99 3ds Max Visual Speed Tips PDF

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99 3DS MAX QUICK VISUAL TIPS
www.ebook777.com
Quick visual tips to speed up your 3dsMax workflow
By James Abell
www.jamesabellart.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSh49ftomfbu2yvFlx-MHqg
Version 1.1
Published on 3rd October 2014
Copyright (c) James Abell 2014

CONTENTS
How To Use This Book
BASIC MANIPULATION
Mirror
Move
Rotate
Scale
Select And Place
Select By Name
Select Options Lasso

Snap
Sub-Object
Unhide By Name
Use Pivot Point
ANIMATION
Autokey
Bip Animation
Motion Capture On The Cheap
N Keyframe
Populate–Easy Crowd Simulation
Sliders–Custom Control Your Animations
CONSTRAINTS
Array
Cat Parent
Look At
CREATIVE CONCEPTS
4 Simple Colours
All Angles
Be Inspired
Be Expansive
Save As Plus
Draw Draw Draw!
Film And Games Inspiration
Negative Space
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Use Real World References
Don’t Be Afraid Of Other 3d Packages
This Is A Tool! You Are The Creator!
LIGHTING
Daylight Sunlight
Exposure Controls
Paint With Light
Presets Light Types
Shift+L
MATERIALS AND TEXTURES

Bake Shortcut
Composite
M Is For Material
Peel
Save UVW Render Template|outline
Slate Traditional Material Editor|outline
Unwrap UVW Paint Select|outline

MODELLING
Bridge
Conform
Grow Shrink
Hide Polys
Inset
Looper
Low High
Mesh Paint
Move Arrows
Non Quads
Proboolean
Quad Chamfer
Sphere Quads
Swift Loop
Wire Draw
MODIFIERS
Bend
Drag To Instance
FFD
Greeble
Melt
Pro-Optimiser
Shell
Spherify
PHYSICS AND PARTICLES

Mass FX
Particle Presets
Shapes Particle Presets
Use Real World Inspiration

RENDERING
F9
Final View
Print Assistant
Region
Round Corners
Walk-Through
SCENE SETUP AND MANAGEMENT

Colour Scheme
CTRL Asset Tracker
Expert Mode
Grid
Layers
Layout Configuration
New
X Search – Find Things Quickly
VIEWPORTS AND CAMERAS

Alt+W Minimise And Maximise Viewports
Clay
Clipping Plane
Colour Pencil
Ctrl+R
Depth Of Field
Edged Faces
Lenses
Make Camera
Pin Cushion
Press Z Zoom
Safe Frame
See Through
Viewport Statistics
More Information About Me And What I Do
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INTRODUCTION
How to use this book

Hello! In 2014, I started making quick visual tips to help myself speed up my 3ds Max
workflow. I decided to put these tips into visual form with simple visual instructions.
Once I made some of these tips, I tweeted some of them and they proved popular with
people re-tweeting them. Therefore, I started to make these quick visual tips into a book.
There are many great books and videos out there to teach you 3ds Max in depth. This
book is not a course on how to use everything in 3ds Max. It is a tip book for shortcuts and
hints of 99 things that I have found to be useful in my commercial 3ds Max work of over
14 years.
If you are a visual person like me you will find that having these hints and tips in visual
will be of great help. For this book, I used 3ds Max 2014 and 2015. Of course, this book is
more than relevant for other versions too.
I have divided this book into as logical sections as possible to allow you to find what you
need quickly. The Table Of Contents has quick links so that you can jump straight to the
tip or hint that you want. You can also read it from cover to cover or also flick through it
on your e reader or tablet while commuting etc.! Each tip is on a separate page for
neatness and you can zoom into each image for more details.
I believe that the learning process is often a ‘grasp’ for knowledge while doing a specific
task .This book gives you hints and tips that you can quickly ‘grasp’ for while working on
your own projects in 3ds Max.
This book is for all levels of 3ds Max users out there. If you are a complete beginner, I
would recommend to use this book along with another more comprehensive 3ds Max
guide. There are many great ones out there on Amazon for example!
3ds Max is a great tool, I have worked with it a lot for commercial clients, mainly
visualisation for engineering companies. Today, I use 3ds Max mainly for my artwork
where I mix 3d and traditional processes. Feel free to check it out to see where I come
from!
I hope that you find this book useful. Please leave an honest review on Amazon or contact
me if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.
Ok let’s go!
BASIC MANIPULATION
Mirror
Don’t forget the mirror tool on the main toolbar. Use the offset setting to build up copies.
You can collapse the meshes to a single mesh too.
Move
Obvious really, move on move on!
Rotate
Rotate tool is again pretty obvious! Keyboard shortcut select then E.
Scale
Scale keyboard shortcut select then R.
Select And Place
A great feature that speeds up placing objects onto other objects in your scenes.
1.Select the icon in the main toolbar.
2. Drag the desired object onto the object you want it to touch.
3.Right click on the select and place icon for setting, including quick orientation of the
object being placed.
Select By Name
In larger scenes find the objects you want with ease.
1. Either go the the edit menu or press
2. Use the pop up box to select what you want.

