at the start-up 3dsMax

the "Essential Skills

Movies" window will
appear, watch all the
underlined videos with
headphones or volume
turned up.

by Chris Teeter

select "Customize" with mouse from toolbar

drop-down menu to access general settings
for 3dsMax including Graphic User
Interface (GUI), Unit Setup, file paths, and
other Preferences

toolbar icons for undo

hot keys for undo - Ctrl+z

by Chris Teeter

under the Keyboard tab

you can change the
hotkeys associated with
listed commands

by Chris Teeter

under Toolbars you can can

create toolbars and add
commands to existing toolbars
for example: drag the Light
Lister action to an existing
toolbar
Light Lister will list all lights in
the scene in a table making it
easy to modify all lights with a
good overview

by Chris Teeter

under Colors you can

modify the Graphics
for the User Interface
, recommend using
the "Use Standard
Windows Colors" and
leaving everything
else as is

by Chris Teeter

by Chris Teeter

1. Command Panel
2. Command Panel Tabs (from left to right)
2.1 Create Tab
2.2 Modify Tab
2.3 Hierarchy Tab
2.4 Motion
2.5 Display
2.6 Utilities
3. Create Panel Tabs (from left to right)
3.1 Geometry
3.2 Shapes
3.3 Lights
3.4 Cameras
3.5 Helpers
3.6 Space Warps
3.7 Systems
4. Geometry (3.1) pull-down menu
4.1. Standard Primitives (listed as shown)

by Chris Teeter

use hot keys Alt-W to toggle

between multiple viewports and
single viewport
use hot keys G to toggle Grid on
and off

by Chris Teeter

tells you want view you are in

hot key for access to a camera view is C,
if you have multiple cameras a pop-up
window will appear inquiring which
camera you would like to be viewing from
hot keys for views listed as shown
you can even view the scene from a light
source

navigation cube

zoom icon - alternate method: in all views but

camera you can use the mouse roller ball to
zoom in or out
pan icon - alternate method: in all views if you
hold down the mouse roller ball you can pan
orbit icon - alternate method: in all views if you
hold down the mouse roller ball and the Alt key
you can orbit

by Chris Teeter

visual style selection in viewport

hot keys
F3 - toggle Smooth + Highlights
from Wireframe (solid visual style
to wireframe)
F4 - toggle Edged Faces from
Smooth + Highlights (solid visual
style to outlined edges)

by Chris Teeter

to create a box 2 mouse clicks are

required, two corners and then
move mouse in scene up and
down to adjust height.
once box or any other standard
primitive is created the size can
be changed manually under the
Parameters Roll-out

by Chris Teeter

to increase the resolution of the object for

smoother results when modifying object
with modifiers such as Bend or Twist the
segment number can be adjusted under
Parameters Roll-out as well.
to make visible in viewport in Smooth +
Highlights visual style mode be sure to
have Edge Faces toggled on (F4)

by Chris Teeter

methods for manual selection, toggle through options with

hot key Q or hold down left mouse button with cursor over
and icon and choose type
note: if toolbar Icon has a small arrow at bottom right corner
this means there are options available to the toolbar icon by
holding down the left mouse button when cursor over icon

icon for manual

selection with mouse
or hot key Q

to return to adjusting
parameters to and
object select the Modify
tab in the command
panel with object
selected

General Note:
to select all objects in the scene Ctrl+A
to add objects individually to current selection manually with
mouse hold down Ctrl
to remove objects individually to current selection manually
with mouse hold down Alt

by Chris Teeter

toolbar icon for selecting

objects by name hot key H
see next page

object name and viewport color

both can be changed by simply typing
a new name in (3dsMax will allow
duplicate names)
to change color select color patch and
a pop-up window will appear for
selection of any color

when in the Modify tab in

the Command Panel with
an object selected
the indicated drop-down
menu will list all applicable
modifiers that can be
applied to your selected
object

by Chris Teeter

toggle icons on and off to filter out

or in the type of object/light/camera/
groups/etc... to have visible below
for selection

to access select
by name use hot
key H or above
indicated icon

by Chris Teeter

modifier stack
you can add as many
modifiers to any object and
return to any part of the
stack of modifiers to adjust
the objects and modifier
parameters (more to be
covered in Week 4)

