Acknowledgments 1
Introduction 3
About This Book 3
Target Readers 3
Doing the Lessons 4
System Requirements 5
Terminology 6
Presets 8
Exclusions 8
Other Sources 9
What Is on the CD-ROM 9
A Little Advice 9
A Small Digression 10
Project I A Lunar Expedition 11
Lesson 1 The Script 13
Lesson 2 Spaceship Modeling 17
Spaceship Geometry Creation 18
Material Creation and Assignment 33
Lesson 3 Modeling the Lunar Module and Rover 54
Living Area Modeling 56
Propulsion Module Modeling 65
Modeling and Adjusting the Landing Props 74
Material Creation and Assignment 92
Lunar Rover Modeling 102
Lesson 4 Modeling and Animating an Astronaut 107
Astronaut Modeling 107
Mapping Coordinates 120
Skeleton Creation and Adjustment 129
Linking the Skeleton with the Model 144
Character Animation 156
Final Adjustment of the Astronaut 164
Lesson 5 Modeling Space and Animating the Flight of the Spaceship 167
Modeling Space 168
Spaceship Flight Animation 172
Camera Tracking 177
Creating and Assigning Materials and Effects 179
Final Assembly of the Scene 194
Lesson 6 Modeling and Animating the Landing on the Moon 196
Approach of the Lunar Module to the Moon 196
Landing on the Moon 206
Lesson 7 Animating the Astronaut and Lunar Rover 240
Animating the Astronaut 240
Animating the Motion of the Rover 251
Lesson 8 Rendering the Scene and Assembling the Movie 257
Rendering Parameters 257
Batch Rendering 269
Assembling the Movie Using the Video Post Module 273
Project II A Living Room 275
Lesson 9 Modeling the Living Room 277
Room Modeling 277
Modeling the Window Frames and Door 292
Modeling Soft Furniture 294
Curtain Modeling 301
Assembling the Scene 304
Lesson 10 Daylight Adjustment 312
Adjusting Daylight without Using the Global Illumination System 312
Adjusting Daylight Using the Global Illumination System 316
Artificial Lighting 329
Lesson 11 Global Lighting Materials 331
Additional Lessons 349
Lesson 12 Navigation in 3ds max Viewports, Object Manipulations, and Special Features 351
Customizing the Viewport Layout 351
Selecting the View in the Viewport 354
Moving the Viewport Display 355
Rotating the Views in the Viewports 356
Zooming Viewport Views 356
Additional Navigation Commands 357
Selecting Objects 357
Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects 358
Working with Numeric Parameters 361
Manipulators 362
Lesson 13 Coordinates, Transform Centers, Alignment, and Snaps 364
Coordinate Systems 364
Transform Centers 368
Alignment 370
Snaps 373
Lesson 14 Texture Creation 375
Transparent Textures with Vector Graphics Editors 375
Transparent Textures Using Layer Support 377
Seamless Tiling Textures 379
Spherical Textures 381
Animated Texture Loops 384
Lesson 15 Modeling a Car Body Using a Sketch 386
Preparing Projections 386
Two Methods of Using a Sketch 389
Modeling the Car Body 393
Creating Materials 398
Editing the Texture Mapping Coordinates 401
Lesson 16 Modeling a Human Head 405
Lesson 17 Modeling Lightning and an Electric Discharge 413
Modeling Lightning 413
Modeling an Electric Discharge 420
Lesson 18 Modeling a Soccer Ball 422
Lesson 19 Using 3ds max with Other Autodesk and Discreet Packages 425
Discreet Combustion 425
Autodesk VIZ 428
Discreet Plasma 429
Discreet Gmax 430
Lesson 20 3ds max and Landscape Generators 432
Corel Bryce 5 and E-on Vue D'Esprit 4 432
3D Nature World Construction Set 5 436
Digital Element Animatek World Builder 3 438
Lesson 21 Useful Add-Ons 439
Mesh Tools 440
Domelight 441
Combustion Stuff 443
Painter Modifier 446
SimCloth 446
Unwrap Object Texture 448
f-Edge 449
Surface Blur 451
Internet Resources for Scripts and Plug-Ins 452
Appendixes 453
Appendix A Brief 3D Graphics Glossary 455
General Concepts 455
Modeling 456
Materials 458
Animation 459
Rendering 459
Appendix B Main Keyboard Shortcuts 460
Appendix C Internet Resources 467
Appendix D About the Companion CD-ROM 468
System Requirements 468
Index 469
