The Autodesk 3ds Max 2021: A Detailed Guide to Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, and Rendering, 3rd Edition book is perfect for both beginners and intermediate users of 3ds Max and those moving from other software to 3ds Max. This brilliant guide takes you step-by-step through the whole process of modeling, texturing, UV mapping, lighting, and rendering. You will learn important concepts and techniques about 3ds Max which you can utilize to create your 3ds Max projects. This book also covers the Arnold renderer.
Book Code: PDX020P, ISBN: 979-8656132152
Using a structured and pragmatic approach, this guide begins with the basics of modeling, then builds on this knowledge using practical examples to enhance your modeling, texturing, lighting, and rendering skills. Each unit builds on the knowledge gained in the previous unit, showing you all the essentials of 3ds Max 2021. As you go from hands-on exercise to hands-on exercise, you’ll develop a strong arsenal of skills that combined will form a complete end to end process to create high quality renders using 3ds Max 2021.
This book shares tips, tricks, notes, and cautions throughout, which will help you become a better 3ds Max artist and you will be able to speed up your workflow. This book is aimed to be a solid teaching resource for learning 3ds Max. It avoids any jargon and explains concepts and techniques in an easy-to-understand manner. The first page of every unit summarizes the topics that will be covered in the unit. Hands-on exercises in this book instruct users how things can be done in 3ds Max step-by-step.
Practicing is one of the best ways to improve skills. This book contains practice activities which you are highly encouraged to complete and gain confidence for real-world projects. By completing these activities, you will be able to master the powerful capabilities of 3ds Max. By the time you’re done, you’ll be ready to model, texture, and render any scene in 3ds Max.
If you buy this book, you’ll also get access to all 3ds Max files, texture files, and any other resource used in the book. You are free to use these resources in your own projects personal or commercial. These working files allow you to follow along with the author throughout the units.
What are the key features of the Autodesk 3ds Max 2021: A Detailed Guide to Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, and Rendering book?
- Covers 3ds Max’s user interface, navigation, tools, functions, and commands.
- Explains the polygon, subdivision, and spline modeling techniques.
- Covers all modifiers.
- Covers UV mapping.
- Explains how to manage external design data.
- Covers material editors.
- Explains what is Arnold and how it is different from other renderers.
- Covers Arnold lights and light filters.
- Covers Arnold shaders, materials, and maps.
- Covers the motion blur and depth-of-field effects.
- Covers AOVs and Arnold render settings.
- Cover the Physical material.
- Detailed coverage of tools and features.
- Features 57 hands-on exercises–complete with before and after files.
- Features 44 practice activities to test the knowledge gained.
- Additional guidance is provided in the form of tips, notes, and cautions.
- Important terms are in boldface so that you never miss them.
- The content under “What just happened?” heading explains the working of the instructions.
- The content under “What next?” heading tells you about the procedure you will follow after completing a step(s).
- Tech support from the author.
- Access to each exercise’s initial and final states along with the resources used in hands-on exercises.
- Quiz to assess knowledge.
- Bonus hands-on exercises.
- Includes a PDF file that contains the color images of the screenshots/illustrations used in the textbook. These color images will help you in the learning process. This PDF file is included with the resources.
Who this book is for?
- Beginners and intermediate users of 3ds Max
- Digital artists
- Motion graphics artists
- Indie game developers
- And anyone who wants to learn 3ds Max
What are the prerequisites?
- Decent familiarity with computers
- Before you start this book, you should have 3ds Max 2021 installed on your system
- You should have the desire to learn
- Willingness to be awesome
What you will learn?
- Polygon, subdivision, and spline modeling techniques
- Texturing, lighting, and rendering techniques
- Edit geometry using modifiers
- Speedup your workflow
- Create cool looking renders
- Create shading networks using Arnold shaders and maps, and Physical material
- Work with Arnold lights
- Create the motion blur and depth-of-field effects
- Render AOVs
- Create cool looking renders using Arnold
How Autodesk 3ds Max 2021: A Detailed Guide to Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, and Rendering book is structured?
This book is divided into the following units:
Unit 1: Introduction to 3ds Max -I, introduces the 3ds Max interface as well as the tools that allow you to transform objects in the viewport.
Unit 2: Introduction to 3ds Max -II, covers the tools and procedures that will help you immensely during the modeling process. You will know about various explorers as well as various precision tools that 3ds Max offers.
Unit 3: Geometric Primitives and Architectural Objects, explains the Standard and Extended primitives and how you can use them to create some basic models. This unit also covers AEC objects.
Unit 4: Polygon Modeling, introduces you to the polygon modeling tools, concepts, and techniques. This chapter talks about polygons components, selection tools, polygons structure tools, and modeling objects.
Unit 5: Graphite Modeling Tools, describes the tools available in the Ribbon interface and how you can use them to improve your modeling workflow.
Unit 6: Spline Modeling, introduces you to the spline modeling tools, concepts, and techniques.
Unit 7: Modifiers, walks you through the various modifiers available in 3ds Max that you can use to sculpt or edit the objects without changing its base structure.
Unit 8: External Design Data, explains in ways that you can use the external data with 3ds Max in your design and visualization workflow.
Unit 9: Bonus Hands-on Exercises, contains bonus hands-on exercises.
Unit 10: Material Editors, introduces you to Compact Material Editor and Slate Material Editor.
Unit 11: Physical Material, covers the Physical material and its usage.
Unit 12: Introduction to Arnold, introduces you to the Arnold renderer. You will also learn about the sampling and ray depth settings.
Unit 13: Arnold Lights, introduces you to Arnold lights, light filters, Fog shader, and Atmospheric Volume shader. You will learn about volumetric effects in Arnold.
Unit 14: Arnold Shaders and Materials, explains Arnold materials and shaders.
Unit 15: Arnold Maps, explains the Bump, Color, Conversion, Environment, Math, Shading State, Surface, Texture, User Data, Utility, Volume, and Cryptomatte maps.
Unit 16: Cameras, explains the motion blur and depth-of-field camera effects.
Unit 17: Arnold Render Settings, introduces you to the AOVs in Arnold. You will also learn to create custom AOVs using the AOV write nodes.
Is the book available in other languages?
Not yet, if you are interested in translating this book, contact us.
Is this book is available in the digital format?
Yes, see “Purchase Options” at the end of this page.
Can I reuse the 3ds Max files provided by you?
Absolutely, you are free to modify and use the files.
Are you going to make the Autodesk 3ds Max 2021: A Detailed Guide to Modeling, Texturing, Lighting, and Rendering book available in any other format?
It was always our plan to make a decent content of the book publicly available in HTML format, but we haven’t made that decision yet. If you feel strongly about this option, or book being available in any other format, let us know.
Still have questions?
No problem, contact us, we are more than ready to provide answers to your questions.
Purchase Options
- Individual Orders
- College Bookstores: Contact us directly and get up to a 30% discount on bulk orders.
- High Schools: High schools can now purchase textbooks directly from Padexi Academy by contacting us.
- Students: Our textbooks for course use are generally available through your college bookstore.
