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3ds max with the
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inverse kinematics,
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3ds max 6
raytracing, and other
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Including a demo version of
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and a searchable PDF version of the book
Kelly L. Murdock
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3ds max 6 Bible
™

Kelly L. Murdock
3ds max™ 6 Bible
Published by
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Copyright  2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
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About the Author
Kelly Murdock has been authoring computer books for many years now and still gets immense
enjoyment from the completed work. His book credits include various Web, graphics, and multime-
dia titles, including three previous editions of this book, 3ds max 6 Bible. Other major accomplish-
ments include Master VISUALLY HTML and XHTML, JavaScript Visual Blueprint, gmax Bible, Adobe
Atmosphere Bible, and co-authoring duties on two editions of the Illustrator Bible (for versions 9
and 10).
With a background in engineering and computer graphics, Kelly has been all over the 3D industry
and still finds it fascinating. He’s used high-level CAD workstations for product design and analysis,
completed several large-scale visualization projects, created 3D models for feature films, worked as
a freelance 3D artist, and even done some 3D programming. Kelly’s been using 3D Studio since
version 3 for DOS.
In his spare time, Kelly enjoys the outdoors while rock climbing, mountain biking, or skiing. He has
recently formed a design company with his brother, Chris, called Logical Paradox Design.
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 I tweak the light settings for weeks, but it still doesn’t match the light in your eyes.

I scan and layer a hundred photos, but it still doesn’t capture the
details of your soft skin.

I apply every controller and animation technique, but it still can’t portray the
intricacies of your tiny smile.

I load hundreds of sound files, but it still isn’t equal to the synchronization
of your little laugh.

I render thousands of times, and still I’m amazed at the work of the Master Animator.

To Max, 2003
Preface
Whenever I withdrew to the computer room, my wife would say that I was off to my “fun and
games.” I would flatly deny this accusation, saying that it was serious work that I was involved in.
But later, when I emerged with a twinkle in my eye and excitedly asked her to take a look at my lat-
est rendering, I knew that she was right. Working with 3D graphics is pure “fun and games.”
My goal in writing this book was to take all my fun years of playing in 3D and boil them down into
something that’s worthwhile for you — the reader. This goal was compounded by the fact that all
you Max-heads out there are at different levels. Luckily, this book is thick enough to include a little
something for everyone.
The audience level for the book ranges from beginning to intermediate, with a smattering of
advanced topics for the seasoned user. If you’re new to Max, then you’ll want to start at the begin-
ning and move methodically through the book. If you’re relatively comfortable making your way
around Max, then review the table of contents for sections that can enhance your fundamental
base. If you’re a seasoned pro, then you’ll want to watch for coverage of the features new to
Release 6.
If you’re so excited to be working with Max that you can’t decide where to start, then head straight
for the Quick Start. The Quick Start is a single chapter-long tutorial that takes you through the cre-
ation of an entire scene and animation. This Quick Start was included in response to some feedback
from readers of the first edition who complained that they didn’t know where to start. For those of
you who were too anxious to wade through a mountain of material before you could create some-
thing, this Quick Start is for you.
Another goal of this book is to make it a complete reference for Max. To achieve this goal, I’ve gone
into painstaking detail to cover almost every feature in Max, including coverage of every primitive,
material and map type, modifier, and controller.
As this book has come together, I’ve tried to write the type of book that I’d like to read. I’ve tried to
include a variety of scenes that are infused with creativity. It is my hope that these examples will
not only teach you how to use the software, but also provide a creative springboard for you in your
own projects. After all, that’s what turns 3D graphics from work into “fun and games.”

