Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
3ds Max is a very powerful 3D art and animation tool. It is used by professional
motion picture artists and animators to create many of the amazing 3D images,
animations, and scenes used in movies and video games.
The trick for you, the artist, is to create and present these models, animations, and
scenes seamlessly so the viewer does not realize he is viewing something scripted
and created on a computer.
The first step to starting with any program is understanding the program and its
interface. We are using 3ds Max as the 3D program for this topic, so now you'll
take a brief look at some of the menus, locations, and commands you will need to
use to create visually stunning and believable models and animations.
The first look at the 3ds Max interface can be a little overwhelming. The sheer num-
ber of menus and icons seems endless, and it would take volumes of topics to explain
every feature in the program. Don't worry right now about learning every feature.
The step-by-step instructions in this topic are designed to help you understand a few
of the features of the program that you need to create each project. As you work with
3ds Max, I hope you will become familiar with the features and come to love 3D
modeling as much as I have. See Figure 2.1 for a visual representation of where many
of the tools you will be using as you read this topic are located.
Here is a brief explanation of some of the features of each of the tools shown in
Figure 2.1.
Main menu bar.
This menu bar includes the following menus:
File.
A standard Windows menu with typical open, close, import, and
export functions.
Edit.
Another standard Windows menu that contains duplicates of many
of the main toolbar commands.
Group.
This menu includes commands for managing combined objects.
Views.
This menu includes commands for setting up and controlling the
viewports.
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