black/white movie there was a special cine... You could see
over the heads of the people the boxing ring and everything was dancing
because of the heat-waves coming of that crowd of people. To film this
they put a fire under the camera-lens end.

A: There are a number of ways...the most realistic is to make a completely
transparent, completely shine-free material with a barely perceptible
refraction map (raytrace), and place it on a box with a ripple and a wave
space warp bound to it (aligned to the camera view.) Put the box in front of
the camera so that it fills the part of the view you want distorted, and
link it to the camera (if you want it to move with the camera.) Animate the
ripple and wave values, and experiment until it looks like you want it to.


---

Q: Can someone explain to me the premise behind matte?

A: Matte is (in 3D programs) an object which you can make
to show background image through other 3D objects and/or
can receive shadows (onto background plate).

Example: Err... Ok. You have a picture of forest and you
need to add tank there, to go between the trees. Now you
add 3d geometry to make ground and trees (with matte
material in Max) and make your tank drive between those.
(Camera position, angle etc must be placed very carefully
using background image as reference).

Then add lights to your scene and when you render it, you
can see that tank casts shadows onto tree trunks and ground
and when there is a tree between camera and tank, it actually
goes behind it. Cool, eh?

Here's a simple tutorial about the issue:
http://www.MAXWW.com/~pcs/tutorials/fx/matte/mat.htm

More advanced technique is CameraTracking where background
image is a movie. It may pan, tilt, zoom, travel etc...
That's a bit more complicated.

Matte in movies is a bit different thing (same result though).
See POP Studios information page about that:
http://www.popstudios.com/film/index2.html


6.3 About Raytracing
--------------------

Q: How do you set the MAX's raytracer to get a "good" result?

I know some of you are going to just say "RTFM" ;) But I can't seem to
figure this out even if I do read the manuals. Is there anybody here
that has used Caligari's TrueSpace 2 or 3? Where all you do is select
raytracing and it does it. Well, how do I do that in MAX2? I know you
just don't select raytracing, it's material based, but there's just so
many places to select raytracing! Which is which! You know that
raytracing example that comes with MAX2? The image I mean. How would you
go about making the material that was used for that greenish glass vase?
Every time I try to make a material for an object to be raytraced, it
takes about 20x longer (literally) and it looks the same. Could somebody
help me out? Is there a tutorial for raytracing I could look at?

A: Word of warning -- 3dsm's raytracer is SLOW! I have a fairly modern
Pentium but I rendered a DINKY (postage stamp sized) fishbowl and it took me
HOURS as a fully raytraced object!

I'd advise you to carefully consider exactly why you want raytracing; is it
sharper shadows? reflections? transparency? Apply it where you need it --
carefully and with forethought.

There is a standard "Raytracing material" that you use if you want a 100%
raytraced object. However there's also a raytracing map which can be used in
the reflection map channel of a standard material (or any other map for that
matter).

Raytraced shadows is a property of lights, not materials. Use it for really
sharp shadows.

You can raytrace transparency too -- but check "Raytrace objects inside
material" if you want to do so. (I may be mistaken here - it's late. but
the point is I had problems getting the stuff inside my hollow fishbowl to
appear until I fiddled with the settings. )

Consider, however, just using the opacity setting, with falloff. (Falloff
will
make the walls perpendicular to you transparent -- like how you can see
through the center of a bubble, but the edges are opaque.)

Finally, depending on your level of funding, there are separate rendering
engines that can raytrace your entire scene.


---

Q: What's the difference between reflection/refraction and a raytrace
material?

Am I right when I say that the reflection/refraction map is a
faster/less accurate way than using the raytrace map or raytrace
material?

A: They are less accurate but can be easier to use and faster. You have both
flat and curved mirror systems and flat and curved refraction systems.
Between them you should be able to get a nice look. Raytracing is best for
stills where they are open to more scrutiny and accuracy.


6.4 Seamless texture bitmaps
----------------------------

Q: How do you create seamless texture maps in Photoshop?

A: There are a couple of tricks. First, make sure your texture source (say,
a photo) is/was shot was flat-on as possible to the original surface.
Second,
if you scan this texture and bring it into Photoshop, yes, you should use
the
Offset filter, with Wraparound On, to see the seams at the top and bottom.
You then have two choices (you can use both): Use the Marquee or Lasso tool
to
grab parts of the image and paste over the seams, and/or the Rubber Stamp
tool to
smooth over the seams. (If you're using Lasso or Marquee, Feather and
anti-alias the edges for a better blend.) When you're finished, use the
Offset filter
again, but enter a negative value identical to the Horizontal/Vertical
values you began with.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 7 - Lights, shadows and fog
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


7 Lights, shadows and fog
-------------------------


7.1 Lighting - the basics
-------------------------


Lighting is one of the hardest parts of 3d to master. You often need to use
quite a few fill lights in 3d programs as the normally reflected light in
real life is missing from them. Usually you'd have a bright master light
with shadows and a light on the opposite side as a fill, plus a light
underneath the scene to simulate light reflected up from the floor and a
general overhead light as an area fill/reflector.
These are usually of a lower intensity than the master light and often don't
need to cast shadows. If you use this as a general set-up, you can then
refine the lighting to suit. Remember to use ranges and subtle colours on
lights when you're a bit more experienced to tailor them even further. What
you're doing here is trying to simulate radiosity effects that occur in
reality, and fill lights are the normal way of doing it.
Your volume lights need their density turned down a lot, this should cure
the problems.


and...

You can't just dump lights into a scene and expect them to work. Phong or
Raytrace rendering don't react as real world lighting does, though
radiosity goes a long way toward helping with this. That is, the lights
don't bounce off of surfaces and "bleed" the colour of the object. Nor does
light bounce over and over recursively from surface to surface.

Instead what you'll have to learn is how to set lights to "fake" all of
the real world effects. Set lights under the floor to light the under
surfaces of objects, thereby faking the bounce of overhead lights from the
floor. Set one ambient light at a very low level to fill in and set other
lights at reduced levels in order to imply where the lights would be set
in a real world setting.

There's still quite a bit of artistry in setting lights in the 3d world.
In order to accomplish what you want, you need to understand what the
effect of different types of light do, what temperature the light has, how
strong any given light source should be, and what the overall effect is of
multiple lights adding illumination to the model. In order to recreate a
certain lighting scheme you may have to set far more than what would
actually be in a real setting. There have been many times that though the
scene shows only one or two lights, I've set nearly thirty!

There are quite a few tutorials on lighting on the web. I'm sorry that I
don't have their URLs right now, but with a little searching you should be
able to find them. Don't assume that they have to be for Max, lighting
techniques are lighting techniques and apply to any program, so take what
you can get.



---

Q: What is Ambient light and how does it work?

Ambient light, I read through the explanation in the Inside 3dmax book
volume 1, checked Webster's' dictionary (something about encompassing/
encircling) but I still don't get it. what does it really mean? how
would it help in building an atmosphere.

A: Ambient lighting is a fast and lazy way to simulate radiosity by
lightening shadows instead of placing the proper lights. It creates a flat
and fake (computer) look to objects. The second best solution to radiosity
is the placement of lights that brighten up the shadows but only where you
want to. Ambient lighting is an overall lighting and ALL shadows are
brightened up. Best avoided (IMO) or only used very sparsely...


---

Q: Can someone give me a basic explanation on what Specular, diffusion,
diffuse and ambient is?

A:
-the specular colour determines the colour of the bright highlights on shiny
objects. Metals have a very bright and hard specular highlight,
plastic is softer, cloth has as good as none at all.

-Diffusion makes up a material's surface composition. Is it glossy (low
diffusion) or matt (high diffusion)? This comes from the way light bounces
on the surface. Gloss surfaces reflect the light pretty straight while matt
surfaces spreads the light out in all directions (diffuses it) because the
surface consists of a lot of smaller "surfaces" that point in all
directions, thus reflecting the light everywhere.

-Diffuse is a 3D Studio term of a material's colour/texture (IMO it's a
weird name...).


---

Q: Is there a "light" FAQ somewhere?

A: I don't know about any FAQ but there are some nice lighting tutorials at
http://www.digitalproducer.com/pages/features_modeling_and_rendering.htm
I would also look at some books about photography. Taking photos and
rendering is very related and lighting techniques are generally the same.


7.2 Working with Lights and shadows
-----------------------------------

Q: How do I get my objects to cast shadows?

I'm currently having trouble enabling or discovering the feature which
allows 3ds max R2.5 to cast shadows, if possible. I have seen a
multitude of check boxes which should enable this, but do nothing.. Any
guidance or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

A: Each light (in the modify panel) has a checkbox for "Cast Shadows".
That's all you should need to do. Any light other than a fill, generic
volume light
or "special" light (For example, a light that is being used to
self-illuminate certain parts of a spaceship model without using a SI
material) will
usually need this turned on if you want shadows in the scene.


---

Q: Can I make object that is visible, but doesn't cast shadows?

A: Yes, select the object, click it with right mouse button, select
properties and check off Cast Shadows, leave Renderable on.


---

Q: How to render shadows of a hidden object?

A: If it is shadow-mapped shadow you can use 100% transparent (0 opacity)
material with 0 shininess - it won't be visible in render but will cast
shadows.

If you want the same with raytraced shadows, this trick won't work. You
will have to download a free plugin - Shadow material - it will do what
you want even with raytraced shadows. Check the end of this FAQ for sites
with free Plugins download.


---

Q: My house-wall doesn't stop light from shining through!

I encounter a little problem. I made a scene with a building. There is a
window in a wall. I made a light which light trough this window. I
applied volume light to light the problem is that light not only go

through

the window, but completely through the wall !!! So my volume light is

not

pretty. How can I force light to only go through the window ?

A1: Your light must cast shadows and your wall must accept them before the
light will only pass through the window. Look at the bottom of the lights
modifier panel, this will allow you to set "casts shadows". Select your wall
then right click to get the wall's properties dialog, this will allow you
to set the wall so it will accept shadows.

A2: check you haven't got "Overshoot" turned on...that'll make the light go
right through objects, and (i would assume) volume light too....


---

Q: How do I create daylight?

A: It depends on the type of weather you want to simulate. If it's a sunny
day, I usually create 1 target spot or directional light which casts
shadows, it is slightly yellowish-orange (but more white) and has a
multiplier of
approx. 1,5. Perpendicular to this light I place 1 to 3 blue (zenith color)
omni lights
with multiplier 0,5 and no shadow casting. If it's a cloudy day just work in
grays, lower the multiplier and remove the shadows. This works for me to
make some basic lightning. If you want to add detail you still have to
create
extra lights with or without shadows.


---

Q: How does a projector light work?

How do I map an animated sequence onto an object? For example, I want to
make a TV screen and I would like to map a pre rendered sequence onto
it. Can I use single frames or avis?

A1: You can use both tga sequences and avis. You just apply UVW map as you'd
normally do for non animated sequence.

A2: Sorry for not explaining better. What I mean is to map the .avi (that's
showing on the TV) also onto a projector spotlight pointing out of the
screen as well, if a high blur setting is used and a wide beam angle, you'll
get the effect of watching TV at night with the lights down low. The TV does
give out quite a bit of light from the screen but none of it is focussed,
what you see is a general low intensity light with colour, matching what's
on screen.

Next time you watch TV at night, turn off the lights, look around the room
and you'll see what I mean. This light is needed to realistically show a TV
playing, especially if it's at night and you see a lot of the room the TV's
in.


---

Q: How do I exclude objects from being lit by my lights?

Hi there.. I was wondering if anyone could give me a tip on how to do
something in max. I have a shiny reflective floor (value 15) in one
of the pics I'm working on. I'm using omni lights to provide general
illuminance, but the problem is that a hotspot seems to show up in the
reflection on the floor for some reason. I would use ambient
lighting, but there's a few parts I want dark. I tried making the
hotspot 0 and the far attenuation about 300, but then I just get a
HUGE hotspot on the floor, and techniques I could use to get around
this?

A: Assuming that you do not want to change the shininess of the floor and
that you are comfortable with the way the rest of the room is being lit,
there is one thing you might want to try. go into the modification panel
for your omni lights (particularly the ones that are giving you your glare)
and use the Exclude/include option to remove the floor from it's
illumination effect. Now you will have a nicely lit room with a dark floor.
Now just
light your floor separately with a setup that will only affect the floor
(and does
not cause any unwanted glare). This may take a bit of playing around with
to get it to look natural...

If it's Max 2, you can turn off "affect specular," in the lights modify
panel, this will illuminate it with diffuse light, but no shine from that
particular light.


---

Q: Is there anyway to make an object to a light source?

It should still look like the object but it shall also spread light.
I have tried with almost everything, is there a plugin? Please help.

A: Real lens flares has what are called Luma objects, this is probably
closest to what you want but you can fake it by putting an Omni-light inside
the
object and excluding that object from the light. That way you get light
coming from the object and casting shadows (if it's Max2), if the object is
also self-illuminated and you tint the light to the same colour as the
object, it should look right.


---

Q: My light doesn't shine through another objects that is completely
transparent!

My problem is that when I try to render shadows and I have the use
shadow maps option checked all I am able to do is get the boxes for

shadows.

The light does not go through the transparent part of the image. It

works if

I use the ray tracing option, but that takes too long as I have a large
scene.

A1: I have dealt with problems of this nature a lot and the solution is
relatively simple. What you basically need to do is use raytrace lights but
only on the objects that require it. This means making objects that the
transparent objects cast shadows onto that conform to, and are seamless
with, the surrounding area.

Here is a simple example:

Let's say your scene is a curving landscape and the only light source is the
sun.

1. Clone the sun.

2. Make one of your viewports a sun-clone viewport and center it's target
onto your transparent thingamadoohickey.

3. Adjust the size, and shape so that your transparent thingamadoohickey
fills as much of the sun-clone viewport as possible.

4. In the sun-clone viewport, select all faces of the landscape that are
behind -and cross the edges of- your transparent thingamadoohickey.

5. Detach these faces to a new object. Call it "shadowplate" or something.

6. Make the sun-clone a raytracer and exclude all objects in the scene
except for the transparent thingamadoohickey and the shadow plate.

7. In the sun parameters, exclude the transparent thingamadoohickey and the
shadow plate.

8. There ya go. You can also make shadow plates by making Boolean
intersection objects.

I find this also works great when I have an outdoor scene with lots of trees
in it. Raytracing and trees just don't mix yet it is essential for making
outdoor scenes look real. So I have a sun casting shadow maps for the
background where the fine detail isn't as important and a raytracer for the
foreground objects.


---

Q: How do I subtract light (add shadows)?

I'm using 3D-Studio Max2. I want to create inverted lights but I
don't know how to do it. Need help!

A: If you mean suck light instead of add light, then use a negative
multiplier in the parameters box, i.e. -1


---

Q: How do I make a Sun emitting light without using combustion?

Just curious. Want to make a flaming Sun with flares. Other than
the obvious of combustible materials. How do you make the Sun emit
light as well as making the flares come off of it?

A:
1. Create a sphere. Apply a material with 100% self illumination. Apply a
fractal NOISE modifier to the diffuse channel in the material and give it
a bright yellow for color1, and a SECOND fractal noise modifier as
ColoR2. For this second modifier, choose bright orange as color1 and dark
orange
as coloR2.

2. Put an Omni light (No shadows) in the center of the sphere. Set its
colour to bright yellow. Set it to attenuate from just outside the sphere
to
about +10 to +15 units outside (This is the "Glow" for the star.)

3. Create a second omni also in the center, and attenuate it from where the
last one ended to another +20 units or so. This is a light for the
flares.

4) Add volume light (with noise) to both lights (make the outer one twice as
"noisy" as the inner one...adjust the values until the render looks like
you want it to.

5. Now, to make the star light other objects in the scene, add yet another
omni at the center, but this time turn shadows on. Click "Exclude" in the
light panels, and exclude the star from this omni's effects for both
lighting and shadows.

Voila. One star with flares and light generation. And you didn't even have
to use combustion. You can create prominances with particle systems and
spherical gravity.


---

Q: Why can't my objects cast shadow on other objects?

I've got a problem that first surfaced when I got MAX2 as it was
released. It's been a while since I first discovered the bug(?) but so
far I've been able to hide it, this time around however the problem is
so obvious I have to do something about it.

No matter what I do, my object won't cast decent shadows onto itself.
It's a statue with an open mouth, and even though the light isn't
supposed to light up the inside of the mouth, it's fully lit. Bang!

I have tried several different things, like resetting Xforms on the
statue, the lights, making the material 2-sided, it makes no difference.

Has this happened to others but me and if so, what can I do to prevent
this from happening?

A: It's not a bug I'm aware of, I don't know what's going on there. You can
sort of fix it by putting an omni-light inside the mouth with a tight
falloff range so it just covers the area that needs to be dark and apply a
negative multiplier to it, this will suck light out of the area affected by
the omni-lights falloff range.

Not ideal, but should get you out of your fix until you find what the real
problem is.


---

Q: How do I create a blinking light?

A: Make two keyframes for light's multiplier - one with value >0, and one
=0, and then in Track View assign out-of-range-type controller to light's
multiplier.


---

Q: How do I create a flickering light?

Any ideas on how to make flickering lights? Like a lightning strike or a
light bulb about to die or fire.

A: Easiest way is to assign a noise controller to your light source's
intensity value. This is handled in the trackview. Just add a controller
to the multiplier and play!


---

Q: How do I create realistic sunlight?

A: First, always use a directional light for the sun. This lets you keep
it close to the scene without having to worry about your shadow sizes.

Second: ambient light. Next time you're outside check out your shadow. You
might notice that it isn't black, it's sort of a grey-cyan. This is the
effect of the ambient light coming from the blue sky above you. Set your
ambient light to something similar to this colour (Monet and Pixar like to
exaggerate this).

And last, for outdoor scenes, you will generally get better results with
raytraced shadows.


7.3 Working with Volumetric Lights
----------------------------------

Q: How do I set up my Volume light?

A: Volume Light, Good basic volume light parameters:

1. set density to 3.0
2. scroll down and turn noise on.
3. set amount to 0.5
4. set the size to 10
5. set uniformity to -0.5
6. set phase to 1.0

Make sure to set your spotlight to cast shadows. Also, only use shadow
mapping and -not- raytrace shadows as they won't work.


---

Q: How do I create a red volume light?

I was wondering if there is anyone who knows how to render a red volume
light against a white background, or any other than black colour
background.

A1: Create a spotlight with shadows (down) and create the volumetric light
in
"render" - "environment". In "environment" pick your light and choose a red
tint for the rays. Do a test render and check the colour.

A2: Do your red volumetric light as you normally would and for the
background colour, go to rendering/environment and in the top left of the
dialog, click
the "Background: Colour" swatch. Then choose whatever colour you want in the
background.


---

Q: How can I make my light pick up the colour of a window it shines
through?

I'm trying to create a church scene with a stained glass window which
has a volume light, but this needs to pick out the image of the window.
I remember someone posting a message about this b4, but I don't know
whether it was resolved.

I've tried doing projections, but it looks as if there is a light coming
from the middle of the window, it needs to look as if there is sunlight
streaming through the window.

A1: I think your on the right track with the projector. If I understand you
correctly, it seems that you are using a target spot, but you are placing
the
source of the light too close to your stained glass window.

Solution 1:
Use a directional light, where all the rays are parallel, place the light a
little bit behind the glass, just so that the source plane of the light
doesn't intersect the window.

Solution 2:
keep your target light (which will create divergent rays) but move it way
back. Once the spot is approximately in the right alignment, you need to
make sure that the rays fit the window, change your view to 'spot01' or
whatever
the name of your spot. This will show you what the spot is illuminating, go
to modify tab and change the 'Falloff' parameter. The goal is to have the
outer blue box (shown in the 'Spot01' view) fit the stained window.

In any case, if you need the volume light to cast shadows inside the church,
don't forget to 'exclude' the stained glass window from the spot exclude
list, and use shadow maps not raytrace.

A2: Still go with using projection, just make sure not to use volumetric
light with the projector light. For the volumetric light use an omni light
at
a long distance coming through the window. It will take some work to get
the projected image and the volumetric light's "shadow" to line up, but
should be relatively simple.


---

Q: How can I make a cracked sphere with light shining out through the
cracks?

First I created a sphere and created a omni volumetric light at the
center of the sphere.

Next a opacity bitmap is mapped onto the sphere so as to simulate light
is just coming out of this sphere through the hole map by the opacity
map.

By light doesn't seem to come out of the sphere instead, it just within
the boundary of the sphere ..

A: You are not going to get a volumetric light to come out of the sphere
through an opacity map. Whether Raytraced or not. This is a limitation of
the volume light as it is now.

There are several workarounds to fake the effect. One is to use a projector
vol light that uses the same map as your opacity map. Make sure you exclude
the sphere from the vol light inside so that it can "pass" through.


---

Q: How to make light shine out of a Halloween pumpkin's mouth, eyes and
nose

I'm trying to make the effect of volumetric lighting coming out of the
holes of a Halloween pumpkin. "booleaned" spheres created the basic
pumpkin mesh, with booleaned triangles and other shapes to create the
eyes, mouth, and top of pumpkin...

I put an omni light in the center of the pumpkin and turned on
Attenuation. I also turned on shadows, and clicked on raytraced
shadows. In Environment, I made the omni light into a Volumetric
light...

I have a nice Volumetric glow, but the glow is around the whole
pumpkin, not through the holes in the pumpkin. I want the volumetric
light to pierce through the holes. Any ideas???

A1: Turn off Ray-traced shadows, and turn on Use Shadow Maps. I had no
problem with this effect using this technique. However, not sure
(technically wise)
why ray-traced shadows doesn't work in this case....anyone have THE
explanation?

A2: Make sure that the faces created by the Boolean for the eyes, mouth, and
nose are deleted. All objects in MAX are hollow and a Boolean subtraction
doesn't just cut away faces from your pumpkin but creates an empty (closed)
space. This means that you manually have to delete the inward faces that
still
resides in your pumpkins head (i.e. the extra faces created for the eyes,
nose and mouth inside the head). If you do not delete these faces your light
will not shine through the heads openings but be blocked.


7.4 Working with fog
--------------------

Q: How do you create fog that can be used when animating the camera?

Does someone know how I can use the fog in environment so it will stay
where it is while the camera gets animated?
I want to fly through the fog, but the fog always stays in same position
related to the camera.

A1: Standard fog with or without camera ranges is a fairly linear falloff
mode, so wherever you are, it'll look the same. Try using Volume Fog with a
gizmo,
at least it'll have clumps to fly through.

A2: You can also try using a Particle cloud system and map it with the
freePyro plugin (just adjust the settings to get a wispy translucent
feel). It would probably look best with the normal fog also in the
background.


7.5 Lights in animations
------------------------

Q: How do I turn on/off my lights in an animation

I have set up and animation with a number of cameras and lights and I
want to turn off and on certain lights at different points during my
animation.

A: You can animate the multiplier value of each light to zero and back
up at whatever keyframes you want in the animation. If the effect is sloped,
not instant, you can change that in Track View by changing the Function
Curve of Multiplier graphically so that it drops to zero instantly, not
gradually.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 8 - Particles
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


8 Particles
-----------


8.1 Particle fundamentals
-------------------------

Q: Does anyone know how I can apply some modifiers, like bend or twist, to
particles systems?

A: Try linking them to Wind systems.


8.2 How to use particles
------------------------

Q: How to use an object as a particle emitter

I'm going crazy here. I spent all last night trying to assign glow to at
particle cloud, but it simply wouldn't work.

I made a cylinder emitter, and under properties assigned it g-buffer 1.
Then under video post I made an input event, a filter event (lens
effects "Glow") and an output event. I then set the object in glow to

the right

g-buffer channel and ..... nothing..... Then I tried with a simple box,
and no problem... What's up??? I've done it before. Am I missing
something??

Oh by the way I'm using MAX 2.5

A: From what I have read, I understand that you have created a particle
system with an object-based emitter (the cylinder). If you have assigned the
g-buffer to 1 to the cylinder, it won't work. The cylinder is NOT the
particle system. The cylinder is only the place of birth of the particles.
You have to assign the G-buffer (or the effect-buffer of the material ) to
the PARTICLE icon. And voilaà, glowing particles.


---

Q: How to use SuperSpray to generate "laser beams"

Ok, I figured the best way to generate dozens or hundreds of laser
blasts in a space combat animation would be to use a particle generator,
set to generate instanced geometry, then attach the emitter to the end
of guns attached to ships, so I can animate the ships and just turn the
particle emitter on whenever they're firing.

So, I've created a single laser mesh, textured it and set up a glow
filter in video post, great. Then I've set up my particle emitter and

animated

it to rotate so I can see if it's working, it's emitting at the right
speed and everything looks fine BUT . . .

The particles (copies of laser mesh) maintain the same orientation as
the mesh they were instance from. This is no good, lasers should face

the

direction they are flying in, not fly sideways!!! Know what I mean? If
the original laser is facing south, all lasers from the particle emitter
are also facing south, even when they are born and move east.

So, any ideas would be much appreciated, and I'll let you know where
you can view the final animation when it's done (some pretty nifty stuff
if I do say so myself) Thanks in advance if you can help.

A: Check your axis settings on the SuperSprays.


---

Q: How do I fill a "text-mesh" with confetti?!

I have to make an animation of a text that gets full of confetti. The
text is viewed frontally and the filling is from the base of the text to
the top of it. Do you know any technique to do that?

A: I'm pretty sure you could use Multi deflect or something but it would
probably become very processor intensive in no time. Here's a way of
cheating it though.. :)

Set up a vertical deflector behind a cut-out or Videopost matt of your
letters. Tilt it back so it's at an angle, set it to 0 bounce and
animate a particle emitter moving back along it.. hmm.. this is quite
hard to explain.. I know.. here's a Max file (2.5) to explain it
better.. :) http://www.fizzybean.demon.co.uk/fillup.max


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 9 - Animating
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


9 Animating
-----------


9.1 Basics
----------

Q: How do I change the FTP from 30 down to 15 and then re-scale my
animation?

I have made an animation of five hundred frames but have discovered
that I should have made the thing 1000 frames long. I should also have
made the frame rate 15 fps (and not 30fps) as it will be compressed in
premiere using sorensen VIDEO to play directly from a CD.

A lot happens in the scene so I was wondering if there was any cheeky
way of re-configuring the time and duration of the piece so that the
keyframes all moved to their new places in relation to the new duration.

A: Look at the Time Configuration icon next to the current frame display.
Click it. Set the desired Frame Rate (Custom, 15fps). You will notice that
the animation is scaled automatically down in order to last the same time
in seconds (500f -> 250f). Now you can press the Re-scale Time button and
enter the desired duration in frames (1000). The active animation segment
will be scaled up. All keys will be readjusted to keep the same relative
position.


---

Q: How do I get rid of the strange "overshoots" when animating an object
moving from one position to another?

Can anyone give me a clue why MAX can't seem to tween the simplest
animation without catapulting the object you're moving off across the
world?

It ought to be simple enough - You put the program in animate mode,
move a few frames, re-position your object, then play the animation.
However, once I get more than a couple of keyframes in, max seems to
be unable to work out a sensible path between them. The object tends
to overshoot its key point, then bounce back.

Is there an easy way to correct these overshoots, or do I have to just
keep putting in more and more keyframes?

A: This is due to the controller type MAX uses as default. Go into the Track
View and select a keyframe for the object and right-click on it to change
the controller type. There is a good selection in there which will allow any
degree of interpolation you want and some are fully user adjustable. A tip:
"display trajectories" in the Display panel helps a tad too.

Q: How do I animate an object "jumping" from one position to another?
(i.e. not sliding from point A to B)

I have created a box and at frame 25. I moves it to another location
(P2) and at frame 75 I returns it to its original position (P1). The
result is that it moves smoothly, a little bit frame after until it
reaches the position. How could I make it to move from P1 to P2 just
in one frame, thus "jumping" instead for a smooth movement ?

A1: Easy, you need to copy the key FROM frame 25 to frame 26 and at frame 74
giving you P1 at 25, 26 and 74 and P2 at frame 75 if you add any frames
after
75 you might also need to copy from key 25 to key 73 as well. The reason for
so many copies is to get rid of the interpolated movement that MAX creates.
You could also use a linear controller at these frames, but it's easy to
just add the extra keys.. this is also real useful for keeping
feet(tentacles
etc) from sliding around.

A2: You use TrackView. Select object, open TrackView and open that object's
transform/position track, there should be keys on the timeline.

1 Copy key from 25 to 74 (this is the 'wrong' way)
2 RightClick key 75 and set it's In-curve to STEP (square shaped icon)


---

Q: Removing an "old" animation to start all over again, how?

