Lab 1 : Intro 2

Objects Tab

The first tab is the Objects tab. It contains buttons that let you draw/create many of the often-used basic shapes among the large repetoire of pre-set shapes that 3D Studio Max contains, without having to find them in their usual sets and subsets in the regular areas. From left to right: Box, Sphere, Cylinder, Torus, Teapot (no, this is not a joke, it's really a teapot), Cone, GeoSphere, Tube, Pyramid, Plane, Hedra, Chamfer Box, Oil Tank, Chamfer Cylinder, Spindle, Gengon, RingWave, Torus Knot, Capsule, L-Extrusion, C-Extrusion, Prism, Point Surface Object (NURBS), CV Surface Object (NURBS), Quad Patch, Tri Patch, Bones IK Chain, Damper Dynamics, and Spring Dynamics.
These are many of the base objects that can be drawn into your scene and then animated and modified.

Shapes Tab

 

The Shapes tab deals with two-dimensional shapes, also called "splines", that are created or modified through connecting points to create outlines and planes. You can also create text, and extrude shapes or letters to move from two into three dimensions.

• Line: Draws a simple line between two points.
• Circle: Draws a point-delineated circle.
• Arc: Draws a point-delineated arc.
• NGon: Draws a polygon with "N" number of points and sides, set by the user.
• Text: Lets you enter text as spline shapes, customizing the font and size based on your system fonts.
• Section: Generates spline/point shapes based on a cross-section of another, three-dimensional object.
• Rectangle: Draws a point-delineated rectangle.
• Donut: Draws two concentric circles in a "donut" shape.
• Star: Similar to the Ngon, but drawn as a star of multiple points instead of a polygon.
• Helix: Creates a spiral/spring/helix.
• NURBS Point Curve: Creates a curve as a NURBS object, with curves modifiable by adjusting the vertices.
• NURBS CV Curve: Another variation of the above.

Compounds Tab

The compound tab takes two or more objects and merges them into a single compound object; the individual buttons control the different types of merges applied and how they affect the behavior of the compound. The buttons are only active when there are shapes that can be compounded in the scene; otherwise, they are "greyed out", as seen above.

• Morph: Can be used to morph one object into another over time.
• Conform: Conforms one shape to the contours of another, as if "wrapping" it around its surface.
• Shape Merge: Merges a mesh (3d) object with a shape (2d) object into a single compound shape.
• Terrain: Generates elevated terrain from splines arranged to mimic contour maps.
• Connect: Connects two or more objects seamlessly by joining them at vertices bordering open areas without plane fills.
• Boolean: Connects two objects by performing Boolean operations on them in various ways; more will be explained on this at a later time.
• Loft: Extrudes a two-dimensional shape to make it three-dimensional.

Lights & Cameras Tab

This tab gives you access to the tools to create various light or camera objects in your scene, and modify them.

• Target Spotlight: Casts a focused beam of light on the scene, directed by a "target". When you move or rotate it, it always turns to stay focused on its target.
• Free Spotlight: Focused beam of light; moving or rotating it moves the light in any direction with no anchor.
• Omni Light: True to its name, an "omnidirectional" light that throws light in all directions. Think of a light bulb without a shade.
• Directional Light: Casts parallel rays in a single direction.
• Target Directional Light: A directional light that pivots/focuses around a target, like the target spotlight.
• Sunlight System: Simulates the lighting and movement of a sun whose position adjusts by the orbit of your environment.
• Light Include/Exclude: Opens a dialog that lets you view the objects in your scene and select which lights do or do not affect them.
• Light Lister: Opens a dialog listing each light in the scene with various settings for each.
• Target Camera: A virtual camera that captures an area of the scene for rendering; can be moved or rotated. The target camera's view is focused by a target object. Moving or rotating the target camera will cause it to always tilt so that its focus remains on the target.
• Free Camera: Like the target camera, but when the free camera is tilted or rotated, its focus/view shifts with the motions, as it is not attached to a target.

Space Warps Tab

Space Warps Tab

The space warps found on the Space Warps tab let you warp and mold objects in various ways, either by twisting them physically according to set parameters or applying forces that affect their geometric composition through mathematical calculation of how the forces would deform the objects were they real. The space warps on the Space Warps tab are: Wave, Bend. Taper, Noise, Twist, Skew, Stretch, Bomb, PBomb, Ripple, Displace, Conform, Gravity, Wind, Motor, Push, Deflector, SDeflector, UDeflector, Path Follow, FFD(Box), and FFD(Cyl).
You'll notice that some of these are duplicates of buttons found on the Particles tab, because these forces can be used to affect particles or applied to other shapes.

