Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 Essentials

Learn Autodesk 3ds Max Quickly and Easily

This Autodesk Official Training Guide thoroughly covers the fundamentals of Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 and teaches you everything you need to become quickly productive with the software. By creating a chest of drawers, a bouncing ball, an action character, and other exercises, you'll learn the essentials of modeling, animating, texturing, and much more. Whether you're new to 3D or just brushing up on the basics, this is the fast and thorough grounding you need in 3ds Max.

Learn these Autodesk 3ds Max essentials—and more:

• Primitives, polygons, and primary modeling

• Animating objects, both simple and complex

• The basics of organic and character modeling

• Adding color, glow, texture, and other materials

• Bringing characters to life with Character Studio

• Basic lighting concepts and using 3ds Max lights

• Completing your projects with the right rendering

• Understanding mental ray and HDRI

Practice polygonal modeling

Learn to apply UV maps

This striking Essentials book features:

• Chapter-opening learning objectives

• Step-by-step tutorials

• Four-color screenshots and illustrations

• Essentials and Beyond—summaries and additional suggested exercises

• Downloadable exercise files

Randi L. Derakhshani teaches 3D animation at The Art Institute of California and has worked as a digital artist and technical director for games and movie projects with Gizmo Games, RJB Enterprises, and Sony.

Dariush Derakhshani is an award-winning visual effects supervisor, author, and educator. He has worked on movies such as The Fantastic Four and Pan's Labyrinth, the South Park TV series, and numerous commercials and music videos. He teaches 3D animation and is the author of all of Sybex's Introducing Maya books. Dariush and Randi are coauthors of all of Sybex's Introducing 3ds Max books.