3DMAX Basics

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School of Architecture and Urban Design

University of Kansas

3dStudio Max/ Viz

Lesson One: Getting Started

Today, we will be learning how to navigate the 3dMax and 3dViz interface. The two programsare very similar, as far as application to architectural projects are concerned.

First, double-click on the desktop shortcut for either program. This will initialize the 3d

interface. The interface may look a little intimidating, but it is actually fairly easy to navigate.The interface looks like the image below:

Copyright 2005. University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Design. All rights reserved.

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There are several different ways to perform the same command in 3dstudio. We will review

some of the most efficient ways to get around in the interface. To begin, go to the far right of theinterface, known as the command panels (see above diagram).

These six panels are responsible for the creation, modification, and system tools that make up themajority of static 3dstudio work. Click once on the arrow pointing to a star; the far left tab on the

command panels. This is the Create menu.

There are several different ways to perform the same command in 3dstudio. We will reviewsome of the most efficient ways to get around in the interface. To begin, go to the far right of the

interface, known as the command panels (see above diagram). These six panels are responsible

for the creation, modification, and system tools that make up the majority of static 3dstudiowork. Click once on the arrow pointing to a star; the far left tab on the command panels. This is

the Create menu.




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The Create menu is also available on the menu bar at the top of the interface; the commandpanels are, however, much faster and easier to access. There are seven categories of objects and

systems that can be created using 3dstudio; today, though, we will only concern ourselves with

the first two:

Create Object and Create Shape

There are an almost infinite number of combinations of shapes that can be created with 3dstudio,

as can be seen by accessing the drop-down menu of the Create Object command panel. Standard

primitives, extended primitives, complex objects, etc. are all different categories of objects that

either create forms or modify existing forms. We will concern ourselves solely with the standardprimitives today.

Begin by clicking once on the Create Object command panel, you will see a number of buttonswith box, cylinder, tube, etc. inside of them. Click once on the box button, then right-click once

in the top viewport. The top viewport will be highlighted by a yellow outline. This is now youractive viewport.




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To create your box, begin by left-clicking in the top viewport, holding the mouse button, and

dragging. A square will appear in the top viewport, and this indicates that you are setting the

square area that will be covered by the base of the box.

Once you have approximately the desired area that you wish to cover, release the left mousebutton. Now that the base area is set, you must adjust the height of the box. Notice on thecommand panel that as you move the cursor up or down in the interface, there will be a value

next to the word height. This value will increase or decrease according to how much you move

your cursor. You will also see two other values, length and width, and their respective values.

These values are called parameters. After you have the approximate desired height, left-clickonce more. This will finish creation of the box.

After you have created your box, the parameters may be adjusted to more exact specifications.

The box should be selected, meaning its boundary lines will be white. If it is not, select by

clicking once on any boundary line. Then left-click on the Modify command panel, which is arainbow enclosed in a dashed box. The Modify tab is the next tab to the right of the Create tab.




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Once the Modify panel is active, you will see the height, width, and length parameters displayedonce again. These parameters can be modified either by highlighting the existing values and

entering new values or using the spinners, which are the up and down arrows located to the right

of the values.

Now well learn how to clone an object. To clone something in the same position, simply holdthe shift key and left-click once on the object. Another way to clone an object is to right click onthe object. You will then get a dialogue box for cloning. There are three options of cloning:

Instance, Reference, and Copy. The difference between the three will be discussed later, for now,

pick instance. This will ensure that any commands applied to either box singly will apply to both

boxes. Hit the ok button. The clone is now highlighted in your active viewport.

Now we will learn how to move an object an exact amount in space. Directly under the

Animation menu in the top menu bar, there is a cross with arrows on the ends. This is the selectand move button.




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Right-click this button, and you will see a dialogue box appear that says Move Transform Typein. In the left set of values, under absolute: world, enter 0 for X, 0 for Y, and 0 for Z. Do this by

highlighting the current values and entering zero(0). Your cloned box will now be moved so that

its center is located at the origin. You may select your original box by clicking on any of itsboundary lines, and you can use the Move Transform Type In to move it to wherever you desire.

