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3DS-MAX v4 - T1 - Creating Solids |
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 Learning MAX & VIZ |
Stephen Peter, S.Peter@unsw.edu.au |
| Introduction |
Image from model by Sook Hwai LEE. |
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| This tutorial is an adaption of my 3D Studio MAX R2 Introductory Tutorial | This workshop will introduce 3D Studio MAX and then explain how to create some simple solids. I am only assuming that you have some understanding of basic computing concepts. |
| I'll also include notes and commentary in paragraphs like this one (as well as most of the images). |
By the end of the workshop you will be able to create and animate a scene in MAX. Start by Logging-on, the Username and Password with be given to you by the workshop coordinator. If the Username used is being shared by groups of people then you should create a new folder for your own use. |
| The Interface |
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Firstly, we'll have a very quick introduction to MAX's interface. |
| Start MAX by clicking on the Windows "Start" button (in the bottom left corner of the computer's display) then select "Programs", "CAD & Design", "3D Studio MAX 4" and finally "3D Studio MAX". If these instructions prove incorrect, then search! | |
| Once MAX has started, look at the Command Panel (on the right)... | |
| The Create section of the Command Panel is open with the Geometry (sphere) icon / button IN. The buttons for the Standard Primitives are shown in the Object Type "rollout" (a "rollout" is a collection of commands or options, it has a button at the top with a minus "-" on the left if the rollout is open or alternatively a plus "+" if its closed). | |
| Click on the Utilities command panel (the hammer) - this totally changes everything below... | |
Click on the Create command panel again, then
click on the Cameras 
icon (it's one of the icons below 'Create'). Once again the bit below
is totally changed - though this time there isn't much there! |
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| Note that the Command Panel can be "docked" - so that the viewport doesn't continue under it - by right-clicking on the toolbar's title bar and selecting Dock and then (I'd suggest) Right. | Click on the Geometry icon again, then click on Standard Primitives (a drop-down list will be displayed), choose Extended Primitives. This will change the contents of the Object Type rollout. |
| Go back to the Standard Primitives, then click on the minus "-" on the left of the Object Type button. This should shrink the rollout, hiding its contents. Click on the plus "+" to expand the rollout. | |
| This, I'm sure, seems messy and really complicated at present. Don't worry! Once you start to learn what all the various things are for, it'll start to become simple and straightforward! | |
| You will note that the "work area" is divided into four sections (viewports): Top, Front, Left & Perspective. | |
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In the application's bottom-right corner are a number of icons that
are (mostly) used to control viewport views. Click on the icon in the
bottom-right corner, the Min/Max Toggle
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This command causes the application to swap between viewing a single viewport
and viewing all the viewports. |
| Notice that the perspective viewport has a white line around it, this indicates that it is the active viewport. | To the left of the command panel are the four viewports. In the top-left is the Top (plan) view. To the right is the Front (X-Z) view, under the Front is the Perspective view. Finally, in the bottom-left is the Left (Y-Z) view. |
| To change the active viewport,
right-click in the viewport.