Who Is Max?
Max is coming of age. Now with the number 6 attached to its name, it is starting to show some
maturity. I’d say that version numbers are akin to dog years, which would place Max in its early 40s.
Before we go any further, I should explain my naming convention. The official name of the product in
this release is 3ds max 6 with a lowercase m, but I simply refer to it as Max with a capital M. This ref-
erence is a nickname given to a piece of software that has become more familiar to me than the family
pets (whose names are Fuzzy, Curious, and Parakeetsta, by the way). Note: I have not been successful
in training Max to come when I call or to sit on command, but it will on occasion play dead.
One way we humans develop our personalities is to incorporate desirable personality traits from
those around us. Max’s personality is developing as well — every new release has incorporated a
plethora of desirable new features. Many of these features come from the many additional plug-ins
being developed to enhance Max. With Release 6, many features that were available as plug-ins for
previous releases have been adopted by Max. Several new features have been magically assimilated
into the core product, such as mental ray. These additions make Max’s personality much more lik-
able, like a human developing a sense of humor.
viii 3ds max 6 Bible

Other personality traits are gained by stretching in new directions. Max and its developers have
accomplished this feat as well. Many of the new features are completely new, not only to Max, but
to the industry, such as the Particle Flow interface. As Max grows up, it will continue to mature by
adopting new features and inventing others. I just hope Max doesn’t experience a mid-life crisis in
the next version.

About This Book

Let me paint a picture of the writing process. It starts with years of experience, which is followed
by months of painstaking research. There were system crashes and personal catastrophes and the
always-present, ever-looming deadlines. I wrote into the early hours of the morning and during the
late hours of the night — burning the candle at both ends and in the middle all at the same time. It
was grueling and difficult, and spending all this time staring at the Max interface made me feel like .
. . well . . . like an animator.
Sound familiar? This process actually isn’t much different from what 3D artists, modelers, and ani-
mators do on a daily basis, and, like you, I find satisfaction in the finished product.

Tutorials aplenty
I’ve always been a very visual learner — the easiest way for me to gain knowledge is by doing
things for myself while exploring at the same time. Other people learn by reading and comprehend-
ing ideas. In this book, I’ve tried to present information in a number of ways to make the informa-
tion usable for all types of learners. That is why you see detailed discussions of the various
features along with tutorials that show these concepts in action.
The tutorials appear throughout the book and are clearly marked with the “Tutorial” label in front
of the title. They always include a series of logical steps, typically ending with a figure for you to
study and compare. These tutorial examples are provided on the book’s CD-ROM to give you a first-
hand look and a chance to get some hands-on experience.
I’ve attempted to “laser focus” all the tutorials down to one or two key concepts. This means that
you probably will not want to place the results in your portfolio. For example, many of the early
tutorials don’t have any materials applied because I felt that using materials before they’ve been
explained would only confuse you.
I’ve attempted to think of and use examples that are diverse, unique, and interesting, while striving
to make them simple, light, and easy to follow. I’m happy to report that every example in the book
is included on the CD-ROM along with the models and textures required to complete the tutorial.
The tutorials often don’t start from scratch, but instead give you a starting point. This approach
lets me “laser focus” the tutorials even more; and with fewer, more relevant steps, you can learn
and experience the concepts without the complexity. On the book’s CD-ROM, you will find the Max
files that are referenced in Step 1 of most tutorials.
I’ve put lots of effort into this book, and I hope it helps you in your efforts. I present this book as a
starting point. In each tutorial, I’ve purposely left most of the creative spice out, leaving room for
you to put it in — you’re the one with the vision.

Fourth time around

This book is now in its fourth edition and, like aged cheddar cheese, is getting better with time.
This edition posed an interesting dilemma. The edition for Max 4 clocked in at 1,246 pages, which
was the largest number of pages that can be bound into a paperback book. So, for Max 5, I needed
to rework and tighten the content to make room for pages where the new features could be cov-
ered, which was an tough task, but I was happy to say I succeeded by cramming in an additional
400 pages worth of content into the 3ds max 5 Bible. However, when the book came back from the
printer, it weighed in at only 1,106 pages, making the reader think that the book was put on a diet. It
turned out that the editors who laid out the book decided to use a tighter layout, thereby saving
140 pages while providing the additional content.
 Preface ix

Now that I’m working on a version covering Max 6, I’m delighted to have that extra 140 pages to
cram full of information, and the editors are already looking at an even tighter format. At this rate,
the next couple of editions will be shipping with a magnifying glass.
There have been several other changes to this edition. In an effort to add some new life to many of
the older tutorials (several of which desired a chance to retire), I have secured a new set of
Viewpoint models that I’ve used to replace many of the old tutorials. I’ve also included a new Quick
Start that lets you play with a monster truck.