The Move Transform Type In dialogue box is one of the most useful tools for architectural

modeling because it allows strict and precise control for all placements of structural elements andplanar elements such as walls, floor slabs and other surfaces.

This concludes lesson one. Remember, all shapes can be manipulated in the same way that thebox above was, and you might want to begin experimenting with the extended primitives as well

to further familiarize yourself with parameters and spinners.

The extended primitives can be found under the dropdown that should currently say Standard

Primatives in the Create command panel.

Lesson Two: Modifying Objects and Editing Shapes

A. Modifiers

Last lesson, we used parameter values to construct three-dimensional objects in space, namely

the box. All of the other standard and extended primitives can be manipulated in manners similar

to that of the box. Today, we will be exploring how more easily edit these solids. There areseveral different commands that can be used to modify an object. We will begin by using the

object modifiers.

To begin, select any object in your scene (a box will let you see the effects fairly clearly). The

first modifier we will work with will be the bend modifier.




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Left-click on the Modify tab on the Command panel selector (the same tab used to access theparameter rollouts when modifying the box parameters).

The tab contains a picture of a rainbow in blue.

There is a drop-down menu immediately below the Command Panel tabs that reads modifier list.

If you click on the down arrow next to this dropdown menu, the list of modifiers will be

displayed.

You can scroll down either by using the mouse wheel or by clicking on the scroll bar on the sideof the Modifier menu.

Select bend from the list, then left-click on the spinner next to the angle rollout.

You will see the box begin to bend, but its sides will remain straight while an orange outline

(called a transform gizmo) bends in a curve.

To match the edges of the box to the curve of the gizmo, it is necessary to increase the number of

height segments that your box is composed of. These segment parameters are located below the

window that has the object name (box) and the modifiers that are added to the object (currentlyjust bend). They are also below the length, width and height parameters, and are listed as segs.

Increase the height segs to 16, and you will see the sides of the box bend to match the gizmo.

Set the other segment parameters to 16 as well, then apply a twist modifier to the box.

Set the angle of twist, and you will see a Frank Gehry shape materialize before your eyes.

This situation is called a stacked modifier, and will have different effects depending on the orderthat you apply the modifiers.

Continue to try modifiers on different primitives with different numbers of subdivisions to createany unlimited number of spatial combinations.

Box (1 height seg, Box(16 height segs, Box(16 L, W,

Bend modifier) Bend Modifier) and H segs,

Stacked BendAnd Twist

Modifiers)




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B. Editable Meshes, Polys, and Patches

The editing of shapes allows removal of faces, modification of one specific piece of the shape, orediting of edges and vertices. Any shape can be converted into any one of these editable forms,

be careful, though; too many editable shapes in a scene takes up a lot of memory and could causeMax to crash unexpectedly.

There are five types of mesh sub-object selection. They are Vertex, Edge, Face, Polygon, and

Element. Today, however, we will only concern ourselves with the first four and how they can

be used to manipulate your shapes.

First, create a shape. It doesnt really matter what you choose, so long as it is either a standard orextended primitive. Then, right-click in the active viewport to access your floater menu. At the

very bottom of the lower-right quadrant, there is an option that says CONVERT TO: When

highlighted, this menu option gives you the choice of converting your shape into a mesh, a poly,a patch, or a NURBS surface. NURBS are highly advanced curved surfaces used usually for

modeling aerodynamic objects such as motorcycle fairings or aircraft flight surfaces. Their

complexity is usually not required to describe an architectural surface.




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Convert your box into an Editable Mesh, then select the sub object level vertex and observe thesmall blue dots that connect the polygon faces of the mesh object.

Select some of the vertices, then experiment with moving them, deleting them, scaling them, and

rotating them.




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Then select a different sub-object parameter, such as polygon. Then try the transforms at thislevel.

The effects may be slightly different, so notice what effect the editing has on the shape and then

try to incorporate these subtleties into your model building.




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Modify menu showing different sub-object paths.