To complicate matters, MAX "changes" the labelled coordinate system according to which view is active... |
When you draw on any of the three 2D views the object will be 'based' on the "0 height". In other words, if you draw in the top view the X and Y coordinates are visible and the Z coordinate is 0. If you draw in the Front view the X and Z coordinates are visible and the Y coordinate is 0. |
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Before I explain more, it's worth noting that (like most CAD related applications) VIZ uses standard Cartesian coordinates, with the X-Y plane being the ground. |
| I'll explain more about the interface as we continue. | |
| Create a Box |
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When creating the box, use the Perspective Viewport... If you don't like the box's colour, click on the colour in the "Name and Color" rollout and then select another colour. |
Click on the Box button. Notice that a Parameters rollout is displayed (at the bottom of the Command Panel). Press the mouse button down to enter the first corner point, then "drag" the cursor to enter the other corner point of the base (release the mouse button). Move the mouse up - the box height will dynamically change - press the mouse button when you're happy with the result! Create a few more boxes... |
| Zooming about the place... |
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| The Zoom icon is the one in the top-left of the group. |
Before we go any further, it's worth understanding how to change what the view(s) are showing. Click on the Zoom icon, then "drag" the cursor UP - the objects in that view will appear to get bigger. Drag DOWN to zoom out (which reduces the apparent size of the objects in the view). |
| Investigate the various zooming options... | The second zoom command (Zoom All) operates like Zoom except it zooms all the (non camera) viewports at once. "Zoom Extents" changes the current view to display all the objects in the scene. "Zoom Extents All" changes all the (non camera) view to display all the objects. "Region Zoom" is used to zoom in on a selected area of the view (2D views only). "Field of View" zooms perspective and camera views. "Pan" changes the view centre. "Arc Rotate" changes the viewing angle for the view. Finally, the "Min/Max Toggle" changes between seeing four viewports and one viewport. |
| You should be aware that the undo command does not undo zooming... | |
| Create a Sphere |
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| If the Parameters rollout is not fully visible, move the cursor over the edge of the Command Panel - the cursor should change into a hand - and drag up! | Click on the Sphere button, then click to set the centre and then "drag" to enter the sphere. When the object has just been created it's possible to change the object's parameters. Change the radius (in the Parameters rollout), for example round it off to the nearest 10. |
| Investigate the other Standard Primitives - they're all pretty straightforward! | |
| Simple Editing |
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 To select more than one object - hold the Ctrl key down and click on the (next) object. |
Click on the Select and Move icon (it's located on the toolbar above the viewport), then click on one of the objects you've created - the cursor should change into a shape like the symbol on the icon. You can now drag the object to a new position! |
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Click on the Select and Rotate icon (beside the Move icon), then click on a box. Rotate is rather strange! Instead of having the mouse movement equal rotation. Movement up and down (the screen) equates to rotation! |
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Select and Scale is very similar to Rotate, click on the object(s) and then drag up or down to enlarge or reduce the object size. |
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To delete a shape, pick the Select Object icon (located on the top toolbar, to the left of Move) then simply click on the shape (to select it) and finally press the Delete key. |
| Changing the Perspective |
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While there's nothing wrong with the default perspective view, I'll
let you know how to change it - in-case you get bored  . |
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 If you drag the cursor when it is outside the circle the view is tilted! |
Click on the Arc Rotate icon (near the bottom-right of the application's window). Move the cursor inside the green circle hold the left mouse button down and drag it around... but inside the green circle. |
| Rendering... |
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| Select on the Rendering - Render..., the dialog box that's displayed is a bit intimidating at first! Click on "640x480" in the Output Size group and click on the Render button at the bottom. | |
| MAX will display a new window and render the active viewport (hopefully the perspective view!), the background should be black and the lighting will be the two default lights. Click on the "X" to dismiss the window and also close the Render dialog box. | |
| Other Shapes |
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Click on the Shapes Icon (beside the Geometry Icon), then select the Rectangle button and draw a rectangle! This is a 2D shape, but it can be edited... |
 I know this isn't Earth Shattering, but be patient!! |
Click on the Modify command panel, then click on the Modifier List. This will display a large selection of cool effects that can be applied to objects. Select Extrude which is in the Mesh Editing section. Set the Amount value (in the Parameters Rollout) to 20. |
When you select Edit
