3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [15]
I'd also like to thank Chris Murdock for taking on the technical editing in a crunched schedule. Additional thanks go out to Jenny Swisher and her co-workers in the Media Development department for chasing down the required permissions and for compiling the resources for the DVD, and finally, to the entire staff at Wiley who helped me on this journey. Of particular note are the cover designers who have been delightfully stuck on reptiles and amphibians for the covers to the last several editions. I'm starting to refer to the titles by their cover creature; that is, “hand me the frog book next to the lizard book.”
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 Rob Hoffman, Brittany Bonhomme, and the entire Autodesk team for their timely support and help. 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 Michael Valentine at Zygote Media and Tom Avikigos at Digimation for help in securing a new set of Viewpoint models. Additional thanks go out to David Mathis, Sue Blackman, 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.
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Part I: Getting Started with 3ds Max
IN THIS PART
Quick Start
Laying Siege to the Castle Wall
Chapter 1
Exploring the Max Interface
Chapter 2
Controlling and Configuring the Viewports
Chapter 3
Working with Files, Importing, and Exporting
Chapter 4
Changing Interface Units and Setting Preferences
Quick Start: Laying Siege to the Castle Wall
IN THIS CHAPTER
Planning the production
Gathering models
Applying materials
Adding a Sun & Sky system
Animating a CAT rig
Rendering the final animation
When you first got your hands on 3ds Max, you were probably focused on one goal—creating cool 3D images and animations. I know that many of you bought Max to make money, claim a tax write-off, earn a way to Hollywood, or impress your girlfriend or boyfriend, but I'll just ignore those reasons for now. The goal is to create something cool.
If you've perused this book's Table of Contents or thumbed through its many pages, you've seen sections on modeling, materials, dynamics, and other topics. But if you're like me, you don't want to wade through tons of material before you have something to show off to Mom. (Actually, if you're like me, you opened straight to the special effects section, in which case you won't be reading this.)
The purpose of this Quick Start is to give you a taste of what Max can do. This soaring view of the software from 20,000 feet is intended to show you the big picture before you delve into the details. It exposes you to some of the most common features and, I hope, whets your appetite for the more in-depth chapters to follow.
This part of the book is intended for those new to the software. If you're an experienced user, then your mom no doubt is already impressed with your work, so you can happily advance to whichever chapter appeals to you. (Forgive me for catering to the newbie, but we were all beginners