Edward's 3ds Max Tutorials

Edward Andrew

3D Animator and Special Video Effects
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Tutorials Overview

Hello there, I've been thinking about making 3ds Max tutorials on here for a while. Although I'm not sure how many people on here would really be interested in learning 3D Animation. This thread may be discontinued if there's a clear lack of response and interest in the topic. At the moment, while the thread is quiet I'll be posting each tutorial as a new post in this thread. Requests are welcome.

I've been using 3ds Max for over 5 years, around 4 hours each day which is probably quite typical for somebody pursuing a career in 3d such as myself and possibly anyone else that reads this tutorial. I run a 3ds Max tutorial YouTube channel, which is becoming more popular.

Anyhow, I thought I'd give this a go and decide to make a tutorial covering as much of 3ds Max as I can. My aim with these tutorials will be to take you from a complete beginner and develop both your knowledge on the software and 3D Animation/Modelling principles.

So allow me to start by explaining exactly what 3ds Max is and what you can do with it.

What is 3ds Max used for?

3ds Max is a 3D suite, meaning that it is one application with the facilities to accommodate for a large variety of tasks. Such as animation, texturing, modelling, UV mapping and now even simulating to some extent. 3ds Max is a leading application in creating CG elements for AAA Films and TV and even AAA Games.

Do I have to buy 3ds Max to learn?

If you're interested in learning 3ds Max, or infact any other Autodesk Software you can download it for free and get a 3 year educational license from the Autodesk Students website. Although if you plan on using it for commercial reasons then you'll probably have to buy it.

I use similar programs, will these tutorials help me?

Certainly, all the methods are the same, the programs are simply tools that allow us to create certain geometry in different ways.

An introduction to 3ds Max
So you've downloaded 3ds Max and installed it and it's all working. Great! Now we can start with the tutorials.

The first thing you may notice about 3ds Max is that the user interface seems a little daunting. But don't worry it will all be explained and you'll soon see the logic in it and start to understand it.



Prefer a video tutorial? You can find them on my YouTube Channel.

The User Interface Explained

The four windows you see are the viewports. This is obviously where you'll be working and selecting objects in 3ds Max.

On the right side of the screen we have the command panel, or where you'll be spending most of your time in 3ds Max. In this panel, you'll be creating primitive objects, editing them, selecting tools and adding modifiers to meshes, as well as lots of other things we'll go into later.

At the top we have the main toolbar, which is where you can select certain tools and filter your selections and change the axis you're working on.

At the bottom we have the trackbar, and all the animation playback and camera commands. You'll notice the magnifying glass in the bottom right which is the zoom tool.

We can scrub through the animation in the scene by moving the slider right and left. Although since we have no objects in the scene. We'll see nothing.

The file button from 3ds Max 2009 has been replaced in later versions of 3ds Max for the 3ds max logo, but don't worry it does the same thing. Here you can save your scene as well as import and export objects.

So now you've at least had a look at the user interface, let's take a look at making some objects in the next tutorial.
 
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