Sometimes when I have animated a lot of objects, I want to "remove"
the animation of an "older" object and animate it from start.
How can I make an object "non-animated"?

A1: If you want to remove the animation from an older object just delete the
keys for it. This can be done in track view as well as from the motion
control tab.. track view is faster for mass deletes.

A2: You use TrackView. Select object, open TrackView and open that object's
transform/position track, there should be keys on the timeline. Now just
delete all keys of the object in TrackView to get rid of your animation.


---

Q: How do I make a roller coaster?

A1: Make a spline depicting the path you want the camera to follow. Then
(this step isn't necessary, but it gives you a lot more freedom) create
a dummy and link the camera to it. Use a free camera instead of a target
one. Last, use the "follow path" controller on the dummy. This way, the
camera will follow the path, but you still have some control over its
rotation and position. For example, you can have the camera look over
the side as it slowly creeps to the top of a hill, but still follow the
overall path of the track.

A2: I actually did a scene like this some time ago. What I did was this:
I made a spline that represented the path of the roller coaster. Then I
added a bone to follow the path. Make sure the bone banks and follows. I'm
not
sure if the bone is necessary, but that's the way I did it. Then I made
free camera to follow the bone. The advantage is that you can place the
camera a little further back than the actual contact-point with the path. If
you
get a difference in angle at the first and last frame, simple animate a
rotation
in the last frame. This will glide slowly from frame one to the last one,
and you won't even notice... :)

Hope this solves some problems..

I also did this in another version, with a couple of wagons and a more or
less still camera, but that didn't work that well... I guess I could have
made it
better with that modeltrain-plugin-thingy.. :)


---

Q: How do I make a text follow a path in MAX1.2:

A: This info is based on Max 1.2 but it should translate without any
difficulty. Basically you have two main options. You can either:

A) take each letter separately (by typing and placing them individually,
or detaching them in Edit:Mesh) and place them all on your path with
a follow path controller, and finally offset their percentages in Track
view....or

B) Use a path-deform spacewarp on the entire typed message (much easier and
quicker).


---

Q: How do I make a vehicle follow in rough terrain:

A1: If you're in Max2, you can generate the landscape using a patch with
lots of control points, adjust these so you have the required lumpiness,
then
draw a line in the top view over the patch as a wiggly route path for the
vehicle
to follow.

Then with the line selected, you go to the modify panel and select "patch
deform", click on the patch and it will generate a deform lattice for the
path line, align the lattice with the patch and the line will fit the
landscape topology exactly.
Assign a path controller to the vehicle and turn off banking, click on the
line as the path source. The vehicle will now follow the path up and down as
well as left and right. If the vehicle is too low, just move line upwards
and the vehicle will follow.

A2: If you are using MAX 2, use the SECTION tool to create a spline from
the contour of your mesh. Then just have the camera follow that spline as a
path. This creates splines that travel in a straight line (while following
the contour) however.

-or-

Use MAX2's snaps to draw a spline along the terrain.

-or-

Use Max 2's scripting to write a script to do what you want.

-or-

In Max 1.x use Peter Watje's Edge-To-Spline to convert selected edges to
splines.

-or-

Use the commercial Plugin "Glider" to do what you want.


---

Q: How do you keep the original "size" of an object when using a "path
deform" modifier?

Hi does anyone know how to keep the geometry the same size when using
a path deform modifier? I've created an army vehicle with tracks, now
I want the tracks to "turn" but at the places where the tracks run over
those wheels the parts of the tracks become very small, and where the
track runs straight they become very uhh long...!

A: Use the normalize spline plugin (you can get a couple of variants from
the sites below) to space the spline points equally and prevent mesh
bunching.


---

Q: How do I attach my camera to a shape/path and then disconnect it?

How can I attach a camera to a shape? I want to attach it to a circle,
have it go one lap, and then break loose again?!

A: You can use a Path Motion Controller to do this, here is a quick
tutorial.

1 Create a circle shape
2 Create a Dummy Helper object
3 Add a free Camera to your scene
4 Select the Dummy Object and go to the Motion Menu
5 Open the Assign Controller Rollout menu (under the Motion Menu )
6 Select the Position Text then...
7 Click on the Green Arrow icon (Assign Controller Icon) on top of the text
selection Box
8 Select "Path" from the "Assign Position Controller" window that pops up
9 Under Path Parameters (still in the Motion Menu) Click on Pick Path and
select your circle shape/spline.
10 Check the Follow under "Path Parameters" (still in the Motion Menu) to
make the Dummy follow the shape precisely
11 Check "Constant Velocity" for the dummy to keep a constant speed around
the path/shape.

Now your Dummy should be on the path/shape.

12 Then link the Camera to the dummy.

From here you can Animate the Camera freely on top of having it follow the

dummy around the path. How to break the camera loose from the spline I don't
know!


---

Q: How do I make a camera follow one path and keep tracking another object?

A: Assign 1 dummy object to 1 spline and link your object and your camera to
your dummy. Now you can assign key frames to the camera for changing camera
elevation changes etc. and your camera will follow your object perfectly.

Forget about 2 splines running in parallel. To hard. But if you absolutely
what to do this, then go to spline mode in edit spline end select outline
with the center box checked. This will give you 2 splines running in
parallel with same # of vertexes and length.


---

Q: How do I accomplish a shaking camera?

I just wondered if anyone knows how to do camera shake like the ones
used in Lost in Space, Armageddon and the new garbage video I have tried
animating the camera but it doesn't look right.

A1: First apply noise to dummy than link camera to dummy - adjust
noise parameter You can apply noiseanim if you click on motion -
assign controller noiseposition.

A2: This is very easy, more people just need to read the manual.
It is there for a reason.

1.) Open TrackView
2.) select your camera
3.) select the animation track you need for it. "most likely transition
or something"
4.) assign a controller
5.) select noise from the list of controllers.
6.) set it up as you wish
7.) play animation.

A3: The above is correct, but you need to use the "position list" controller
on the camera. And assign the noise as a member in the list. This way you
can still key frame the camera, and then by adjusting the strength of the
noise
to get the effect to change.

The URL link (below) is to a scene I made quickly to show you this, it has a
ball that bounces twice. At each bounce the camera shakes. This helps to
give the effect of a hard impact by the ball.

Have a look at the controller for the position of the camera, note that I
modified the bezier curves of the noise strength so that it didn't shack
when the ball was in free fall.


---

Q: How do you control the interpolation of rotation keyframes in TrackView?

Hey guys I'm new here and I was wondering if there was a utility to view
the interpolation of rotation keyframes in the track view...

When I click on the curve button... it wont let me see anything about
the interpolation...

I'm doing a walk cycle and it kind of sucks cause everything is ease in
ease out......

A: Default rotation controller (TCB Rotation) does not support
FunctionCurves, but you can change that to EulerXYZ-controller which works
with
curves OK. (Select object, go to Motion/Assign Controller. Select Rotation,
click
green arrow [Assign Controller] select EulerXYZ from list and OK.)


---

Q: Is it possible to get "thick" polygons when bombing an object??

A1: This effect is possible, but not with the bomb space-warp. If you really
want any object to blow up in thick polygons, you should use Parray
(Particle Array). This particle system makes a particle system of any
object. BTW this particle system is only available in Max 2.x.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to blow up a sphere using the PArray:

1. Create A Sphere with let's say a 35-radius and 16 segments
2. Goto Create/particle system
3. Click on PArray
4. Create the PArray icon anywhere in the viewport. (The size
or place of doesn't matter).
5. Click on Pick Object and select the Sphere
6. Select mesh in Viewport display to see how it looks in your viewport.
7. In the roll-out Particle type select Object-Fragments as particle type.
8. Click on play and see how the sphere already has become a particle
system.
9. Now in the same rollout increase the thickness to let's say 5 (play with
this) to give the fragments thickness.
10. Of course you don't want all fragments to be the same size, so select
the
'number of chunks' option and give it a value of 25
11. Play the animation again, and see how the Sphere blows up in random
fragments.
12. If you want the PArray to have the same material as the Original object
select "picked emitter" in the same roll-out and click the button "get
material from"
12. To get rid of the original sphere, hide it (don't delete it!)

The fun thing about this is, you can affect this "bomb" by particle
space-warps, so you can apply Gravity or Wind to it.

Well, I hope this helped!
Just play with the setting, add a combustion
ET voila, c'est ca! That's it.

A2: Thanks for the tip, works great. I used a "matte-shadow" material
to hide the original sphere, also had fun with the "rotation" setting
to give the chunks some spin.

---

Q: How to create the foam on the top of ocean waves

I WONDER HOW TO MAKE THE FOAM OF THE WAVES
I HAVE ALREADY TRIED WITH PARTICLE SYSTEMS
BUT IT TAKE TOO MUCH TIME AND IT DOES NOT RENDER
CORRECTLY. IS THERE AN EASIER WAY TO DO THIS?
THANKS IN ADVANCE

A1: First, turn off your caps lock key so someone doesn't throttle you for
shouting in the newsgroups.

Then, try this:

1) Create a "Foam animation" AVI showing nothing but the frothy bubbles you
want to appear at the wave crests. 2) Create a Gradient material, with the
animated foam as a map in slot 1, and water-type maps in slots 2 and 3. 3)
Create your waves, and assign the gradient material to it. Assign a planar
UVW map to the waves, aligning the plane vertically, so the tops of the
waves
show the Foam material and the bottom shows water-material. 4) animate your
waves
using your choice of animation techniques (I prefer "Wave" or (for smaller
bodies of water) Ripple), but be sure to apply the UVW mapping LAST, so it
puts the foam only at the top of the waves. 5) You can combine this with
some minor particle systems to toss up the occasional drops. 6) For a
"Floating
foam" effect, use a particle system, add gravity, and change the water into
a UDeflector with very little bounce. I recommend animating the particle
systems' location to the top of the wave crests (use broad spray emitters,
not SuperSpray)and have the particles come out at 0 speed (Let gravity and
the
waves do all the moving) and give the particles a fairly short life span
(about 1.5 times the time it takes one wave crest to move to the position of
its
predecessor.) Use gravity that is strong enough to keep the particles from
losing contact with the wave surface for more than a moment.

A2: For water effects that look pretty good, I've found that SuperSpray and
a squashed sphere as an instanced geometry work incredibly.. add a glow
modifier to this and you'll be amazed what you can do. Check out the image
on my
page.

---

Q: Animating a Plane releasing a missile

A: I just remembered, there is a link controller in the motions panel which
allows you to transfer link info from one object to another (or more) at a
specific frame. This means you can link a bomb to a aeroplane on a path,
then transfer the bombs linkage to a dummy object on another path when the
plane reaches the bombs drop point.

This gives you a bomb that will travel with the plane until it is at the
release point, at which time the second path takes over control of the bomb
and it falls to earth in a smooth movement. You can apply this to catapults,
rockets, bowlers, photon torpedoes and anything else where one object needs
detaching from another in an animation. I've included a very simple animated
scene so you can see what goes where.


9.2 Forward Kinematic
---------------------


9.3 Inverse Kinematic
---------------------

Q: What is IK?

A: IK is the controlling of a a heirarchy by moving a child object rather
than positioning several parent objects individually.

Try This...

Create a simple skeleton made of scaled boxes. Move the pivot points to the
correct places. Link the skeleton to form the hierarchy you want. Set IK
parameters. Auto bone this skeleton. Link your geometry to the corresponding
bones. Delete or hide those boxes you used.


---

Q: Swinging a chain

Hello everyone. I'm trying to animate a chain swinging back and forth
and am having trouble assigning the proper IK links to the rings. can

anyone

point me in the right direction since I've been trying LOTS of different
settings and all I get is more and more weird effects.

A: I am not sure how stuck you are so I will give you the basic steps if you
need more later feel free to ask.

1.) link your two objects
2.) go to the hierarchy control panel
3.) choose IK
4.) set rotational, sliding etc. limits
5.) activate IK
6.) try moving the child object and watch as the parent moves realistically.


---

Q: How do I animate a character without having to buy Character Studio?

I'm quite new to the 3D Animation subject, but I've come up with some
rough meshes for a gaming project I am working on that I would like to
animate. Being a Poor Guy, I can't afford the Character Studio package

released

for 3D Studio Max R2.0 so I imagine it will all have to be done manually

and

I was wondering if anyone might be able to suggest some

tutorials/techniques

that I might find on the 'net free (or nearly free)? Any experienced

advice

would be much appreciated.

A: You can use Max's standard skeleton / IK and either Linked Xforms to
attach selected vertices or mesh parts to the appropriate bones or you can
use the
free KVbones plugin to do automatic bone / mesh assignments. KVbones does
mesh deformations too. The keyframing will be down to you though as Biped is
the only thing to do automatic footsteps. Have a look at www.ruffstuff.com
for a quick bones tutorial.


---

Q: Can someone please explain how bones works?! I want them to deform my
mesh!

I am having trouble figuring out how to link bones to a mesh. For
example: I am trying to make a little worm. Since this is a very basic
example, I make the worm out of a rectangular box. Next I make a couple
bones inside of the box. How do I get the box to be deformed with the
bones? I've tried linking the bones to segments of the box and any
other way I can think of, but I just can't figure it out. There's tons
of stuff in the manual and help file about IK, but I can't find anything
about linking the bones to the mesh!

A1: Personally I use the standard MAX bones all the time and they work well
if you've planned your joints correctly. For a worm it'll be simple,
Position bones and segments accordingly, Edit mesh, select the 'vertex' sub-
object level then apply a 'Linked Xform'. Pick the bone that you want to
control these verts, then repeat as many times as necessary. Make sure that
you assign every vert, and that you don't assign the same one twice or
you'll get some odd results.

A2: Max bones can't be directly attached to a mesh as such, they were
included as on IK exercise. By using the Linked Xform modifier, it is
possible but a lot of faffing about. Try downloading a plug-in called
KV Bones. Its a poor mans version of BonesPro from Digimation it converts
your existing bones structures and links them to your meshes.

A3: To get a good result you need a tool that can give you weighted vertexes
etc. The two plugins available for MAX 2 is Bones Pro 1 or 2 and Character
studio 1 or 2 (Physique). Bones Pro will not work with standard MAX bones,
but it comes with a plugin called "Bones - to Boxes" that will convert MAX
bones to Geometry that it can use. Character studio 1 or 2 (Physique) -
works fine with standard MAX bones. If you don't what to spend the money you
can
experiment with Linked X form and also some other freeware plug-ins based
on Linked X form. They will not give you the same result as the other two
commercial packages though... but its free ;) Also there is a free bone/
meshdeform plugin called KVbones available from many MAX sites. Try one of
the sites in the end of this FAQ.


---

Q: How do I assign vertices to bones in 3D studio Max 2?

A:

1 :apply edit mesh to your object
2 :select the vertexes you want to move with the bones
3 :apply a linked x-form modifier
4 :select the bones who must control the mesh

and of you go to jiggle those bones. That should do it!


9.4 Real time animation / motion capture
----------------------------------------

Q: Can you create an animation (keys) in real time by just move you mouse?

Is it possible to animate one of my objects by just moving the mouse and
sort of create keys in real-time, whilst watching what is happening in
the rest of the scene. It only needs to be rough - I can polish it off
later.

A: Yes, set your controller to motion capture in track view and then
go to the utilities tab. Click (ahem...) motion capture, double click
your track. Choose axis, choose input device and then activate track.
Click start move mouse about to animate erratic motion of rabbit in
tumble dryer.


9.5 Dynamics
------------

Q: Is there an alternative to MAX slow dynamics calculation?

A: Too true, dynamics, as it is now, sucks and takes too long to calc.
Both ClothReyes and Hydrate does faster and better dynamics and
collision detection...


---

Q: About wind and gravity

A1: Wind only affects particles, gravity works on particles *and* objects.
Download the latest help files from www.ktx.com to get an explanation of
using dynamics as it's a little long winded to go into here. If you *need*
wind to work on objects, you can use objects as particles with PArray, again
the info you need is in the download.

A2:

Any1 knows how to use the phase and wind parameters in the noise section of
the
Vol. light?
sure I can test different parameters but I need to create an animation to
see
the result, and that can take a lot.....
another thing is with the wind: what does the
top/bottom/right/left/back/front mean? in relation to what? and what is
considered "fast" wind (in numbers) ?
please spill what ever u know on this subject.

Unfortunately testing is the only reliable way to see results as I think the
wind speed, phase and the noise itself are scale related rather than
absolute. This basically means a small-scale light/scene will look very
different to a large one with the same settings.
The wind speed and phase are related, phase determines how fast the noise
swirls, and wind strength determines how fast it travels. The direction is
probably from the camera point of view (but I could be wrong).


---

Q: How do I create realistic ocean water?

I'm not a newbie in 3DS MAX, however I've always tried to
make realistic water (wave modifier + raytracing) but it is
really SLOW and sometimes it doesn't render well.
So if you have some techniques and/or PLUGINS that would help me...

I was told about a Plugin called DNS that was used in the for
the water in "TITANIC"...

A1: Try using a reflect map instead of raytracing, this can be a lot quicker
and you have the option to add noise to the reflect map parameters. I does
work quite well and saves lots of time.

A2: if you only have to make "still" water try flat mirror + bump map.

A3: The water in "Titanic" as most other 3d-stuff was created with SoftImage
and a plugin called LumeTools (procedural shader), this plugin has recently
been ported over to Max and you can buy it from Digimation at
www.digimation.com

A4: Titanic's water was made using Arte software Renderworld and NatureFX
for SoftImage which maybe ported to Max some day, Lume tools was used for
the
water in Riven. Confusing huh!!


9.6 Space Warps
---------------

Q: How do you use Space Warps?

A: You make (say) a ripple space warp, and make it sizewise in proportion to
the model, you can then animate the phase of the warp (in modify toolbar) so
the warp flexes or ripples or whatever. Then use the "Bind to spacewarp"
button, to the right of unbind button and bind your mesh to the warp.
Bingo.

Do make sure that your mesh has enough segments, otherwise you won't really
see much reaction. Also worth noting that the spacewarp's position does
affect the mesh deformation (unlike BonesPro), so if you want a ripple in a
pond, you do actually have to put the ripple into the middle of the pond

It's the same sort of principle that BonesPro uses, except BP is a set of
linked, very localized warps as opposed to a whopping big one.


---

Q: How do I make a Bomb Space Warp start and stop at certain frames?

I want to make space warp bombs to go off one after another.
How can I get the bomb to start and end on a certain frame?

A: Click the modifier tab for this space warp and set the start/end
frames in the parameters list. Now the bomb will start and stop at
the specified frames.


9.7 Combustion
---------------

Q: How does Combustion work?

The tricky part comes when... the big scary spaceship comes sliding
through and displacing the clouds, a la Independence Day. I'm not
animating from the ship's point of view, I'm looking at it from the
ground when the ship comes along.

A: Well, I used 3dsmax release one for this, but you can do a better job
with Max2 I'm sure. I used the particles as combustion apparatus via
Peter Watje's plugin: "particle combustion." I then created deflection
objects for the particles to bounce off of. You can link the deflection
planes to your ship's hull and then adjust between combustion, number of
particles, and particle bounce for the effect that you want. I can tell
you right away that you will need at least 5000 particles for a
convincing effect, I used about 10,000 with barely moving speed and
negative time amounts so that I had a full screen of clouds at frame
zero. you will also want to make the combustion turbulence low or non
existent, fairly small flame size, and a low density. Be prepared for
the most extended rendering times you have ever seen, but hey, one frame
per 4hrs IS worth it if you do it right.


---

Q: How do I create a combustion effect?

I have Combustion 1.55 plugin for 3DS MAX 2 (my version). The *.txt
file says to copy and paste it into the plugins directory. I did that
and then re-started 3DS Max. Nothing happened. I went to the Create tab
and pressed Helpers. I choose Atmospheric Apparatus and nothing there.
Just three Gizmos?!?!?!!!

A: The gizmo tells the renderer where to place the combustion effect.
Open your Environment dialog and in the effects section add an combustion
effect. Now you can set your colors, sizes etc..


9.8 Camera
----------

Q: How do I cut between one camera to another in my animation?

I have two cameras, how do I switch between camera 1 + 2 at different
points in the animation?

A1: You have to use Video Post (under Render menu) to render multiple
cameras. Click the Add Scene Event button and select camera1, then the same
for
camera2. Drag the bar to whatever begin and end frames you want each camera
to
render, then click the Add Image Output Event button and set up the file
output
properties. There is a whole lot of stuff you can do with Video Post that
you can't do with the single render function. For instance, you can add a
Photoshop filter to each frame as it renders out. See the Video Post section
in this FAQ for more information on this topic.

A2: As an alternate method for camera cuts, turn the animate button on and
if you wanted to cut to a different camera at frame 30, then move your
camera
to that position, go into the track view and set the in and out controllers
to STEP, that way your camera will snap to the appropriate position at frame
30. I much prefer using this method in scenes that I don't need to use
video post in for some other affect.


9.9 Camera matching / Motion Tracking
-------------------------------------

Q: How does MAX's camera match utility work?

A: In a nutshell:

- Create the campoints (helpers, CamerMatch I think) and place them in 3D,
where the points really are. You should have selected some points when you
took the image, and meassured their locations in 3space according to some
common reference. Place the campoints at these coordinates.

- Load the background picture you have as the background image in the
perspective viewport. Fire up the Camera Match utility and add the points
one by one (pick the point, hit 'use this point', click assign position),
aligning them with the points you measured in the picture.

- Hit the create camera button. My experience is that it usually still needs
a little tweaking to get just right, since resulotion is lost all over in
spades, and measurements can fall short of perfectly acurate.


---

Q: How do I make my MAX camera match up with live video footage?

I'm trying to match the camera in max 2 with the camera of a video I
shot.
I managed to match everything using CameraMatch for the 1st 60 frames
(during these frames, the camera is still...). As soon as the camera
starts
to rotate, everything becomes out of synch. Do I have to match
everything
once again (for all the 1200 frames!) or is there an easier way? The
video
is a walkthrough of my house and I thought it would be easier to use
paths
to animate the camera, but I don't see how I can do this since I have to
manually match the camera everything time there's movement. Please HELP
ME!

A: welcome to the world of Match Moving.... or Camera Tracking .. whichever
you want to call it... Depending on how many accurate points you have
measured
of your "house" and how well you can track these with Max's camera track
util,
you might be able to automate most of the process... in my experience
working
with Match Moving (last 2 years Match Mover on feature films .. lead Match
Move
TD on Babe2) ... you very well might have to do a lot of the tracking by
hand.
Without going into an entire tutorial, you should try to "frame" the
movement and start "keying" there, and use as few keys as possible to
accurately
define the movement.. too many will cause jitter. Start with broader keys
(for 1200
frames try starting with every 128th frame or possibly every 256th..). Lock
those frames down .. split the increment in half... and make another pass..
making certain that the keys you have are nailed before you move on... there
are many other techniques, etc..

Also, have a look at the following tutorial:

http://www.3dcafe.com/tuts/hottips/4/hottip4.htm


---

Q: How do you calculate the "offset" to dummy objects when using the camera
tracker in MAX?

..Z is easy, how high off the ground the object to be tracked is.
But where are the XY measurements coming from?...

A1: I think you need to decide which point in space is your 'origin', then
use your real world measurement from that origin-point and create
simple 3D scene with CameraTracker gizmos in proper places.

A2: I think you're right. Most motion trackers use reference objects at
known positions and match the scene to them with dummy objects (or tracking
gizmos) at the corresponding places, all measured out and recreated using
real
world units and lens matching.


---

Q: Why is the update of my joystick motion capture so slow?

Does anybody know why in Max2.5 when I try to use motion capture with
a joystick, the update is REALLY slow, yet when I use a keyboard or
mouse capture, it's fine?

A: The sample rate for your joystick is set too high. Check with your
joystick manufacturer to see if you can reset it with your current joystick
drivers.
What would be best is if you could set this up within MAX.


9.10 Track View
---------------

Q: How do I "hide" an object during certain frames?

I know how to hide objects efficiently to maximize viewport display and
all that, yet I still have'nt figured out how to hide/show objects in an
animation. I need to be able to make an object disapear completely in my
animation, and then later, have it reapear.

A: Nathan, there is a function in the trackview editor called "visibility
tracks". Click on the track for the object you wish to hide and add a Vis
track by clicking on the eye icon in the toolbar. A new blue track will
appear. Then add keys (in the blue track) at the point where you want the
object to become visible. ... or invisible. where the track is blue, the
object is visible Add more keys along the blue track and it will toggle on
and off. With a little experimentation you can figure out the rest.



****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 10 - Rendering
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


10 Rendering
------------


10.1 General
------------

Q: Is there a Raytracer in MAX and if so - how does it work?

Is full raytracing a feature in MAX 2.5? I've only seen MAX 1.2 in
action.
Is there a way to enhance the renderer? Perhaps with a plugin? I've
heard
about Raygun, AF-renderer and Lightscape. What good are these?

A1: Raytracing has been part of the core program since 2.0 (thanks to Blur
Studio, which created the renderer). AFAIK, AF-renderer is available only
for up to Max 1.2.

The new version of Raygun, 2.5, now supports anisotropic shaders, which
allow you to render realistic brushed metal, velvet, and other microtextured
surfaces that reflect light differently depending on the viewing angle
(that's not a very good explanation, and I'm sure someone will correct me).
I would, however, caution you that, even though it has the reputation of
being a fast raytracer, Raygun is not a selective raytracer -- it must
raytrace everything in a scene; that means for very complex scenes not
requiring extensive raytracing, Max's built-in renderer might be faster.
Also, for high-end film work requiring 10-bit Cineon output, Raygun may not
be suitable, because it outputs only 8 bit per channel.

Because its only advantage is radiosity, Lightscape is intended for
relatively simple fly-throughs, not complex animation. Radiosity is
computationally more intensive than raytracing and, in fact, may be combined
with raytracing. It is view independent, and if no object in a scene moves,
it need be calculated only once for that scene; however, move any object
that is included in that calculation and the whole scene must be
recalculated for each frame of that movement -- just like raytracing, only
much, much slower. Radiosity has therefore not been used much in production
work, although, as computers get fast enough to make radiosity practical,
that will certainly change.

But Smeggy is right. Max takes considerable patience and work to adjust the
myriad parameters to produce excellent results. But the problem is not
unique to Max. Mediocre work can easily be produced with Maya or
Softimage/mental ray. Many 3-D houses devote a lot of in-house talent
writing scripts and plug-ins to streamline much of this tweaking.

A2: Max does have a hybrid scanline/raytrace renderer, it runs as scanline
and/or "true raytracer". We have the option to choose. And yes it IS a
proper raytracer. You should also remember that raytracing is very rarely
used in any production due to slow speeds. Most use a scanline renderer
because it's faster and looks as good for just about everything.

Most big productions use Proprietary software along with programs like Alias
and Softimage with PRrenderman... a scanline renderer (bugs life, toy story
and just about every big production you care to name)! Raytracing has never
been very important in TV and Film production.


---

Q: What is the maximum rendering resolution in MAX?

A: The rendering resolution limitations in MAX is set to 10000 x 10000
pixels.


---

Q: What is the Z-buffer?

A: The 'Z' comes from the fact that the renderer (just renderers in general)
look at a scene with a projection plane (like looking at the world through a
piece of glass and taking what's "on" the glass as the picture) in front of
the "eye". This plane then is seen as the final image with X and Y axes
running across it for the handy application of pixels. Z is the axis running
into the screen.

Imagine drawing all of the polygons, filled, in a scene. One at a time. They
will over lap. You'll likely at some point draw a distant polygon after a
near polygon and it will cover over what should be covering over it. Get's
ugly. One solution has been to try to sort the polygons and draw them all
back to front. This is called "the painters' algorithm" and can be quite
fast. It can also be slower than it needs to be and is rather error prone.
Not the best option.

To save having to sort all the polygons, you just draw them in some
arbitrary order. When you draw a polygon, you write down how far away it is.
Then when you go to draw another polygon, you check FIRST to see if it is
closer or further than the polygons you already drew. If closer, you draw on
top. If further, you only draw where the other polygon isn't.

Now rather than just do this on a per polygon basis, you do it on a per
pixel basis. "At this pixel, I drew a colour from some polygon and it was
this far away." You don't care where it came from, only that it was this far
away. Then you pick a new polygon and start drawing it, a pixel at a time
(hey, you have to do that anyway for smooth shading and texturing and bump
mapping, so you aren't really losing any time) you check "Hey, how far is
this polygon at this pixel? . . . Is it close to me than what I already
drew? Yes, OK, I'll draw it AND save its distance for this pixel,
overwriting the old." Keep doing this and in the end you have a picture that
should be correct and totally blow away any of the errors that a Painters'
algorithm. image would have had. AND do so with a simple straight forward
algorithm rather than the weird and hinky things people have done to make
Painters' better.