Modifiers Tab

The Modifiers tab contains many of the commonly-used modifiers that are used to--you guessed it--modify an object. These can range from space warps such as the previous lesson to modifiers that smooth the surface of a polygon, or round its corners, or cause their materials to be mapped on in a different way--or many others. The modifiers on the Modifiers tab are: Bend, Taper, Skew, Twist, Stretch, Noise, Wave, Melt, Spherify, Ripple, FFD Box, FFD Cylinder, XForm, Flex, Morpher, Skin, Displace, Optimize, Smooth, Cap Holes, Linked XForm, Push, Vertex Paint, MeshSmooth, Volume Select, Mesh Select, Edit Mesh, Edit Patch, Edit Spline, Spline Select, UVW Map, Unwrap UVW, and Material ID.
When there are no objects in a scene to be modified, the buttons are greyed out, as above.

Modeling Tab

The Modeling tab is actually a bit of an abridged summary of several other tabs and toolsets: combining a selection of the most commonly-used sets of each tool type and the objects they're used on into a single tab, so that all of the most oft-needed tools are at your fingertips. The tools on the Modeling tab are: Line Shape, Circle Shape, Rectangle Shape, Edit Spline Modifier, Loft Compound Object, Extrude Modifier, Lathe Modifier, Bevel Modifier, Bevel Profile Modifier, CrossSection Modifier, Surface Modifier, Quad Patch Object, Edit Patch Modifier, Relax Modifier, Box Object, Cylinder Object, Sphere Object, Plane Object, Edit Mesh Modifier, Mesh Select Modifier, Volume Select Modifier, Face Extrude Modifier, Affect Region Modifier, Push Modifier, MeshSmooth Modifier, FFD Box Modifier, NURBS Point Curve, NURBS CV Curve, Point Surface (NURBS), CV Surface (NURBS), and the Isolate Tool.

Rendering Tab

Rendering Tab

On the Rendering Tab, you'll find all of the render tools we discussed on the top menu, plus buttons to open dialogs to further rendering settings or tools.

The tools on the Rendering tab are: Environments, Effects, Preview, RAM Player, Material/Map Browser, Material Editor, Render Scene, Quick Render, Render Last, and ActiveShade Floater .

That's all for now. In the next lesson, we'll cover the Create, Modify, Hierarchy, Motion, Display, and Utilities tool sets in the right-hand panels in 3D Studio Max, and start to use them to create objects. Until then, experiment with the tools explained in this lesson, and get more familiar with how they work and the effects of the differences between them.

Lab 1 : Intro to Interface

Main Tool Bar

For this lesson, let’s look at the tools displayed below the File menu, above the viewports. This toolbar contains many tools and settings required to manipulate your scene and control how various point-and-click tools work. The toolbar actually contains so many buttons that you have to click and drag the right edge to pull the remaining objects into view, creating a sort of sliding/scrolling toolset that you’ll soon get used to when working in various areas. In the next pages, we’ll go over the individual buttons. 

 

Undo, Redo, Linking, and Space Warps

• Undo: Undoes your last action.
• Redo: Redoes an undone action.
• Select and Link: Groups any number of selected objects together so that they can be acted on as a whole.
• Unlink Selection: Breaks selected objects away from their link group to once more act as individual objects.
• Bind to Space Warp: Click this button, and then click and drag from a renderable object to an object modifier called a “space warp” to bind the two together so that the space warp’s forces will affect the object. 

Selection Tools

Select Object: Selects clicked objects to make them active for editing.

Selection Region: Defines the shape of a click-drag-release selection region. It defaults to rectangular, but clicking on the small tick in the lower right corner of the button will expand it to allow you to select a circular region or a “fence” region outlined by your mouse selections.

Selection Filter: Dropdown menu that allows you to define which classes of objects are affected by your selections. Defaults to all, but can be set so that only mesh objects, or lights, or other specific objects are selected.

Select by Name: Opens a second dialogue with a list of all objects in your scene, allowing you to select them by name one at a time or in multiples

Moving, Rotating, Scaling, Manipulation, and Coordinate Systems

Select and Move: Allows you to move the object selected in any range of three-dimensional space.

Select and Rotate: Allows you to rotate the object selected in any range of three-dimensional space.

Select and Scale: Breaks down into three tools—Select and Uniform Scale, Select and Non-Uniform Scale, and Select and Squash. The first allows you to select an object and scale it larger and smaller in all dimensions; the second allows you to scale an object larger and smaller only in selected or unlocked dimensions. The third is a tool that you will rarely use; it “squashes” your shapes and can severely interfere with any modifiers applied.

Select and Manipulate: Allows you to select a shape and manipulate it in several ways.

Reference Coordinate System: Determines what coordinate planes are used when tools are choosing planes to work in; this can be World (universal), View (the selected viewport), and many others. Try experimenting with them to see the different effects that using the tools in different reference coordinate systems causes.

---7sk

Mirroring, Array, Snapshot, Spacing, and Alignment Tools

Mirror Selected Objects: Opens a separate dialogue that lets you “mirror” the selected object(s) along the X, Y, or Z axes, or along the XY, XZ, or YZ coordinate planes. They can be mirrored as originals, copies, instances (copies that reflect changes to the original) or references of the original. You can also mirror the IK (inverse-kinematics animation specifics) or bones (objects used to add structure to models for animation).