C. Introductory Rendering

Rendering is the process by which you can produce high quality images of your digital model.Rendering takes into account all of the environmental attributes that your scene has and applies

them to the distinct visual feel of your renderings. Light sources, shadows, fog, backgrounds; all

serve to make your images more distinctly stylistic.

The rendering button is the teapot in the upper right hand corner of the interface.

Left-click on this button, and you will see the Render dialogue box. What we will concern

ourselves with today is the resolution of a final image and the environment that renders behindyour model.

Resolution is a term for the number of pixels per inch that are displayed in a raster or bitmap

image. The higher the resolution, the more defined the changes of tone in the image. To see anexample of this, set render resolution to 320x240. The image will render at a one to one ratio

(meaning that the image appears real size on the screen). If you zoom in, you will be able to see

the pixilation on the edges. On the other hand, if the image is rendered at 800x600, the finalrender will be much larger, hence will be clearer if displayed at its size than if a 320x240

rendering is blown up to the size of an 800x600.

Also, by changing the resolution, you can develop almost any rectangular ratio of your viewing

frame that you want. If your building is much wider than it is tall, set your width pixels at a

multiple of your height pixels (height 1000, width 5000). On the other hand, if you are renderinga skyscraper, you might want to reverse it (height 5000, width 1000).




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To set an environment background, press 8. Your environment controls will be displayed.

Background is displayed first, you can either set a specific color by using the color swatch or youcan set a background map, such as a sky or a starry night.




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To set a background map, left-click the button that says None. A dialogue box will come up

with many options, select bitmap. Then you will be able to browse your file for a specific bitmap

or JPEG file which will be your background.




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This concludes lesson two. In the upcoming lessons, you will learn how to more accurately

model your designs using plans and sections, and you will be able to add more realistic effectsusing lighting, camera angles, and materials.




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Lesson Three: Transferring from Two Dimensions to Three Dimensions

In the previous two lessons, we have learned how to create and edit shapes, how to set up arendering and a background, and a few terms for various commands within the 3dMax interface.

Now we will begin taking the previous information and applying it to architectural design.

There are two ways to represent an architectural space: through drawing and through modeling.

Drawings are more useful for the construction applications of architectural concepts, whereas

models are useful for the presentation of an idea, so that a client may see the totality of the

building. However, throughout the design process, the two modes of representation are used incoordination to arrive at a final built environment.Sketching is very helpful to map spatial ideas,

and Max can make use of these sketches to make models relatively easily.

To begin, we will load a viewport background in our plan view viewport. To do this, left-click the Views menu option on the top menu bar.

Go down to Viewport Background, and then left-click again. This brings up the ViewportBackground dialogue box.

There is a button that says FILES..., left-click it and you will get an OPEN dialogue box.

From this point, you can load any file to be displayed in the Plan view viewport.

Open a file to be displayed. There are then options to either Match Bitmap or Match theviewport.

If you need the precise size and proportions of your drawings to remain intact, thenMatch Bitmap.

If you are just making a study model, though, you should probably just match theViewport.

Once you decide how you want your image displayed, hit the OK button and you will seeyour image displayed in the plan view viewport. Now you can set up boxes as columns,trace with a spline and extrude it, or construct various editable shapes for more complex

formal variations.

By using Photoshop to import an image from a scan, you can get scale drawings toappear full size in Photoshop, then, if you paint or draw grid lines on your scale

drawings, you will be able to use a scaled version of your drawing to provide for a correct

scale model.

You will need to adjust your home grid lines by going to the menu option Customize,then selecting Grid and Snap Settings. This will allow you to make your grid subdivisions




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match the grid on your scale drawings, and will allow for a nearly-perfect transfer fromthe drawn to the modeled product.

This concludes the Two to Three dimension lesson. Next lesson, we will work on placingmaterials, lights, and effects so as to realistically convey the feel of your model.

Lesson Four: Material Editing

A very useful tool contained in 3dsMax is the Material Editor. This feature allows a model to be

rendered as it would actually appear in reality by using a combination of assigned materials andrendering effects.