Where these pixel depths are stored is the Z-Buffer. Z for depth. Buffer for
"a big chunk of memory where stuff is stored".

Now, there are OTHER things done in commercial quality renderers, and
raytracing works entirely differently, but my understanding is that MAX's
"scanline" renderer is still using Z Buffer techniques underneath. Somebody
stop me if I'm wrong.

Someday, play with putting one polygon in front of another. But really
close. Like two doors in one frame. Move further away from it in the shaded
view (not production render). Does it start to stripe with the back door
showing through? This is from the fact that there is only so much depth
precision available and the further away stuff gets that's close together,
the more it looks like it is the same distance away. So sometimes one object
"wins" and sometimes the other.

The Z distance stored is, if I understand correctly, not a strict distance,
but rather an inverse distance. Huh? OK, I try again. If you wanted to
render, say oh, the whole universe, you'd need to store distances from zero
to infinity. That means one pixel would have to store a number of infinite
length. At that rate, you'd run out of memory fast. It would also be a
waste. Up close, like say a foot away from the camera, an inch is VERY BIG.
If two polygons intersect at a funny angle in front of the camera a foot
away, you want that edge to be smooth. Means you need to calculate their
distances to an accuracy that is like how much distance they recede from the
camera over one pixel's worth of horizontal distance. Sorry, I should go to
bed and try to explain this later with cool pictures and stuff. Still, I'll
plug away.

So hole your hand out in front of you at an angle. Mark off a tiny square of
what you see. One edge of that square on your hand is closer to you than the
other edge. How much? Tenth of an inch? OK, so you need infinity times tenth
of an inch to get smooth edges where stuff intersects.

EXCEPT four light years away, where a whole planet isn't even a pixel big.
You'd be totally wasting an awful lot of bits if you tried to pay attention
to tenth of an inch distances that were four light years away. Heck, a mile
would be far more than enough. That would cut down your storage needs almost
64,000 times.

What happens if you take 1 divided by distance instead of distance? Well,
everything from the camera (zero) to 1 (whatever unit) becomes from 1 to
infinity. Bang, that's big numbers real fast. OK, so just cut that stuff
out. Anything too close to the camera is ignored (front clipping plane). And
everything from 1 to infinity becomes from zero to one. Hey, we can store
those numbers. With a certain amount of error involved when the precision of
our computer stops. But wait, it gets better.

Everything from 1 to 2, that is, stuff that's close, gets "mapped" to the
numbers 1 to .5. Everything from 2 to infinity gets crammed into .5 to 0. We
use HALF of our data precision for stuff that's really close. And the other
half for all the rest. And it keeps going like this. Stuff from 4 to
infinity only receives a quarter of the available precision. Pretty much
anything at four light years is considered to be the same distance as
anything at thirty thousand miles. OK, this 1/z seems to work good.

A renderer won't deal with distances out to infinity as that would be a
waste. Don't know what they do exactly. The more bits your Z-Buffer uses,
the better its accuracy will be. Anti-aliasing must complicate the issue
somehow. Transparent objects certainly do. Selective ray tracing must. But
that's at least where it comes from.


10.2 Rendering scenes and animations
------------------------------------

Q: How do I get that "film" look in my animations?

If you surf between channels on the TV, you instantly see whether a
movie
is playing or not. Is this because movie producers add some sort of
filter
(some kind of blur??) to the movie, or is it just that they use another
type of camera?? If it is a filter, what kind is it? Can these things be
done in 3d studio max?? If anybody understood this, please explain...

A1: The difference in the look between TV shows and movies depends on
several things. Some of these things include:

1) Differences in film and video - Film and video tape record images
differently. For example film has 8 zones of exposure whereas video has
around 10. This means video can see further into light and shadow than
film, or in
other words film has less total contrast than video. Also film and video
are sensitive to different areas of the colour spectrum. Even different
film
from different manufacturers has different colour characteristics (Kodak vs.
FujiColor vs. some German film whose name I'm forgetting).

2) Framerate - Film is shot at 24 frames per second, whereas video is 30.
One frame of video is composed of two fields (a field consists of either all
the
odd scan lines, or all the even scan lines.) When a film is transferred to
video to enable it to be broadcast on TV, the frames must be converted from
24 fps to
30 fps. This is usually done at the field level, I believe by what is
called a
"2-3 pulldown". So one frame is shown for two fields, the next is shown for
three fields, the next for two, the next for three, etc.

3) Motion Blur - Because the "speed" of film and video is different, film
tends to have more motion blur than video under normal filming conditions.

4) Black - Film can get a much, much darker black than video can when shown
in its native format (i.e. a movie theater.) This is because film creates
black by not projecting light onto a dark screen, whereas video uses
non-excited
phosphors, which can only get so dark. This is one of the reasons why sets
are lit differently depending on whether film or video is the recording
medium.

5) Film Grain - Film has grain, video has static.

6) Lighting - TV shows like sit-coms are lit very very differently from
movie shoots. The higher budgets of movies also probably leads to more
lighting
than in television dramas.

I'm sure there are other factors I'm not mentioning (video gain, pushing
film stock, shutter speeds, focal lengths, lens types, etc.).

I knew that degree in Cinema Production would pay off some day! (^_^)

A2: The best way to explain this is to use an example. Take comedy series.
They all look the same, what make them look the same is that the light
setting, and therefore the mood, is the same. The same can be said for
talkshows, commercials, news programs etc.

So, the way you recognize a movie is that it looks unlike the standard
programs (being talkshows, comedy series, commercials, news programs
etc).

So, you do not recognize movies for their likeness, but for their
difference from all other programs!

You asked for a light setting or a filter, I cannot give you that... but
I can tell you to focus VERY much on your mood. Good movie makers
generally pay much attention to the mood they set, good 3d artists do
too.

A3: Must of the time it's Don by depth of field there's a plugin called
depth of field pro but in the standard video post filters is also a depth of
field
plug assign it tweak the parameters and see the result.

A4: Saturation filters, Colour gradients ( to balance a bright sky against
the a darker ground etc.) and Colour filters is also used extensively in
Films
and Commercials.

A5: You add a film look to video by this method.......Video is made up of
two "fields" 1 and 2, all you need to do is drop one of the fields and
duplicate
the remaining field on top of itself Trust me its the way its done and it
looks great.

This was also stated by a Kodak 'New Technologies' researcher at a special
meeting with English cameramen and Kodak in London.


---

Q: How would I have create/delete something after x frames and keep it like
that, without animating textures?

A1: Just add/remove from scene after x frames

A2: ...Or add a visibility track in the TrackView for the object.


---

Q: How do I switch between two cameras when rendering my animation?

This is yet another newbie question, and I wonder if you could help me:
I have a simple scene with an extruded text and two cameras, the first
one
animated to do a fly by, and the other one having a close picture of the
"central object". I want to change from camera1 to camera2 somewhere
about
frame 105 of my animation, but I don't know how to do it.
I've added the cameras to 'Video Post', and when I click the 'Execute
sequence' button the animation is rendered, but I can't save it as an
animation since the only output is done to the virtual frame buffer.
When I
use the normal render function it's only possible to render one of the
viewports, and I can't find any way to change to "the active" camera in
a
viewport. I don't have to cut my scenes together externally, do I?
Is this really the right way to do it?

A: Add both cameras in VP (Video Post) and set their ranges with the time
slider bars so the first ends at, say, frame 50 and the second camera starts
at frame 51 and goes to the end.

Deselect everything in the VP queue and add an output event at the end,
saving the file as an .avi file and it should work fine. Ignore the Virtual
framebuffer, this is just to let you see what's rendering. it should still
record the animation if you add the output event which actually saves the
file.


---

Q: Why does my AVI renderings stop/halt after a certain frame?

I'm using Max 1.2 and AVI's seem to halt at certain frames. I'm using
Win95. Is it the OS or Max. FLC's seem to render fine though.

A: A patch is available to fix this problem. There are two files you need...
one that test max to see if the glitch is present and the second is the
patch
that fixes it. I had this problem early last year and the patch fixes it.
Look
around Kinetix' website for details.


---

Q: Why aren't my high-resolution AVI renderings playing back smooth?

My rendered movies in AVI aren't smooth in resolutions 640*480 and
higher.
Why? Is my computer too slow? (400MHz, 128Mb SDRAM, Fire gl1000p)
It seems to skip some frames when running the avi.
Is there any way to convert to a better format?

A1: I had the same problem when I used the Microsoft video compression, when
I tried the Autodesk RLE compression method it when smooth as a baby skin.

A2: What is the data rate of the AVI files?
Also make sure you turn off dither true colour in MAX. This makes sure
the output files are in true colour. If you leave dithering on , the
codecs will not work as well.


---

Q: What other "codecs" are there aside from AVI?

I'm growing tired of AVIs. I'm looking for a codec that 3D Studio Max
will
recognize, which will let me write to .mpg format. A friend showed one
to me by Expert2 (I think that's the company), but it didn't integrate
with 3DS, and it looked FAR, FAR more complicated than I'd like to deal
with.

Free, or commercial is fine (though free is preferred). Thanks. I'd
really prefer a plugin or codec, or some kind of integration. I'd hate
to write out an uncompressed AVI and then convert to MPG.. too
demanding.

A1: I think we're in the same trouble... I've posted some messages about
this topic (i.e. a plugin for 3DS max to recognize mpeg) but no one seems to
know
if one exists... I've downloaded a quite good shareware, called MainActor
(try a research with www.metacrawler.com).... it's not really expensive (if
you're about to pay the registration) and you can build mpeg animations...
though you cannot read them with this soft ! LOL....
But I reckon I'm not solving your problems....
there's a different way: try to download QuickTime, it then worked on my
computer like this: you've got the possibility to save your animation as a
.mov file, and .mov files can be encoded along the mpeg format... yet I
strongly
doubt any mpeg player other than QuickTime will recognize it as a valid
format.. I've never tried though.

A2: Mpeg's much, much better than AVI... whatever you want to do. Try to get
an encoder (www.xingtech.com) and a player (I think it's free.. you can
download one at Microsoft site, but it'll take a while to browse this
site...)... mpeg animations are faster, and I think there should be no
problem, for your animation. A tip: render the scene framewise then encode
it with a separate encoder, 3Ds max cannot write mpegs by default.


---

Q: How do I compress my rendering output file? AVI's are huge!!!

I've got an AVI that I've done with the Autodesk RLE codec...
it's 225 frames of 15 sec but my file is 31 MB !!!! how can I do to
compress this file to get something like 1,4 or 2 MB is there an
external
program who can do that or even transform it into something else than an
AVI ???

A1: I hate to say this (since I'm a PC user), but I have found QuickTime 3.0
to totally kick-ass when it comes to compression. The new Sorensen codec
for
QuickTime does an amazing job. Although you'll need to have the registered
version to save .mov files. www.quicktime.com

A2: AVI is not a standard (try to play your avi on a Unix server and see
what happens) and not so good at compression... I've heard of Cinepak or
Intel Indeo which are said to be good, but it won't compare with MPEG.
Depending on what you want, choose one of different formats:
mpeg 1 for not so good quality, mpeg 2 for higher quality
(broadcasting actually... but the encoders are not so common, a good encoder
for TV broadcasting can cost as much as $20000 since there's a lot of math
behind the scenes) in a few months' time, mpeg 4 for very low transfer rate
and some people are working on mpeg 7 in Europe, I don't know what's going
on in North America

Xing is a very good encoder but it's no freeware or software... yet you
can have it for free with some products like graphic cards.

A3: I have been most happy with successes using the freeware AVI to MPEG1
encoder from here avi2mpg1
http://www.mnsi.net/~jschlic1/avi2mpg1/avi2mpg1.htm.
Everyone should be able to play it (no special downloads)! No plugins etc.
It takes my 56meg AVI's down to 1.2MEG's!!! With some loss of quality, but
not
noticible to non-professionals!
Avi2mpg1 is a simple command line mpeg-1 encoder that runs at the command
prompt under Windows '95 or NT. Someone even put together a downloadable
graphical control interface for it here! Look for GUI wrapper, VERY NICE,

from Tom Holusa!!!

I think that a lot of games were using MPEG1, but many now use more
propritary codecs. I am sure that M$ has a very nice scheme for MPEG 4,
but you will have to have a special viewer installed or IE5 or 6 or
somthing!


---

Q: Anyone know of any programs I can use to make a screensaver out of a
AVI?

A1: http://www.davecentral.com/3882.html This one is cool, but there are
others there if you want to take a look.

A2: Try Active Screen Saver Person if you want to display it on your
machine, or Active Screen Saver DevKit if you want to compile the screen
saver and
distribute it to other people. http://www.automatedofficesystems.com/

A3: goto www.fullvolume.com 2 applications there for savers. One for .FLC,
the other for .AVI.


---

Q: How to get animated GIFs from MAX animation

A1: I don't know is there any plugin available, but I'll put it first to
.FLC and then flc2gif to .GIF.

A2: A good FLIC viewer is the Ower FLIC 32bit v2.11 by Yaron Gur
(http://bez.home.ml.org)


---

Q: Can you render QuickTime files with Max 2.5?

A1: Yes, it can render to it. (very well too)

A2: QuickTime 3 can use avi files.


---

Q: How do I save my animations to MPEG format?

What shall I do to save my animations (3DS MAX2) in MPEG codec?
Is it possible or do I need special video cards?

A1: You don't need a special video card. What you need is an mpeg encoder.
I think Xing has a trial version of an encoder available.

No, no, I mean is there any special plug-in I can use to save animations
directly under 3D Studio Max 2 into mpeg format?

A2: DVMPEG installs as a standard codec and lets you save MPEG from MAX.
Do a websearch for it.

A3: I have been most happy with successes using the freeware AVI to MPEG1
encoder avi2mpg1. Go and fetch it from the following link:

http://www.mnsi.net/~jschlic1/avi2mpg1/avi2mpg1.htm

Everyone should be able to play it (no special downloads)! No plugins
etc..., very nice. It takes my 56meg avi's down to 1.2MEG's! (They fit
on FLOPPY!!! remember those?) With some loss of quality, but not noticible
to non-professionals. Thanks John Schlichther, very nice work. Avi2mpg1 is
a simple command line mpeg-1 encoder that runs at the command prompt under
Windows 95 or NT. Someone even put together a downloadable graphical control
interface for it here. Look for GUI wrapper from Tom Holusa.

I think that a lot of games were using MPEG1, but many now use more
propritary codecs. Try it, I think that this might be what you are
looking for.


---

Q: Problem with the first frame of an animation with FLIC "codec"

How come that everything that is not visible in the first frame looks
like
shit when it enters later in the animation? If I decide that some
texture mapped object will appear from frame 35 to 65, it looks alright
while rendering but when it's finished the object don't look any good.
I know(?) that this has to do with the colorpalette that is used, but I
don't have any control over the palette. How do you open the
palette-box?
When you render an animation, it sometimes shows and sometimes don't.
How do
you open it? Is this a FLC problem?

A1: Yes, this is a problem with FLIC formats as they're only 256 colours. We
used
to go through all-sorts of hoops to get the palette right, sometimes it
worked, sometimes not. Basically, the first frame needs all the colours in
it
to set the palette, adding stuff later forces it to try to make the colours

from what it has already seen. They are never right.

I can't remember the exact procedure I used to use to do this, but this is
what needs to be done

A2: If you don't want the palette to be based on the first frame (low setup)
you have to use medium setup or custom setup. Medium render each frame with
its
own 256-palette and then builds a single palette to serve all frames. Or you
can render a single frame in the animation that contains all objects
(colours) and use that image as a palette (custom) for the whole thing.

If the setup is greyed out just click in the filetypes and choose FLC again
and it should be highlighted. Sometimes this occurs when you type your
filename first.


---

Q: Problem with the playback of a high-resolution rendered animation

I have created an animation which will be included in a PowerPoint
presentation. The animation consist of 500 frames, the 'presentation'
PC is a P166 with 144 MB Ram, 1mb video. resolution 800x600. Now I've
tried the Microsoft video compression with no keyframing. When I play
the animation it does not have a constant speed. Please advise on the
best rendersettings, like compression method etc.

A1: Try using the Cinepak codec and render at a smaller resolution
(PowerPoint can resize your animation to fit). You won't get full screen
playback at 800x600 at a reasonable speed (not without a seriously fast
hard drive).

Use Premiere as it has options to regulate the data transfer rate when
creating an AVI. You should be aiming for at least 15 frames per second
playback.

As an alternative (if you have the RAM to cope) use a ramdisk and play
the animation from there as the transfer speeds from RAM will be much
quicker than trying to play the AVI of the HDD.

A2: I have good experience with Cinepak Codec By Radius it does good
qualitation if u use keyframing and high Compression Quality (better
than Microsoft's compressions) but I don't know about speed. But consider
using mpg. It looks better and is faster.


---

Q: How to get rid of the pixelation/dithering in an animation

Does anyone have a good suggestion on settings for reducing
pixelation/dithering on a render of a large model?

I've tried adjusting the pixel aspect slightly with little success and
wondered if there was some obvious button I've been missing...

A1: What sort of effect are you experiencing?

Stills;

If you are getting a pixelated look, then is your anti-aliasing switched
on? Check the settings in the render dialog.

If you are getting an interference pattern, commonly called a moireé
effect due to closely spaced lines - often caused in bump maps. Then the
only solution is to tweak your map and/or render at a higher resolution
as the effect is a direct result of resolution and the spacing of the
pattern.

Animations;

If you are getting blocky frames or patchy colour or both then check
which codec you are using. I recommend using the Cinepak codec for AVI
or render to QuickTime.

If none of the above apply then please post more details of the effect
you are getting.

A2: > ...some obvious button I've been missing...
Yes. The one which says "Render perfectly".

Max is not a 3D wizard program. It actually requires some
understanding of the options there are. Pixel aspect won't
help you a bit. What are you doing; avi? mov? tif?

My bet is avi. Correct?
Ok. Use another codec, or none. That's the best quality
there is, but... naah. You figure it out.

A3: Render in bigger resolution, it will solve your problems :)

A4: every WinTel PC is too slow to playback movies or animations in
resolutions that come close to standard video resolutions.
If you really want that size, you should render your animations to a device
like the Personal Animation Recorder (PAR). (I believe the PAR is replaced
by the PVR) There are also other devices that promise you smooth playback at
high
resolutions. The technique used in these cases is called Motion Jpeg.
The images are stored as quality Jpeg files, and then compressed to a native
animation format which can be played back at a continuous 25(PAL) or
30(NTSC) frames a second. This quality playback is done by the device, that
is why these devices are expensive ($2500,- and higher).
Another option is to buy a Mpeg-II playback card, and render your animations
to Mpeg-II format, which is almost video-resolution. To render Mpeg you need
a codec (as for AVI). Dairy Vision has a low-cost Mpeg encoder (about $100),
and it works great for test-purposes.(www.darvision.com)
For High quality Mpeg you should consult a company that encodes Mpeg for a
living.

b.t.w. There is always the old fashion way to generate smooth animation:
Single frame rendering output to video.



---

Q: How do I render an animation with Alphachannel?

A1: In Max, specify .tga as your output type.. Under settings choose 32-bit.
In Premiere, use Import (select Targa Sequence from the file type list)
select the first TGA in the list.. Then drag the clip into any superimpose
track (i.e. "S1").. right click on the clip, and choose transparency. Then
choose image alpha.

A2: to import a Targa sequence with an alpha channel into premiere 5.0 go to
file/import /file go to the directory p, pick the first file in the sequence
and make sure the box numbered stills is checked. In 4.2 you have to import
the
entire folder to get the sequence. Once in premiere make sure the video is
on the
si track and hit ctrl g to set up you transparency options

A3: I didn't figure out how to do it in Premiere, but I succeeded in After
Effects where I made two sequences of the Targa files, one with the
animation and one with the animations alpha channel, then I used the
Alpha-file to set transparency somehow (I'm not certain exactly how,
since I fiddled around a bit but if someone's interested I can experiment
and post how I did it).


---

Q: Can I remove my "background" from my rendered 32 bit TGA files?

Anyhow my 32 bit TGA files is already there, and I'm not too confident
with my background. Can it be removed from the 32 bit TGA files
afterwards,
by video post for example? Or can the background be changed/removed by
software like Digital Studio ?

A: You can dump them in one of two ways, if they were rendered with separate
Alpha files, then delete the extra files. If they were rendered all in the
same file as single 32 bit targas, then you should make an IFL list of the
files and re-render them all in Max as 24bit targas with a different name,
then delete the originals.

You can do this using the IFL listed images as a "screen" environment
backdrop and render the perspective view. It's the same as putting a normal
environment map in the viewport, but setting it to screen (not spherical)
and using the IFL list instead of just a single picture.

If you're not entirely sure what these terms or methods mean (I don't know
how experienced you are) they can all be found in the manual or help files
which will clarify them.


---

Q: How does anti-aliasing work?

I animated a sprite for a program, rendered it with all the unnecessary
things outmasked with flat objects, but MAX anti-aliases the sprite to
the
white background. if I turn anti-aliasing off, it will not anti-alias
inside. How does this anti-aliasing work?!?!?!

A: Go to Preferences.. under the file menu, then select the Rendering tab.
There you have Background Anti-alias, Turn it on.


---

Q: What are the specs for Indeo 5 Compression format?

A: Indeo 5.0's precise resolution limits are:
All Frame Dimensions MUST be a multiple of 4.
Minimum Frame Size: 32x32
Maximum Frame Size: 4,194,304 pixels (2048 ^ 2), with no dimension
exceeding 8188 pixels.

NOTE: 2048x2048 is the largest SQUARE image size that Indeo 5.0 will
support, but longer or thinner videos are permitted so long as they
don't exceed 2048 ^ 2 pixels. So for instance a panorama video at
4096 x 480 is allowed.


---

Q: I've got problems when rendering for post processing in Adobe Premiere

Don't know if this is the correct group for this but I'll try anyway...
I want to render a scene, say 500 frames, sequentially, this isn't a
problem and I can do it in JPG, TGA, GIF etc...
The problem is when I import the files into Premiere, each file is
longer in
duration that one frame, so I get this weird slow motion kind of effect.
I would rather use this method than AVI if I can, for a couple of
reasons,
not the least being that I can cancel a render if I have to and can
recommence it where I left off, and I'm sure it can be done, what am I
doing
wrong??

A: Go into Premiere's preferences of still image, turn the preferences to
"each still is one frame". That should do it!


10.3 Video Post
---------------


10.3.1 General about Video Post
-------------------------------

Q: How does Video Post work?

...having trouble getting my Head around the concept of video post....
...what exactly do you do with it?

A: It's a queue of different kind of tasks, for example one
could do an animation of a rocket launch (how original...).
Animation should have a night sky, glowing street lamps,
depth of field, three camera angles, bright flare from
rocket engine with heat distortions in the air, insert
picture of actual launch, fade to black at the end,
company logo at the bottom corner, etc, etc...

Ok, first you create and animate the scene, and keep videopost
in mind, when assigning object (right click over object,
go to properties, there it is) and material ID's (in Material
Editor).

Then you place your cam's there; one over rocket looking down,
second cam is at ground level looking up and the third is in
a distance looking the whole complex. If you want, you can do
cross-dissolves right within Max with videopost.

Then you add several filters to the queue, like glow, for
street lamps and rocket jets, flares everywhere, depth focus
to make it look more cinematic, fullframe glow to make it
look moodier, and if you have the tools; distortions to
make it look convincing. And sure, the starfield to the
background of the lot. Some filters are assigned to object
or material ID's, some directly to objects.
Finally, at the end of the queue, there must be output
event to save rendering to stills (or avi if you insist.)


10.3.2 How do I create an animation from Video Post?
----------------------------------------------------

Q: How do I create AVI's from Video Post?

Is there any way to create an avi file with video post, because I can
only
render single images.

A: You have to include a output event at the very bottom of all the video
post
tasks.


---

Q: Rendered single frames are OK but final animation lacks of Video Post
effects

I am using Video Post to render an animation with a Glow Filter. While
rendering the frames I see that the glow effect is taken into account
and it looks kind of groovy. The only problem is that the final
animation
does not have the effect in it, and all that is left is naff looking
particles. I can save out individual frames with the effect (using the
disk icon on the output screen) but not an animation. I have tried
saving the animation as numerous formats, avi, tga etc. but the same
result
still applies. I have also (before anyone says) applied the object
buffer to the selected particle object as I wouldn't be able to see the
glow effect while rendering anyway. Am I not configuring the alpha
channel correctly or something??? Please help....my creativity is being
blocked by technology as usual!!!

A: I ran into the same thing, for me the solution was getting the
hierarchy in video post in the correct order....image input
filter, image output event etc..


---

Q: What is the correct "order" of Video Post events?

Whenever I want to make an animation with a video post filter, the
render screen shows my scene with the effect but when I play the video
back, the
effect isn't there. I have set all of the ranges, object channels etc.
correctly but it still doesn't work. this is how its set up: .........
<SNIP>

A1: Now I noticed that the order is also wrong, yes it shouldn't be like
this:

-que
-camera
-filter
-output file

and every event -should- have it's own line, not the tree type hierarchy you
have.

A2: As you are adding Scene Events, Filter Events, and Output Events to
the Video Post queue, make sure nothing is selected. This will result in
the Queue looking something like the following:

|-Queue
|
|-{Icon}Image Input Event
|
|-{Icon}Image Filter Event
|
|-{Icon}Image Output Event

If, on the other hand, an item in the queue is highlighted when you add
another event, the new event will be added subordinately. This will
result in a hierarchy such as the following:

|-Queue
|
|-{Icon}Image Filter Event
|
|-{Icon}Image Input Event
|
|-{Icon}Image Output Event

This will typically still look OK as its rendered in the Virtual Frame
Buffer, but will not be saved as desired in the output file.


10.3.3 What is a "codec" and which one is the best?
---------------------------------------------------

Q: What is a codec and what is the ratio between compression rate and
quality?

A1: First of all, for a good overview and axplanation please go to the
CodecCentral website:

http://www.terran.com/CodecCentral/

A high amount of compression = low image quality, because the image is
compressed more, alright? The best non linear digital editors run at no
compression at all. Most however work at about 2 to 1, that is the saved
file is half the size of the raw video stream. It does this by trying to
generalize both the content of one frame (this color is similar enough to
this color that I can just call it 2 x color) as well as over time (this
pixel doesn't really change that much between these two frames, so I'll just
put 'ditto' in the next frame). For personal use on my computer, I'm using
the Microsoft MPEG-4 codec. It's in an .avi wrapper so Max recognises it
without any plugins, and it has the best quality-size ratio I think of
almost any codec. For web distribution, I'm a fan of straight MPEG, MPEG-2
if I know everyone is going to be able to see it. Try these codecs, cinepak
and indeo simply can't compete with them.

Naturally though, when you go to final output, it's always better to render
to frame sequences (I'm a .tga type of guy, just because Max will compress
them in a lossless compression scheme) if you have the space for it. When
you do run out of space, I recommend a CD burner. Better yet CD-RW.

A2: My advice:

- Don't use 1024x whatever unless it's at 1 frame per second.
- Output to 640x480 at 30 fps only if your end product is going onto
videotape or DVD. You have to use a hardware TV output card like Miro DC30
or Matrox Marvel.
- Output 640x480 at 15 fps if you know its going to be played on a very
fast computer and frame size is more important than picture quality. Use
Cinepak compression.
- Output 320x240 at 15fps if it's going to some unknown computer user. Use
MPEG1 or Indeo v.4 or v.5. if end viewers are likely to have up to date
software. Use Indeo 3 or Cinepak if not. Don't use Microsoft Video (ick).
- In all cases, experiment with compression settings to see what you get.
Usually 'high' compression means small file and low quality, but
occasionally it works the other way around.
- If possible, output to uncompressed avi/mov or single frames. Then
experiment with compression using Adobe Premiere, Apple Quicktime Pro, or
equivalent.