How this book is organized

Many different aspects of 3D graphics exist, and in some larger production houses, you might be
focused on only one specific area. However, for smaller organizations or the general hobbyist, you
end up wearing all the hats — from modeler and lighting director to animator and post-production
compositor. This book is organized to cover all the various aspects of 3D graphics, regardless of
the hat on your head.
The book is divided into the following parts:
✦ Quick Start — This single chapter (which is actually a chapter in Part I) is an entire anima-
tion project presented in several focused tutorials. It is designed to whet your appetite and
get you up to speed and producing animations immediately.
✦ Part I: Learning the Max Interface — Whether it’s understanding the interface, working with
the viewports, dealing with files, or customizing the interface, the chapters in this part get
you comfortable with the interface so you won’t get lost moving about this mammoth pack-
age.
✦ Part II: Working with Objects — Max objects can include meshes, cameras, lights, Space
Warps, and anything that can be viewed in a viewport. This part includes chapters on how to
reference, select, clone, group, link, transform, and modify these various objects.
✦ Part III: Modeling — Max includes several different ways to model objects. This part
includes chapters on working with spline shapes, meshes, polys, patches, NURBS, com-
pound objects like Lofts and Morphs, and particle systems.
✦ Part IV: Materials and Maps — With all the various materials, maps, and parameters, under-
standing how to create just what you want can be difficult. These chapters explain all the
various types and how to use them.
✦ Part V: Cameras — This part describes how to control cameras and use the Camera
Matching and Tracking utilities and the Multi-Pass Camera effects.
✦ Part VI: Lighting — This part describes how to create and control the standard lights, as
well as coverage on advanced lighting, radiosity, and global illumination.
✦ Part VII: Animation — To animate your scenes, you’ll want to learn about keyframing, the
Track Views, constraints, and controllers. This part includes a chapter specifically on
expressions.
✦ Part VIII: Character Animation — I cover creating and working with characters, bone sys-
tems, skinning, rigging, and character modeling in this part. I also provide complete cover-
age of the various inverse kinematics methods.
✦ Part IX: Dynamics — This part includes coverage of Space Warps, the Dynamics utility, and
all the cool features found in Reactor.
✦ Part X: Rendering — To produce the final output, you can render the scene as described in
this part. In addition, this part discusses environments, Render Elements, Render Effects,
network rendering, raytracing, and mental ray.
✦ Part XI: Compositing and Post-Production — This part describes the compositing process
using external tools, as well as post-processing using the Video Post interface.
✦ Part XII: MAXScript and Plug-Ins — This part provides details on using Max’s scripting lan-
guage, MAXScript, and on using plug-ins.
x 3ds max 6 Bible

✦ Part XIII: Max in Action — Max is used in many different industries and this part addresses
specific features used to enable Max for games, visualization, and special effects.
✦ Appendixes — At the very end of this book, you’ll find four appendixes that cover the new
features of Max 6, installation and system configuration, Max keyboard shortcuts, and the
contents of the book’s CD-ROMs.

Using the book’s icons

The following margin icons are used to help you get the most out of this book:

Note Note boxes highlight useful information that you should take into consideration.

Tip Tips provide an additional bit of advice that will make a particular feature quicker or easier
to use.

Caution Cautions warn you of a potential problem before you make a mistake.

New The New Feature icon highlights features that are new to Release 6.
Feature

Cross- Watch for the Cross-Reference icon to learn where in another chapter you can go to find
Reference more information on a particular feature.