Materials

Fortunately for architects, 3dsMax comes with a prepackaged set of architectural materials.

These include wood finishes, masonry finishes, ornamental metals, and stone finishes, as well asglazing. The material information can be personally edited as well, but we will work today only

with the prepackaged set that is included with the program.

Begin by opening a saved file that you have created. The saved file should still be modeled in theoriginal colors that were assigned when creating the objects. Select a single object, then press M.

The material editor dialogue box will then appear. It should display a series of grey spheres that

represent the default BLINN material.

BLINN is an ideal diffuse material, meaning it has no reflectivity to begin with, andhence will render the fastest.

Below the material spheres, or swatches, there is a horizontal icon bar beginning on theleft with a blue sphere with an arrow pointing towards it. This is the GET MATERIAL

icon. Left-click on this icon, and the Material/Map browser dialogue box will appear.

On the middle left of this dialogue box, there are radio buttons under text that saysBROWSE FROMChoose the radio button next to MATERIAL LIBRARY, then go

down to the FILE subsection on the lower left and left-click on the Open button.

This will give you the Open Material Library dialogue box. The files contained within arethe pre-made architectural materials divided into subcategories.

By double-clicking one of the subcategories, you will return to the Material/Mapbrowser, only now, you will see a variety of choices.

Click on one of the BLINN swatches on the Material editor,




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then double-click on the material that you wish to use from the Material/Map browserlist. The material will then appear in the map browser, and you can then left-click on the

icon next to the GET MATERIAL icon.

The ASSIGN MATERIAL TO SELECTION icon is the icon with a blue sphere with an

arrow pointing from the sphere to a cube. Now you have a material assigned to yourselected object. But were not done yet.

UVW Mapping

Materials are applied to objects by a process called parameterization. This is the process by

which a flat image, called a map, is transferred onto a shape which may not be flat. Initially, theMaterial maps are a certain number of square pixels, so when they are applied to an object, they

retain the same proportions as the original map. This may present scale problems that will make

your rendered images look fake, as if they (wink, wink) were produced digitally. This is whereUVW Mapping comes in.

Since glass and metals are fairly uniform surfaces with little deviation in pattern, they will

usually not require a UVW map or tiling. Masonry surfaces, stone surfaces, and concrete panels,however, must be scaled so that the irregularities in the surface appear to be proportional to the

size of the spaces. This is most easily done through the Material Editor.




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Open the Material Editor dialogue box by pressing M and click the GET MATERIALicon.

Then, as before, click the Material Library radio button under BROWSE and then clickthe

Open button under FILE. This will display your material subcategories again.




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Double-click on the masonry subcategory, then scroll down until you see theBrick.Modular.Common material.

Double-click on this name, and the material will be displayed among your swatches.

Select the material by clicking on the swatch,

then double-click on the swatch. This will show you a larger swatch which will make theeffects of the UVW tiling more visible.

Further down from the icon bar in the Material Editor dialogue box, you will see dark grayhorizontal bars with text saying Physical Qualities, Special Effects, etc. Under the Physical

Qualities subset, there is an option that says DIFFUSE MAP: and next to it is a box with a

spinner.

Next to that is a box with Brick.Common.Modular.jpg inside it.

Click this box, and you will be able to then edit the UVW parameters of the map itself tomake a proportional material. The U and V parameters are the only ones shown on the

left side under the dark gray subset COORDINATES. In the boxes with spinners under

the word TILING, there will be values of 1 and 1 for U and V respectively.

Highlight these values, then input 3 and 3 for U and V respectively. You will see in yourlarge swatch that your bricks become smaller and there are more of them. This will affect

the rendered size of the bricks as well.

Assign the brick material to an object in your scene, then render it with a small pixel size.

Then do some arithmetic using the over all size of your wall versus the number of bricksto see if the bricks are the correct size. It may take more than one rendering, but be

patient.

In the end, the UVW mapping accounts for much of your rendered images realism. Besure, if you want to keep the original maps proportions the same, that you set the U andV values so that they are equal to each other.