For much more info, go to Codec Central at:

http://www.terran.com/CodecCentral/index.html

A3: The truth is there are no better codecs then others. It really depends
on what you are using the codec for. Some codecs dont go well with
dark colors other not so well with lighter colors....then others dont
go well with a lof of motion in the video and others are better when
there is a lot of motion. Over all you are going to have to play with
what you like. sorensung (Spelling might be wrong) which is new for
quicktime is supposedly a REALLY nice one

anyway, about compression..what you want to do is not worry about
frames per second or how large the file is but, rather worry about
megs per second. you want to keep this as low as possible for a good
playback with out dropping frames and skipping. But also what hardware
you have will also decide for you how many megs per sec you can go
with....if you have a scsi harddrive you can do more then what you
could do with IDE....so basically again, you have to play with the
settings. Sorry I couldnt help you with very much..but if I were to
write down everything about codecs and what to use....it would be a
HUGE BOOK. Go to http://www.terran.com/CodecCentral/index.html for
some really good info on codecs.

and yes, how much you compress will determine how well the picture
quality is...


---

Q: What codec's are there and what are their strong and weak points?

A: The following is a list of the most common codec's with some comments
attached. Remember that different codecs might work for some output media
but not as well on others (i.e. some might be good for CD multimedia but
not for digital video).

Web Codecs

Sorenson Video High-quality WWW video
RealVideo (Standard) Main video codec for RealVideo / RealMedia
H261 Low-quality videoconferencing
H263 (also known as I263) medium-quality videoconferencing
MPEG-4 High-quality WWW video
Photo-JPEG Photographic images
VDOLive Server-based streaming video; scalable
ClearVideo+ RealVideo (Fractal) Medium-quality WWW video; discontinued
DivX (http://divx.ctw.cc, is a hacked version
of mpeg4 and very very popluar. My personal
favourite ;-) [MrTux]

CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/Kiosk/Presentation Codecs

Cinepak Medium-quality CD-ROM video, works on older
computers
Sorenson Video High-quality CD-ROM video; requires fast computer
Eidos Escape High-quality CD-ROM video; requires high datarates
Indeo 3 Medium-quality CD-ROM video, works on older
computers
Indeo Video Interactive (4,5) High-quality CD-ROM video; requires fast
computer
Apple Video Very fast, but low-quality (usually for testing)
MPEG-1 High-quality CD-ROM video; requires special hardware
or fast computer
MPEG-2 High-quality DVD-ROM video; requires special
hardware
Apple Animation From HD, allows lossless fullscreen playback on very
high-end systems
Power!Video High-quality video at high data rates; discontinued


Hardware/Capture Codecs

Media 100 Codec allows files to be used without capture
hardware
VideoVision Studio Codec allows files to be used without capture
hardware
Avid Media Composer Codec allows files to be used without capture
hardware
Truevision Codec allows files to be used without capture
hardware
DV Camera New format where digitizing is done in-camera
Apple Component Video For capture on systems without JPEG hardware

Editing/Storage/Special-purpose Codecs

Motion-JPEG (MJPEG) General-purpose video editing & storage
Apple Graphics Very similar to GIF; for images w/ limited colors
Apple None Lossless, but inefficient
Apple Animation Lossless storage
Photo-JPEG Used at 100% as a storage/transfer format, it
creates
significantly smaller files than animation.


10.3.4 About Focus / Depth of Field in MAX
------------------------------------------

Q: Depth of Field, or how does Video Post work?

I suppose I just can't grasp video post -- or I'm tired.
I can get neat effects in video post, like focus (depth of field), etc..
but I can't seem to render those visual effects to a still file, or an
avi file. Does video post require some special kind of device output?
Or can I render VP output to a TIF, or AVI?

A1: One other solution (assuming that you've created an output event as
suggested) is that when you add the effects to the video post you need to
make sure that none of the videopost events are highlighted.

I tried to add a glow effect but had the camera input highlighted when I
added it. The glow rendered but was not there in the final JPG.

A2: ...and make sure the output is last on the list


---

Q: How does Focus / Depth of Field work in MAX R2.5?

I have done a lot of experimenting with all the cool new features of
2.5,
but getting a decent focus blur still eludes me. It seems to blur top
and
bottom, not really out of focus as the "node" goes back. It may be like
a
problem I had with LenzFX glow where I thought you couldn't glow just
the
hotspots, but you can.

A: It's not the best DoF filter around as it still has problems with over-
lapping geometry. The free Zfocus is a good alternative and simpler to use.
You also have the Cebas Real Lens Flare PRO (now called Pro Optic Suite I
think) which lets you create depth of field inside MAX without using Video
Post.

10.3.5 About Motion Blur
-------------------------

Q: Motion Blur

Any recipes for motion blur in Max 1.2?

A1: scene motion blur is applied in 'video post'. you control it with
entries in the 'add' or 'edit scene event' dialog, in the 'scene
options' area.. there's a checkbox that enables the motion blur... there
are also other options that you can set/play with to get the effect you
need..

A2: Click the object when it is active with your right button. Choose
properties and set motion blur on. Then from render settings fix the
parameters. This is good if you want blur only certain objects. For whole
scene use videopost.


10.3.6 About Lensflare
----------------------

Q: How to create lensflares in Video Post

How do you make lens flares with max? I know its something to do with
video post, please help!

A1: The LenzFX plugin ships with 2.0

Really its too lengthy to go into detail on how to create them.
A short version would be to go into video post select LenzFX flare, use
an omni as a node source and woo la la a flare! You have to be sure and
add a output event first or it wont work. By the way, LenzFX -is- shipped
with MAX 2.x so if you can't find it in Video Post try reinstalling MAX.


---

Q: How do I arrange the Video Post events when using Lens Flare?

OK... I finally figured out how to use the damn lensflare plug in to
work! I'm an amateur so bare with me here guy's and girls. when I
render an animation I can see the lens flare as it renders (frame by
frame) but when I open the AVI animation file everything is there and
moving but -without- lens flares! What is going on here?!!!

A: You probably arranged the camera-event, the image filter-event and the
image output-event in the wrong order. Your Video Post Queue should look
like this:

+ Queue
|
+-- Lens Effects Flare
| |
| +-- Camera
|
+-- *.avi


10.3.7 About making objects Glow
--------------------------------

Q: How do I set up a glow effect?

I have 3D studio MAX 2.0 and I want to make glow effects, but that
doesn't work.

A: I suppose, I can. If everything is OK with the installation, then
try on setting of material/object ID. It must differ from zero. After
launching videopost and choosing the filter "glow" the same ID must be
pointed. Try different settings of the filter. As a whole, "glow" works
quite similar, as in 3DSMAX 1.0.


---

Q: Glow from behind another object

I have a problem with glow I need to put glow inside a glass object
The problem is that you can not see the glow through the glass, what am
i
doing wrong.

A: You can't have a glow filter appear behind another object. To do things
like that a plug-in called X-Ray might help. From Digimation. You might get
the glow effect by using a omni light with attenuation setting and assign
a volumetric light to it. Cebas Pro Optic Suite can do all manners of
flares
and glows behind transparency/refraction, and in reflections..


---

Q: Glow from behind another object

Is there a way to glow an object in VP if there's a nearly transparent
object in front of it? I have some electronic eyes behind a shaded
visor and the renderer seems to see the visor as a solid object and
won't glow the objects behind it, though glow renders fine when the
visor is hidden. Can it be done?

A1: There is a workaround for this in MAX2.

The trick is using the Raytrace Material for the transparent object (you can
keep the Reflection and Refraction values 0, but may NOT disable the
Raytracer.)
The Raytrace Material has the ability to pass MatIDs through transparent
objects, and also reflect MatIDs, so you can use LenzFX Glow over them.

Try this:
*Create a Sphere
*Create a Box and put it inside of the Sphere
*Assign a new Raytrace Material with transparency to the Sphere
*Assign a new Standard Material to the Box with MatID = 1
*Open VP, add a Scene event, a LenzFX Glow for MatID1 and Execute!

The Box will glow...

A2: Yes, you can do it even without the Raytrace material. The problem isn't
with the glow filters, it's with Max not transferring effects ID channels
through transparent objects (until Max 2 with raytrace materials), You can
work around this by rendering 2 versions of each shot, one with the scene
and
the glow and the other with the translucent objects (and everything else
matted
out) and then composite them together in video post.


---

Q: Glow with Material ID - how to modify it's preferences for final
animation?

I have a question that is probably very simple to answer. I am working
on
3D Studio Max 2. I can put a lens glow on an object using object ID but
I don't know how to be able to change the preferences to affect the final
picture.

A1: You need to add the glow as an event in Video Post, assign it to an
object
ID (set these by right-clicking on the object and into preferences), then
rendering through Video Post. It should appear in the final picture.

A2: You have to use "execute" (the button with the running man) to see your
results. Don't use "render" in the main menu bar.


10.3.8 About Photoshop plugins in Vidoe Post
--------------------------------------------

Q: When I try to use one of the standard Photoshop plugins in VP MAX crash!

A: Only the 3rd party Photoshop filters work in MAX. The default ones that
comes with photoshop are only for Photoshop and will crash MAX.


10.4 VRML
---------

Q: Problem when exporting to VRML / VRML97 from MAX

First: I'm owner of Max2.5 (legal) and well experienced in 3D.
If I want to export a scene to VRML or VRLM97 max tells me
"don't know how to save this file type".

A1: Add the extension .wrl e.g. pants.wrl when you save

A2: There is a known bug in MAX. For some of the exporting, you must put the
file extension into the file name yourself. I think that should do it! I
haven't tried it lately, VRML export that is, but I had the same problem
with
exporting RIB files after installing the exporter plug-in for that...


10.5 Virtual sets / MAX animations within live movie
----------------------------------------------------

Q: How do I combine live video footage, bluescreens and MAX?

Would like to know more about creating virtual sets with Max and what's
needed to bluescreen with real cameras. What other software,
hardware needed. Does anybody have experience in this. Also point to
any sites.

A: The key in bluescreen filming is the correct lightning and background,
it is recommended to hire a professional to do the lighting set-up for
you, believe me you will thank me later since I did my first bluescreen
shoot a couple a years ago and thought I can get away by doing it
myself. As for Max there is a plugin from PE Photron called Primatte s-
100 for chromakey compositing (www.photron.com ).
But it will be easier to remove the bluescreen in Adobe Premier or Adobe
AfterEffects with a plugin called Ultimatte (www.ultimatte.com ).
This is for offline editing compositing after you digitized your
footage into the computer.


10.6 Network rendering
----------------------

Q: Do I need additional licenses for doing a network render?

A: No. For one licese of MAX you can have up to 9999 computers
hooked onto a network and render on all of them.


---

Q: Why doesn't my network rendering work in Windows 95/98?

A: You can't network render in Windows 95/98. You have to go for Windows NT
which by the way is more stable and suitable for running MAX!


---

Q: How do I network render on two PC's in NT4?

A:

1. Goto CONTROL PANEL >>> NETWORK
Make sure you have:
I. TCP/IP transfer control protocol / Internet Protocol
Check your settings

Example: IP = 199.000.000.001
I am computer 1 in group 199. Remember that each
computer in 199.000.000 needs a different number
SUBNET MASK = 255.255.255.000
This makes sure I am in MY group 199 only.
II. Client for Microsoft Networks
1. This is for Windows 95 and NT4 to talk to each other
III. Network Name
1. All of your computers need the TCP/IP to be the same (with
different ending number group 4 as stated)
2. Workgroups also need to be the same as well (for ease of
networking and good programming)
Example: WORKGROUP = HOLLYWOOD

2. Restart computer

3. Make icons for MANAGER and SERVER
A. 3D Studio Max can ONLY be a server AND manager on the same computer in
NT4, not 95. Why? Who knows...
B. Right click on your desktop and make a new shortcuts to
I. %maxroot%\manager.exe
II. %maxroot%\server.exe
C. Decide which is the faster computer in your network, and use it as
a server and a manager
D. The TCP/IP address you give that computer is the manager address,
and you must also know it's name
E. Run server.exe icon on your desktop, and you must tell the program
what the manager name and address is
F. Run the manager and don't change anything, just do a simple setup.

4. Start server, manager services
A. Run Manager in your fast computer, and it should start the service
B. Sun server on both computers (more computers as your farm grows)
C. Run max on the fast computer, and render to :NETRENDER checkbox
clicked on
D. Find a list of managers, or type it in (199.000.000.001) for
example
E. Search for servers available, then click on each on, making it
have a green arrow through a green ball
F. Render out, and as it runs, close your MAX interface to save ram
and resources when the server starts

5. left click on the manager icon and you can watch it go, and see the
progress continue


---

Q: How do I batch/network render on only one machine?

A: The network renderer works fine on one computer. e.g. NT 4 and Max 2.

You have to install a network with TCP IP for NT even if you³re not
connected to other computers, because you need an IP address. An alternative
might be to install MS Loopback Adapter as Network card. Works fine for me.
For detailed information goto the Online help (Search for Loopback or so...)

Install both the Network Render Manager and Network Render Server (just
start it) and fill in the IP address of the Manager (the one you wrote in
the TCP IP Network properties of NT) in right line of the Network Server
properties. Also start the Queue Manager and fill in the same IP Address.

To render, just tick Network render in the Render dialog in MAX,
choose your Manager (must be running at that time) and it will work.
Choose deactivated (or inactive) and then the rendering will start when
you activate it via the queue manager.

You can also declare that the server should only run at nighttime in the
server dialog.

I know this is written a bit confusing, but I hope it will help you.
It's very simple in fact.


---

Q: How do I set up network rendering in MAX?

I'm having problems in setting up network rendering between two Dual
PIIs.
The problem I have is when I go to render the net render dialog opens
but
no network manager is available to connect to in the pull down box.

A: Make sure you start your netmanager beforehand. Also make sure you give
the machines time to recognize each other and also when closing them down.

My TCP/IP network functions fine. I start the Manager Program on the
second
machine and the server program. Then on the first machine I start the
server
program and 3DS max the server / manager programs ping each other but no
manager is shown in the renderer.

A: Sometimes, you only need to confirm the IP address in that little
pulldown area in the netmanager where your IPnumbers are(put in the cursor
and hit
enter).

Every so often you need to simply pull out the network directories (put them
somewhere safe just in case) so that max thinks this is the first time and
you put in your IP etc when you start the manager etc.

Maybe I am doing something fundamentally wrong, or maybe its something
to do
with my network - I don't know. But any suggestions would help I'm sure.

Follow the manual steps if your network machines are pinging you should be
fine.


---

Q: Why can't I save the network rendered animation to a file?

I cannot use my 3 networked PC's for Net Rendering when I want to save
the Animation to a file! I can use them when I don't save it to a file!

A: It's not possible to use net-rendering with any animation file format as
output. You have to tell MAX to save every rendered image to its own file.

Pretty easy :).

1. Make your scene and so on - I guess you did this already.
2. Choose a folder on one of the computers to save the images to. It's
necessary that every computer is allowed to write to this directory.
3. If you use the Video Post then just add an Image Output event (has to
be the last one). Use any file name you want - e.g. ANIMATION and any
still-image file format - e.g. TGA. And you need to enter the folder of
your harddrive where MAX will save the images. The whole filename should
now look like this: \\COMPUTER_NAME\FOLDER\ANIM.TGA.
If you don't use the VP then press "File..." in the Render-dialog and
enter the name in the same way as described b4.
4. Start the Network Manager on one machine
5. Start the Render Server on the others and connect them to the manager.
6. Either press "Execute Sequence" (the running guy) in the VP or "Render".
7. Make sure that "Net Render" is enabled.
8. Press OK
9. Now choose your Manager in the dropdown-list.
10. Press the All-button (Remember?? When you set an Animation-file as
output you can only select ONE render server....)
11. Press OK.
12. Enjoy.

Now you can use the Queue Manager to activate/deactivate the servers,
watch some statistics and so on.


10.7 Batch rendering
--------------------

Q: How do I set up my computer to render a couple of scenes over night?

I would like to know if it is possible to batch render on a single
machine with either Max 1.2 or 2.5. So before I go home at night I can
set up Max to render 2 or 3 scenes unattended, like in Strata Studio or
Alias. The only literature I see on batch rendering is when you have a
network setup. A while back in the news group I had read a posting from
someone saying there was a plug in somewhere to do this.

A: Set up the Network Render on a single machine using the MS Loopback
adapter in NT. This is all explained in the Online Help in 1.2 and books
and Online in MAX R2.5

Also, see the previous topic about how to network render. There you'll find
some handy tips.


10.8 Render resolutions
-----------------------

Some short words about rendering resolutions:

A4 @ 150dpi 1754x1240
A3 @ 150dpi 2480x1754

NTSC 720x486 @ 30 fps (or more accurate 29.97
fps)
PAL 768x576 @ 25fps

Standard VGA 320x200 (aspect ratio = 1.6)
SVGA 640x480 (aspect ratio = 1.33)
DPS PAR 752x480 (aspect ratio = 1.57)
SVGA 800x600 (aspect ratio = 1.33)

low-res 35mm film 1024x768 (aspect ratio = 1.33)
mid-res 35mm print 2048x1556 (aspect ratio = 1.33)
hi-res 35mm print 4096x3112 (aspect ratio = 1.33)

Kodak PhotoCD 3072x2048 (aspect ratio = 1.5)
low-res slide photograph 1536x1024 (aspect ratio = 1.5)
mid-res slide photograph 2048x1365 (aspect ratio = 1.5)
hi-res slide photograph 4096x2731 (aspect ratio = 1.5)

If rendering an animation for playback from a CD then aim for 15fps and you
certainly won't get full screen resolution.

Then resolution depends on the pixel ratio (Square or CCIR standards). Many
videocards are using 640x480 resolution for NTSC like mine miroVIDEO
DC30plus
board and it depends on the videocard what resolutions are supported.

..but standard resolution are those above.


---

Q: What resolution is PAL and what "depth" should the colour have?

When rendering PAL video to TGA files, which resolution to use ?
The TV producer, claims they use 800x600 pixels but when rendering
to TGA there are choices of 16,24 and 32 bit output. The increase
of file size is significant. a 32 bit TGA file 800x600 is approx
1.82MB, while a 24bit is 1.1MB

PAL TV broadcast size is 768x576 (I think) and whether you use 32bit depends
on if you need to use the Alpha channel or not. If you are compositing CGI
with live video, then 32 bit is what you need as this uses the 8bit Alpha
channel (24 bit+8 bit=32 bit). If you are using CGI on its own, then 24bit
is
the one to use, If you don't need full colour, then 16bit will do as this is
only 65,000 colours.


---

Q: How can I set the DPI value for output pictures in 3dsmax.

The output DPI option is include in Bryce 3D but why not in MAX?

A: Monitor = 72 dpi (max, 3ds4, truespace etc etc, render at 72 dpi)
Printer = 300 dpi avg. quality output (adjust for your printer, 720
dpi for Epson etc)

If you render an image at 600 x 300 pixels, you will get a 2" x 1" 300
dpi picture.

You can use PhotoShop or other programs to increase the dpi but you will
just be interpolating and the output won't be any better, that's
basically just cutting big squares into smaller squares that still make
up the shape of the big squares.


10.9 Rendering animations for the WEB
-------------------------------------

Q: What format shall I use for animations on the WEB?

A: The best way for general viewing of animation on the Internet is to
convert your animation to an animated GIF, cut down the frame size and
reduce the number of frames per second so each animation is 100k or
less. Any larger than this and no one will bother waiting for it to
load and it won't be seen at all.


10.10 Problem with the "Rendering Window"
-----------------------------------------

Q: My "render progress box" has vanished without a trace. How do I get it
back?

A: You can get your dialog box back this way:

Open your 3dsmax.ini file (from the root of your Max installation), and
modify the [RenderProgressDialogPosition] line as follows:

Dimension=35 40 381 687

This should put the dialog on-screen where you can move it around again.
The problem may have happened another way, but most likely from having your
taskbar at the top of the screen (which I do myself). The way to fix that
problem is with a freeware application that will keep windows and dialogs
from
creeping up off the top of the screen. I use one called WinSize, and set it
to only monitor the top edge of the screen where my taskbar is, although you
can have it monitor other edges too if you like. You can get it at
www.daimi.aau.dk/~maxx/maxximum.html - or search for it at www.winfiles.com


10.11 Outputting the animation to video or film
-----------------------------------------------

Q: My video output gets darker than the animation, how do I compensate
this?

I'm finishing a small production and now is the time to put that on
video. I did some tests with still frames on my video screen and to
my surprise I have lost about 50% of my gamma! My question is:

If I change the value of my "overall lighting" in my environment setting
to 1.85, is this the right way to fix this?

A: In your configuration panel (File | Preferences) there is a setting for
gamma. Increase the output gamma there.


---

Q: What is that "Video Color Check" button for?

Can anyone tell me how the video check works? The explanation in the
manual is a little on the light side. Do you check video check if you
wish to render for video? And what is the best choice in the render
preferences?

A: I'm assuming your talking Video Color Check ? what this does is keep all
your colors within NTSC legal (NTSC does not use the full spectrum of
color and if your video happens to go outside the legal you'll end up
with a fuzzy white 'moiré' pattern at those points). What will happen
is MAX (now I'm guessing here for MAX), will take and adjust the
saturation levels down to legal. Your best bet is to avoid using 100%
saturated colors, (a 100% blue or yellow...) and stay away from vivid
(bright) reds as much as you can when building a scene.

Max also has an option in the preferences area for video color check to
operate in a few different modes. First you can set it to "Flag with black"
(in other words, scan the scene for illegal colors and render them as
black...it looks ugly, but shows you where your trouble spots are so you
can adjust your lights or materials...the material editor also has this
option I believe). You can also set video color check to automatically
scale either the luminance or the saturation of the pixels into the
appropriate range ("scale luma" or "scale saturation"). Take a completed
scene and try rendering it both ways to see which you prefer (the difference
is subtle so watch closely).


---

Q: What is the best way to output my animations to videotape? Least loss??

A: I haven't had the bucks to do this myself, but if your work justifies the
cost, you should look into the DV videotape format.....it is taking a strong
hold in professional video applications. This is a digital videotape format
that uses the exact same codec on the tape that your computer uses to record
to it. In essence, there is never any analog conversion done except to send
a signal to a video monitor. The data from your DV-compressed AVI file is
transferred via a "FireWire" connector directly from your computer to the
digital VCR, where it can be played in real time for viewing on a monitor or
recording on an analog VCR.

There are several variations on this format, but VCRs that handle the
original (plain "DV", not DVPRO or DVCAM...etc...) are made by multiple
companies. The Sony DHR-1000 (about $3000) is a popular model. You'll also
need a DV adapter card for your computer, such as the Adaptec/Spark
cards.....these are the ones with the Firewire output & input connectors. A
good independent site dedicated to the DV format is www.dvcentral.org
.....its a great place to start learning about the format and its
capabilities.

There are two huge advantages of DV for the professional user:
1) Using DV video cameras for shooting, a project can be kept digital

from source footage thru editing and all the way to final delivery. The

footage is NEVER recompressed.
2) The inexpensive DV videotapes can serve as a true digital backup,
allowing import back into the computer for later use or editing. This is a
huge advantage for visualization, allowing later copies to be recorded on
analog tape at any time by using the original, pristine digital masters.
There is NEVER any analog generation loss.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 11 - Sound
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


11 Sound
--------


11.1 General
------------

Q: How do you put sound in 3D Studio MAX 2?

For example a bouncing sound when a ball hits the floor.

A1: Have you ever actually looked inside the Track View window?
If you do there's a nice surprise waiting there for you :) Just
right click in the track bar anywhere along the "Sound" line and
Max will give you a panel where you can specify the sound you want
to use. The first parameter called "metronome", do right-click
and then you³ll have the options to input sound (and real-time
sound too!).

Do you know that the audio controller allows you to control a
parameter of your 3D world (movement, scale, modifiers, colors)
depending the audio file you use? Very cool!

A2:

But you can only insert one sound, right? You can't insert several sounds,
and then move their key-frames and such in track-view to synch them with
the
events of the animation... You have to synch it in a sound-editing program
first.... Or is there some synch-thingy with multiple sounds files in max
that I haven't found yet???

Nope. You're right. The sound bit in Track view is purely for syncing
stuff up not for post production editing of different scenes together.

A3: There is a new plugin available named SND which allows you to attach
sound sources to objects and mix your sound in 3D space. You can get a
demo at http://www.backgraf.qc.ca. Another plugin available is Straight Dope

from Spiritwalk Visioneering (available through Sisyphus). This plugin is

a set of tools for synchronizing animation to sound. The last plugin in the
line is felxsound from Digimation. It lets you to mix, stretch and compress
between unlimited number of .WAV files.

A4: "Foley Studio MAX" will allow you to interactively edit audio within
MAX. This includes Position based effects, sound triggering resulting

from collisions and manually editting of effects from within the Trackview.

Also, there is a keyframing function that allows users to divide a WAV file
into phrases for placement of the keys within the TrackView. The number of
supported WAV files is unlimited. Mathew Kaustinen invites you to check out
their homepage (www.boomerlabs.com) and gallery to get an idea of the types
of things that you can do with our product - we designed it to address
virtually all of the audio editting concerns that MAX users have.

---

Q: How do you stop your .WAV file from looping?

A: Use the freeware plugin from Foley Studio MAX. You can get it at:

www.boomerlabs.com/bl_freeware.html

Its called WaveScrub. It works by padding the end of the WAV file with
the required amount of silence. It will optionally place the modified
file into the trackview. A quick little tool for when you're in a pinch
or don't have access to a WAV editor.


11.2 Lip synching
-----------------

Q: How do I lip synch my characters mouth with real sounds?

Is sound and lip-synching part of MAX or does one have to buy any
plug-ins? If so which ones do you recommend?

A: There are various ways to do lip synching in Max, some designed
specifically
for that purpose like Smirk and about 3 others. You can also do it via
morphing using any of the various morph plugins, and you time it to a sound
track which display in the track editor. You align the morph targets to the
waveform peaks and troughs and test it with preview renders.

I'd recommend going to the links in the end of this FAQ looking through the
scripts and plugins for some of the free morph managers available and have a
play with adding a WAV file in the sound track slot in the Track editor.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 12 - How to create...
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


12 How to create...
-------------------


12.1 Making water in MAX
------------------------

A1: You can of course texture your problem, but what do you think of
making moving water with little waves and nice reflections?

1. Create panel: Create box: 250x250x-250. Length segs:32 Width segs: 32
Height segs: 1
2. Modifier panel: apply Noise modifier: Seed:0 Scale:15 Xstrength: 10,
Ystrength: 10, ZStrength: 5 Animation Checked
3. Click the move button. Press shift en leftclick once (without moving it)
on Box01. Create a copy named Hi I'm Box02. (don't forget the name, it's
real important!)
4. Now go to the modifier panel of Hi I'm Box02 and change the seed of the
Noise modifier to 100.
5. Now click the play button and watch your newly water move in the
perspective view.
6. Add texture: Make a low saturated very dark blue diffuse colour, white
into specular, shininess: 75 and sh strength to 100
7. Put 4 omni lights above the water
8. Render a FLC or...

A2: Usually I find the water-texture in MAX sufficient for most task, so If
you want here's how I go about it.

Create a Bump map (Mix).
Create a water Map for one mix colour
Create a noise Map for the other mix colour
Set Bump to something like 450
Set Shininess and strength to around 75/77

Assign Mix Map to Opacity (as copy)
Swap the water map colours
set opacity to around 25

Create an Atmospheric apparatus (box gizmo) and assign a fog to it. Adjust
the fog colour until it suits the surface. This should be placed below the
water, and should encompass the entire underwater area.
Create whatever you need as the bottom (speckle usually works great for
sandy bottoms). If you don't want the bottom to show, create a bottom that's
very
dark, or black.

A3: In 3DSMAXR2 its probably best (or easiest) to use the built in water
material settings. They need a little playing with to get
photorealistic effects but it's worth the time.

Alternatively use a noise texture for water.
Try applying noise to a patch grid to create the wave size and then apply
a noise instance to both a reflection map and blue/white-ish diffuse
map.

Liquids are hard to do. They always look a bit dodgy, but there are a
few plug-ins that will help.

Sand is easy. Use path grids and noise, combined with a very small
noise diffuse (yellow/white) with an instance on bump. Mail me and I'll
send a couple of .MAX files of an underwater scene.

A4: You may also wish to try using a Gradient Mask to decrease the amount of
the reflection as the water nears the camera. This little trick goes a
long way towards making your water have a more realistic appearance.

Just add the mask to the reflection map slot, keep the previous. settings
as a sub-map and try using white, white, dark. blue as the gradient
settings

A5: Quick flowing water or volcanic lava

It depends on if you are doing the blobby "merge and separate" type stuff
or if you just want oceans or ponds. For anything that looks like mercury
(and the lava thing does sound like this) I'd have to recommend Metaball
technology. You can do it with SuperSpray but it would be problematic.
Instead, either get Clay Studio or wait and buy the powerful and
inexpensive new metaball plugin that Sisyphus is about to release. For
ponds where you need splashes and stuff, the "Splash" plugin is hard to
beat for quality, but it can be time intensive.

