Any Decent Books on 3DSMax 2009?

[Guest pfunkmusik]

I got my copy of 3DSMax today and I am looking for some decent books to help me get started. I know I can't churn out a jet fighter tomorrow, but I'd like to get started with some buildings and such, just to get some practice.

 

pfunk

[+Fubar512]

Look in our downloads section for Mustang's video tutorials on model building in 3Dmax.

[Guest pfunkmusik]

Thanks!

 

pfunk

[+bobrock]

From personal experience I suggest you to go through all the tutorials that come with 3d studio. They'll help you a lot in understanding the basics of the software and 3d modeling in general. Then on the web you'll find tons of beginner to advanced tutorials.

Check the Autodesk forums or sites like http://www.3dtotal.com/ or http://www.the3dstudio.com

[Guest pfunkmusik]

From personal experience I suggest you to go through all the tutorials that come with 3d studio. They'll help you a lot in understanding the basics of the software and 3d modeling in general. Then on the web you'll find tons of beginner to advanced tutorials.

Check the Autodesk forums or sites like http://www.3dtotal.com/ or http://www.the3dstudio.com

 

Hey, thanks for the resources, guy!

 

pfunk

[+GrinchWSLG]

Look in our downloads section for Mustang's video tutorials on model building in 3Dmax.

 

While certain tips can be gleaned from Mustang's tutorials, his methods aren't very good. In fact the only tutorial of his I ever go back to recall some things are when I dumbly forget how to set up animations. For the most part I'd avoid those tutorials though.

 

A far more effective modelling tutorial IMO would be Julhelm's unfinished F-101 Tutorial

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=23309&hl=

[Guest pfunkmusik]

While certain tips can be gleaned from Mustang's tutorials, his methods aren't very good. In fact the only tutorial of his I ever go back to recall some things are when I dumbly forget how to set up animations. For the most part I'd avoid those tutorials though.

 

A far more effective modelling tutorial IMO would be Julhelm's unfinished F-101 Tutorial

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=23309&hl=

 

I'm having some problems getting orientation down correctly. On my 2D map, I have the back and front of the aircraft oriented correctly, but left and right are backwards.

 

pfunk

[Shaolin]

Look at the coordinate system on the lower left in each view - it helps a lot to understand the alignments!

(OK, i am used to work with coordinate systems - with many of them...)

[Guest pfunkmusik]

Here, take a look.

 

 

See how the front and back are oriented correctly, but the left and right are opposite?

 

pfunk

Edited March 20, 2009 by pfunkmusik

[Guest pfunkmusik]

Is there any way to move "Front" 180 degrees?

 

pfunk

[Shaolin]

In TW-sims the "forward"-axis is the y-axis. The alignment of your pictures in the top and left view are aligned towards the negative y-direction (looking backwards)! Take a close look at the coordinate systems! They are right-handed systems (easy to visualize - hold thumb, index finger and middle finger in a 90° angle to each other, the thumb represents the direction of the x-axis, the index finger the y and the middle finger the z...).

[Guest pfunkmusik]

In TW-sims the "forward"-axis is the y-axis. The alignment of your pictures in the top and left view are aligned towards the negative y-direction (looking backwards)! Take a close look at the coordinate systems! They are right-handed systems (easy to visualize - hold thumb, index finger and middle finger in a 90° angle to each other, the thumb represents the direction of the x-axis, the index finger the y and the middle finger the z...).

 

Okay, so rotate the top and left views 180 degrees in the opposite direction...that will make the right wing now the left wing. Will the game know which one's correct? Or is my bitmap images that need to be altered?

 

pfunk

[Shaolin]

It wouldn't help to rotate the views - you have to rotate the bitmaps!

[+Julhelm]

If you create a plane and map your image to it, you can simply rotate 180dgs with angle snap on to fix it, or you can add an unwrap uvw modifier to it and flip the uv's from there to get the same result.

 

As for books, I can recommend Andrew Gahan's "3ds Max Modeling for Games" ISBN 978-0-240-81061-4. It comes with a DVD and the author is a DID veteran who has worked on games like EF2000 and TAW. I'd recommend it because it takes you from modelling simple props to building a complete fps-type character model from concept art.

 

I really wouldn't use Mustang's tutorials at all.

[Guest pfunkmusik]

If you create a plane and map your image to it, you can simply rotate 180dgs with angle snap on to fix it, or you can add an unwrap uvw modifier to it and flip the uv's from there to get the same result.

 

As for books, I can recommend Andrew Gahan's "3ds Max Modeling for Games" ISBN 978-0-240-81061-4. It comes with a DVD and the author is a DID veteran who has worked on games like EF2000 and TAW. I'd recommend it because it takes you from modelling simple props to building a complete fps-type character model from concept art.

 

I really wouldn't use Mustang's tutorials at all.

 

I'm beginning to see that.

 

That's pretty much the best book I've seen so far. Ordered it from Amazon.

 

pfunk

[+Julhelm]

I'd seriously recommend checking out the tutorials over at 3dtotal.com and especially do a couple of the character-oriented ones.