On the This icon points you toward related materials that are included on the book’s CD-ROMs.
CD-ROM

The book’s CD-ROMs

Computer book CD-ROMs are sometimes just an afterthought that includes a handful of examples
and product demos. This book’s CD-ROMs, however, include a full, working trial version of 3ds max
6. Max is an expensive piece of software to just play around with, but the trial version gives you 30
days to try out the software and gain some valuable experience. Appendix D, “What’s on the
CD-ROMs,” supplies the details of the content on the CD-ROMs.
The CD-ROMs include a selection of 3D models that you can use in your projects if you choose. Many
of these models are used in the tutorials. The CD-ROMs also include the Max files for every tutorial.
If you haven’t noticed yet, most of this book is printed in black and white. This can make seeing the
details (and colors) of the figures difficult. The CD-ROM includes a complete searchable version of
the book along with all the figures in color.

Color insert pages

The possibilities of Max are endless, but many individuals and groups have pushed the software a
long way. As a sampling of the finished work that can be created, I’ve included a set of color insert
pages that showcase some amazing work done with Max. The 3D artists represented in these pages
give you some idea of what is possible.
Acknowledgments
I have a host of people to thank for their involvement in this major work. The order in which they
are mentioned doesn’t necessarily represent the amount of work they did.
Thanks to my family, Angela, Eric, and Thomas, without whose support I wouldn’t get very far. They
are my QA team who always provide feedback on my latest example. We have had many family
brainstorming sessions to think of a good tutorial example. Thomas has taken an interest in Max
and recently produced a Halloween picture using Max that won an award at his school. Maybe if he
keeps it up, he can inherit this work at some future date (then he can tell funny stories about me).
In the first edition, the task at hand was too big for just me, so I shared the pain with two
co-authors — Dave Brueck and Sanford Kennedy (both of whom have gone on to write books of
their own). I still would like to thank them for their work, which, although overhauled, still retains
their spirits. In subsequent editions, I’ve decided to do all the updates solo, until now. Facing this
edition, I once again put out a cry for help and was answered by Sue Blackman, a contributing artist
whose work appears in the color insert. Sue provided several excellent examples that show off the
power of the Track View interface. Thanks for your help, Sue.
Major thanks to the editors and personnel at Wiley. I’d like to specifically thank Tom Heine, who
turns out to be just as friendly in real life as he is on the phone. Tom, it was great to finally meet
you at Siggraph this year. Huge thanks to Marty Minner, who kept the project on task despite a
tough tragedy and to Gwenette Gaddis Goshert for her excellent copyediting input. I’d also like to
thank Chris Murdock for taking on the technical editing even though he felt like playing with
another version of Max. What a great virtual team we have here. Additional thanks go out to
Carmen Krikorian and her co-workers in the Media Development department for chasing down the
required permissions and for compiling the resources for the CD-ROMs, and finally, to the entire
staff at Wiley who helped me on this journey.
The various people who work in the graphics industry are amazing in their willingness to help and
support. I’d like to thank first of all David Marks and the entire Discreet beta team for getting me
the product when I needed it. I’d also like to thank the talented people at Zygote Media, Curious
Labs, and Viewpoint Digital Media for many of their models, which make the examples much more
interesting (you can only do so much with the teapot after all). Thanks to Tom Avikigos at
Digimation for help in securing a new set of Viewpoint models and Daniel Brown at Adobe for get-
ting me the Adobe products that I needed. Additional thanks goes out to David Mathis, Joe
Poppa, and Chris Murdock for completing models used in some of the tutorials.
Finally, I’d like to thank the many artists who contributed images for the color insert pages for shar-
ing their talent, knowledge, and vision with us. They are an inspiration to me.
Contents at a Glance
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Part I: Learning the Max Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Quick Start: Animating a Monster Truck at the Beach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Chapter 1: Finding Your Way — Exploring the Max Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 2: Seeing It All — Working with the Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Chapter 3: Working with Files and XRefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Chapter 4: Customizing the Max Interface and Setting Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Part II: Working with Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Chapter 5: Creating and Editing Primitive Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Chapter 6: Selecting Objects and Setting Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Chapter 7: Cloning Objects and Creating Object Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Chapter 8: Grouping and Linking Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Chapter 9: Working with the Schematic View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Chapter 10: Transforming Objects — Translate, Rotate, and Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Chapter 11: Introducing Modifiers for Basic Object Deformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Part III: Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Chapter 12: Modeling Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
Chapter 13: Drawing and Editing 2D Splines and Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Chapter 14: Working with Meshes and Polys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Chapter 15: Creating and Editing Patches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Chapter 16: Working with NURBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
Chapter 17: Building Compound Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Chapter 18: Creating Particles and Particle Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513