For ocean water, I've always been able to get excellent results using a grid
object (see the free ware plug on our site at http://www.trinity3d.com) and
then applying displace maps to them using fractal noise. The key to this is
to use 3 or 4 noise displacements on the water grid object, and do them all
at different scales. Specifically, perhaps something like 40 foot splotches,
10 foot splotches, 1 foot splotches and 1 inch splotches. Animate the phase
of the noise to animate the water. Done right, it looks every bit as good as
the big stuff like Arete. With the new optimal displacement mapping in Max
2.5, this will be an excellent way to do water from now on. I'd go into it
more but I'm saving that for my next Max book (I wrote 3DS for Beginners for
NRP with Todd Peterson).

A6: Here's how you make lava flow like a river in max 1.2 or r.2.0

Create a path for the river using patches (easy to shape) in the landscape.

Then make a spline and position it in where the lava would naturally flow.
Then create another quad patch, this is the lava that's going to flow down
the hillsides of your volcano (s) You can use noise or your own bitmap as a
material for the lava. Make it long like a river with a lot of ploys in it.

Assign a Path Deform space warp to the spline and bind the lava object to
the Path Deform space warp. Modify the space warp roll out and check the
move
object to path box. Change the direction of your object binding to either
X,Y or Z until it locks right (Probably Y axis)

Now your lava should be bound to the space warp and follow the path of the
spline. Now you can assign noise to the lava object to make flowing waves
and you can animate the noise and animate the present spinner for the space
warp and your lava will flow and bulge down the hill.

You probably need to adjust the spline a little to make the lava flow fit
the environment or vice versa.

Also if you use noise for the lava material, then animate the noise phase to
make the noise shift like real lava would.

If you put a bunch of orange/yellow omni lights in under the lava flow with
attenuation turned on it would appear that the lava illuminates the
surrounding rock, making it more real.

Making erupting volcanoes. I would use combustion with a hemisphere and set
the size of the flames down and use explosion with smoke in the combustion
roll
out menu under Rendering/environment... pull down menu.

Place it down in your crater model...

You can animate the combustion dummy down so it would appear that the lava
from the volcano eruption falls down and doesn't just fade away as smoke.

You could also use particles, but if you don't have Max2 it's a
hassle....and even if, it takes a lot of time to set up and make it to look
right.


A7: This is a method to produce a seawater effect without plugin.

1. Create a cylinder in the top viewport at 0,0,0
Radius : 1500
Height : 4
Cap S. : 1
Sides : 30
2. Make a new material
Ambient : 0,0,0
Diffuse : 0,0,15
Shininess : 40
Shininess S.: 30

Bump : 20
Map type Noise,
type turbulence
size 45

Reflection : 55
Map type bitmap
took a sky picture
Coord. Mapping : Shrink-Wrap Env.
3. Apply the new material to the cylinder object
4. Create a camera (free target) just over the cylinder near the border
for example : x 1000, y -1000, z 50
5. Aim the camera at the center of the cylinder
6. place a omni light at the opposite diagonal (through the center of
the cylinder) over the cylinder

for example : x -1500, y 1500, z 150
Multiplier : 6 (to simulate the sun)

You must see a reflect in the perspective viewport over the cylinder
if the smooth+highlights option is activated.
7. Render the perspective viewport


12.2 How to make gas
--------------------

A: Try making a material that has 0 shine, high refraction and match up
the defuse and specular colours in material editor to make it more or less
invisible. Then make a high count sphere and slap some noise into z and y
and animate the noise.


12.3 How to create glass
------------------------

A1: Base material.

2-sided on
Diffuse Colour 135,135,135 (medium grey)
Shininess 60
Shin. strength 80
Opacity 50

Use the attached Jpeg in Reflection, and set the reflection value to 50.

NOTE: The attached file was mostly black, and with blurred thick vertical
white lines in a random fashion.

in your scene, use raytraced light.

Use raytrace in refraction. (value 50)
in the extended Parameters set the IOR to 0.9

A2: I'm certainly no pro, but I myself just learned how to use
reflect/refract maps. What I did, which yielded pretty believable
results, is set the opacity at about 10-15, put a reflect/refract map
under both reflection and refraction. For a pretty close shot, the
default reflection settings should be good under "extended parameters"
(100 size, 1 blur and such) but set the spinner to the left of
"reflection" in the "maps" rollout to about 15. For the refract map,
you might want to set the map size higher (to about 400-500) and set
the blur WAY down to about .02 or so. Anything higher blurs the maps
to the point that it looks like it doesn't even relate to the
environment around it. Also set the refraction spinner under maps to
about 80. This should give you nice, clean lines that look almost
normal through the center of the bottle, but curve more toward the
outside, depending on the geometry. You might want to play with the
values, especially the refraction, to get the results ya need, but
that should be somewhat good. If not, I'm sure someone else might have
a better method. :) Good luck!

A3: You can create a refraction map in MAX2 that will bend light like
a sphere and reflect it also (and have it selectively raytraced by
the MAX2 raytrace renderer).

Click the "type" button in the material editor.
The material map browser will appear.
Choose "raytrace" from the selection shown.
click OK.

Your material parameters now include those for refraction (how
much light will bend) and reflection. Play around with these.
By applying a raytrace material to the object you make it so
it is selectively raytraced.

You can also apply a refraction map in the maps rollout
in the material editor. Play with that.

There are other methods. Probably better ones. But it's a start.


12.4 How to create ice
----------------------

Use Blinn Shading. A Gradient for diffuse with dark color for the clear,
wet ice and lighter for the cold ice. Same map but inverted and slightly
modified for the shininess and shininess strength. Again same map for the
opacity but darker. Dark for clear, lighter for opaque. Raytrace in the
refract slot: around 95%. Raytrace in the reflect slot: around 15% (note
all are mapped using a planar UVW gizmo from the front).


12.5 How to create metal
------------------------

How can I get an object to look like metal without using the Metal
Shader?
I've been rendering in Phong shading and applying reflection maps in the
Refraction slot, yet the rendered object still looks kind of plastic. I
want
to attain a very metallic look but have had no success. I understand
that
using a Blend material might work, but how do I set it up?

A: For Phong Metal..

Ambient and diffuse = Black
Specular = White
Shininess = 20
Shininess Strength = 20 - 100 (depending on how polished you want it)
Reflection = 50 - 80, Map, whatever you want (refmap.gif not too great),
add a little blur.
Soften = 0.3


12.6 How to create gold
-----------------------

My sister has asked me to make a street of gold for her in max. I was
hopeing that someone could tell me some exact numbers to put in to max to
make a really sweet looking gold texture.

Put Brown color in Ambient Color. A Yellow color in Diffuse Color. The same
color in Specular color. Use a Metal Shader with 80 in Shininess and 70 with
Shining Strenght. Then put a bitmap (i.e. Goldfoil.tga) into Reflection Slot
with rate of 40%. It works!


12.7 How to create mercury
--------------------------

Can someone please tell me how to create material like mercury with
silver colour and shiny (not only self-illuminate but also reflect and
refract like real world you see), I have create a knife model but I
can't create the material like mercury so that it looks realistically, I
just can make a material like cartoon (yes, as you think ).

A1: If you have a Raytrace capable renderer (such as Max 2.0 or RadioRay)
that is the way to go. If not, you can make do with a grey, metal type
material
with high shininess and shininess strength numbers. If your knife has a
very
flat blade you can apply a "flat mirror" texture to it to get the
reflection...if
not you are stuck with the reflect/refract option...sometimes you can also
get good results by adding some type of flowing pattern in as a texture in
the
shininess strength slot...good luck!

A2: I'd use raytracing for it. Use black as the diffuse color and set
reflection to 90% or something since almost every metal also adds it's own
color to the
reflection. You could try to soften the reflection as well in the
blur/defocus settings under the raytracer controls rollout. Of course you'd
need
something to reflect. Use self illuminating white and black boxes as
interesting
reflections and maybe an environment map.


12.8 How to create mirrors
--------------------------

How do I make an mirror that works like a real mirror? How do I set up
the material ?

A1: Add a reflection map to your material and bump up the bias until it
looks like what you want. It takes a lot of memory though and will render
slow. If there's no movement in the mirror no animated reflections use a
camera to render out exactly what you want to be reflected and make it a
map to place right on the reflecting object. It's a simple cheat. I've
done some things where there is movement in the reflection a girl looking
in the mirror. I just copied her and her animation and actually placed
her looking at herself. Mirror the movement and put a "piece of glass"
between them with a slight blur and it looks just like a true mirror. But
it is honestly faster to render out. It's a judgement call.
GOOD LUCK..

A2: Place a flat mirror on a plane. Place a spotlight in your scene and
exclude the mirror.

A3: In the reflect slot for your glass material, you need to assign either a
reflect/refract map or a flat mirror map depending on whether the surface is
curved or flat. Try to keep reflection levels to 30% or less.
You can specify a reflection map in the environment settings box.

A4: Or even better, use the "raytrace" type material, and adjust the
reflection
colour in the material editor...

Beware: Raytracing is slow!

A5:
With Standard material:
Use black diffuse, white specular, raytrace map in reflection slot.

With Raytraced material:
Same colours for diffuse and specular, white for reflect, turn on raytraced
reflections in raytrace controls.


12.9 How to create sparks
-------------------------

Does anybody have an idea how to create sparks in 3DS MAX?
Maybe there is a plugin for that?

A: Sparks-objects are best achieved by spray particle system. Or if
you need more control use some new particle system like SuperSpray or
blizzard. Animating their movement with particles is easy: just some
gravity, deflectors etc...

And their texture - this is more difficult. I'd use some simple
material with self-illumination close to 100%, and particle age
texture as diffuse (you know - spark is hot, white in the beginning, a
little colder then, yellow, and finally becomes red). And now apply
glow to that particles (by material g-buffer preferably if you need
some reflections) with glow by object colour, not too big radius, and
some delicate noise...

Also you can add some tiny flares to those particles to have more
bright look :) you can easily achieve it with LenzFX, RLF or
GenesisVFX...


12.10 How to model a hourglass
------------------------------

A: You only need to have a particle stream for the sand falling through the
neck, the top and bottom piles of sand can be modeled and textured with a
sand map (cylindrical+capped). Particle killer can be used on the bottom
sand-pile mesh to capture the falling sand, animate both sand piles to
shrink/grow over time (FFD) and the particles will fill the gap. If you are
interested in getting a plugin the "RealFlow" plugin simulates all kind of
particle systems and physics behavior that you might need for your
hourglass.


12.11 How to create an underwater explosion
-------------------------------------------

Any idea how to create interesting explosion undersea? Hmm...i don't
need realistic explosion. I'm still using Max 1.2 educational version
in my institute.

A1: The underwater explosions I've seen produce
a lot of bubbles. Usually there is a quick white or
red/yellow (orange) flash ball within a milky/reflective
sphere which expands quickly into a mass of bubbles
(of many sizes). The creation of bubbles is a result
of water turning to steam from the heat of the explosion.
Everything immediately begins to ascend upward
as would be expected of hot gasses in cold water.

The chemist who works next to me is a pyrotechnics
expert (he actually does the fireworks shows for
Oakland, California) and he says these kinds of
explosions often create one big bubble. In fact, there
is a torpedo technique used to sink ships where
an explosion is set off about 100ft below the ship and
one HUGE bubble floats up into the middle of the ship.
This bubble removes the water from under the center
of the ship (but not the ends of the ship) and the ship
breaks in two down INTO the bubble (It's too heavy
to be held up by the water at both ends of the ship).
Wow!

Anyway, without a good particle system this may
be a challenge to recreate!

A2: another way to do it would be to use a combustion set on fireball (not
tendril). Just colour the effect in a similar scheme as your water (very
light
blue for the center and darker blue for the outer edges gave me some good
results). For the initial flash you could leave the colours orange or white
and
then quickly animate them to the water colours or perhaps create a quick
flash
of a omni/volume light (just keyframe the multiplier setting)...the idea of
particle system bubbles also sounds pretty cool....


12.12 How to create lens flare or shiny stars in space
------------------------------------------------------

1) Place camera's, lights and everything you want in the scene
2) Choose Menu-Render-VideoPost
3) Add a render position (the button with a blue thingy on it) and choose
your camera
4) Then Add a filter effect (button with a yellow rectangle and a wave
through it)
4b) Maybe also choose some output (button next to the add filter button)
5) Choose the Lenz Flare filter
6) There's some button "choose operand" or something like that, click on
it and select the lightsource in your scene
7) Choose the settings you want for the flare
8) Run the whole thing in the video post (NOT choosing the usual render in
the menu on the main screen)

In order to make the lens flare in R2 work you must set it up in video
post. First create an object in your scene and then a camera to look at
it. Then go to video post. Add a scene event and pick camera one.
Then add image filter event and choose lens flare. Make sure when you
add the image event you don't have camera 0ne selected in the video post
queue. When it adds the LenzFX, hit setup. For LenzFX you must choose
the object or node to cast the flare. (the object you created). For glow
you must give an object or Material ID to set it off. After you set the
glow or flare press preview under the screen and the hit the VP queue
button. This will display your scene in the little window. You might also
want to check out the commercial lensflare plugins Genesis and Real
Lensflare
Pro. Real Lensflare Pro works directly in your MAX scene and you don't have
to render from Video Post any more (just a short but interesting note!).


12.13 How to create liquid
--------------------------

Q: I'd like to simulate a liquid flow filling a mesh object (a stomach
mesh)
What could u suggest ?

A1: Try the commercial plugin called Realflow (www.realflow.com AFAIR)

A2: Why buy an expensive plugin, when a SuperSpray with metaparticles will
do
the same thing for FREE? Just set the mesh as a UDeflector, close it off at
the bottom, and create a "Top of the liquid" UDeflector (basically a box
with
the same material as your liquid) and do a Boolean intersection with an
instance of your stomach mesh, so it will "Fill it up" as you animate the
box
component's vertical position.) Bind both deflectors to your SuperSpray, and
aim the nozzle down the "throat." Add and bind a gravity warp to move the
particles and you're all set.


12.14 How to create lightning effects
-------------------------------------

Q: How can I simulate a lightning effect on my objects? As simple as
turning
on/off spots?

A: In TrackView change light's colour controller to RGB-controller.
Then add Waveform Float-controller to light's R-value. Then
copy and paste (instance) same waveform to G and B-values. Then
play with settings of one of those instanced controllers.

You can even 'Play Animation' while setting waveform values, to
see the effect on-the-fly.

Someone will probably suggest Noise-controller, but I think
you have much more control using Waveform-controller instead
when doing lightning effects.


12.15 How do I create a computer mouse?
---------------------------------------

Hi dude! A really quick way to model a mouse in 3d-studio max if that's what
your using. To start of with, try drawing out a few cross-sections of the
side
and then the top. The mouse will be lofted, and fit-deformed.

1. First draw the side of the mouse (with splines).
2. Then clone the shape and then reshape it into the top view,
make sure both shapes have equal amount of vertex points.

3. Choose loft objects from the create panel.

4. Before lofting, first create a rectangular or ellipse shape for the
base of the mouse.

5. Now make a line for the path, then select the base shape,
then choose loft, turn banking off, then get the shape.

6. Now select the modify panel, choose deformation fit, this is for the
x, y, shape. Play around with these shapes, then in the deformation fit
dialog panel, generate the path.

7. Now you can place your map on the mouse.

A faster way is to take a box and reshape it by extruding faces.
Than apply a UVW map on it.
I hope these will work for you, any other things you want to know let me
know.


12.16 How to create smoke
-------------------------

Does anyone know how to create smoke in MAX? I have tried several
approaches and have been unsuccessful. I can't seem to find the free
plug-in called particle+ that's can be assigned as a combustion
apparatus :-(

Particle+ is just an enhanced particle system (which is free and it
rocks:) ) what you're looking for is particle combustion which is also
free and from the same author(s). You can find both here www.max3dstuff.
com. You can also get freepyro "free" from www.cebas.com (there are
quite a few included examples...you can use their settings as a start
point). This does a better job than the standard MAX systems.


12.17 How to make an object "implode"
-------------------------------------

Q: Anyone know how to make an object implode?

I've tried the bomb space warp and particle array. I can't figure out
how to make the explosion reverse!!

I suggest you try a PArray particle system with emitter's fragments as
particle - this nicely simulates explosions. then put small but very
strong spherical gravity inside your object and implode it... you'll
probably also need to play with particle sizes and visibility tracks
after imploding.


12.18 How to create a pearl necklace
------------------------------------

Q: How do one create a pearl necklace?

A: After you made a sphere and the closed-spline as the path, goto
MOTION>ASSIGN CONTROLLER (make sure sphere is selected) select position:
bezier position (click assign = path). Now the sphere is moving along
the path at 1 circle/100 frame.

Next, click the snapshot button. Change setting of RANGE, insert the number
of spheres to be copied along the path. When you're done, jus delete the
overlapped spheres. This method could also be used to create helix shaped
stairs.


12.19 How to create mist/fog
----------------------------

A: Click the create command pannel. Chose atmospheric apparatus from the
drop down list. Click sphere gizmo. Create one in a viewport. On the taskbar
choose Rendering>Environment. Click the "Add" button chose Volume fog (I
think). In it's parameters area click the "Pick Gizmo" button. Click on the
sphere gizmo you created. Now render.

Play around with the settings untill you get what you want. You can also
create different shaped gizmos for different effects.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 13 - Plugins and additional software
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


13 Plugins and additional software
---------------------------------


13.1 General about Plugins
--------------------------

Q: How many plugins can you have in MAX at the same time? Limits?

Is there a limit or some other stipulations on the number of plugins
that cam be added at one time. I have added a number of plugins and
during startup I can see them read but some get skipped or I can't find
them when MAX is started.

A: There is no real limit other than physical memory on the amount of
plugins that you can load. I would suggest using a plugin manager or
setting up separate config files for plugins. It uses memory even when
you do not use the plugin and load it anyway. Also there are problems
between some plugins interacting in bad ways with others.

For a while I downloaded a lot of plug-in from the net just to try them
out. After a while my 3DStudioMax started to go slower and crash a lot
until it eventually stopped and I had to reinstall it. Are there a limit
to how many plug-ins your CP. can keep in the RAM? Is it a way to get
around this or is the answer more RAM?

Other than remove some of your plug-ins, there's no way that MAX is
going to give up all that juicy RAM. The folks at Kinetix must have
around one million terabytes in their machines, because THEY don't
complain about running out of memory.
My advice, UPGRADE with LOADS O' MEMORY until you can't stand it any
more, or trash 3DSMAX and get Rhino or Truespace.


---

Q: What is the difference between the STDPLUGS and PLUGINS directories?

Can someone tell me what the difference is between the two and what the
stdplugs folder is for? Most of my plugins seem to have ended up in
there.

A1: It is useful if you want to keep your plugins in order. You know
which are MAX standard plugins, and which are non-standard and not
needed so often.

A2: Files from STDPLUGS are loaded before files PLUGINS dir. Often
external plugins need standard MAX plugins to work properly. This
prevents those plugins to load before loading standard filed that they
need.


---

Q: Will the MAX R2.x plugins work for the new R3?

A: No, the new R3 is compiled with MSVC++ 6.0 and all plugins for R2.x will
have to be recompiled to work with R3 (R2.x was compiled with MSVC++ 6.0).
Also, many of the plugins for R2.x are now incoporated into the standard
release of R3. See Kinetix web-site for more information.


---

Q: If I change my hardware protection dongle will my plugins still work?

A: Yes and no. It all depends on how the plugin is written. Some plugins
will be locked to a specific dongle (like the plugin Outburst for MAX 2.x)
wheres others will work as long as any dongle is connected to your machine.
You better check if your specific plugin is locked to your hardware dongle
before switching or sending it back to Kinetix for an upgraded dongle.

---

Q: The plugin files extensions means something right?

A: Plugins can have different kinds of extensions:

*.flt: these are video-post filters (Menu - Render - Video Post - Add
filter event (or something like that, the button with the yellow box and
a wave through it) - ...)

*.dlo: these are objects (Sidepanel - Create - ... (depends on what kind
of object))

*.dlm: these are modifiers (Sidepanel - Modify - More... (make sure you
select an object first))

*.dlu: these are utilities (Sidepanel - Utilities - ...)

*.dlt: these are textures (Menu - Material Browser - ...)


---

Q: Can you delete/rename some of the STDPLUGS plugins to free up memory?

A: Remember that there are a lot of plug-ins in the \stdplugs folder, and
many of them are not needed - depending on what you are doing. Some good
ones include:

Asciiexp.dli - ASCII file exporter, 62k
Bmp.bmi - BMP file I/O, 13k
Contrast.flt - Contrast image filter, 11k
Doors.dlo - Door objects, 146k
Dxfexp.dle - DXF file exporter, 15k
Dxfimp.dli - DXF file importer, 59k
Fenest.dlo - Window objects, 125k
Flic.bmi - FLI/FLC file I/O, 50k
Gif.bmi - GIF file I/O, 16k
Negative.flt - Negative image filter, 12k
Photoshp.flt - PhotoShop filter host, 81k
Premiere.flt - Premier transition and video filter host, 65k
Vrmlexp.dle - VRML 2.0 .WRL file export, 362k
Wipe.flt - Wipe transition, 13k

also, MAXScript, if you don't use it - is a large one:
Maxscrpt.dlu - Scripter utility, 2067k

Find out what other do by right-clicking on the file, choosing properties,
then under the comments on the Version tab.

If you move these to another folder, and create another plugin.ini, called
perhaps plugin-more.ini, and include the folder with these "inactive" plugs
in it, and start Max2 with the undocumented -p option (create new short-cut
to 'x:\3dsmax2\3dsmax2.exe -p plugin-more.ini'), which will allow you to
choose a different 'plugin.ini' file. I have 3 sets of these files,
depending on which plug-ins I need.


---

Q: Is it possible to use the 3ds release4 IPAS in the 3DS MAX?

A: No, only Max plugins will work in Max. There are many free plugins for
Max
though, enough to keep you happy for a long time, and much of what most of
the 3ds4 IPAS could do, Max and the free plugins can do just the same or
better so I wouldn't worry too much.


13.2 Commercial Plugins
----------------------


13.2.1 Character Studio
----------------------

Q: How do I get rid of the blue vertices when I link physique to a Biped?

I can't seem to get rid of those blue vertices when I link physique to
my
biped. the arms and legs usually come out fine, but the body and head
never
link up properly. I tried using the attach node method and still nothing
works. what can I do?

A: upgrade to Character Studio 2! No more blue vertices! Just lovely
parametric effect envelopes surrounding the areas you need to affect.


---

Q: Where can I find free biped files?

A: Try the Viewpoint-Site at http://www.viewpoint.com/freestuff/ktx


---

Q: How do I use Character Studio biped together with normal inverse
kinematics?

Can anyone help me with this problem please,

1. I created a human mesh and attached it to a Character studio biped
2. I created a gun and I linked it to the forearm
3. Once the running motion is applied to the CS biped, the fingers all
move out of position to form a fist (for running)

so, how can I change the finger positions for the anim sequence and stop
them reverting to the fist shape?

A: You can change the hand keyframes individually or use the "Change
Multiple Keys" feature. With this you must select all the offending
keys in the Track View accept for the one you are going to change.
Then for CS1 you right click the keys to get the "Change Multiple
Keys" dialog or in CS2 you have the option in the motion panel.
Then when you make any change to your hand (i.e.. opening up the fist)
then press the apply to Multiple keys button, that change will be made
to all you selected keys. You must do this with every step of the
change i.e.. rotate 1st finger joints - press apply - rotate 2nd finger
joins - press apply - etc....

This feature takes a bit of getting used to but is a big time saver so
is definitely worth the effort.


---

Q: How do I "skin" a biped skeleton?

I'd like to use the plug-in Character Studio 2.0 but I don't understand
how to make skin of my biped. Anybody can send me a tutorial where I can
learn how to apply skin to a biped?

A: The skinning process is the bonding of a characters model to bones and
adjusting them to deform correctly.

To make a model of a character is a whole new story. Character Studio
is a power character animation plugin, it does not create the character
models.


---

Q: Why does my character become a crouched duck after I apply a .bip file?

I'm having a problem when I apply a .bip file to a character that I
have created. My character ends up in a crouched Duck walking position.
I cant figure out why and it's happening with all the characters I
create.

A1: You have to scale the biped to exact the same size as your mesh before
you
apply a mesh to your biped.

A2: Make sure that when you select the root node in Physique (to attach the
biped to the mesh), you're choosing the biped pelvis (the yellow
rectangle)as the root node, and not the biped center of mass (the blue
diamond.) Once or twice I've accidentally selected the center of mass
object as Physique's root node, and it produces an effect like the one
you're describing. You have to zoom in really close to make sure that
you're hitting the right object.


---

Q: How do I scale both the biped -and- character at the same time?

Can anyone tell me how I can scale a biped after it has had the physique
modifier applied to it (so scaling the biped and its mesh at the same
time).

A: Click on a piece of the biped, then go to the motion controller tab and
in there should be an icon like a black stick figure. (Deform biped, it will
say, or something to that effect). Once you click on it, it will stay on
until
you turn it off. When it is on move, adjust and bend the biped to the shape
of
the mesh. Be as accurate as possible to avoid problems in the future.

After that come the brain teasing part, assigning the vertices to there
links...


---

Q: How do I get Hypermatter to work with CharacterStudio?

A: Apply Physique BEFORE applying Hypermatter. Don't worry about all the
vertex assignment stuff. THEN make the physiqued object Hypermatter.

After this, apply Physique AGAIN (to the Hypermatter object), and proceed
to assign vertices, fool with those envelopes, try and get the armpits
right, etc, etc.

Physique resets transforms when it's applied - so makes sure that your model
has normal transforms when you turn it into Hypermatter.

Also there are a couple of minor bugs that sometimes happen when returning
to frame zero after a preview/render - like physique not setting the mesh
back properly, and hypermatter quitting for no reason (usually on dual-
processor machines). Mostly they can be avoided by restarting the program
- I've had instances where the mesh has been hopelessly ruined, then loaded
the scene back up after restarting the program, and the mesh has been fine!

There's a couple of good tutorials on the 2N.Com web site - but it's been
down of late...that's where I discovered that little gem about physique...


13.2.2 Sandblaster
------------------

Q: Error message from Sandblaster when rendering... Anyone?

I have an NT 4.0 Intel System and the Sandblaster Plugin doesn't work
fine.
I select the Emitter and the Target, but when I render, the program
shows an
error - "Emitter Object should be hidden during render!". The same with
the
Target Object.

My Problem is: it has worked before, but now it doesn't :-(

A: Emitter Object must be hidden - not Sandblaster!


13.2.3 Genesis VFX
------------------

Q: How do I get lens reflection -and- glow behind it at the same time?

Can't manage to get the lens reflection in front of an object and a glow
behind it, like a sun touching the horizon...

A: add GenesisVFX two times to video post and remember to make the first
one affect z-buffer I recommend that you add the glow first (then maybe
you don't need to affect z-buffer)


13.2.4 Bones Pro
----------------

Q: Why some of my BonesPro icons disappear?

A: There is some unclear conflict between BonesPro and IE 4. It is a known
problem that some of BonesPro icons disappear when IE 4 is installed.


---

Q: When I move a model with BonesPro the end effectors stay and the rest
moves!

I have some problems with bones and their end-effectors. It seems that
when I've made an object and added bones (with end-effectors) for Bones-
Pro, I cannot move my entire object or it gets meshed up. I think this
is because the end effectors stay where they are and the rest of the
bones move.

A: Try hiding your bones first then you can just select/copy move or
whatever
or try to link the end-effector to the moving object..


13.2.5 Outburst
---------------

Q: How do I combine an Outburst particle system with Genesis VFX?

I am trying to let the particles created by the Outburst plugin have
some
Genesis effects. (this normally works for other particle generators) I
tried
about everything but nothing works:

- linking the Genesis effect to the system, particle01 or source01: no
effect (except in the last 2 instances it hangs the G. effect to the
base
of the emitter/source

- creating a dummy object, (helper)point or geometry object (small box)
with a G.effect link and have it substituted into the emitter doesn't
work
either (the first 2 won't even substitute into the emitter.