General Note:
for easier workflow, to zoom in on an object
and orbit about the objects center of gravity
always hit hot key Z and the viewport will
zoom extents to object(s) selected

by Chris Teeter

toggle icon on and off to switch between

"Absolute Coordinates" and "Relative
Coordinates"
Absolute Coordinates - objects
coordinates in the universal space of
3dsMax
Relative Coordinates - objects coordinates
relative to last position

move command icon or hotkey W

Gizmo
your cursor will match the move icon when an
object is selected. by moving your cursor over
various parts of the Gizmo you can choose to
constrain the movement to any axis, plan (xy, xz,
yz), or by toggling the Gizmo move off with hot
key X you can move anywhere in the scene

by Chris Teeter

to toggle Angle snap on or

off (default set at 5 degree
increments)
hot key A

rotate command icon or hotkey E

Gizmo
your cursor will match the rotate icon when an
object is selected. by moving your cursor over
various parts of the Gizmo you can choose to
constrain the rotated to any axis or by toggling the
Gizmo move off with hot key X you can rotate
anywhere in the scene

by Chris Teeter

rotate command icon or hotkey R

Gizmo
your cursor will match the scale icon when an
object is selected. by moving your cursor over
various parts of the Gizmo you can choose to
constrain the scaling to any axis, plane, or
complete object

by Chris Teeter

to access Transform type-in right

click over transform icon in
toolbar or hit hot key F12

by Chris Teeter

to access Transform type-in right

click over transform icon in
toolbar or hit hot key F12

by Chris Teeter

to access Transform type-in right

click over transform icon in
toolbar or hit hot key F12

by Chris Teeter

you can clone an object either via the drop-down

Edit menu, hot keys Ctrl+V or by holding down the
Shift key while doing one of the Transform
commands (Move, Rotate, or Scale)

by Chris Teeter

3 types of Clones
1. Copy - the clone stands alone in the
scene
2. Instance - the original and clones are
are all interlinked, change to any clone
or original affects all
3. Reference - only changing the parent
object (the original) will all the children
objects (clones) be changed

by Chris Teeter

to toggle Snaps on or off in 3dsMax use hotkey S

or select indicated toolbar icon shown above
to choose which type of Snaps are active rightclick over toolbar icon to acces Grid and Snap
Settings pop-up window

by Chris Teeter

to change grid size select the Home Grid

tab in Grid and Snap Settings

by Chris Teeter

successful snap when

both the transform cursor
icon and the active Snap
icon are displayed

by Chris Teeter

to do a quick rendering without

messing with the setup options
hit hot key F9
disk icon - save image to file, just
about any bitmap type possible (jpg,
tiff, tga, etc...)
twin icon - clone pop-up window,
useful for saving rendering scene
and running another rendering for
comparison

by Chris Teeter

to access Render Setup

hot key F10 or via drop-down menu Rendering
Common Tab
3dsMax is a time and space based program hence
multiple rendering frames can be rendered or a single
frame in the time sequence (for now don't worry about
time)
Output Size - adjust final bitmap resolution here
Render Output - designate name and save location

by Chris Teeter

under Assign Renderer choose rendering engine

1. default at Parsons/New Shool appears to be Mental
Ray Renderer - this includes Global Illumination for
very realistic renderings
2. Default Scanline Renderer is the other popular option
- this is the original method for rendering and useful for
Ink 'n' Paint or Wireframe renderings

by Chris Teeter

this yellow line is the Safe Frame that

indicates what will actually be rendered and
output into a bitmap
you must be in a Camera view for this to be
available
hot key Shift + F
or available in drop down menu under view

by Chris Teeter

adjust safe frame proportions in

Render Setup (F10)

by Chris Teeter

recommend placing camera from top view in a

scene
Steps:
- choose Create tab from Command Panel
- then select the Camera icon
- then select the Target camera, this will
require two points to be clicked by mouse, click
1 = viewpoint, click 2 = target view

by Chris Teeter

cameras in 3dsMax match

actual cameras and the lens
size can be adjusted
accordingly
FOV = Field of Vision
use both control options to
adjust the final view for
rendering

by Chris Teeter

if you could like to switch to a camera view hit hot

key C and if you have more than one a pop-up
window will appear asking you which one you
want to view from
if you have a camera selected and hit hot key C
you will immediately enter that camera's view

by Chris Teeter

if you like a perspective view and want to make it a

permanent Camera view hit hot keys Ctrl+C, this is a
good way for making place holders to return to in
your scene
also, if you hit hot key P while in a Camera view you
will enter the Perspective view from that point, which
allows you to navigate which out altering the Camera
view (remember hot key Z will zoom you in on the
selected object and change the rotation of the view
to around the object's center of gravity)

by Chris Teeter

note the change in navigation

icons between the Perspective
view (previous page) and the
Camera view
- top left icon - FOV
- bottom left icon - lens

by Chris Teeter