Part IV: Materials and Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

Chapter 19: Exploring the Material Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 547
Chapter 20: Creating Simple Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
Chapter 21: Creating Advanced Multi-Layer Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
Chapter 22: Adding Material Details with Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Chapter 23: Controlling Mapping Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

Part V: Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651

Chapter 24: Working with Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
Chapter 25: Matching and Tracking Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
Chapter 26: Multi-Pass Camera Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Part VI: Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Chapter 27: Basic Lighting Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Chapter 28: Advanced Lighting and Light Tracing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
Chapter 29: Advanced Lighting and Radiosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 721

Part VII: Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

Chapter 30: Animation Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
Chapter 31: Animating with Constraints and Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
Chapter 32: Using the Expression Controller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
Chapter 33: Working with the Track View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819

Part VIII: Character Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855

Chapter 34: Character Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 857
Chapter 35: Rigging Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871
Chapter 36: Animating Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887
Chapter 37: Using Inverse Kinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895

Part IX: Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 913

Chapter 38: Using Space Warps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 915
Chapter 39: Creating a Dynamic Simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 939
Chapter 40: Animating with reactor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 955

Part X: Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977

Chapter 41: Rendering Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 979
Chapter 42: Using Atmospheric Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1005
Chapter 43: Using Render Elements and Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
Chapter 44: Raytracing and mental ray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1039
Chapter 45: Network Rendering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1057

Part XI: Compositing and Post-Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1081

Chapter 46: Using External Compositing Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1083
Chapter 47: Using the Video Post Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1093

Part XII: MAXScript and Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1115

Chapter 48: Automating with MAXScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117
Chapter 49: Expanding Max with Third-Party Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1153

Part XIII: Max in Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1159

Chapter 50: Max and Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1161
Chapter 51: Max and Visualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1175
Chapter 52: Max and Special Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1183

Appendix A: What’s New with Max 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189

Appendix B: Installing and Configuring 3ds max 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1193
Appendix C: Max Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201
Appendix D: What’s on the CD-ROMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1217

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1221
End-User License Agreement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1255
 Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Part I: Learning the Max Interface 1

Quick Start: Animating a Monster Truck at the Beach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Relaxing at the Beach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tutorial: Creating the background terrain and scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Tutorial: Importing the monster truck model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Tutorial: Adding scene props . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Dressing the Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Tutorial: Applying materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Tutorial: Loading a background image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Animating Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Tutorial: Animating the monster truck motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Tutorial: Animating the rotating wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Tutorial: Positioning and animating a camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Tutorial: Adding special effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Rendering the Final Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Tutorial: Creating a preview animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Tutorial: Rendering the final animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Chapter 1: Finding Your Way — Exploring the Max Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
The Interface Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Using the Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
The File menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Edit menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Tools menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Group menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Views menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The Create menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Modifiers menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Character menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The reactor menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Animation menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Graph Editors menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
The Rendering menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Customize menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
The MAXScript menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
The Help menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Using the Toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Starting with the main toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Viewing the default floating toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Using the Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
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Using the Command Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Tutorial: Rearranging the interface for lefties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Create panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Modify panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Hierarchy panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Motion panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Display panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Utilities panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Using the Lower Interface Bar Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Accessing frames and keys with the Time Slider and the Track Bar . . . . . . 53
Learning from the Status Bar and the Prompt Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Controlling the MAXScript Mini-Listener . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Using the Key Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Using the Time Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Using the Viewport Navigation Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Interacting with the Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Gaining quick access with the right-click quadmenus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Understanding the button color cues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Using drag-and-drop features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Controlling spinners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Finding keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Using strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Understanding modeless and persistent dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Browser-based reference guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Online help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Chapter 2: Seeing It All — Working with the Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Understanding 3D Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Axonometric versus Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Orthographic and Isometric views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Learning Viewports in Max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Using the Viewport Navigation Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Zooming a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Panning a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Rotating a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Controlling viewports with a scroll wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Controlling camera and spotlight views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Viewing grids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Disabling and refreshing viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Undoing and saving changes made with the Viewport
Navigation Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Maximizing the active viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Tutorial: Navigating the active viewport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Configuring the Viewports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Setting the viewport rendering method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Altering the Viewport layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Using Safe Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Understanding Adaptive Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Defining regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
 Contents xvii

