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 getting 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 sharing 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