Fundamentals of 3D Studio Max 2009

Objectives

The aim of this course is to introduce the essential concepts and practical application of 3DS Max. The practical exercises will provide delegates with a broad grounding in how best to use the 3DS MAX features. There are also reviews and answer session to ensure understanding of the new concepts.


Pre-requisites:

General knowledge of 3D modeling concepts and familiarity with 2D and 3D drawing or modeling program. It is also assumed that this user will have a general knowledge of design concepts, together with some basic Windows operating system familiarity.


Course Includes:

A comprehensive set of reference notes covering course topics, follow-up telephone support and, for training on Transmedia premises, lunch and refreshments.


Course Outline


Overview


· Introduction to Interface
· Introduction to XYZ Editing
· Viewport configuration
· Merging and importing files


Inroduction to Modelling


· Creating 3D Standard Primitives
· Creating 3D Extended Primitives
· Creating and Extruding Splines


Inroduction to Modifying


· 2D Modelling and Spline Editing
· Move, Scale and Rotate Functions
· Modifying Vertices, Faces and Edges
· Using the Grid Helper
· Understanding the Copy, Instance and Reference Clone Options
· Using the Snap and 3D Snap options
· Working with mirror, Array and Align
· The Boolean function
· The Connect function
· Creating Lofted Objects


Introduction to Materials


· Working with the Materials Editor
· Assigning Materials to Objects
· Adjusting Self Illumination and Opacity






Introduction to Lighting


· Creating, Editing and Working with Standard Lights
· Creating, Editing and Working with Photometric Lights
· Creating and Editing Mental Ray Daylight Systems


Introduction to Cameras


· Creating and Editing Free Cameras
· Creating and Editing Target Cameras


Introduction to Animating


· Creating and modifying key frames
· Adjusting time span
· Introduction to F-Curves
· Walkthrough
· Flyround
· Animating materials
· Animating lights


Introduction to Rendering


· Adding backgrounds
· Rendering a scene
· Rendering an animation
· Rendering with Scanline Renderer & the Mental Ray Engine