A: You'll need an extra plugin called "OutburstMax", which is available

from Animation Science. It's not posted anywhere so you'll actually

have to contact them. I haven't tried it with Genesis, but I use it all
the time with ProOptics Suit. It basically just replaces the Outburst
particle with a standard max particle for each frame. Outburst particle
systems is not the same as a "standard" MAX system, sigh :-(


13.2.5 The Incredible Commic Shop / Cartoon Reyes
-------------------------------------------------

Q: Which one of the two cell shader plugins is the best?

A: ICS has better line control options (including colour, weight etc.)
and handles semi-transparent textures. Doesn't handle regular texture
maps (can't make a sign with some bitmapped text on it), and render
quality sometimes really sucks (rendering artifacts).

Cartoon Reyes has a better render, handles texture maps very well (more
options than normal, such as applying different textures to shaded part
of a model). Doesn't do semi-transparent textures and line control is
much more limited.

Overall Cartoon Reyes is a more capable product because of the better
quality
output.


13.3 Free/shareware plugins
---------------------------

13.3.1 Free Blob/Metaball modeler
----------------------------------

Q: Does a free blob/metaball modeler plugin exist for max?

A: Blob-Mod - turns every vertex into a metaball. Go to one of
the sites mentioned in the end of this FAQ to download this and
other free Plugins for 3D Studio MAX.


13.3.2 How to use Bomb2
-----------------------

Q: How do I stop my exploded faces to fall when they reaches the ground?

I'm using bomb2 to blow some geometry apart. After its blown gravity
takes over and the pieces fall and fall and fall. Is there a way to get
the pieces to stop falling and collect on something like the ground
(which I, concourse, create)?

Also, if I blow something up in mid animation the pieces just hang
around
(fall and fall and fall). I guess I could make the object invisible to
get
rid of the pieces. Is this the best way to "clean up" after I no longer
care about the explosion and its debris?

A: You can't use deflectors in this case, because you can't bind one space
warp (bomb) to other space warp (deflector). Use particle array to explode
objects, and then you can setup particle life, and use all space warps like
gravity, deflectors and others.


13.3.3 How do I create infinite planes?
---------------------------------------

Q: Is it possible to create an infinite plane in Max 2.5 that just heads
off to the horizon like in POV-Ray or Bryce?

A: Check out Peter Watje's Grid 0.8 for Max 2.0. It is the recompilation
of the Grid primitive. Now supports a render scale option which makes for
nice horizon and sky objects.


13.3.4 Description of peoples "favorite" free plugins
-----------------------------------------------------

Q What are your favorite free plugin for MAX?

A1: I'd like to know what your favorite freeware plugins/scripts are, what
do they do, and in what practical situations you use them. Mine are :

-Pseudonurbs : Lets you boxmodel without having to check back to see if
the meshsmooth looks good, great for organic modeling!

-blurpack : great collection of procedural textures and other usefull
things

-Fastparts : faster metaparticles, useful cause now you can actually
use the metaparticles :)

A2: My two favorites... P-nurbs and RCmenu, when used together it makes
modeling
a complete joy. I like the light manager too. I also just bumped into the
new free metaball modeler from HAB, quick, easy and a spiffy little toy. I
like Tessellate +, Edit mesh 2, edit spline 2, Nspline and AFRender
raytrace map believe it or not, better output than Max's and simple to use.

As a general rule, I don't use any commercial plugins as I find the free
ones do just about all I need and they're more fun.


13.4 Plugin Manager
-------------------

There is a plugin manager that helps you organize your plugins in
a nice way. If you have a resource problem this one is definitely
for you! Check out the web address:

http://www.hk.super.net/~edx/plugin.htm


13.5 Writing Plugins for 3D Studio MAX
---------------------------------------

Q: What is needed to write my own plugins for 3D Studio MAX?

I just want to know, if someone knows, what is needed to write a plugin
for MAX. Which language is used? What is the difference to MAXScripts?
What commands are used? Are there any tutorials/books on the market?

A: For MAX2.5 you need MSVC++5.0 (MSVC++ 4.2 for MAX 1.x.), NT 4.0 and the
MAX SDK which is on your MAX CD. The programming language to write plugins
is C++. You should also have some experience in C++, object oriented
programming and in CGI programming. The upcomming release 3 of MAX will
be compiled with MSVC++ 6.0 which means that things written for MAX 1.x or
2.x has to be re-compiled with the new version of MSVC++.

MAXScript is almost a plugin running in 3D Studio MAX. You write scripts
in MAXScript to make the small not so complicated things. For the tough
jobs and things you can't do in MAXScript you use plugin programming.

With the SDK you get a help file with a description of the interface
to MAX. You also get the source code of many plugins delivered with
MAX. Kinetix has a forum at http://support.ktx.com/~200, where you get
additional support.


13.6 Additional software
------------------------

Q: I want a viewer/browser to view all my models outside 3D Studio MAX

A: Try 3dWin at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/thbaier,
or you might want to try searching for VIEW3DS on the Internet.


---

Q: What cheap software is there for modeling in 3D?

A: For a cheap and really good package, try Inspire 3d from Newtek. It's a
cut
down LightWave with most of the major parts intact. A little limited in some
ways, but great value all the same. Check out www.newtek.com to see the
feature
list. It's very good and only about US$450 or so. Also, try Truespace 3 or 4

from www.caligari.com $300 - $450-ish Finally, Animation Master 6 from

www.hash.com $200.


---

Q: Is there a thumbnail viewer for MAX scenes?

Has anyone found a working thumbnail type viewer for 3ds models?
I have a huge directory of models, both my own and those given to me
by others and its a pain to load each one to see how it looks.

A1: Well 3dsmax 2.5 (and maybe 2.0) has a Asset Manager. It shows thumbnails
of

.max, .avi, .bmp, .cin, .FLC, .fli, .cel, .GIF,
.ifl, .jpg, .png, .psd, .mov, .rgb, .rla, .tga,
.vda, .icb, .vst, .tif, .yuv.

I know, it doesn't support .3ds and .dxf :(

A2: Check out a program called Polytrans. It's a 3D format conversion
program
for many different types (but you'll have to convert .max files to .3ds to
show
max stuff).

The program allows full translation of mesh geometry and material textures
between most of the major formats. It also allows real time viewing of the
models in a four window view (perspective, right, front, top, etc.). It will
not portray any animation info, of course, and I am unsure if you can load
whole scenes.

A3: Orion: Also check out Lucidity RT at: http://www.dmix.com
Takes 3D SMAX (and VIZ) rendered environments and converts them
the stitched MPEG. Playback on WIN 95 and NT machines.


---

Q: What programs exist for converting between 3D formats?

A: PolyTrans (from Okino), CrossRoads (from Keith Rule) and Interchange
(from Viewpoint Datalabs). All commercial products though. Do a search
for them on http://www.altavista.com.


---

Q: How do I export scenes from Poser3 to MAX?

A few weeks ago someone was asking about Poser and using it with
MAX....... I had read a review of POSER3 that had said it wasn't
compatible with MAX.........I don't know if anyone corrected me, but
after exporting DXF in Poser you can import the file into Max........
although the file comes in a little blotchy, it is a helpful utility if
your working with Character Studio.......and well worth 130.00.....

A1: I've used poseR3 with max 2.5. What I usually do, is export to 3ds in
poser,
but be careful to explode it into one object pr. body-part. Then import it
in
max. Works Ok. 3ds sometimes bugs a bit - leaving out a few faces, but as
far as
I can see, it's better than dxf-export.


13.7 MAX vs. other 3D software
-------------------------------

Q: I want to get started in the Animation industry but don't know which
software to get and where to start. Can anyone help me out here?

A: We get asked a lot about how to get started in 3D animation. I once
wondered that myself. In my opinion, the best way is just to dive right
in and try. Animation tools have come a long way - they're a whole lot
easier to use than they used to be. With a little patience anyone can
learn the basics and start creating animations.

A common misconception is that 3D animation programs tend to be very
expensive. A few companies have released products that bring powerful
3D tools into the hands of the average user. Despite their low price,
these tools provide a vast array of quality features - you'll won't be
limited in the creativity the tool unleashes.

For anyone interested, here are a few of the tools that would be worth
your consideration if you are interested in getting started in 3D
animation.

- Lightwave 3D is the most expensive of the least-expensive packages but
it is worth every penny. We've lost track of all the awards it has
won. It brings to the table a comprehensive selection of tools and
plug-ins that make animating a dream. It offers superior quality and
speed. http://www.sharbor.com/products/NTKI0300003.html

- Animation Master 99 is a personal favorite because it has such a tiny
price tag. For less than $180 you get a full-featured animation and
modeling environment unlike any other. Features include lens flares,
smoke, steam, fire, motion libraries, inverse kinematics and
photorealistic
rendering. http://www.sharbor.com/products/HASI0300003.html

- Inspire 3D from NewTek is a scaled-back version of the award winning
Lighwave 3D software. It includes a CD tutorial that introduces you to
animation and helps you learn the Inspire interface. It offers ray
tracing, MetaNURBS, cartoon shaders, Photoshop support and a cool
plug-in architecture that allows you to expand its capabilities.
http://www.sharbor.com/products/NTKI0300022.html

- TrueSpace 4 is a brand new version of the powerful photorealistic
Lightworks Pro rendering engine. It has a huge feature list including
hybrid radiosity, advanced shaders, volumetric rendering and a true 3D
interface. http://www.sharbor.com/products/CALI0300004.html

- Amorphium is a fairly new modeling and animation system from Play. It
takes a different approach to 3D object creation - think working with
clay. It's unique interface allows you to push, pull, twist, morph and
stretch your objects into reality.
http://www.sharbor.com/products/PLYN0310001.html

- Rhino 3D is a robust spline-based modeling system - not a true animation
system. Rhino is designed to complement your 3D animation software by
providing a different, more powerful environment for creating your
objects. It exports a wide variety of object formats so it is very
versatile. http://www.sharbor.com/products/MCNI0300001.html>


---

Q: What cheaper alternatives are there besides 3D Studio MAX?

A: Animation Master by Hash software is heavily aimed towards character
animation (it operates in a similar vein to 'marionette', the software
written and used by Pixar for Toy Story/A Bugs Life), and one person I
know who is a commercial Maya animator has said that AM can even out-do
Maya in terms of character animation. Best of all, it only costs $199 US,
and has fantastic support from it's website, users, and developers. Info
can be found at www.hash.com.


---

Q: MAX vs. ArchCad?

A: I use both 3dsmax and ArchCad.
If you want to build up a house for an easy visualization, use ArchCad,
it has lots of elements in its library, also windows and doors you can
adjust. If you want it with a real show rendered image/animation, import
it to max. It real works fine with the right adjustments (mail me if you
want to know more)

I prefer to do more difficult buildings right in max, also different
bibliothekelemnts I can import to archicad or just keep it in max.
But for the first impression, archicad works just fine, because it's
very easy to learn (really) and build up sth.
If u want to have photorealistic renderings, don't use archicad without
max, but saving as 3ds-file in archicad exports it with colours and
light and positioning and all (but when in max, I recommend to del all
lights and also the fog, if there)
There is a plugin for max called ident, which is useful for renaming
maxobjects èn masse, if importing more than one building.


---

Q: 3D Studio MAX/AutoCad vs. 3D Studio VIZ

A1: Viz is just a render package, as 3D studio has always been. Of course
it's
usable to design, but acad is much nicer to work with (faster >>> it does
what you want). For designing purposes: use viz for model study, work this
up in acad and go to viz to check the results

A2: You can do all modeling directly in VIZ. However, if you have a detailed
plan from which you will be generating your model, it's best to draw that in
ACAD and then import into VIZ. Simple plans can be made in VIZ though.

A3: I have been using acad since release 9. You have to hand it to AutoCad.
I really draws lines and circles well, and when you learn autolisp, you can
draw lines and circles automatically and do quantity takeoffs and all that
guff.

But, on it's own it is definitely not a design package. It is a drafting
package. You need to plug in to it with something like s8 autoarchitect
(if you are an architect) for example.

You can build stuff and design stuff in VIZ and render flythrough.... much
quicker than AutoCad ever will.

AutoCAD is a great tool for documentation (that'll cost you $4600
Australian). with a little help from others (say $2500 worth of software)
you can
actually do design on it too.


---

Q: MAX vs. Maya and Softimage. What's so special about Maya?

A: All the plugins and features in the world won't add the finesse and depth
of a program like Maya or Soft. It's not just a case of what it can do, but
how
it does it and what level of control you have over what it does. This is the
difference between low and mid, and mid and high. Maya isn't perfect, nor is
Si, but adding plugins to Max doesn't change the way Max works at the core
level and this is where Maya and Si win out.

You can add massive functionality to Max with all the plugins, but you still
don't get the depth to tweak it to the Nth degree. Look at a school
microscope and a good lab microscope, or pro cameras for that matter, they
both have the same base functions, they both have similar controls and they
both do the same basic job, however, if you look at how the various things
are implemented, you'd see vast differences in the level of control and
precision offered by the lab 'scope or pro camera. You can trick out any car
with all the bells and whistles you want, it doesn't make any difference to
the base car though. A souped up Ford Escort will still be a Ford escort no
matter what you add to it.

It's a similar situation with software, functions are just one piece of the
puzzle, many other factors need to be taken into consideration. Ease of use,
speed, reliability, control depth, adaptability and suitability to a
specific need. Max is a great general purpose 3d program, but for character
animation (not just walk cycles), even with CS, it's not in the same league
as Maya or Si, not even close.

On paper, Truespace 4 and Animation Master 6 can match or even be better
than MAX in many areas. There are always areas where the cheaper one has
some things better than the other, but overall, one will be better, not
only because of what it can do but how it does it. Is Max worth so much
more than AM or TS4? Is Maya worth so much more than Max? Only you can
decide based on your needs and the job in hand.

The Unix thing is simple, the top graphics computers all used Unix as their
OS, because of this, the top programs were written for the best computers
(using Unix), NT and PC's have only recently been accepted as viable
alternatives to Silicon Graphics, IBM RISC stations and Sun SPARCstation
etc. all of which use UNIX. Having this stuff ported to NT has opened up a
whole new market for software makers previously limited to a small group of
Unix workstations. Better for everyone involved.


---

Q: MAX vs. SoftImage, Maya and Houdini?

A1: I know that 3D Studio MAX is in mid-range 3D Application, while
applications like Softimage 3D 3.71, Alias/wavefront maya, and Houdini
are the High-end, and I am currently a MAX 2 user, and just wondering,
which is one is more powerful. If I collect all the available plug-ins
for MAX 2 and comparing it with the features in Softimage 3D, which one
will be better ??

I think Softimage 3D Extreme costs about £14000, while MAX 2 alone will
only cost about £3000, so with $11000 difference, can I make my 3D
Studio MAX 2 more or at least the same features of the Softimage 3D by
buying all plugins ??

A2: Softimage is much faster to work with and has a very strong support for
high end animation, modeling and rendering. On average if you are
experienced in the two packages, Soft is still around 10-15% faster
to work with than Max. (3 mouse buttons!) Max 2.0 has a lot more features
for making high detailed models, animating and rendering than 1.2. But
for instance modeling with nurbs in Softimage and then using nurbs in
Max 2.0 is like hell. Also the render in Max hasn't changed allot in the
last 2 years. Using Max's Radiosity renderer (add on $$) helps on the
render output, but it's very hard and clunky to set up and use.
I heard that a feature animated film made in Max 2.0 is in the making...
this is good news for the Max community.. Soft has a lot of great
features that Max 2.0 partly has and with the release of "Sumatra"
Softimage will go into the next generation of non-linear animation
and other goodies... though it is going to be expensive it's definitely
going to be with it for the lucky ones that can afford it..

A3: I think the main reason is that Softimage is used in Film as that
it was a very powerful program a lot earlier than 3ds Max. It still is a
very powerful package and this is what most people in the industry have
learnt and are familiar with.
Again the rendering quality of Softimage is far, far superior to that of
Max, and when you want the highest render quality available in 1 package
then I guess either Softimage or Alias are the ones to go for.
Max 2 is very good, but as a renderer it's just not quite there yet.

A4: MAX is more cost effective for a game developer. You don't have to buy
expensive SGI machines to run it.

Aside from price differences, I think the advantages and disadvantages
of the technical specs between the major 3d software matters little
when one measures them in artistic output. I.e., so what if this
software renders nicely than the other when the animation is weak, the
lighting is harsh and the textures are so-so.

I've seen student demo tapes done with Softimage and Alias, and they
don't look noticeably or spectacularly different from ones done in 3ds4!

A5: It's not so much how good is one package but how good is the artist.
There are far more plugins commercially available for Max. But Softimage is
more heavily used in the broadcast industry (Film, TV), and it is widely
known
to be one of THE best 3d animation packages around. Softimage also has
Mental Ray raytracer which is far superior to the Max renderer.
Max has many plugins which speed the process of animation, modeling and
special effects.
Personally I use Max2 as I work in the games industry and many software
houses use Max for game production, BUT I am learning Softimage so I can
move into the Film industry.
There is also LightWave which is another package you should look at. It too
has been widely used in broadcast. (Babylon 5, Star Trek, Titanic etc.) its
cheaper than Max and has some great modeling tools.


---

Q: Why is Maya better than MAX?

A: The renderer may be slow, but doesn't suck too much. The program is a lot
faster than Max is and Maya can animate rings around Max. It only costs the
same as Max with a few choice plugins. I'd love to have it if I were
primarily an animator and didn't mind their licensing setup (sucks!)


---

Q: MAX vs. LW's renderer?

A: There are several ways in which the rendering architecture in Max2 is
different from LightWave, which also have effects on the results. Currently,
it's NOT possible to achieve the quality of LightWave's renderer in Max2
(and neither 2.5), even with a plugin renderer, mainly because the following
facts:

1. LightWave uses the supersampling passes performed by the camera for both
motionblur and anti-alias. The effects are added on each pass, which also
makes lensflares and other effects anti-alias automatically. 3DStudio Max,
on
the other hand, let's the plugin shader (either scanline or other) do the
supersampling where the effects are added on top of the results. This means
that you'll never get motionblur on glows for one thing.
2. There is a function called "Scene motionblur" in Max2 which renders the
scene in a defined number of passes with a small distribution in time. This
will make Max2 perform motionblur on effects and reflections, but since the
renderer have to take care of anti-alias by itself it will take HUGE amounts
of time.

So.. If you use a plugin renderer in Max2 which uses supersampling, and turn
on scene motionblur in Max2 and you will get good results, nearly as good as
LightWave (LightWave also has the option of dithered motionblur which works
much better than in Max though). With the default scanline, you will have to
turn on the new "supersample" parameter on each surface to achieve similar
results, the problem is that the supersampling here is just a dumb 5-pass
algorithm which is far less in quality than LightWave's. Max 2.5 does NOT
contain any differences in the way rendering works in Max2.

I own both products for rendering to a PVR, and the difference is actually
greater than you might think, especially when thing's get moving (very hard
to judge anti-alias quality based on still images). Unless Kinetix radically
changes the way videopost architecture is currently implemented, LightWave
will have an advantage in the rendering arena.


---

Q: 3D Studio MAX vs. Rhino

Which is the best, MAX or Rhino?

A: Rhino is very good NURBS (and ONLY NURBS) modeler. MAX is much more
complex and you can do many more things with it. When it comes to comparing
MAX's
NURBS with Rhinos you might say that Rhino is much more precise, and gives a
lot
of modeling possibilities; it has surface tools and solid tools, supports
perfectly trimmed Nurbs, has wonderful booleans, loft, rail, birail, very
fast shaded
preview etc etc.


---

Q: Rhino vs. Solid Thinking

A1: Rhino is much fuller featured, has solids and meshes but is also a bit
confusing a lot of the time as there are so many options to play with.
You need to be using it fairly regularly to remember how to do stuff. ST is
a simpler program with simpler operations and less options to get confused
with. I also think that even though Rhino is better equipped feature-wise,
ST is the better program for us non too technical types who just want to get
stuff done without having to use our limited brain capacity too often.

ST is more expensive than Rhino and this probably has to do with it's
heritage (UNIX) but also, with Render Thinking, you have an great design
tool that has an excellent renderer and links to BMRT for really sexy
output. Rhino still has to be output to other things for rendering which
limits it to strict modeling or CAD work. ST+RT is a complete design system
which still doesn't animate, but can at least render itself properly.

If I were offered one or the other, I'd choose Solid Thinking as it suits my
way of working better than Rhino does. Rhino is still an incredible tool,
but it's like the difference between ACAD and MAX, both very strong, but one
more suited to artists than the other.

Well.... I just bought Rhino for $350.

I am the AutoCad guy at work so my intent is CAD
and machine design. The solids in plain AutoCad
r14 are pretty cave man if you know what I mean.

After I bought Rhino..... I learned about Solid
Thinking.

Now..... given this info..... is Rhino more suited
to someone like me who wants to use it for machine
and cad design? Or did I make a mistake and
should have gotten ST?

I ask because it sounds like you have experience
with both. Is ST more for artists... while Rhino
is more for cad users?

A2: No, for the type of work you do, Rhino is the better choice. Rhino
should
work very well with engineering and is better suited to it than ST. ST does
have good precision and full nurbs capabilities, but no dimensioning,
surface area, volume, CoG etc. which is very useful for many projects. If
you're used to CAD program's then Rhino presents less of a challenge, people
weaned on 3d modeling programs can find some CAD concepts confusing and
Rhino is full of them.

Solid thinking would be better suited to concept designs where a more
free-flowing and less constrained methodology should apply. Once the design
has been formed, then Rhino should take over to construct working drawings.
No one program is suited to everything and each has strengths and
weaknesses. The common mistake many 3d people make is to try to use one
program for everything. Both these programs can do most things, but *how*
they do things varies quite a bit.


---

Q: MAX vs. FormZ

The company I work for uses MAX 2.5 to produce models and animations for
training programs. Although I am not an animator/modeler I do use the
software from time-to-time. I am not an expert, I just know the basics. I
have also been interested in FORMZ because I read some good stuff about it
and heard that it is a really good modeler. I bought the book Inside FormZ
by Eden Greig Muir because it explains everything very well and comes with a
demo of the software. FORMZ's interface was very confusing to me until I
started
reading the book. Now, it seems very easy to understand and use. When I am
at work and I am attempting to do something in MAX, I'll ask someone how to
do it, and it seems like you always have to go through about 15 menus,
sub-menus, or pop- ups. Then I'll say that in FORMZ, that is accomplished
with just two clicks.

One good thing about MAX is that there are a lot of plug-ins available
allowing you to do special effects.

MAX probably has better animation capabilities. Only version 3.0 of FORMZ
does animations. I haven't tried this version yet. I have seen pictures of
the interface in magazines and it looks a bit more modern than it
predecessors.

FormZ comes in 3 formats: without a render, with Renderzone, or with the
RadioZity renderer. I have noticed that a lot of scenes that I have seen on
the web or in auto-des-sys's literature, they use other things to render it
with (Electric Image is a big one). The Radiozity render is supposed to be
really good.

Although I am not an expert with either package, I am tending to like FORMZ
better. It seems simpler to use, has some features that I haven't seen in
other programs, and you don't need as much of a beast of a computer to run
it.


13.8 Import/Export AutoCad <-> 3D Studio MAX
--------------------------------------------

Q: How do I import AutoCad 14 DWG files into MAX?

Anyone know where I could find the plugin to import AutoCad 14 dwg's
to 3d studio max 2?

A1: Export *.3ds file from your AutoCad. The other way (import *.dwg in 3ds)
doesn't work correctly.

A2: Oh, I beg to differ. I have been importing DWG's into MAX 2 & 2.5 as
well as VIZ for awhile now. When you install MAX, you have to select the
DWG
I/O. It's not checked by default.

If you are importing solids only, there are 2 options under Geometry that
only need to be checked. Those are 'Auto-smooth' and 'Cap closed entities'.
Do not check unify normals. It'll screw up the solids. However, if you are
importing 3dplines, like from ArchT, then the 'unify normals' DOES need to
be checked. So if you have a combo, you have to do 2 separate imports. It
seems like a pain, and it is.


---

Q: How do you increase details when importing/exporting MAX<->AutoCad?

Hi, is there a way to increase the amount of detail of an object
when importing into 3D Studio Max 2.5? Using AutoCAD R13, and exporting
using DXF format, then importing to 3D Studio Max, I get a very
polygonish object which is not really acceptable. I would really
appreciate anyone's input.

A1: Maybe you can try 'MeshSmooth Modifier' in your 3d Studio Max2.5 to
help increase the resolution of your imported object.

A2: You should play around with the FACETRES-variable in ACAD R13 before
exporting. If you are working with solids or nurbs (Mech Desktop /
AutoSURF), if you are working with triangular data from the old R12-commands
(rotsurf,
rulesuft,...). With the DWG-Import in MAX 2.5 you can set the facet
resolution from solids. You are defining the facet resolution while drawing.


---

Q: How do I solve the problem with flipped normals after importing Acad
scenes?

I have a problem with flipped normals when importing AutoCad r14
files to 3D Studio VIZ. How do I solve this problem?

A: Not sure about Viz, but in Max, I'd do the following:
(change viewport mode to Shaded AND Edged Faces)

1) Select object
2) Apply Edit Mesh modifier, go to Face sub-object level
3) Select all
4) Tick 'show normals' (just for visualization of the problem)
5) Click 'Unify' and 'Flip' -maybe twice (see if it helps, if
get worse, undo to reset to original state.)
6) Manually select and flip faces. (or use 'Flip Normal Mode',
at least in collapsed object [Editable Mesh] it's available).
7) Finally, try to get face smoothing correct, with selecting
all faces and AutoSmoothing the lot.

If you don't seem to get the mesh right, you can try to use
2 sided material (tickbox in MEdit).


---

Q: How do I convert AutoCAD's "multi-splines" to MAX's splines?

I imported AutoCad polylines to 3d studio max to create a loft trough
a fit deformation. But my AutoCad drawings were multi spline shapes and
not
the needed single spline shapes, so I couldn't create my fit lofts. How
can
I convert my cad drawings into single spline shapes?

A: Do a sub-object selection - select all vertices, then weld them.
Make sure your weld tolerance is set accordingly, so you don't get
any placement errors.


13.9 Import/Export other softwares <-> 3D Studio MAX
-----------------------------------------------------

Q: Can I export my MAX scenes to Playstation format?

A: Go and check the Animetix products at:

http://www.animetix.com/products.htm

Here you will find more information about both Nintendo 64 and Playstation
plugins for 3D Studio MAX.


---

Q: Import/export MAX <-> Bryce3D

Is there any possibility to share 3D scenes files between 3DSMAX2 and
Bryce 3D ?

A: You can, sure, but only one way: Max to Bryce

Bryce will import DXF files, but will only output it's own proprietary
format, which to the best of my knowledge, is neither converted nor read
by any other application in existence. You can output AVI files for
compositing purposes, but interoperability between the two is pretty much
limited to these options. Remember also that any DXF files you import
have no texture information, so they would have to be textured in Bryce
upon import for any usable results.

I just recently purchased Animatek World Build Pro 2.2, and it works hand
in hand with Max and is capable of producing superior results, although
the interface is a bit quirky (you should find it relatively easy to use
however after experimenting a bit). World Builder also does network
rendering, which took about half an hour to set up on the 4 machines we
have here and works exceptionally well. I spent perhaps 20 minutes
working through the first few tutorials, then went off and just started
to play around and found it quite easy to create some pretty fantastic
landscapes and environments using only the built in library. Creating
your own landscapes is really easy too, and the flexibility of the
skeleton line system is IMHO far more flexible than the height image map
conversion process that Bryce uses, although the program allows those
options also, including using DEM's. The road features are also
impressive.

The cloud systems in Bryce are a bit more flexible and realistic IMO, but
Bryce has no animation of water effects, while this is a strength of
World Builder (admittedly they need a bit more flexibility with these
tools, especially the waterfalls). World Builder also has a stars option
that can produce very realistic starry skies that animate well. I bought
my copy at www.dvdirect.com for a touch under $750 (even though the
website lists it at $794.95, call them on the phone for the right price)
There is a less expensive version available, but it does not include the
Max communication plug-in or the extra CD with tons of extra textures and
landscape objects, trees, plants, etc.

Another very nice feature of the World Builder program is built in
support for L-Systems, a procedural method for producing very lifelike
organic structures, especially plants and trees. The plants and trees
produced using L-Systems render much faster (and use far less memory)
than mesh objects of the same quality, are automatically LOD'd at render
time, and the options for automatically placing them on landscapes are
quite varied and flexible. There is also support for flipboards, flat
objects with texture maps applied that can cast shadows. You could use
these to make claymation stop motion "sets" for compositing (just a
thought).

