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3D Studio Max
 
 
3D Studio Max (3dsmax) is a 3D modeling, animation, and rendering tool.
It is owned by Autodesk, an United States (San Rafael, California) based company.

More information about 3D Studio Max can be found at: http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax/
Note: A free 30 days trial version can be downloaded from the Autodesk site.

Some 3D Studio Max forums:

Quick guides







Terminology and definitions.



Information
This guide is based on 3D Studio Max 7.

Item Description
Bevel Expand and contract polygons and faces.
COM Center of Mass.
Complementary (hue) Hues directly opposite. Complementary colors reside at opposite ends of the Color Circle or Color Wheel.

Color wheel.

To calculate an RGB complementary color:

RGB complementary = 255-R, 255-G, 255-B

For example:

RGB= 255,0,0
RGB complementary = 0, 255, 255

Edge The line between each pair of vertices.

Vertex, polygon, face and edge.
Element A group of contiguous faces found in an object.

Element
Face A triangular plane. Faces have a front, called a normal. See figure in Edge.
FOV Field Of View
Highlights Highlights are reflections of light sources on the object surface.
Hue The color in its purest form, with no black, gray, or white added.
LOD Level Of Detail
Mesh object A mesh object is composed of several subobjects: faces, vertices, edges, polygons and elements.
Pivot A point about which an object is rotated or scaled.
Polygon A group of two or more adjacent faces that lie on the same plane. See figure in Edge.
Spinners Spinners are up and down arrows.

Spinners
Spline Is a type of curve that is interpolated between two endpoints and two or more tangent vectors.

Spline
Vertex A corner of a face. See figure in Edge.
Quad menu A menu which appears when you right click on a object in for example the top viewport.

Quad menu