Dariush Derakhshani - Introducing Autodesk 3ds Max 2011

Acquisitions Editor: Mariann Barsolo

Development Editor: Lisa Bishop

Technical Editors: Jon McFarland ; Nick Poznick

Production Editor: Dassi Zeidel

Editorial Manager: Pete Gaughan

Production Manager: Tim Tate

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley

Vice President and Publisher: Neil Edde

Book Designer: Caryl Gorska

Compositor: Kate Kaminski, Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Proofreader: Candace English

Indexer: Ted Laux

Project Coordinator, Cover: Lynsey Stanford

Cover Designer: Ryan Sneed

Cover Image: Randi Derakhshani; Dariush Derakhshani; Federico Esparza; Nick Poznick; Ghazaleh Pourkazemi; Jesse Doyle

Copyright 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-91615-5

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 Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (877) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Derakhshani, Dariush.

Introducing Autodesk 3ds max 2011 / Dariush Derakhshani, Randi L. Munn.1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-0-470-91615-5 (pbk)

ISBN-10: 0-470-91615-X (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-470-94422-6 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-0-470-94424-0 (ebk)

ISBN: 978-0-470-94423-3 (ebk)

1. Computer animation. 2. 3ds max (Computer file) 3. Three-dimensional display systems. I. Munn, Randi. II. Title.

TR897.7.D463 2010

006.696dc22

2010031877

TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Autodesk and 3ds Max are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 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

Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Introducing Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 . This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, were still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles, were working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. Id be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how were doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at . Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

Best regards,

Neil Edde

Vice President and Publisher

Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley

To Max Henry

Acknowledgments

We are thrilled to be updating Introducing 3ds Max for a third edition in honor of version 2011. Education is an all-important goal in life and should always be approached with eagerness and earnestness. We would like to show appreciation to the 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 them are our own students from The Art Institute of CaliforniaLos Angeles. Thanks to the AI faculty for their help in gathering the inspiring work for the color insert and for their support in writing this book.

Having a good computer system is important with this type of work; so a special thank you goes to HP for keeping us on the cutting edge of workstation hardware. Special thanks go to Mariann Barsolo, Lisa Bishop, Dassi Zeidel, and Candace English, our editors at Wiley who have been professional, courteous, and ever patient. Our appreciation also goes to technical editors Jon McFarland and Nick Poznick, who worked hard to make sure this book is of the utmost quality, as well as contributed elements to the writing of a few chapters. We could not have done this revision without their help.

In addition, tremendous gratitude again goes to Jon McFarland for his fantastic contributions to the previous editions of this book, some of which have been updated over to this edition. Finally, thanks to Dariushs mother and brother for their love and support, not to mention the life-saving babysitting services.

About the Authors

Randi Lorene Derakhshani is a staff instructor with The Art Institute of CaliforniaLos Angeles. She began working with computer graphics in 1992, and 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 sharing her wisdom with young talent and watching them develop at The Art Institute. 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 boy makes Randi a pretty busy lady.