I have Bryce 3D also, and so I know it's a pretty damn cool program with
stunning rendering capabilities and some very cool shaders, especially
for the price. It's limited modeling would not be such a shortcoming if
it's import/export capabilities weren't almost non-existent. Too bad it
is so wrapped up in itself :)


---

Q: How do I import Adobe Illustrator paths to 3D Studio MAX?

A: Use File -> Import and select Adobe Illustrator under "File of Type:".
Also make sure to save your Illustrator paths in AI88 format before trying
to import them to MAX. If you get the "...invalid shape..." error message
in MAX when importing, you might need to change your language decimal sepa-
rator. Change your:

My Computer | Control Panel | Windows Regional Settings Properties |
Number: Decimal symbol to "." and Digit grouping symbol to ","

This will work for any other language than English.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 14 - MAXScripts and Expression Controllers
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


14 MAXScripts and Expression Controllers
----------------------------------------


14.1 MAXScripts
---------------

Empty.


14.1.1 The Basics
-----------------

Q: How do I learn programming MAXScripts?

A: On your max CD there is a demo.ms sample script - it is a great tutorial
for beginners. After reading it you're ready to explore scripting using
online
help and other scripts (personally I found p-nurbs script very useful as
reference while writing my first scripts, it has comments etc...)


---

Q: How do I start a MAXScripts without first clicking the "MAXScript tool"?

And is it possible to make it appear as a button directly in the
utility panel, to avoid clicking on MAXScript and Run script buttons?

A: You won't avoid clicking MAXSCRIPT tool, but you can avoid
clicking RUN SCRIPT. Just make a folder STARTUP in your scripts dir, and
all scripts located in this folder will be loaded just after you click
MAXSCRIPT button.


---

Q: How do you compile a MAXScript?

I would like to compile a script I made. Anyone can help, I don't know
how to do that.

A: Open your listener and type: encryptscript "myscript.ms"
use the quotes and include the dot ms and your script will become
encrypted with the dot mse extension.


14.2 Expression Controllers
---------------------------


14.2.1 The Basics
-----------------

Q: Can I change controller types at a certain frame?

I.e from path controller to beizer controll at a certain frame so
that the object follows the path and then i can move it.

A: No, but you can create a dummy object that follows the path controller.
then assign your follow object a link controll controller. then create
another dummy object at the point where you want to change off the path,
and using the link controller assign the new dummy as a link at the correct
frame.

Another way is to use binding. Create a dummy, bind the object to the dummy.
Assign the dummy to the path and run IK over the number of frames you want
before switching. After it solves it - delete the dummy.


****************************************************************************
**
*
*
* - 15 - Hardware and Workstation Setup
*
*
*
****************************************************************************
**


15 Hardware and Workstation Setup
---------------------------------

15.1 General about the PC system setup and OS
---------------------------------------------

3D Studio MAX is a huge application and also need a lot of resources.
It can be run under Windows 95/98 but will most certainly mock up
sooner or later. The best way to go would be to use NT as Windows 95/98
has some old artifacts from old DOS (read memory handling and stability).
Also, under Windows 95/98 only one session of 3D Studio MAX can be started
and network rendering (that lets you render your animation on more than one
computer at the same time) is disabled. Also don't forget that Windows 95/
98 can't handle dual-CPU's. This means that you have to go for NT if you
want to boost you machine with another CPU later on.

If you are really serious about using MAX you should go for Windows NT
and if you just can't live without 95/98 create a dual-boot system.
To conclude - MAX needs as much resources as it can get it's hands on so if
you are looking for new hardware go for the fastest computer you can afford.
Huge amount of memory is also important as well as a huge swap-file.
Try to go for at least 128Mb of RAM and 250-400Mb of swap disk space.


15.1.1 Running MAX in a dual-boot setup (Win9x together with Win NT)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: How to set up a dual-boot system

Why not use dual boot?! I did it for awhile with no
problems. But I HATE Win 95 and am finally free of
it's stinking carcass! You can also triple boot with
DOS as well. But you will have to choose the regular
FAT file system for both Win 95 and NT.

A1: You only need DOS on the boot partition. I have a smallish FAT
partition,
an NT partition on the same drive, and another entire drive as NTFS.

A2: If you already have Windows95/98 installed on your computer you most
certainly also use FAT32/FAT32X on your hard disks. Windows NT can only boot
on your first HD's Primary FAT16 partition. Use a utility like Partition
Magic 4 to divide and convert your first HS's partition to FAT16. Note that
only a few NT boot files has to reside on the FAT16 partition and others can
be installed on sequential partitions. Another thing worth mentioning is the
"patch" that lets NT4 read and write to FAT32 partitions (but the boot-
files still has to be on a FAT16 partition though). See the next question
for more information about the "patch".


A3: How do I install Windows NT in parallel with Windows98?

I want to use 3D Studio MAX in a NT environment. So I tried to install
Windows NT on my 11 GB hard disk. I HAVE ONLY ONE HARDDRIVE!!!!! I want
to install it besides Windows 98 .It`s a MAXTOR and I must use EZ-Drive
to partitioned it, otherwise I couldn`t use the last 3 GB because (I
think)
Windows 98, or DOS goes no further then 8GB. (Strange, isn`t it??)

Even Partition Magic won`t go further then 8 GB. I really DON`T like
this! It has the following partitions:

C: 1.95 GB
D: 1.99 GB
E: 1.99 GB
F: 1.99 GB
G: 1.99 GB
H: 784 MB

In Partition Magic C: is a Primary and D: to H: is in a Extended
Partition

I know NT 4.0 only works with FAT16, so I created my C: and D: FAT 16.
Then I installed NT, making three disks and everything looks fine,
until........

Damn, sh...almost at the end of disk 3 three came a message that
something was wrong with my cylinders. It seems to me that Windows
NT 4.0 only can work with harddrives with no more then 1024 cylinders
and my harddrives has about 1400 cylinders. I don`t know how to increase
that amount of cylinders!

I tried really everything. Formatted the whole damn thing, resized it
again. First with FDISK then again with Partition Magic. Nothing works!

Is it now impossible, because the big harddrive, to install Windows NT
4.0 on my 11 GB harddrive or should I wait for Windows2000?
(WindowsNT5.0
if I`m right). Or doesn't Windows NT 5.0 install on my harddrive either?

First of all NT is not your problem the problem is that as they say your
motherboard-limitation. Then you should not use fat32 for the sake of 3D
Studio MAX you should instead rethink your configuration.

When installing NT it doesn't have limitations with big disks it handles
larger disks than that in theory up to two terabytes (that's in theory)
Ok lets move on...

Do like this: Install windows 95-98 on your C:\ and then NT on the D:\ to
separate them, then when you're installing NT first copy all
installationfiles
to another partition (don't worry about loosing 3Gb you'll get it back
soon). When installing NT boot to dos and go to where you put the
installationfiles
and type winnt /b for getting rid of the setupdisk (you really don't need
them for installation). Then during setup, NT is going to tell you that
there's
limitation problem with the disk due to the cylinders, just go on because it
really does only apply to DOS limitations and it warns you about it. The
smartest thing to do first is to only have two partitions on lets say 1GB
each and leave the rest unprepared until NT is installed and afterwards

from NT partition the disk. This way you will get all the space back from

the disk because NT has it own "FDISK" for configuring disk management, and
if
you then stick to maximum 2GB partitions it wont be any problem with
Win95-98.

Then you should ask yourself if you are using your computer as main graphic-
workstation. If "yes" then you should make your priority to NT otherwise
you're going to have problems along the line because Win95-98 is not a good
operating system. For CPU and memory-demanding operations like 3D Studio MAX
(which is
not written for the 95 environment even though it works) you will not get
all the functionality like networkrendering and so on. Other factors to
consider
is the stability that NT is offering and real multithreading operations.

Give this a moment and don't try to mix workstation-environment with
multimedia-environment (read Win98 and WinNT) it's not a good idea. Ask any
pro in the business and the say the same. Then you should really have a
dedicated disk for things like virtual memory-setting, large project files
and things like that.

There's a ton of more information concerning this issue but I think that
first of all do the planning before acting gives you the ability to sort the
problems away before they show up instead of trying to solve them
afterwards.

I could discuss this matter further if you want but believe me this is
working 100% of the time I do this and my customers are always happy.

Good luck and happy modelimation!


---

Q: Is there a way to get around that NT4 doesn't recognize FAT32/FAT32X ?

I have an FAT32 system, so I can't install NT4.0. I really hope NT5.0
is compatible with FAT32. Anybody knows about that?

A1: there is a FAT32 program for NT available. tell me if interested....

A2: Are you referring to the FAT32 *driver* from www.sysinternals.com?
If so this will allow NT to read/write to FAT32 partitions but *not*
boot from them. The NT boot partition needs to be FAT16 or NTFS.

A3: You have to buy it to get write-access (it's about $40)

A4: Just to clear it up....NT5\W2K whatever you want to call it at this
point

1. It will use fat32 as a file system that is compatible with everything
it runs ... Fat16 & NTFS
2. It will use a Newer NTFS, NTFS5 that has added support, in addition to
the present NTFS.
3. At present, you can't install MAX2.5 on it unless you have a multiple
boot system, or you upgrade from an existing install. The installed in
MAX catches the NT version number and says 'This can only be installed
from NT4 or Win9x. Or something close to that - I forget exactly which.

A5: Umm...NTFS is known to suffer a performance hit due to extra overhead.
I measured a reduction of 12% before going back to FAT. I would never
use NTFS unless security was an issue. I would most definitely use FAT16
for my pagefile, scratch disk, and temp folder.

A6: with Partition magic 3 you can convert your Bootable (C) FAT32partion
back to FAT16 >then install NT4>dual boot...works nice with 3DSMAX2.5.....
Or wait for NT5 (Windows 2000)....


---

Q: Which Service package should I install on top of Windows NT core?

A: Use SP3 as SP4 has many bugs in it. The MAX installation program will
report "You have to have SP3 or higher..." and then exit if you have
installed SP5, so you should really go for SP3 until Windows 2000 arrives
and become stable.


15.1.2 Running MAX in a dual-CPU system
---------------------------------------

Q: How do I get my dual Pentium II system to work with MAX?

I have a dual Pentium II - 300, Windows NT 4.0 and 3DSMAX 2.0
How can I work with both processor with 3dsmax? Are there any
particular procedure to do?

A1: It will use 2 processor automatically but check that "multi-thread"
option is on and NT is installed with multiprocessor kernel. Also make sure
that
multi-threading is enabled for rendering in MAX (File | Preferences |
Rendering ->
Multi-threading should be ticked).

Hints:

Things that dual CPU's eat for lunch: raytracing, volumetrics like
combustion, complex procedural materials.

Things that they haven't bothered to multi thread: Geometry
transformations! (the higher the poly of the scene, the lower it
goes), Image motion blur (still way faster than the alternatives),
lots of shitty video post filters like lens flares.

perhaps max is using only one processors and windows NT is sharing the
load of that one processor task? Does max have an option to select dual
CPU's or does it recognize when 2 processors are in the system in NT?

As long as NT was installed when the machine had two CPU's in it (which
it has in your case because you have the two graphs) MAX will use them
unless you UNCHECK multithreading.

Is there a way I can test this in MAX or perhaps using a utility to
test max and its use of dual CPU's?

Taskman graphs is your best clue as to what is going on. Gives you a
great feel for what parts of MAX are multithreaded.

If you feel really anal about it, you can time a render using one CPU
and then again using two. You will find the best you can get is about
a 195% speedup. (raytraced scene with very simple geometry, at least
several minutes) On stuff we do, MAX averages at least 175%.

Two ways to test - use taskman to set the affinity of MAX to only use
one CPU, but this is cheating by 1-3% because NT lets MAX have one
whole CPU and does other misc. shit on the free one. So if your were
trying to see what a real single CPU machine would do, short of
yanking out the second chip you can add a line to your boot.ini file
with /ONECPU to it, and reboot into NT, which disables the second CPU
for everyone.

A2: It is funny that no one has mentioned the virtual swapfile memory pile.
If you don't have enough physical RAM on your machine, the swapfile will be
going used allot and the load on the processors will be minimal. You should
use the NT management diagnostic tools rather than the task manager graphs
and check the I/O on the drives as well as both processor graphs. I can tell
you this.. If you only have 128 Meg of RAM, then many scenes in MAX will
under-utilize the CPU's while over doing the swapfile. With RAM you get a 10
fold or better increase in memory access.. so the CPU's don't have time to
rest.


---

Q: Can two Intel Celerons be used in a dual-CPU set up?

A1: It works!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow!!!!!!!!! I now have a completely new 982 MHz
computer for under $1500 and it is extremely fast. I just got her
working and did not have much time to do any benchmarks but it has not
crashed yet. If you don't remember I said that I was going to build a
dual Celeron computer using 2 300-A at $150 each. Many people mailed me
and said that I was crazy and I would never get it to work. They said
that the chances that I would get both chips to work was about 1 in 10.
I worked on the first chip for about 3 hours but by the time I moved on
to the second one, I was a pro. I had it done in less than 1/2 hour. I
booted it up and it is working just fine. This is the system that I
ended up with:

19" viewsonic monitor $500
(2) Celeron 300-A $300
Tyan Tiger Dual $250
Maxtor 11.5 GB $225
Riva TNT Velocity $170
128 MB PC-100 $150
Cooling Fans $50

If any one has any questions on any of my modifications, they can write
to me and I will give you my experiences.

Chris Quartett CQ@CS.Stanford.edu

Here is the low-down since every one has been writing me so many letters. If
you want to try to make a dual Celeron computer you are on your own. I
made one it clocks in at around 960mHz. Believe me, it is really fast. I
have a 19" viewsonic, a 11GB hard drive, 128 MB PC-100 memory, a Riva TnT 16
MB AGP graphics card. Oh yeah, and two Celeron processors. I am running NT
4 (you need this to run two processors). And all of this hardware came at
the incredible price of $1500. Yea Pretty cool. I have read about people
doing this on the internet, but I had to get the thing going all by myself.
Before I started this project, I had no idea about hardware but now I think
that I am pretty competent. Here is the deal. Before you start the whole
dual thing, you need to make sure that you have two stable processors
running at 100Mhz bus speed. This is pretty easy to do since all Intel
processors use a fixed multiplier, that is it relies on the motherboard to
set the CPU's clock speed. I think that the Celeron is 4.5 or something like
that. The Celeron 300-A operates at a 66mHz bus. All you have to do to
overclock is change some settings on the motherboard to fool it into a
100MHz bus speed. This will take a Celeron to about 480 MHz. It may take a
little more fooling around like changing the voltage on the chips to get
them to run stable, but that only takes a little bit of fingernail polish
or electrical tape. Follow the link below to find this info out from a
master. Also when overclocking, you have to get some major cooling. I
suggest dumping the stock CPU coolers and going with something decent. Also
follow the link below. Before you go dual, run the processors and check for
errors (fatal exceptions) I ran mine rendering a bunch of crap that I threw
in a scene with all objects having ray-traced materials and about 50
ray-traced lights. I let each one run for about 2 days. They were pretty
stable. I just thought of something that I forgot to tell you about
processors. The Celeron is about 1/4 the price of a PII. And the funny
thing is that the new Celerons, the 300-A and the 333's are about 1 %
slower while overclocked than a 450MHz PII overclocked. You can not
overclock a PII very much because the cache only runs at half the clock
speed and errors are very easily introduced here. In the new Celerons, The
cache is external and runs at full clock speed. Since it is full speed
cache the total processor speed can be revved way up without making any
errors. The last time I checked, The Celeron 300-A was about $140. So if
you screw up on the next part, you will not be out to much money. Here it
is. Now you have to perform surgery and cut the chip apart I will not try
to explain this (follow the link). I will tell you that you most likely
will need some serious magnification. You can use a camera lens. The first
chip that I did took about three hours. The second one was done in 1/2
hour. What this procedure does is change some voltages around inside the
chip and essentially fool the mother board into thinking that it is a PII.
Intel could have incorporated this into the chip for 25 cents but it is
quite obvious why they didn't. Well, there it is, you are on your own. Intel
will not uphold a warrant if there a globs of solder and holes drilled
through the CPU but it is a risk that I took for a 1 gigahertz machine.

Good Luck

http://www.cpu-central.com/dualceleron/index-dc.html
http://www2.tomshardware.com/Celeronto100.html
http://www.net-n-dude.com/


15.1.3 Running MAX on an overclocked CPU
----------------------------------------

Q: How does MAX run on an overclocked CPU?

Anyone running an overclocked CPU and Max 2.5? Any problems, or issues.
I haven't decided if I will be upgrading my current CPU (P233 to PII,
cash
issues, and other related hardware) or possibly try to pull as much as
possible until I decide to take the PII plunge.

A: Should work fine! I have a dual 333, but running in 415 (5x83). No
problems
with temp (29 degrees C in the box). Mainboard is Asus P2L97-DS. Graphic
card is Leadtek Winfast L2530 AGP.


---

Q: What is the best CPU setup for MAX?

A: Multi Processor PII 400 Xeon!


15.1.4 Running MAX on a non-Intel CPU
-------------------------------------

Q: Any comments on running MAX on a PC with an AMD CPU?

Anyone running Max with AMD chips? I was considering buying a dual PII
system, but after reading about the K7 chips, I'd like to hold out for
those
and in the meantime do an interim upgrade to a K6-2 350. My question is,
will Max run OK with AMD chips?

A1: The MAX Profiler utility uses Intel Pentium specific instructions so
it does not load with processors of other types. This will cause a DLL
initialization failure in acap.dll when loading MAX. This utility is
installed only if MAXSDK is chosen as an option in the custom install.
It is advised to remove the files "\3dsmax2\acap.dll" and "\3dsmax2\
StdPlugs\MaxProf.dlu" on these systems.

A2: I am running an AMD 266 right now, and I do not recommend it. AMD
processors handle floating point operations very poorly, so I get illegal
operations all the time. Also, I cannot render animations easily, because I
cannot render more than a couple frames before it locks up. I recommend the
Pentium.

A3: There's an excellent article on (the famous) Tom's Hardware Page
regarding
AMD processors, in particular the upcoming K7. It will supposedly beat a
PII, possibly even the upcoming Katmai's, of identical clock speed. And of
course be cheaper. Whether that'll help us, when Max is optimized for
Intel chips, I don't know. Check out the article at:
http://www.tomshardware.com/

A4: AMD and Cyrix processor uses a weak FPU (Floating Point Unit) and since
3D Studio MAX do much of the calculation in float when rendering these
processors will not be as fast as a Pentium II.


---

Q: Can 3D Studio MAX run on a DEC Alpha system?

A: MAX has never been able to run on Alpha's properly, apparently due to the
differences in how MAX and Alpha's handle Divide by zero errors. Also, NT
varies from one architecture to another, NT isn't the same on all hardware,
only in name. Alpha's have to emulate Win32 instructions in software if
there
is no true Alpha port which can be slow compared to using real Intel
hardware.


15.2 Resource problems with MAX and Win9x
-----------------------------------------

15.2.1 Resource problems
------------------------

Q: MAX *drains* my resources when running Windows 9x!

When starting up 3D Studio Max 2.5, my available resources drop down to
nearly 5%! I have an AMD K6-2 with 3DNow! 300Mhz CPU, a 4meg STB Riva
PCI
video card, and 128MB of PC100 SDRAM. I'm running Win95 (the problem?)
and
it is an old install. Is this sort of resource *drain* typical?? I've
never
heard of such a thing, and Kinetix says I am far and above the minimum
requirements! Is Win95 simply not a viable platform? I had heard it was
OK.

A: Yes. You got the answer to your problem (Win95). I have 256MB PC100 SDRAM
and my resources drops to 8%. So your best bet from what I've learned is to
either get Windows NT 4 or if you need a gaming OS like I do then just have
a dual boot. Last option would be to wait till Win2000 later this year if
you
can last that long.

15.2.2 Problem with core.dll an/or I get an "invalid page fault"
----------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Why do I have problem with core.dll when running 3DS MAX under Win9x

I have installed something that must conflict with Max2.5
when I attempt to load I get an invalid page fault in win98.
I've tried all the DirectX and D3D settings but nothing works.
Even Re-installed 3DMax from Cd and still the same problem.

A: This is most likely because of the Win9x operating system. If you upgrade
to WinNT 4 you won't have these problems. If you still need to run Win9x and
MAX you could try to start MAX without any additional plugins (neither
commercial nor freeware). Also try running MAX alone. MAX needs all the
resources it can get and running Photoshop or any Internet browser as the
same time is like asking for trouble.


15.3 Graphic cards
------------------

15.3.1 An introduction
----------------------

OK, first of all you need to understand that a graphic card will never
speed up your rendering time. Why is that you might ask? When you do your
modeling in MAX you work in what is called Viewports. In these viewports
you pull and push vertices, move objects around or maybe animates a
character
walking down a staircase. This is basically your interface to the 3D world.
When you are done with your model or animation you "render" it to a single
picture or movie. The rendering is -always- done by your computers main
CPU. The viewports on the other hand might be updated by your computers
main CPU (which becomes slower and slower when your scene grows) -or- with
a special 3D acceleration hardware graphic card. If you use one of these
3D acceleration cards your main CPU will be free to do some other
calculations.

The second thing to consider is that not all 3D acceleration cards will
actually speed up the viewport updates in 3D Studio MAX. This is when
we start to divide the acceleration graphic cards into two groups. The
3D cards meant to be used for computer games and the ones targeted for
the 3D graphic applications like 3D Studio MAX, SoftImage, Maya etc.
Hmm... OK, so what's the difference between the "gaming" and "application"
cards? To understand that you have to know how MAX translate and displays
your scene onto your computer screen. When running MAX you have to choose
one out of three ways which MAX can use to display your work. These "ways"
are also called API's (Application Programming Interfaces), which means
that they define a certain standard for calling graphic functions.

The drivers/API's are:

* HEIDI (with z-buffer)
* Direct3D
* OpenGL

HEIDI: This driver let the main CPU take care of both converting the
3D objects to a 2D image (things like geometry transformation, lighting,
clipping and so on) and also copy the image to the viewports. There is
no specific need for a 3D hardware acceleration card as all calculations
are done by the main CPU. However, there are some graphic cards (e.g.
most of the 3DLabs cards) that are delivered with specific HEIDI drivers
that do use the hardware for some calculations.
Since HEIDI was specially developed for the 3D Studio, it is optimized
for the tasks necessary to display the viewports. Therefore even the
software only version is often faster than an budget accelerated 3d card
using one of the other API's.

Direct3D (D3D): This API was introduced by Microsoft to provide game
developers with a standard way to use 3d acceleration in games. It is
very powerful yet very complicated to use in all aspects. Therefore
only the rasterization engine is used in most cases. For this reason,
and because games are almost exclusively in full screen, most "gaming"
cards are optimized for small polygon count, textured scenes, and some
of them (f.ex. everything with VooDoo in it's name) can only work in a
full screen mode. Since you usually have more than one viewport visible
(like TOP, RIGHT, LEFT and PERSPECTIVE), those full screen only cards
are not suitable for use in MAX. Another thing to consider is that
later revisions of Direct3D is not supported by Windows NT4.

OpenGL: MAX sends all 3D objects to the OpenGL API, which takes care
of the geometry conversion and rasterization. Now, here comes the fun
part; not all OpenGL cards support hardware acceleration of the full
OpenGL API specification! What this means is that even though MAX
sends all the geometry down to the API, it is not sure that the main
CPU doesn't have to do any of the calculation. It might be that the so
called 3D graphic acceleration card only supports parts of the OpenGL
standard which leaves the rest for the main CPU to take care of. This
offloading will slow down the CPU. Why would someone create an OpenGL
card that only supports parts of the standard? Because it is more
complicated to include all features and because not all features are
necessary for a computer game. And there can be an advantage in dividing
between geometry transformation and rasterization: Since geometry
calculation is not easily optimized in hardware, better main CPU's
can get faster than the on card transformation engine. For example,
the Pentium III has special instructions to speed geometry calculations
up, and therefore can be faster than hardware geometry engines. This
effect is shown to a good extent with the new SGI VW, where the PIII
version easily outperforms the PII version. As mentioned above in the
D3D section, the OpenGL card has to be capable of windowed OpenGL to be
of any use in MAX.
When talking about OpenGL one can also mention that it was developed
by SGI to provide a flexible way for programming 3d applications. They
provide a standard implementation which has to be adapted by graphic
card and operating system vendors. For NT, Microsoft divided the OpenGL
drivers in a common part and a card specific part when they implemented
OpenGL. They also provided a software emulation OpenGL renderer (which
is sometimes referred to as MS OGL) in case that no card specific driver
is provided. Because this driver is pure software and does not use any
hardware acceleration, it is very slow and can't be used for anything
serious. However, it does follow the OpenGL ARB's specs (Microsoft are
also a member of the OpenGL Architecture Review Board). As mentioned
above, software HEIDI is much faster than software OpenGL, so make sure
that you use HEIDI in case that you don't have a graphic card that support
hardware accelerated OpenGL or D3D.

Lastly you have to know the difference between a Mini Client Driver (MCD)
and the Installable Client Driver (ICD). Both are implementations of the
card specific part of OpenGL, but only the ICD implements the full OpenGL
standard. For example graphic cards like those with the TNT chipset or the
ATI RAGE are released with a certified OpenGL ICD. 3Dfx chipset graphic
cards (e.g. the Voodoo cards) on the other hand use a "ripped" OGL driver
(their miniGL, also referred to as the MCD) that is only good for games
built on the Quake or Unreal engine.

What it all boils down to is that 3D Studio MAX will benefit most of:

* Full rasterization OpenGL hardware windowed support
* A fully implemented Installable Client Driver (ICD)
* A good geometry hardware engine

The following two sites contain a wealth of information about video cards.
Among other things, they both explain in detail the difference between how
lower end cards (i.e. game oriented cards) differ from the higher end 3D
cards. The first site is geared more towards the video card market in
general, whereas the second site is devoted exclusively to video cards
applied to MAX. By the way, the author of the second site is one of the
actual MAX developers! So you can be sure he knows his stuff (it's obvious
he does when you read his page).

Both sites are well worth a read.

http://www.fastgraphics.com/
http://www.west.net/~brittain/3dsmax2.htm


15.3.2 Presentation of different graphic cards
----------------------------------------------

This section presents various 3D acceleration graphic cards. As the
market changes rapidly you should take this table as a guideline and
go on investigating further if you are about to invest in a new card.

Explanations:

Name = Graphic card name
Manufacturer = Name of the card manufacturer
Chipset = What chip/chipset the card is built upon
Drivers = Installable Client Driver (true OpenGL),
Mini Client Driver (only 3dfx cards?),
Direct3D or HEIDI
PCI/AGP = Available for PCI or AGP slots
RAM = How much onboard RAM. WRAM/SDRAM or SGRAM
Price = ~ price, preferable in US $
Notes = Additional notes


A note on "RAM": there are three types of RAM used on budget cards today.
WRAM (only from Matrox), SDRAM and SGRAM. In theory, SGRAM and WRAM is
faster than SDRAM, but in reality, the difference is about 2-5
percent. All AGP cards here uses main memory for textures, the
mentioned RAM is for frame and z-buffer alone. To calculate if a 3d
resolution is available you multiply x-res by y-res, multiply the
result by three (dual buffer+z-buffer) and by 2 or 4 (either 16 Bit or
32 Bit rendering). The result must be less than the onboard memory
(sometimes onboard memory minus 10 percent).

Some fields are left empty. This is due to that the information could
not be found at current time.

The table is divided into three parts. High end, middle range and budget
cards.


--- high end graphic cards


Name: Intense 3D Wildcat 4100
Manufacturer: Intergraph
Chipset: Wildcat
Drivers: ICD (Pure OpenGL)
PCI/AGP
RAM: 48MB
Price:
Notes: top NT performance

Name: HP Visualize fx6
Manufacturer: HP
Chipset: Visualize
Drivers: ICD (Pure OpenGL)
PCI/AGP
RAM: up to 50MB
Price:
Notes: 6 PA-RISC chips

Name: Oxygen GMX 2000
Manufacturer: 3D Labs
Chipset: Glint GMX
Drivers: ICD (Pure OpenGL)
PCI/AGP
Price:
RAM: 96MB
Notes: high performance

Name: Cobalt
Manufacturer: SGI
Chipset: Cobalt
Drivers: ICD (Pure OpenGL)
PCI/AGP
Price: included with Visual Workstation
RAM: uses system RAM
Notes:

Name: RealiZm II VX113
Manufacturer: Intergraph
Chipset: RealiZm II
Drivers: ICD (Pure OpenGL)
PCI/AGP
Price:
RAM: 32MB
Notes:


--- middle range graphic cards


Name: Oxygen 402
Manufacturer: 3D labs (was Dynamic Pictures)
Chipset: Oxygen
Drivers: ICD (Pure OpenGL)
PCI/AGP
RAM: 32MB
Price: $1199 march 99
Notes: 4 chips

Name: Oxygen 202
Manufacturer: 3D Labs (was Dynamic Pictures)
Chipset: Oxygen
Drivers: ICD (Pure OpenGL)
PCI/AGP
RAM: 16MB
Price: $800?
Notes: 2 chips

Name: ELSA Gloria L/MX
Manufacturer: ELSA AG Germany
Chipset: GLINT MX Graphics, GLINT Delta Setup
Drivers: IDC and Hardware HEIDI, D3D
PCI/AGP:
RAM: 8 MB V-Ram, 16 MB D-Ram
Price:
Notes: All Gloria cards come with enhanced drivers which
allow multiple monitor support with NT 4.0, and
special MAXtreme drivers for enhanced MAX support.
These three ELSA cards do geometry acceleration.

