3D Studio Max R3 (Visual QuickStart Guide) - Softcover

Matossian, Michele

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201353504 ISBN 13: 9780201353501

Publisher: Peachpit Pr, 2001

Synopsis

Introduces the basic concepts and operations for building worlds both real and imagined with the 3D graphics program. The guide shows how to create, model, map, animate, and render objects with the illusion of moving in space. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

From the Back Cover

The market for skilled 3D artists is booming, and the tool-of-the-trade most in demand is 3D Studio MAX, from Kinetix (a subsidiary of Autodesk). This pricey but ubiquitous program is the choice of professional artists (working on Windows NT or 95) everywhere for creating 3D images for print and screen, plus animations for television, movies, and the Web. The addition of the dimension of depth makes 3D software exponentially more complex than normal graphics software, both conceptually and operationally. Factor in the additional dimension of time in the animation component and the complexities go through the roof. This book, like all books in Peachpit's Visual QuickStart series will be an excellent introduction to 3D Studio MAX 3 for beginners, incorporating lots of step-by-step instructions, with plenty of visual examples. The author is an experienced 3D Studio MAX teacher as well as an accomplished digital artist and her illustrations will be unusually appealing for a book on this subject.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

In nature, light flows like a luminous tide, revealing and concealing form. Reflection, refraction, radiation, and diffusion effects appear spontaneously. In the digital world, every effect of illumination has to becalculated. Rendering algorithms, normal alignments, G-buffers, and Z-buffers determine the display of light and shadow. Where calculation fails, the eye of the artist must compensate.

The best lighting effects are achieved by artists who make themselves students of nature. Artists who practice painting, photography, and cinematography develop sensitivity, awareness, and a practiced eye.

Working with light and shadow has very practical applications. For instance, suppose you create a model of an office building for a prospective client. The client will want to see what it will look like under different lighting conditions. How will the building cast shadows? How will shadows be cast upon it? At what angle will light enter the windows at different times of the day and year? This chapter outlines the light sourcesavailable in 3D Studio MAX and how tocontrol them.

Creating Lights
You can create five types of lights in 3D Studio MAX 3. As with cameras, the parameters for the different types of lights are nearly identical. By default, all lights are turned on when you create them. Shadows are turned off by default, except for sunlight system shadows.
Omni lights: The omni light is the most generic type of light. Its rays shine in all directions from a single point in space, like a lamp that does not have a shade (Figure 11.1).
Default lights: By default, 3D Studio MAX includes a single, dynamically positioned omnilight at the viewer positionin each shaded viewport. Or you can use two omni lights in any viewport. The brighter light, or key light, is positioned above and to the front of the origin. The dimmer light, or fill light, is positioned lower and to the right of the origin. These lights are invisible and unselectable until you add them to the scene.
Spotlights: Spotlights illuminate an area within a cone of projection, similar to a stage light. Spotlights, like cameras, come in two varieties. Target spotlights point at a target that you set. Free spotlights have no target, so they can easilybe maneuvered (Figure 11.2).
Directional lights: Directional lights have a cone or projection and light controls similar to spotlights. The difference is that directional lights illuminate an entire scene unidirectionally, as if the source is millions of miles away and the rays are traveling parallel to each other. Like spotlights, directional lights can either be targeted or free (Figure 11.3).
Sunlight System: This is a hybrid light source that combines a free directional light with a Compass object. The compass helps you orient the light to a specific direction in the scene. The orbital distance, time, and location settings give the sun altitude and place it in the sky at a particular time and geographic location.

Edition details

• Publisher: Peachpit Pr
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0201353504
• ISBN 13: 9780201353501
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 373