97612ffirs.qxd 2/27/07 8:33 AM Page iii Introducing 3ds Max® 9 3D FOR BEGINNERS DARIUSH DERAKHSHANI | RANDI MUNN WITH JON McFARLAND WILEY PUBLISHING, INC. 97612ffirs.qxd 2/27/07 8:33 AM Page i Introducing 3ds Max® 9 97612ffirs.qxd 2/27/07 8:33 AM Page ii 97612ffirs.qxd 2/27/07 8:33 AM Page iii Introducing 3ds Max® 9 3D FOR BEGINNERS DARIUSH DERAKHSHANI | RANDI MUNN WITH JON McFARLAND WILEY PUBLISHING, INC. 97612ffirs.qxd 2/27/07 8:33 AM Page iv Acquisitions Editor: Mariann Barsolo Development Editor: Stephanie Barton Technical Editor: Mark Gerhard Production Editor: Rachel Meyers Copy Editor: Kathy Carlyle Production Manager: Tim Tate Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley Vice President and Executive Publisher: Joseph B. Wikert Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde Media Project Supervisor: Laura Atkinson Media Development Specialist: Kate Jenkins Media Quality Assurance: Kit Malone Book Designer: Caryl Gorska Compositor: Kate Kaminski, Happenstance Type-O-Rama Proofreader: Nancy Riddiough Indexer: Jack Lewis Anniversary Logo Design: Richard Pacifico Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed Cover Images: Dariush Derakhshani and Jon McFarland; Dan Savage, Dan Figueroa, and “Crude Awakenings” from The Art Institute of California, Los Angeles. Used with permission Copyright © 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-0-4700-9761-8 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4355, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. 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Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 97612ffirs.qxd 2/27/07 8:33 AM Page v To Max Henry Acknowledgments We are thrilled to be bringing the successful Introducing 3ds Max format to the powerful Autodesk 3ds Max audience. Education is an all-important goal in life and should always be approached with eagerness and earnestness. We would like to thank our teachers who inspired us; you can always remember the teachers who touched your life, and to them we say thanks. We would also like to thank all of our students, who taught us a lot during the course of our many combined academic years. Equally, we would like to extend many thanks to the student artists who contributed to this book, many of whom are our own students from The Art Institute of California at Los Angeles. Thanks to the AI faculty for their help in gathering the inspiring work for the color insert and for their sup- port in writing this book. ■ Having a good computer system is important with this type of work, so a special thank you goes to Dell, for keeping us on the cutting edge of work- station hardware. Special thanks go to Mariann Barsolo, Rachel Meyers, Stephanie Barton, and Kathy Carlyle, our editors at Wiley who have been professional, courteous, and ever patient. Our appreciation also goes to technical editor Mark Gerhard, who worked hard to make sure this book is of the utmost quality. ■ Tremendous gratitude goes to Jon McFarland for his fantastic contributions to the book; we would not have been able to finish the book without his help. Finally, thanks to our mother and brother for their love and support, not to mention the life-saving babysitting services. 97612ffirs.qxd 2/27/07 8:33 AM Page vi About the Authors Dariush Derakhshani is a Creative Director with Radium, a visual effects boutique, and a writer and educator in Los Angeles, California. Dariush used Autodesk’s AutoCAD software in his architectural days and migrated to using 3D programs when his firm’s principal architects needed to show their clients design work on the com- puter. Dariush started using Alias PowerAnimator version 6 when he enrolled in USC Film School’s Animation program, and he has been using Alias animation software for the past 11 years. He received an M.F.A. in Film, Video, and Computer Animation from the USC Film School in 1997. He also holds a B.A. in Architecture and Theatre from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He worked at a New Jersey architectural firm before moving to Los Angeles for film school and he has worked on feature films, music videos, and countless commercials as a 3D animator, as a CG supervisor, and sometimes as a compos- itor. Dariush also serves as the editor in chief of HDRI3d, a professional computer graph- ics (CG) magazine from DMG Publishing. Randi Lorene Munn is a staff instructor with The Art Institute of California at Los Angeles. She began working with computer graphics in 1992, and she was hired by her instructor to work at Sony Pictures Imageworks, where she developed her skills with 3ds Max and Shake, among many other programs. A teacher since 1999, Randi enjoys shar- ing her wisdom with young talent and watching them develop at The Art Institute, as well as at the UCLA extension. Currently, she teaches a wide range of classes from Autodesk 3ds Max to compositing with Apple Shake and Adobe After Effects. Juggling her teaching activities with caring for a little baby boy makes Randi a pretty busy lady. Jon McFarland manages the CAD department for a national owner/ developer/manager of retail, office, and residential mixed-use properties in Cleveland, Ohio. He creates and supervises the creation of architectural drawings, 3D mock-ups, and 3D animations using AutoCAD, 3ds Max, Photoshop, and an array of additional programs and applications. Jon also teaches computer animation and AutoCAD at the Virginia Marti College of Art and Design in Lakewood, Ohio. In addition to teaching, he has been an author or contributing author of several books, including Master Visually 3ds Max 8 and Mastering Autodesk VIZ 2007. He has created instructor content and has been the technical editor for several titles. 97612ffirs.qxd 2/27/07 8:33 AM Page vii CONTENTS AT A GLANCE Introduction ■ xii Chapter 1 ■ Basic Concepts 1 Chapter 2 ■ Your First Max Animation 31 Chapter 3 ■ The 3ds Max Interface 61 Chapter 4 ■ Modeling in 3ds Max: Part I 105 Chapter 5 ■ Modeling in 3ds Max: Part II 179 Chapter 6 ■ Organic Poly Modeling 225 Chapter 7 ■ Materials and Mapping 275 Chapter 8 ■ Introduction to Animation 325 Chapter 9 ■ Character Studio and IK Animation 365 Chapter 10 ■ 3ds Max Lighting 405 Chapter 11 ■ 3ds Max Rendering 445 Chapter 12 ■ Particles and Dynamics