Array, Snapshot, and Spacing: Array lets you create an array of objects based on the current selection, with as many objects as you want with various settings for offsets, etc (available in a dialogue that opens when you select the tool.) Snapshot lets you create a clone of an object over time, taking “snapshots” or captures of an image at either a single frame or along an animated motion path. Spacing lets you distribute objects (based on settings in the Spacing dialogue) as clones, instances, or references along a path or just at set intervals, guaranteeing perfectly even spacing.

Alignment Tools: Breaks down into Align, Normal Align, Place Highlights, Align Camera, or Align to View (the latter opens a separate dialogue box to select a coordinate axis to align the View to.) These tools let you align your objects to your scene or other objects, align your highlights to your scene, align your camera to your scene, or align your scene to the viewports

Material Editor and Rendering Tools

Material Editor: Opens the Material Editor window, where you can edit individual materials (surfaces/textures applied to the surface of your modeled objects to create a texture, such as wood grain).

Render Scene: Renders a file in a specified format (image, video, image sequence, etc.) with the contents of the scene from the selected viewport or camera view. This can be a still image, or an animated sequence spanning specified frames. The “Render Scene” button creates the final product, and thus can take a long time as it calculates all effects to create each frame. Clicking the Render button also opens your Custom Parameters dialogue, where you can set the options that will affect your final render or your Quick Render.

Quick Render: Renders a faster version without full detail (using the current render production settings on the default of “Quick Render (Production)”). Also expands to Quick Render (Draft) and Quick Render (Active Shade). The former performs a quick render without displaying the Render Scene dialogue; the latter renders with selected ActiveShade parameters (such as the effects of changing lighting in a scene).

Render Type: Allows you to render only a portion of the scene, selected from the dropdown menue.

Render Last: Re-renders an exact copy of the last thing rendered.

Active Shade Floater: Clicking this displays an Active Shade rendering in its own window.

 

B : Making Shiny Glass Logo Tutorial

Introduction

Hi everybody.
In this tutorial we will see how can we design a shiny logo in 3ds Max. I used 3ds Max and VRay for this project.

Step 1

First open an empty project in Max. Under shapes click text button and create a text like the image below.

Step 2

In the modifier list find and click bevel modifier and set values like me.

Step 3

In geometry create a tube with values like in the image.

Step 4

In modifier list find edit poly and apply it for tube. Under edit poly select edge mode. Select an edge like the image below.

Step 5

Then click loop button to select whole edges on that line. In the end you have to select edges like in the image.

Step 6

Then apply it chamfer with 1. In modifier list select Turbo Smooth and set iteration to 2.

Step 7

In shapes create a star with values like in the image.

Step 8

Apply a Bevel for star and set values like in the image. Then create a plane and put it under the objects in the scene.

Step 9

Press "M" key to open material editor. In the material editor. Use the settings image below for every object in the scene. then apply materials to objects.

Step 10

Set render engine to VRay. Then set the settings like in the images and hit the render button

Also you can modify objects as you like. You can add some extra details and add more chamfers. In material editor you can play with values to find several nice results as you like. I used a HDRI for environment and reflections. You can easily find free HDRI images by typing "Free HDRI" to google.
Best Regards...
Alican Rusen

Final Result

thanks to mr rusen

Modeling Bowling Pins

This tutorial will go over how to quickly create a realistic bowling pin in 3dsmax .This tutorial does not explain on how to get the render achieved as shown above. Now let's start!


First, open up or reset 3dsmax. The first thing you are going to want to do is go the create, splines, line in the menu on the right. Then create the basic shape of a bowling pin. Try to make the spline as close as possible to my example:

Next, add a "lathe" modifyer to the spline. And set your parameters as shown below. (Make sure you set your direction to Y and your alignment to Max. Those settings are marked with red circles to help you out.):

Now your spline should look like a somewhat convincing model of a bowling pin so far Do a quick test render to see if you need to adjust any of the spline segments for the shape. Save your scene real quick as "bowling-pin-spline.max" and then convert your bowling pin to an editable poly. Here is my test render of what my bowling pin looks like so far. Your model should look similar:

Well it looks ok so far, but it's missing something. First, add a quick meshsmooth modifyer to the bowling pin model with Nurms selected with either 1 or 2 iterations (visually, you won't really see a difference at all so I recommend only adding one iteration.):

Now we can finally make it look more realistic with a nice and quick bowling pin texture. Below is an example bowling pin texture that I created in Photoshop. Just right-click on the image and save it in your maps folder located in your 3dsmax directory:

Then after saving the texture, go back in 3dsmax and open up the material editor. Select one of the free material slots and make sure the material type is set to standard. Go into the maps rollout and set the above bowling pin texture in the diffuse slot. You don't need to adjust any of the map settings because the texture should fit perfectly (if it doesn't for some reason, then just set the "V" offset a little bit.) This is how the material should look like:




Once you get that done, you will need to add a UVW Mapping modifyer to the bowling pin model. Set the mapping to "planar" so that it will look like a normal bowling pin:

And that's it! All you need to do is make another test render of the bowling pin and make sure it looks right. If not, then adjust some of the settings for the mapping. Here is the last test render: