Inside 3d Studio Max: Animation

The cloth binding and fancy cover hologram give the impression that this is one computer book that might have some staying power. Contains volume two (modeling and materials), and volume three (animation), plus five bonus chapters: compositing, retouching, and post-processing with Photoshop; troubleshooting 3D Studio MAX under Windows NT; architectural rendering exterior drive-throughs and fly-bys; terraforming and landscape composition; and using Amapi with 3D Studio MAX. The CD-ROM includes exercise and example files, still and animated texture maps and materials, ThumbsPlus 3.0, and plug-in demos and shareware. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Kinetix 3D Studio Max, the 3-D modeling and animation package for Windows 95 and NT, has excellent features for creating models that really move realistically. So it's no wonder that the authors of a guide to 3D Studio MAX would divide it into separate volumes, or that one would be devoted solely to animation. Inside 3D Studio MAX Volume III: Animation gives users outstanding guidance in creating animations using transformation techniques, controllers, and expressions; modeling characters; creating mesh deformations; and creating characters that walk and have facial animations. You also learn how to animate your 3-D environment by adjusting cameras, lights, and atmospheres and by working with particle systems, physics, and such properties as elasticity, friction, and dampening. The last section of the book concentrates on VideoPost, the module for compositing and editing your work for final production, and on adding sound and special effects via built-in and plug-in tools. A CD-ROM includes exercise files, filters, sound files, and demo versions of plug-ins.