Mastering 3D Studio MAX R3 [Paperback]

Alexander Bicalho (Author, Editor), Alex Montiero (Author), Catalina Woods (Author), Alex Monteiro (Author), Cat Woods (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2000 | Series: Mastering

3D Studio MAX is used to create special effects for films, television, advertisements and games. This book presents practical examples and exercises that teach novices and experienced users alike how to get the most from MAX. This text instructs about sculpting and texturing characters, putting them in motion, lighting the scene, and producing the final animation-for movies, games, television and even the Web. It also covers: understanding basic 3D concepts; familiarization with the MAX interface; using MAX modelling tools; applying keyframe animation, controllers and expressions in MAX; creating and refining materials; lighting and colouring scenes; rendering and optimizing animation; getting started with MAXScript; using MAXScript to build and animate scenes more easily; customizing the user interface; creating one's own plug-ins using MAXScript. The accompanying CD contains textures for use in one's own modelling projects, along with MAX plug-ins, a colour guide, and a range of sample animation files and images.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If mastering 3D Studio Max is your goal, Mastering 3D Studio Max R3 makes a solid cornerstone on which to build your library. While not the easiest book to use, it is--like the software--big, rich, and full of good information. It thoroughly discusses the foundation of the topic (basic 3-D concepts, basic Max concepts, the Max interface, modeling, lighting, rendering), and contains excellent chapters on materials, lighting, rendering, and compositing.

Part VI, "Using MaxScript," is the shining star; by itself, it's worth the cost of this massive tome. Spanning well over 200 pages, this section covers the basics of MaxScript, how to manipulate scenes with MaxScript, animating with MaxScript by using controllers and keyframes, and creating plug-in scripts. If you want to squeeze the most from MaxScript, you'll be in heaven with this section.

The book falls short in two areas, unfortunately. The first is that there are no color illustrations to enhance the text on lighting, materials, and rendering. The second is that there is little information on animation and virtually none on character animation. Of the 745 pages, approximately 65 discuss creating and tweaking animation in Max. If you plan on using Max for complex animation of any kind, this book won't work for you. --Mike Caputo

Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Sybex Inc (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782125611
• ISBN-13: 978-0782125610
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,416,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for beginners and intermediates, May 23, 2000

By 

D. Wetzel - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering 3D Studio MAX R3 (Paperback)

This book has a lot of information about 3D Studio Max R3 which would be fairly useful for beginners and intermediate users, but not so much for the advanced users. There were some examples in here which were new to me, but I really didn't get as much out of this book as I was hoping. Regardless, if you are just getting into 3DSMax this is still a good book to checkout.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not too Bad, October 5, 2000

By 

Chris Murray (Orlando, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering 3D Studio MAX R3 (Paperback)

As the author of this book, I understand and share the frustration of missing files. Those that purchase the book can contact me directly and I will immeadiately forward a CD with any missing files to them, at no extra charge. (My contact info is in the book.)

But the great thing about the book is that the wealth of information in the book not reliant on the files on the CD. As an experienced 3D Studio Max Trainer for Discreet, I am exposed to hundreds of new users a year. They all have common threads of knowledge they are seeking. I have tried to summarize all those bits of knowledge in this book.

Of course no book is perfect, and experience on this program is never found in a book. But I believe this book serves its purpose of raising the level of knowledge about 3D Studio in a different way from other Max books. And those that read it are looking to learn something new, not be told how to do something different. Those people will benefit and be better Max artists because of it. Of course, I am biased because its my book. If you do purchase my book, I encourage constructive comments and feed back. - Good Reading.. CM

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Missing file problem is a bigger issue than I thought..., April 2, 2001

By 

Darren Blondin (Montague, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering 3D Studio MAX R3 (Paperback)

The author writes:

As the author of this book, I understand and share the frustration of missing files. Those that purchase the book can contact me directly and I will immeadiately forward a CD with any missing files to them, at no extra charge. (My contact info is in the book.)

I followed his instructions and contacted him with my mailing address and got this reply:

Darren,

Thanks for purchasing the book. If you send me your snail mail address I will have a new CD forwarded to you.

Regards,

Chris Murray

Well two weeks had gone by and there was no sign of the missing files. I sent a follow up message, and another one and another one and another one. Five in fact. Each time the author told me how busy he was and that he would get to it soon. That was six months ago and he never did send the files. I like the book a lot but even after pleading with him repeatedly for months on end, he wouldn't live up to the promise of providing the files. Many of the projects in the book can't be completed without the files so put that into consideration when purchasing. Good luck friends...

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