Working with Viewport Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Loading viewport background images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Loading viewport background animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Tutorial: Loading reference images for modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Chapter 3: Working with Files and XRefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Working with Max Scene Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Saving files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Opening files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Merging and replacing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Archiving files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Getting out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Setting File Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Handling files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Backing up files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Tutorial: Setting Auto Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Maintaining log files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Importing and Exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Importing supported formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Import preference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Exporting utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Importing from external applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Referencing External Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Using XRef Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Using XRef Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Tutorial: Using an XRef proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
XRef Objects in the Modifier Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Configuring XRef paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Using the File Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Using the Asset Browser utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Finding files with the Max File Finder utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Collecting files with the Resource Collector utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Using i-drop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Accessing File Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Displaying scene Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Viewing file properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Viewing files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Chapter 4: Customizing the Max Interface and Setting Preferences . . . . . . . . . 129
Using the Customize User Interface Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Customizing keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Tutorial: Assigning keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Customizing toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Tutorial: Creating a custom toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Customizing quadmenus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Customizing menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Tutorial: Adding a new menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Customizing colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Customizing Modify and Utility Panel Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
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Working with Custom Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Saving and loading a custom interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Tutorial: Saving a custom interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Locking the interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Reverting to the startup interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Switching between default and custom interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Configuring Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Selecting System Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Using Custom and Generic units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Rescaling world units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Setting Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
General preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Files panel preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Viewport preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Gamma preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Rendering preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Animation preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Inverse Kinematics preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Gizmos preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
MAXScript preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Radiosity preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
mental ray preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Part II: Working with Objects 159

Chapter 5: Creating and Editing Primitive Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Creating Primitive Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Using the Create panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Using the Create menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Naming and renaming objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Assigning colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Using the Color Clipboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Using different creation methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Using the Keyboard Entry rollout for precise dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Altering object parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Recovering from mistakes and deleting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Tutorial: Exploring the Platonic solids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Exploring the Primitive Object Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Standard Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Extended Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Modifying object parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Tutorial: Filling a treasure chest with gems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Chapter 6: Selecting Objects and Setting Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Selecting Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Selection filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Select buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Selecting with the Edit menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
 Contents xix

Selecting multiple objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Tutorial: Selecting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Locking selection sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Using named selection sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Editing named selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Isolating the current selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Selecting objects in other interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Setting Object Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Viewing object information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Setting display properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Setting rendering controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Enabling Motion Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Using the Advanced Lighting and mental ray panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Using the User-Defined panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Hiding and Freezing Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Using the Display Floater dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Using the Display panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Tutorial: Hidden toothbrushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Using Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Using the Layer Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Using the Layer List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Tutorial: Dividing a scene into layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Chapter 7: Cloning Objects and Creating Object Arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Cloning Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Using the Clone command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Using the Shift-clone method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Tutorial: Cloning dinosaurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Understanding Cloning Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Working with copies, instances, and references . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Tutorial: Creating instanced doughnuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Tutorial: Working with referenced apples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Mirroring Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Using the Mirror command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Tutorial: Mirroring a robot’s leg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Cloning over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Using the Snapshot command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Tutorial: Creating a tower of cubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Spacing Cloned Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Using the Spacing tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Tutorial: Stacking a row of dominoes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Creating Arrays of Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Linear arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Tutorial: Building a white picket fence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Circular arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Tutorial: Building a Ferris wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Spiral arrays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Tutorial: Building a spiral staircase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Working with a ring array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Tutorial: Using Ring Array to create a carousel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234