Spline, the box should disappear and the rectangle should be redrawn. |
In the section beneath the Modifier List (the Modifier Stack), select "Rectangle" and then select Edit Spline from the Modifiers List (its in the Patch/Spline Editing section) click on the Vertex icon to allow vertex editing. |
When you right-click on the vertex, a large popup menu is displayed which should have two items "ticked" : Move and Bezier Corner. Bezier is above Bezier Corner! |
Click on the Select and Move icon then right-click on one of the corners and then select Bezier from the menu, then drag one of the green squares and watch what happens... |
| If you can't see the green squares when editing Bezier corners, try setting the vertex to Bezier and then (if necessary) move the vertex a bit and reset the vertex to Bezier Corner... | Repeat this process on one of the other corners - except use "Bezier Corner" instead of Bezier. When you're happy with the resulting shape, go back to the Modifier Stack and change Edit Spline back to Extrude. |
| Deformations |
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| Use "Box" to create the box! Start in the top-view make it (about) 1 x 1 grid in the top-view and 10 "grid" units high... | There are a number of interesting commands in the Modify command panel, in this section I'm going to introduce "Bend"... |
| Create a tall box with comparatively small width and depth. | |
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Select the Modify icon(if necessary select the box), click on the Modifier Stack, select Bend. Move the mouse down to the Parameters roll-out and then press (and hold down) the left mouse button over the up arrow of the Angle entry area. With the button still down, move the mouse up and down, watch the effect on the box. Let go of the mouse button, you should see the box is now "leaning over" but it is not "curving over". |
| To make the box "curve over", click on the drop-down list in the Modifier Stack and change the value from Bend to Box, then change the Height Segs value from 1 to 10 - the higher the value the smoother the curve. | |
| Simple Animation |
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| Now you will create a simple walk-through (or around) with a camera. Due to time constraints, you won't actually create an animation file, but you could have. | |
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Select the Create icon, then select Camera, finally click on Target. In the Top view, click near one of the corners and "drag" towards the centre. The camera is located at the first position and the camera-target is located with the "drag". Once you've located the camera you may want to raise it (use "Select and Move" in the Left or Front viewports). |
| While doing this, it may be necessary to Zoom and/or Pan the view. | Once you are happy with the initial camera position, click on the Animate button (on the bottom toolbar); the animation timeline should change colour. On the left of the timeline is a button labelled "0/100" drag that button until it reads "10/100". Now change the scene, for example move the camera. Move the timeline button to "20/100"; this time move the Camera-Target. Move the timeline to "30/100" and move the camera; then move one of the objects in the camera's view.. |
| Continue moving the timeline button and make alterations to the scence
as you wish. Some suggested alterations include: |
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| When setting up the final key-frame (100/100), try to make sure that the camera is back in its original position - where it was at "0/100". | |
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When you are ready to have a look at your masterpiece... |
Click on Animate to stop setting-up the animation. Click on the perspective viewport to make it the current view right-click on "perspective" and select Views - Camera01. It would probably be a good idea to hit the Min-Max icon to maximise the Perspective viewport. |
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Finally, click on the Play button which is located to the right of the Animate button. |
| When you are finished watching the animation, simply hit the Stop button (which is located where the play button was). | |
| Create an Animation File |
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| 10 minutes is very quick! Once you start creating more substantial scenes the animation time will become substantially longer! If a single render takes one minute, then you can assume that a 100 fram animation is likely to take 100 minutes!! | If there is time, you may want to create an animation file! Select Rendering - Render, the "Render Scene" dialog box will be displayed. In the first section (Time Output), select "Active Time Segment". In the fourth section (Render Output), select "Files..." (the "Render Output File" dialog box will be displayed) change the "Save as type" to "AVI File (*.avi)", type a name in the "File name" text field, change the path if you wish, and select "Save". The "Video Compression" dialog box will be displayed, set the Compression Quality to about 75, and select "OK". Back in the "Render Scene" dialog box, select "Render". Depending on the settings and the number of frames, it will take about 10 minutes to create the animation file. |
| Wrap up |
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| That's the end of the tutorial! | |
| Before you leave the Computer Lab, please remember to |
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| Last Update : 8 March 2002 Major Revision : 27 February 2002 SEARCH . FBE SITEMAP |
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Disclaimer
. Webmasters Page Contact : Stephen Peter Email : S.Peter@unsw.edu.au |