Oxygen454 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Hey guys, First off thanks for all the support in this forum. I now have 3ds Max and I want to lean how to do 3D. My fiance also bought me the 3ds Max Bible which I HIGHLY recommend. Im reading all 1000 pages.... slowly. LOL My question is, can I make 3D people and animals (ieHorse) and make then move when animating? How much work is involved and what is the difficulty? Im up for a challenge but also will need some help (or a lot LOL) I also have Poser 7 but have no clue how to run it but looks really cool haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Yes, Max is a very good program for creating characters and animating them. Your Bible should give you lots of good information about how to do this. Don't expect results overnight though. Max is a very deep program with a steep learning curve. Just stick with it and don't get discouraged. The main thing is to just practice all the time. Model anything and everything. It's also helpful to purchase DVD training videos. Learning is very easy when you can actually watch someone walking you through the procedures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 great that is VERY good news! I would be totally lost otherwise. I was going to lock myself in my room and read every page over the next couple of weeks. Im a very hands on person tho, so maybe drawing and working with tutorials may be the better way to go? And reference the Max Bible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 There is a very good beginners training DVD set at Lynda.com The best character modeling, texturing, rigging and animation training I've ever seen is the "Eva Wild" series from 3D Total. It covers everything you need to know about building characters, from start to finish. It's a more advanced series though. I would recommend starting out with the Lynda.com series first to learn all the fundamentals. There are lots of other training DVD's that cover every aspect of 3DS Max. Just depends on what you want to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 $150 bucks ouch! LOL Will look into it though! You know how to do all of this? My biggest question other than how to make a model of a animal or hum and rendering,.... is again the animation. When you animate it, can it move its head and wink or smile... etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Yeah, the training DVD's are not cheap, but they are packed with lots of good information and it's the best way to get up to speed very quickly. As for your animation question, yes, you can do all of that. I generally don't do any animations though. I only do still images. So if you need help with animating your character, I probably won't be able to offer much assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 Cool, I dont think the animation will be a big problem or worry at this point anyways. Im watching the free Lynda.com video tutorials and its looking quite helpful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Oh, right, I forgot to mention that some of the intial videos on that site are free. Also, use Google to find many free tutorials for Max. I think there are probably more tutorials for Max online than any other program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 Well I got the Lynda's 3ds Max 9 Essential Training and am on section 5, mesh editing. Appaerntly the whole thing is 9 hours and I have already put around 4 hours in haha. This video is really well made and anyone can understand it. The Max bible will work well with this as well. Will keep you updated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigp Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 The bible is great for explaining how things work but doesnt actually say how to do it but its amazing what you can learn from this. A good site i found is tutorialized this has tutorials on MAX from modelling to animation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 25, 2008 Author Share Posted October 25, 2008 I have to agree craig. The Max Bible is loaded with info but for now Im going to start with the tutorials and then once I have an idea of whats going on, then I will hit the Max Bible. Im pumped to do 3D characters and animation! Specular levels and bump levels are prtty cool too... On a side note, I dint realize that Max crashes a lot and also makes files corrupt out of no where! So saving multiple files with the save as and the plus sign to the right does sound like a good thing to do! :wink: Oxy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Actually, yes, Max can become unstable and crash, but you can avoid most problems by resetting your Xform at regular intervals. When I was first starting out, Max used to crash all the time, but once I started paying attention and resetting regularly, I pretty much stopped having crashes. I do still get the occasional crash, but it's typically because I haven't reset in awhile. Also, saving multiple copies is a good idea because it allows you to go back to an earlier version if things aren't working the way you want. I usually end up with dozens of files by the time I finish a project. Then I just go back and delete the ones I don't want to keep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 26, 2008 Author Share Posted October 26, 2008 I learned through web design to make multiple copies so thats nothing different but I think I fell asleep through the explanation and reset info on the xform. what is that and how do you do this? Im at a friends computer so I cant reference the video tutorial. Oxy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 To reset an objects Xform, select the object and then go to the "Utilities" panel, (It's the button with the hammer on it), then click the "Reset Xform" button and then click the "Reset Selected" button. After resetting, you can convert the object back to an "Editable Poly" and continue working. HERE is an explanation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 27, 2008 Author Share Posted October 27, 2008 Thanks Cad, hey when I build this horse, what is all involved? Do I start with a biped? Or build my own bones? And whats the best skin to use? Oxy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cad64 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Biped? No, start from scratch. HERE is one of the best free tutorials that shows the procedure for creating a character. This tutorial is for creating a human character, but you can use the same procedure to create just about anything. Not sure what you mean by skin? You mean textures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 Ya sorry textures haha.... checking out that link. Thanks! I thought the biped would work well with its bone structure but then I would have to fit him to the texture. The tutorial from Lynda says you can make him into a horse and add a tail to him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 I just took my biped and added it to a horse mesh I have been working on. Then joined the biped to the mesh of the horse and he is almost ready to animate. Two problems are, the bipeds body doesn't completely touch the near outsides of the horses mesh body so there is tearing. And also I'm not sure why the Auto Key brings up a warning / error saying "Keys may not be set when in figure mode". Any ideas? Oxy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxygen454 Posted November 11, 2008 Author Share Posted November 11, 2008 **Update** I have been learning tuns on this program... hours actually.. I have to say Lynda.com is a great resource! I think you got me into this Cad64 lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.