Select Options Lasso
Remember that the selection toolbar on the main menu has other options than just the
rectangular tool. Hold the icon down and a range of other lasso options will appear.
Snap
Press S for a shortcut to snap activate snap setting. Hold down the icons and also right
click the icons in the toolbar to customize the type of snap.
Sub-Object
Switch between sub-object modes by pressing 1 to 5 on your keyboard when in sub-object
mode.
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Unhide By Name
Unhide objects quickly.
1. Right click on the quad menu.
2. Choose which object to unhide on the pop-up menu.

Use Pivot Point
In the main toolbar hold down the pivot icon for pivot point options. Useful when adding
constraints.
ANIMATIONFree ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com
Autokey
I prefer to use autokey and the time-slider than the set keys button. I find it more fluid.
Bip Animation
Import BIP animations into Biped.. You can find lots of free BIP animations for your
characters out there on the internet!
1. Select the biped.
2. On the setting tab click on the yellow folder.
3. Then choose the BIP file and watch the results!

Motion Capture On The Cheap
A great and often overlooked animation tool in 3ds Max work with the position motion
capture to control an object animation in your scene with the mouse, joystick etc.
1. Go to the motion panel.
2. Assign controller, position.
3. Click on position motion capture and assign the x y z values to your control device.
N Keyframe
To activate autokey on your keyboard, just press N.
Populate–Easy Crowd Simulation
Populate is an amazing solution for instant crowd simulations.
1. Click populate on the ribbon.
2. Create flow and drag the path where you want on the viewport.
3. Click simulate. Other adjustment settings are easy to learn!

Sliders–Custom Control Your Animations
Create sliders to custom control animations intuitively.
1. Create a slider in the command panel.
2. Go to animation wire parameters to connect the slider to the objects to be animated.

CONSTRAINTS
Array
Use array to make interesting shapes and patterns from a single object.
1. Select an object, Click on the tools menu. Choose Array.
2. Experiment with the Move/Rotate and Scale spinner settings on the pop up menu.
Cat Parent
In 3dsMax instantly create a CAT rig and choose from a great range of pre made templates
-
1. Modify panel.
2. Helpers.
3. CAT parent
4. Choose a template
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Linking
Linking is easy in 3ds Max.
1. Use the top symbol in the main toolbar.
2. Click on the object you want to be the child and drag to the parent object.
Remember your parents and your children to avoid mix-ups!

