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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







Create a teapot with background (teapot4_background.max).



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

This model will later be exported to an m3g file and will be used to demonstrate camera movements in space.

Procedure

Step 1: Load the teapot model
  1. Download teapot3_color_texture.max
    See quick guide "Create a teapot with color and texture".

  2. Start 3D Studio Max 7.

  3. Load teapot3_color_texture.max, select menu: File | Open

    Note: If you see the File Load: Units Mismatch dialog, choose the option Adopt The File's Unit Scale. This will change your system unit, so be sure to reset your system unit after completing this quick guide.

Step 2: Add a background
  1. Download the texture image space.png (128x128 pixels) to C:\

  2. Select menu: Rendering | Environment (or press key 8).

  3. Select Environment tab. In the Common Parameters rollout, press button "None".

    3DSMax 7, environment and effects.

  4. The Material/Map Browser is opened.

    3DSMax 7, Color selector.

  5. Choose Bitmap and click OK.

  6. The "Select Bitmap Image File" dialog opens.
    Select the downloaded space.png from C:\ folder and click Open.

  7. Close the "Environment and Effects" window.

  8. In the Perspective View, select Camera01 en press the Quick Render button 3DSMax 7, button quick render. (or F9).

    3DSMax 7, teapot background.

    You should see the space background.

Step 3: Add a camera
  1. This teapot model will be used to demonstrate camera movements.
    For this reason another camera will be added.

  2. In the toolbar, change the Reference Coordinate System from View to World.

    3DSMax 7, reference coordinate system.

  3. Go to the Create panel 3DSMax 7, create panel. and click Cameras 3DSMax 7, button cameras.. In the Object Type rollout, select Target.

    3DSMax 7, camera stock lenses.

  4. In the Parameters rollout, select Stock Lensens button 28mm.



  5. Enable Show Cone

  6. In the Clipping Planes group, enable Clip Manually. Enter the following values:

    Near clip=1.0
    Far clip=10000.0

  7. Draw Camera03 in the Left viewport (5 gridlines up) and the target points to the teapot.

    3DSMax 7, add camera.

  8. Select Camera03 and press the Select and Move button 3DSMax 7, button select and move..

  9. The Coordinate Display area (see bottom of the window) now shows Camera03 position. To position Camera03 directly above the teapot, enter the following values:
    X=0,0 | Y=0,0 | Z=500,0

    3DSMax 7, coordinate display area.

  10. Press the H on the keyboard, then choose Camera03 from the list.

  11. On the Modify panel 3DSMax 7, modify panel., goto the Parameters rollout and locate the Type: field.
    Click the drop-down arrow and choose Free Camera.
    This step is needed because this scene will later be exported to an m3g file.

Step 4: Render scene
  1. Select the Perspective viewport and press the C on the keyboard to change into the Camera viewport.

  2. Because more then 1 camera is added to the scene, the select camera window is displayed. Select Camera03.

  3. Press the Quick Render button 3DSMax 7, button quick render. (or F9).

  4. You should see the following:

    3DSMax 7, teapot rendered.

Step 5: Save model
  1. Select menu: File | Save as.

  2. Save the model as teapot4_background.max.

Step 6: Explanation

Before we finish with this quick guide, some explanation is needed:

  • This scene will be exported to an m3g file and will be used to demonstrate camera movements.

    Camera03 will be moved away or towards the teapot along the Camera03 Z-axis and also rotated along the same axis.

  • The clipping plane is set manually because if the camera is moved away from the teapot, it must not disappear suddenly. That is why the far clip is set to 10000.0.
    The near clip is set to 1.0. If you set it to 0.0 the teapot is not displayed but the plane does!

  • 3D Studio Max uses the right hand coordinate system.

    3DSMax 7, right hand coordinate system. 3DSMax 7, right hand coordinate system with rotation.

  • When a camera is used, the camera +Z axis always points AWAY from the viewing direction. If you want to see the camera coordinate system, select the camera and in the toolbar, change the Reference Coordinate System from View to World.

    3DSMax 7, camera coordinate system.

    3DSMax 7, camera coordinate system.