3D Studio Max

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3D Studio Max (sometimes called 3DS Max, 3dsm, or just Max) is a 3D modeler developed by Autodesk Media & Entertainment (formerly known as Discreet and Kinetix). It was developed as a successor to 3D Studio for DOS, but for the Win32 platform. Kinetix was later merged with Autodesk's latest acquisition, Discreet Logic. Currently, in its 8th version generation as of June 2006.

Contents

1 Overview
2 Modeling
3 Dynamics
4 Rendering
5 Features
6 Known Bugs (by version)
7 See also
8 External links

Overview

3ds Max is one of the most widely-used off the shelf 3D animation programs. It has strong modeling capabilities, a ubiquitous plugin architecture and a long heritage on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is mostly used by video game developers but can also be used for pre-rendered productions such as movies, special effects and architectural presentations.

In addition to its modeling and animation tools, the latest version of 3ds Max also features advanced shaders (such as ambient occlusion and subsurface scattering), dynamical simulation, particle systems, radiosity, normal map creation and rendering, global illumination, an intuitive and fully-customizable user interface, its own scripting language and much more. There is also a plethora of specialized plugins that can be bought separately, such as Brazil r/s and finalRender.

Earlier versions required a special copy prevention device (a dongle) to be plugged into the parallel port while the program was run. A software copy prevention method was later implemented instead. Registration involving personal information such as name, address and e-mail address is now required.

Modeling

Polygon modeling: Polygon modeling is more common with game design than any other modeling technique as the very specific control over individual polygons allows for extreme optimization. Also, it is relatively faster to calculate in realtime. Usually, the modeller begins with one of the 3ds max primitives, and using such tools as bevel, extrude, and polygon cut, adds detail to and refines the model. Versions 6 and up feature the Editable Poly object, which simplifies most mesh editing operations, and provides subdivision smoothing at customizable levels.
NURBS

A more advanced alternative to polygons, it gives a smoothed out surface that eliminates the straight edges of a polygon model.

Surface tool/Editable patch object: Surface tool was originally a 3rd party plugin, but Kinetix acquired and included this feature since version 3.0. The surface tool is for creating common 3ds max's splines, and then applying a modifier called "surface." This modifier makes a surface from every 3 or 4 vertices in a grid. This is often seen as an alternative to 'Mesh' or 'Nurbs' modeling, as it enables a user to interpolate curved sections with straight geometry (for example a hole through a box shape). Although the surface tool is a useful way to generate parametrically accurate geometry, it lacks the 'surface properties' found in the similar Edit Patch modifier, which enables a user to maintain the original parametric geometry whilst being able to adjust "smoothing groups" between faces.
Modeling with predefined primitives: This is a basic method, in which one models something using only boxes, spheres, cones, cylinders and other predefined objects from Standard Primitives or Extended Primitives. One may also apply boolean operations, including subtract, cut and connect. For example, one can make two spheres which will work as blobs that will connect with each other. This is called blob-mesh modeling, or meta-balls.

Dynamics

3ds max has traditionally come with several basic particle emitters. As of version 8, there are 6 basic particle emitters (not including Particle Flow) exhibiting specific behaviors. The traditional particle emitters are Spray, Snow, Blizzard, PArray, PCloud, and Super Spray.

Particle Flow is a sophisticated non-linear, event-driven particle system developed by Oleg Bayborodin as one of MAX's seven particle emitters. Unlike most particle systems available in today's 3D packages, Particle Flow allows the user to design the behavior of a particle based on a series of user-defined Events (Procedures) in a streamlined and intuitive GUI.

3ds max includes a physics engine, called reactor, originally created by Havok. reactor can simulate rigid bodies, soft bodies, cloth, gravity, and other forces. Like many physics engines, reactor uses a simplified convex hull, but can be customised to use all vertices, at a cost in processing time.

Rendering

Scanline rendering: Scanline Rendering is 3ds Max's default. Max's scanline renderer is fairly robust compared to many similar packages' out-of-the-box offerings (Lightwave's default renderer being one exception). Several advanced features have been piggy-backed onto the scanliner over the years, such as global illumination, radiosity and ray tracing.
mental ray: mental ray is a production quality renderer developed by [Mental Images]. mental ray is integrated into the later versions of MAX, and is a powerful rendering tool, with bucket rendering (similar to Maya’s Satellite Rendering) that distributes the rendering burden between several computers more efficiently. 3DS Max’s mental ray also comes with a lot of tools which allows a myriad of effects to be created with relative ease.
RenderMan: A 3rd-party connection tool to Renderman pipelines is also available for those that need to integrate Max into Renderman render farms.

Features

MAXScript: MAXScript is a built-in scripting language, and is used for a myriad of functions in MAX. Plugin modules can be created entirely in MAXscript.
Character Studio: Character studio was a plugin which since version 4 of Max is now integrated in 3D Studio Max helping user to animate virtual characters. The system works using a character rig or "Biped" which is pre-made and allows the user to adjust the rig to fit the character they will be animating. Dedicated curve editors and motion capture data import tools make Character Studio ideal for character animation. "Biped" objects have other useful features that automated the production of walk cycles and movement paths, as well as secondary motion.

Known Bugs (by version)

8.x File Link - Autocad files containing xrefs will loose material assignments on reload.

7.x

6.x

External links

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