This concludes the lesson on material editing. There is much more that is possible with materials,

such as making your own, setting different levels of glossiness and transparency, and even

changing the amount of light an object puts off, but for the time being, this will suffice formaking accurate, photorealistic images. In the next lesson, we will discuss setting up cameras

and lighting so as to set up realistic interior and exterior environments.




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Lesson Five: Cameras and Lights

One of the most exciting features about 3dsMax is the ability for the user to define viewpoints

and to set up illumination. This allows for more true-to-life images and environments.

CamerasSetting up a camera must be done with careful attention in all of your isometric viewports (top

and two sides).

First, select the Create command panel tab.

Under the command panel tabs, there is another row of icons.

These are the objects that can be created, including geometry and shapes, which we haveworked with before.

Click on the icon with a camera on it, the CREATE CAMERA icon.

There are two types of cameras: TARGET and FREE cameras. TARGET cameras allow the user

to set the point of focus of the camera, whereas FREE cameras can only be swiveled by using therotate transform. I have found that TARGET cameras are usually more useful for architectural

applications than FREE cameras, because you may want just the slightest bit of adjustment and

more control.

To create your TARGET camera, click the TARGET button under the Object Typesubset, then right-click in your top viewport.

Then left-click and hold on the side of your model that you want to be away from theview of the camera.

Then drag your cursor until the camera is on the side of the model that you wantdisplayed in the image and release the left mouse button. Depending upon which

viewport the camera is created in, it will be aligned with one of the major planes (xy, yz,or xz) and so will have an x, y, or z coordinate of zero.

The camera behaves as with any other object, except for the target, which could be considered a

separate object when using transforms such as scale, rotate and move. When the camera is

selected and the target is not, the move transform will only move the camera.

To observe the effects of moving the camera or target, right-click in your Perspectiveviewport, then type C. This switches to the view your camera sees.

To toggle back to perspective view, type P.




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When you are in camera view, however, any movement or rotation causes the viewport to bemoved or rotated real-time.

Cameras on Max have many additional features as well. Once you create a camera, you canmodify the settings under the Modify command panel settings. For today, we will go over two of

the simpler modifications that can be used to adjust the frame of your final image.

The lens of the camera adjusts the viewing angle of your image. There are a series of Stock

Lenses that range from 15mm to 200mm. Just remember, the lower the number of mms, thegreater your angle of view will be. The angle of view and the lens mms can be adjusted by

spinners as well, seen above the stock lenses subset in the Modify command panel.

The other modifier that you can use that is very useful for architectural applications is the

Clipping Planes option, which is farther down in the Modify command panel.

Left-click in the Clip Manually box,

and then set near clip at 50 and far clip at 100 to begin with.

You will see red lines in your isometric viewports. These are the clipping planes, andthey determine how much of the objects will be contained within your image. The objectsand shapes contained within the two red boundaries will be displayed in your camera

viewport. The clipping planes are useful for constructing sections and plans with

materials rendered to surfaces.

Lights

Light is perhaps the most complicated subject to deal with when it comes to Max. The effects oflighting are only really visible in the final rendering, so to adjust lights to your specifications,

many renderings must be done to see the effects of changes made to lights.

There are quite a few different types of lights. The TARGET and FREE versions of spotlightsand direct lights are comparable to the cameras as far as transforms are concerned. However,

spotlights increase their cone as distance from source increases, and direct lights are simply

spotlights with no increase in cone size, i.e. the light is projected in a cylinder. Omni lighting

sends light rays in all directions, and skylight is comparable to the suns luminance. Differentcombinations of lights within a scene can produce astounding effects and is the one factor that

contributes the most to the realism of the final images.

Lights can also be modified under the Modify command panel. You can choose to render with

shadows, which takes quite a bit longer but produces very realistic lighting situations, or you can

choose to adjust intensity, which will change the brightness of the final image.

Lighting is a very experimental situation in all respects, so the only advice that I can give on this

topic is to simply try different placements and intensities, changing only one thing at a time, untilyou find a lighting that gives you the right rendered image.


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3DMAX Basics