Name: ELSA Gloria XL
Manufacturer: ELSA AG Germany
Chipset: GLINT MX, Glint Delta, S3 Trio64V2/DX
Drivers: IDC, HEIDI, D3D
PCI/AGP: PCI
RAM: 16 V-Ram, 24-40 MB D-Ram
Price:
Notes: Resolutions up to 1920x1200 with 3d truecolor
acceleration, stereo shutter glasses. These three
ELSA cards do geometry acceleration.

Name: ELSA Gloria XL
Manufacturer: ELSA AG Germany
Chipset: GLINT MX, Glint Gamma, Permedia 2
Drivers: IDC, HEIDI, D3D
PCI/AGP: AGP
RAM: 16 V-Ram, 24-40 MB D-Ram
Price:
Notes: Resolutions up to 1920x1200 with 3d truecolor
acceleration, this is the AGP-Version of the XL
(which is PCI). These three ELSA cards do geometry
acceleration.

Name: Diamond Fire GL 3000
Manufacturer: Diamond MM (www.diamondmm.com)
Chipset:
Drivers: ICD (pure OpenGL), no support for Direct3D
PCI/AGP:
RAM:
Price:
Notes: This is an old strictly Windows NT card but with
support for dual monitors.

Name: Diamond Fire GL 4000
Manufacturer: Diamond MM (www.diamondmm.com)
Chipset: 3DPro/2mp from Mitsubishi/Evans&Sutherland
Drivers: IDC / HEIDI, Overlay plane for Softimage
PCI/AGP: PCI
RAM: 15MB video, 16 MB textures
Price: $1495 (at DiamondMM)
Notes: sold out/currently not orderable


--- budget graphic cards

Budget graphic cards don't accelerate the geometry transformations,
the geometry setup engine mentioned by some manufacturers is for
internal purposes only (it does speed up, but it doesn't mean that the
OpenGL geometry pipeline is accelerated).

I sorted the cards by the manufacturer of the chipsets, most budget
cards are remarketed reference boards, so the hardware is totally the
same. Only difference is bundled software and support.

The new chipset Permedia 3 is coming soon and will probably deliver
great performance to a very attractive price.


Name: ELSA Gloria Synergy 2D/3D
Manufacturer: ELSA AG Germany (www.elsa.de)
Chipset: Permedia 2 (from 3DLabs)
Drivers: ICD, HEIDI, D3D (Pure OpenGL)
PCI/AGP: PCI or PCI/AGP
RAM: 4MB (PCI) / 8 MB (PCI/AGP)
Price: $200
Notes: Typical Permedia 2 card.
Comes with Studio Max (MAXtreme - specific HEIDI drivers)
and also video in/out for VHS.

Name: FireGL 1000 pro
Manufacturer: Diamond MM (www.diamondmm.com)
Chipset: Permedia 2 from 3DLabs
Drivers: IDC / HEIDI (at least with the 3DLabs reference drivers)
PCI/AGP: PCI and AGP
RAM: 8 MB
Price: PCI: $149, AGP: $169,95 (at DiamontMM)
Notes: Make sure to use the 3DLabs Permedia reference drivers
(www.3dlabs.com) or you will be disappointed. The highest
resolution you can run double buffered is 1024x768 at 16
bits
per pixel.


The cards with the nVidia chipsets (next chip: TNT2, in principle an
overclocked TNT)


Name: Diamond Viper V550 / ASUS 3400 / ELSA ERAZOR II /
CREATIVE / STB V4400
Manufacturer: see Names (www.diamondmm.com, www.asustec.com,
www.elsa.de, www.creaf.com, www.stb.com)
Chipset: RIVA TNT
Drivers: IDC (OpenGL rasterization, no Geometry speedup)
PCI/AGP:
RAM: 8 MB (OEM only)/ 16 MB
Price: ASUS 4300 ~$120-$145
Notes: Really fast for the price. Best budget card to date (March
99)
Make sure to use the NVidia reference drivers. The Creative
and ASUS board also has video in/out as a bonus (ASUS just
out?)

Name: Diamond Viper V330 / ASUS 3100 / ELSA VICTORY ERAZOR
Manufacturer: see Names
Chipset: RIVA 128 (ZX)
Drivers: MDC, IDC is mentioned as in preparation
PCI/AGP:
RAM: 4 MB / ZX: 8 MB
Price:
Notes: The predecessor of the TNT, not as powerful, only 16-Bit
rendering. Get the TNT instead.


S3 has also a new chipset active (the Savage 3d, the Savage 4 coming soon):

Name: Hercules Terminator Beast
Manufacturer: Hercules
Chipset: Savage 3d (S3)
Drivers: IDC, D3D
PCI/AGP:
RAM: 8 MB
Price:
Notes: Uses texture compression, but is not as fast as the TNT

ATI usually uses proprietary chipsets. Anything new the next time?


Name: ATI FURY
Manufacturer: ATI (www.atitech.com)
Chipset: Rage 128 GL from ATI
Drivers: ICD
PCI/AGP: AGP
RAM: 32 MB
Price: $200-230
Notes:

Name: ATI MAGNUM (Rage 128)
Manufacturer: ATI (www.atitech.com)
Chipset: Rage 128 GL from ATI
Drivers:
PCI/AGP: AGP
RAM: 32 MB
Price: $193 in Germany
Notes:

Name: ATI All In Wonder PRO
Manufacturer: ATI (www.atitech.com)
Chipset: ATI RAGE PRO from ATI
Drivers:
PCI/AGP: PCI and AGP
RAM: 4 MB up to 8 MB
Price: $166 in Germany
Notes: Build in TV tuner/Video In/Out, there are many RAGE
PRO cards from ATI (XPert at Play, XPert at work...)
which are all game/home cards.

Leadtek

Name: L2300
Manufacturer: Leadtek
Chipset: Permedia 2
Drivers: OpenGL, HEIDI, D3D
PCI/AGP: AGP/PCI
RAM: 8MB
Price: $95
Notes: So far has given excellent price/performance up to MAX 2.5

The 3dfx type cards (VooDoo3 coming soon, in principle a revamped
Banshee with higher clock and dual texture units, but still 16 Bit
only) :

Name: Diamond Monster Fusion / ELSA VICTORY II / Creative
BANSHEE / STB ??, others
Manufacturer: see Names
Chipset: 3dfx Banshee
Drivers: MDC at the moment, IDC in beta (since 1/2 year)
PCI/AGP:
RAM: 8 MB (OEM)/ 16 MB
Price:
Notes: Good game card, good 2d card, but not yet windowed 3d

Name: Diamond Monster II / CREATIVE VOODOO II and others
Manufacturer: see Names
Chipset: 3dfx VooDoo (II)
Drivers: MDC at the moment, IDC in beta (since 1/2 year), only
fullscreen
PCI/AGP:
RAM: 4 MB framebuffer, 8 MB textures
Price:
Notes: Good game card, no (fast) windowed 3d.

The Matrox cards (Matrox uses proprietary chipsets). Nothing new in sight.


Name: Matrox Millennium (1)
Manufacturer: Matrox (www.matrox.com)
Chipset: MGA-2064 Chip
Drivers: IDC (but only sparsly implemented, no textures and other)
PCI/AGP:
RAM:
Price:
Notes: Old and slow, only good for 2D

Name: Matrox Millenium 2
Manufacturer: Matrox
Chipset: MGA-2164 Chip
Drivers: IDC but not fully implemented
PCI/AGP:
RAM:
Price:
Notes: Good 2d card, but most 3d cards are better

Name: Matrox Millenium G200
Manufacturer: Matrox
Chipset: G200
Drivers: IDC in development
PCI/AGP:
RAM:
Price:
Notes: Good 2d card, quite good 3d card (D3D), one has to see
if the IDC is good.

There are Variations of the Millenium series, called Mystique, which
are almost the same cards, except that they normally have less and
slower RAM, and a slower RAMDAC.


15.3.2 Which Graphic card shall I buy and what shall I be looking for?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: What shall I be looking for when buying a new graphic card for MAX?

A: Check out the hardware section at http://support.ktx.com/~8

I know that several people have posted lists of the best accelerators for
Max. It's a common thread there.

Things to check:

1) Make sure the card supports 3D acceleration in a window (not just
fullscreen). This is often NOT documented on the box.
2) Check what type of RAM it's using, this effects speed alot.
3) Don't get anything less then 8megs. 16 is good but 32 is better.
4) If it's less then $2,000 and claims to support OpenGL, it most
likely doesn't support it at 100% :-)
5) Check to see if it supports different types of texture filtering.
If the sale person doesn't know, go to a different store. Good
cards often support different types of filtering modes, if it
doesn't filter it may not be of very good quality.
6) Don't take the number of faces rendered per second as a example of
a cards performance, the best cards often support anti-aliasing.
If it has this feature, then when it's turned off. It will most
likely be extremely fast.
7) If it doesn't say "supports 3D Studio Max" on the BOX. Always ASSUME
it won't work correctly with MAX. Until the point you actually see it
demoed with Max.
8) Go to the companies website, and make sure they have updated drivers
for Max 2.x. There are still cards on the market that ship with outdated
Max 1.x drivers.

P.S. If you have any Miro products in your computer, be very careful of
which card you get. D.S.


---

Q: Shall I trade my Millennium G200 AGP with a Blaster, Riva or Diamond
Riva?

I bought a PII 350 with a Millennium G200 AGP 8mb, and for not much
money. I can trade this card for a Riva with 16mb. I use in this
machine only 3D Studio MAX 2.0. Do you think it's worth it changing
that? What do you think is better - Blaster, Riva or Diamond Riva?
Do you know where I can find an upgrade for MAX 2.5 and character
studio?

A1: Rivas only come at a max of 8 megs (nVidia Riva 128 zx). What your
probably referring to is the nVidia TNT chipset. It can do 16 megs.

Ditch the Matrox g200 as it doesn't have a full Open GL ICD yet. One is
in the works but who knows how long it's gonna take for the Matrox boys
to finish it. The TNT supports full Open GL right out of the box with a
full ICD. You can run MAX with D3D but it isn't as good as Open GL
performance-wise and you can only use D3D under Windows 95/98 (not the
best environment for 3D Studio Max ...which you'll probably wanna run
under NT).

The TNT will perform similar to a Permedia 2 chip (give or take a few)
and is much better for gaming (if that is also important for you).

I'm running max under Win98 with a Riva 128 4meg card (no flames please)
and the performance sucks so bad I leave it in software rendering (at
least I can go up to 1152 x 864 res). I'm broke. I can't do higher then
800 x 600 with either Open GL or D3D. It's alright for smaller scenes or
for modelling single objects of moderate complexity but as soon as you
add a few extra faces it really begins to slow down.

Deciding which TNT board to use is a matter of taste...in other words no
comment.

Get an upgrade for Max 2.5 at any authorised Kinetix dealer.

A2: Riva is the name of the family of chipsets from nVidia which includes
the
128, 12zx, and the TNT. The TNT is the only one that is OpenGL supported
out of the box, though the 128/zx has a full ICD update that lets it support
most OpenGL applications (to a degree).


15.3.3 Can a Voodoo I/II (3DFX) card be used to accelerate MAX?
---------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Can a 3dfx (read Voodoo/Voodoo2) graphic card be used to accelerate
3D Studio MAX viewport redraw?

A: Yes and no. Voodoo chips can usually only accelerate in full screen mode,
and MAX is a window application. There is something called WinGLIDE and 3DFX
also released OpenGL drivers for VooDoo, but it is useless in MAX. In window
mode WinGLIDE is very slow and the MAX HEIDI driver (which also is pure
soft-
ware) will refresh your viewports faster than VooDoo with WinGLIDE. Read the
"Introduction" chapter abow for more information.


---

Q: Can a 3dfx Voodoo Rush or Voodoo Banshee graphic card be used for MAX?

A: Yes, but they will not perform as well as a "real" OpenGL graphic card.
If you have a choice of skipping the Voodoo cards you should really go for
a SGI OpenGL card like Premedia 2. Usually MAX's HEIDI driver updates you
viewports faster than these game cards. Read the "Introduction" chapter abow
for more information.


15.4 Other additional hardware
------------------------------

Q: Is there any additional hardware that just do rendering?

A: Yes, ther is a product called Renderdrive from http://www.art-render.com
which is a self contained unit with 16 raytracing processors.


---

Q: What about using a tablet (like Watcom's) with MAX instead of the mouse?

I am considering to buy a new Wacom tablet, but I'm wondering how well
it
will perform in 3DS Max. Does anyone have any experience with the new
tablets? How good is the 3D mouse?

A1: We use our Wacom in PhotoShop mainly - it works in MAX, but it's no
advantage. I don't think the new pen is really 3D, I think they're
just trying on a new marketing gimmick. That was my impression from
the press release anyway. Has anyone else tied the thing yet, can
confirm/deny this?

A2: The Wacom tablet is a great tool. I was having some carpal tunnel
problems
using the mouse because the hand movements were so small. When I switched
to
the tablet, the pain in my forearm stopped. MAX does not take advantage of
the
pressure sensitive functions in the Wacom tablet but I think it is better
then
using a mouse. It also seems more natural to draw with a pencil then with a
brick (which is what it feels like drawing with a mouse after using the
tablet).

A3: I know a guy who swears by it (using Max and a tablet) but I don't see
the point myself.

I've just got an Intuos A4 and I use it for painter and Pshop but there
seems little point using it in Max other than for the odd tricky fence
selection job or maybe with one-offs like Peter Watjes "deform paint"
object mod plugin. I'd love to give it a go in something like 4D Paint 2
though.. :)

A4: I spoilt myself and bought a dinky 4x5 Intuos tablet for christmas,
mainly for Photoshop/Painter. It's a dream in 2D stuff, but I was amazed
at how efficient it is for MAX. Like the others said, it's horses for
courses, but it just feels snappier for me. Creating splines (esp. when
tracing background images) is a lot easier, and my wrist doesn't go into
spasms like it did after one ill-advised 10 hour session with the mouse...
Even if you don't like it with MAX, it's invaluable for creating maps in
Photoshop/Painter. And don't forget, you get a copy of painter classic with
the Intuos tablets!


15.5 Benchmarking MAX
---------------------

Q: How do I benchmark my graphic card in 3D Studio MAX?

A: On the "World Creating Toolkit" CD that comes with MAX look in the
/Scenes/Benchmrk directory for the benchmark scenes, a DOS command line
utility for checking OpenGL graphics cards for MAX compatibility, and
for an HTML page which discusses the MAX R2 Display Architecture. This
article also discusses the use of the benchmark files and interpretation
of your results. In brief here are the main steps to prepare for
benchmarking:

1) Edit your 3DSMAX.INI file to add the line

ShowFPS=1

to the [Performance] section of the 3dsmax.ini file

2) Open one of the benchmark scenes:

Bnchmrk1.max
Bnchmrk2.max
Bnchmrk3.max
Bnchmrk4.max
Bnchmrk5.max
Bnchmrk6.max
Bnchmrk7.max

3) Activate the perspective viewport and press the Play Animation button

4) Watch the FPS readout at the bottom of the MAX screen, wait for about
500 to 800 frames to allow time for this average FPS readout to
stabilize, then jot down the value while the animation is still
playing

I like to test the cards in both HEIDI and OpenGL if both are supported.
And I like to test the Perspective viewport playback both as a Minimized
viewport and as a Maximized viewport. Also, have a look at the "Graphic
Cards" section abow for more benchmarks on 3D graphic accelerators.

Another way of benchmarking would be to use a regular stopwatch. You let
the benchmarks run for say 3 times each, the average should give you a
pretty good idea. This may not look like the most professional way to test
your 3d-card, but it's accurate enough. More benchmarks can be found at:

http://www.lucas3d.com/bench3d/html/mes-tests-max-in.html

http://www.uni-mainz.de/~kochm002/


---

Q: Where can I find some benchmarks on graphics cards for MAX?

A: http://www.fastgraphics.com/opengl/results.html


15.6 Video Editing hardware
---------------------------

Q: What video editing card should be used for high quality output?

A: When it comes to fast high-end video editing, the Perception VR cards are
the best (I'm talking excellent quality, broadcast). If you want to be
able to record to tape, the PVR-2500 is the best, if you want to capture,
you can add on the AD-2500 (a capturing daughterboard). There are also
transition accelerators you can get. If you want to do reliable video
editing on NT, you should consider Speed Razor. A warning about the card
though, it does have to have its own dedicated hard drive, so it might not
be
what you're looking for (it also costs around $2000, so it definitely might
not be what you're looking for!).


+===========================================================================
===+
| - 16 - MAX related Resources
|
+===========================================================================
===+


16 MAX Related Resources
------------------------

This section includes information on where to find information
about MAX, both on the internet and paper based.


16.1 Manuals and books
----------------------

Q: Anyone know where I can find the manuals for 3D Studio MAX?

A: As you can't buy the manuals separately I suggest you either buy an
original of MAX or get the books "Inside 3DS Max". There's also an f/x
book, title escapes my mind. Search amazon.com for 3D Studio or MAX or
whatever and you're bound to get some hits. If you purchase MAX you will
receive 4 books. Two reference books (which are more or less a print out
of the online help), one User Guide and one Tutorials book. Along with
these four books you also have the online manual accessable from within
the actual MAX application.


---

Q: What manuals/reference material does 3D Studio MAX R3 include?

A: Comes with two fat reference manuals, one tutorial manual, disks, dongle
and other crap. Has a helpfile about 16Mb in size and a tut helpfile about
5Mb and a 1.5Mb Maxscript helpfile as well.


---

Q: What good books are there on the market for MAX?

A: Check out the following books (go to http://www.amazon.com or
http://www.bookpool.com for more info):

* 3D Studio MAX2 Fundamentals
* Inside 3D Studio MAX2 (vol 1 is the base/reference book for many MAX
users)
* Inside 3D Studio MAX2 (vol 2 is about advanced modelling and textures)
* Inside 3D Studio MAX2 (vol 3 is for advanced animation)
* 3D Studio MAX2 F/x (Learn how to create Hollywood looking special effects)

Also check the following web address for the latest update on the MAX book
market:

http://www.oneworld-design.com/bstore.html

...or more specific:

http://www.oneworld-design.com/bc3dmax.html

Manuals for 3D Max and previous releases are all listed. You can also
choose to receive email when it's updated (free service of course).


16.2 Magazines
--------------

Mastering 3D Graphics (former Serious3D, web only magazine):

http://www.mastering3dgraphics.com/


3D Creature Workshop (web only magazine):

http://www.3dcreatureworkshop.com/


3DDesign

http://www.3d-design.com/


Vizual Magic Magazine (free, web only magazine):

http://visualmagic.awn.com/


Computer Graphics World (CGW):

http://www.cgw.com/


Computer Arts:

http://www.computerarts.co.uk
http://www.futurenet.com/arts/


Digital Video Live (DV Live):

http://www.livedv.com/


Digital Producer Magazine:

http://www.digitalproducer.com/

Design4 (former KTX World):

http://www.design4.net/


16.3 News
---------

Check the 3D Studio Internet Newsgroups:

alt.3d
alt.3d.max
alt.3d.misc
alt.3d.rhino
alt.3d.studio
alt.binaries.3dstudio
alt.binaries.3d.lightwave
comp.graphics.apps.alias
comp.graphics.apps.lightwave
comp.graphics.apps.softimage
comp.graphics.apps.wavefront
comp.graphics.packages.3dstudio


16.4 News, Reviews, Galleries and more...
-----------------------------------------

3D Domain Network:

http://3d-domain.com/


The 3D Cafe:

http://www.3dcafe.com


MAX 3D:

http://www.max3d.com


16.5 Tutorials
--------------

One of the best MAX resources on the net, the 3D Domain Network:

http://www.3d-domain.com/


MAX Fuel:

http://maxfuel.home.ml.org/


Out Of Step:

http://hem1.passagen.se/oos3d/


3D Studio MAX Beginner:

http://www.execulink.com/~grahams/3dsmax/


16.6 Materials
--------------

For planet bitmaps (including the Earth) check out:

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/postgrad/thomasc1/render/maps.htm


For bitmaps in general check the following site out:

http://www.freetextures.com/
http://www.absolutecross.com/

http://www.teenworld.com.my/3dsmaxclub/prof3d/Textures/Textures.shtml
http://users.deltanet.com/~blade/index.htm
http://www.forrest.cz/textures/
http://www.jrandco.net/textures.htm
http://art.net/~jeremy/photo/public_texture/index.html
http://www.absolutecross.com/textures.htm


16.7 Models
-----------

For free models try 3D Cafe:

http://www.3dcafe.com

...or Viewpoint:

http://www.viewpoint.com


For Star Wars models try the Star Wars Modeling Alliance (very nice and
easy to navigare site):

http://www.swma.net/
... or
http://www.theforce.net/scifi3d/


16.8 Commercial Plugins
-----------------------

Commercial plugins for MAX can be found at:

Digimation:

http://www.digimation.com

Cebas:

http://www.cebas.com/


16.9 Free Plugins
-----------------

For download of free 3D Studio MAX plugins check the following Internet
sites:

http://www.trinity3d.com/
http://www.mankua.com/
http://www.nautilus.com.pl/jarek
http://www.tekvux.se/user/andersj/3dsmax.htm
http://itlab.dk-designskole.dk/chuggnut/plugins/plugins.html


16.10 Other FAQ's
-----------------

The first 3D Studio FAQ (a bit out of date now) is available at
http://www.trinity3d.com/3dsmxfaq.txt. The reason it is out of date is
that the writers go so hacked off with the flame wars in this NG that
they have left the group never to return.

The Unofficial 3D Studio MAX FAQ is mirrored at the following Internet
sites:

Matthew Clementson's site
http://www.StudioBlue.co.uk/

Jarek Dukat's site:
http://www.nautilus.com.pl/jarek

Davy's MAXForum:
http://www.maxforums.org

James Steel's The Resource:
http://internettrash.com/users/theresource/index.htm


16.11 On-line chat
------------------

Get Mirc (free from many sites) and log onto #3dsmax on EFnet


16.12 Other related Internet resources
--------------------------------------

Kinetix web site offers a wealth of information as well as many help and
image critic forums:

http://www.ktx.com
http://support.ktx.com/


Autodesk also have a search engine for MAX/AutoCAD Q's and A's. Just type
in a keyword to your problem and his search!

http://www.autodesk.com/search/index.htm


For sound effects try the following Internet resources:

http://soundamerica.com/
http://www.earthstation1.com/
http://www.sounddogs.com


For Tutorials, Plugins, Scripts, Maps and Meshes....follow the links below:
(thanks Smeggy!)

http://gfxcentral.com/bobo/
http://www.maxww.com/
http://www.3dcafe.com/asp/default.asp


For collections of 3D links try:

http://www.3dlinks.com/


The 3D Studio MAX Web ring is a collection of websites that are all
connected to each other through the ring.

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Orchard/7025/max-ring.html


For a good 3D search engine try:

http://www.3dup.com
http://www.3dsearch.com


16.13 Schools teaching 3D
-------------------------

Q: What schools do teach 3D?

Hiya guys. OK, I think that I'm gonna get really serious about 3D now.
Anyone know where I can find a list of colleges in the continental US
for 3D and graphic design?

A: 3d Cafe (http://www.3dcafe.com/) had a list of graphics schools last time
I checked. You can also go to the WebPages for big name FX companies (Rhythm
& Hues, Pixar (http://www.pixar.com/recruiting/list-of-schools.html), ILM,
etc)
and a lot of times they will list recommended institutions.

Another thing might be to try one of the "on-line" schools. There are some
Internet sites that offer a decent training if you have access to a computer
and the Internet. Check the following sites out:

www.cyba3.co.uk (they do distance learning courses for gb£125 they also
help you to get a job if u want one after u pass)


16.14 The "Got Drained" section - lots of inspiring 3D Artists
--------------------------------------------------------------

Need a place to go when you get "drained" on ideas and need some
inspiration?
Check the following true artists out! (linklist and text taken from Igor
Posavec's site)

Eni Oken 3D Art

An extraordinary 3D Art. This Site is the online manual and
reference for all 3D Artist who want to learn how to create,
texture and lighten scenes. My absolute favourite 3D Site.

http://www.oken3d.com/

Burke Studios

Another great MAX artist who offers not only superb modeling
and lightning tecniques but also the very sofisticated color
enviroments.

http://www.burkestudios.com/

Taron
Well, anyone who thinks he can do Character modeling good,
should first look on Timurs Works - and go back home to work
and learn more. My opinion is that this is one of the best
character creators these days.

http://www.taron.de

Geoffrey P. Gaudreault

For some architecture wizardry, I can recomand you this
page. MAX powerd with AutoCAD or opposite, this guy has a
full control of the 3D enviroment and design.

http://www.worldweb.net/~gpg/

Vladim Pietrzynski

Dark, morbid, unmistakable style and mysterious modeling
techiques - for the Art from other world and time, jump
there.

http://www.3dplanet.de/

Igor Posavec

Igor is fantastic in modelling fantasy worlds, villages and
"strange" places. The textures are marvellous and if you don't
get inspired out of this uncomplicated artist you'r almost out
of luck ;-) Visit his site.

http://www.3d-io.com/


3D Artists

This is a site where many fine artists show their work. Many
interviews with top name "gurus" and also some hints, tips and
trix on how the artists created their masterpieces. Well worth
the visit.

http://www.3dartist.com/



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17.1 How do I create a demo reel?
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Q: Can someone tell me about the make up of the "Demo reel"? Does it have
to
be an animation??

A1: The demo reel is generally less than 5 minutes of your very best work.
Every company has slightly different requirements for what they like to
see on a tape. Some may require animations, some may just want wireframes
and rotating renders if you are applying for a job as a modeller/texture
artist. Personal opinion is that you are probably best off to learn the
animation side of it as well, since the more skills you have, the more
useful to a company you can be (not to mention that 5 minutes of still
models can be a little boring). The best thing you can do is go to the
websites of the companies you wish to apply to and look around for infor-
mation. The really good ones will specify exactly what they want to see.


A2: No those positions don't always require animation ability, but it helps,
alot. Occassionally you will find a 3D modeling position that doesn't
involve animation, but without animation samples or the like you'd really
have to be the prodigal son of 3D modeling.

As far as the make up of a tape, I'll reiterate some of what grim said (see
abow), adding my opinions as well...

Generally 3-5 minutes of your absolute best work. I'd advise you not to put
in something that is so-so in order to fill time. Personally I'd rather see
2 minutes of really nice work than 5 minutes of mediocre work.

What they want to see on a tape can vary from company to company and
position to position. Good character animations are usually a safe bet,
even if it's as simple as walk and run cycles, but the more complex,
the better. A really simple thing to do if you did a run cycle is to
put a pony tail on it or something and animate it, show that you know
secondary motion and the principles of animation.

Now from the tapes that I've seen, I'll tell you a few things that I
personally like or don't like.

First, rotating models.... boring. If you must, don't make it more
than 5 seconds at the most

Stills and sketches, that's what printers are for. Stick to animated
work. Still images, I think, ruin the rythym of a tape

Avoid pauses and black screens as much as possible, for the same reason
as the stills, pauses (especially in mid animation) really destroy the
flow of the tape, it's VERY important. When an animation ends, rather
than holding on the last frame for a couple of seconds, start a slow
fade to black.

And allow me to touch on content briefly...

A teacher of mine long long ago said it like this

"There are 4 parts to this field: modeling, mapping, animation and
lighting. Ideally you'd want to have an good example of each on your
tape, preferably more than one. If you can have one good example of
each, your tape will probably stand out on it's own"


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