Look At
Get objects to follow or rotate in the direction of other objects.
1. Go to motion panel, assign controller and click on rotation.
2. Assign as look at constraint and chose object to ‘look at’
3. The original object will now ‘look at’ the chosen object. Magic!
CREATIVE CONCEPTS
4 Simple Colours
You don’t need to always have huge amounts of materials and textures. Sometimes one or
two texture-less materials can give a great effect, especially if you are taking it into a 2d
package such as sketch book pro or printing it out to draw sketch lines on top of it!
All Angles
When creating a model. Treat it like a real world sculpture, look at it at all angles, orbit
around it. Model it as a whole shape and how parts relates to other parts of itself.
Be Inspired
Be inspired by other artists. Look outside the game/film/3d magazine industry. Look at
fine art, sculpture, art history. Put your work in context of your time!
Be Expansive
As long as you save your work, don’t worry. Be expansive, press buttons, go to hidden
corners of the UI interface. This way you will learn organically rather than parrot fashion!
Save As Plus
When you save, make sure you save as and press the + symbol next to the save icon. This
way, you can return to any stage of your work if you make a mistake or want to roll back
your progression of a scene.
Draw Draw Draw!
I mean traditional drawing. Pen and paper, sketch buildings, streets, whatever you see.
Long after 3ds Max and other industry tools have evolved or even gone, there will still be
traditional drawing! Drawing also teaches you things far beyond what a 3d programme
can about creativity, space, line, etc.!
Film And Games Inspiration
Be inspired by your favourite games and films. Try to find less popular games and films
that are interesting to you and inspire you with new things!
Negative Space
When composing a view for a final render. Look at the ‘negative space’ the space where
there is nothing but air. This will help you improve your compositions.
Use Real World References
Use the view image file form the rendering menu to refer to real life photos when making
a model or a scene. This improve the believability of your scene.
Don’t Be Afraid Of Other 3d Packages
Other 3d and 2d packages should be explored. 3Ds Max in its current form and possible in
its entire form will not be around for ever. Using other 3d software will help you to realise
that once you know the main concepts in one package, you can quickly transfer to other
packages to suit your needs. Yes Blender is definitely worth a look!
This Is A Tool! You Are The Creator!
LIGHTING Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com
Daylight Sunlight
I always find this confusing. Daylight is the one to pick for full sky, day system etc., not
sunlight!
Exposure Controls
Press 8 and it brings up Environment Settings. Use exposure control to control the look of
your render. Especially important to use when using sunlight or daylight.
Paint With Light
As in real world photography and cinematography, you can move objects outside your
camera view to create shadows, bounce light etc. This further adds a dimension of artistic
control with composition renderings of scenes.
Presets Light Types
Photometric lights come with a large number of real world lighting simulation presets.
Select light, go to modify panel and select the type of preset you want.
Shift+L
Just by pressing Shift+L will hide/unhide your lights in the scene.
MATERIALS AND TEXTURES
Bake Shortcut
Just press 0 to bring the render to texture window so that you can start to bake your
textures.
Composite
The composite material gives you great control for creating decals, mixing when you want
total control over a material.
M Is For Material
Just press M to open the material editor!
Peel
The peel tools in the Unwrap UVW panel to do turbo-boost your unwrapping time.
Save UVW Render Template
If you want to take the UVW map into Photoshop/Gimp etc. In the edit UVW window.
1. Click on tools in the menu, go to ‘render UVW’ template.
2. Choose size of the render.
3. A UVW template will render, then save it as a JPEG or whatever format you want.
Slate Traditional Material Editor
Switch between the slate material and traditional material editor by going to modes and
choosing which one you want. Often I prefer to use the old style material editor.
Unwrap UVW Paint Select
Use these tools to ‘paint’ select your UVW elements. Speeds things up!
MODELLING
Bridge
Use bridge when in polygon sub-object mode, to connect non touching polygons on the
same model.
Conform
Conform is a great tool, Create new clean model copies of messy models, for example
ones imported from 123d catch etc.
1. On the free-form tab, select conform.
2. Chose the surface you want to paint on so that the model conforms to the mesh
underneath.
Grow Shrink
You can quickly grow and shrink selections in sub object mode
Ctrl+Page Up to Grow. Ctrl+Page Down to shrink!

Hide Polys
Alt+I hide the unselected polygons when in sub-object mode. Very useful for isolating an
area of a model you want to focus on.
Inset
In sub-object mode, use the inset tool to inset polygons. Switch between group and by
polygon to inset individual polygons in a selection. Very useful when creating urban/city
environments.
Looper
Double clicking an edge when in sub object mode will loop it automatically.
Low High
Always work with a lower polygon and subdivide up. Keep the old lower polygon model.
If you make mistakes, go back to the lower polygon model. This makes clean meshes!
Mesh Paint
Paint multiple copies of objects onto other objects.
1 . Click on the object paint ribbon.
2. Click paint with selected object and choose what to paint on. Paint away!
Move Arrows
When in sub-object mode with loop/ring selected. Use the little arrows to the right of the
loop and ring panels to move them to the adjacent edge.
Non Quads
When modelling, remember that quads are best for 3d real-time and game creation. Try to
minimise or eradicate triangular polygons on your models.
Proboolean
Pro boolean is often a good solution for making ‘cleaner’ quad meshes with your
booleans.
1. Choose The Pro-boolean tab from the utility/geometry toolbar.
2. Select operands.
3. Tick ‘Make Quadrilaterals’ in the Advanced options panel.

Quad Chamfer
When you chamfer using the old chamfer tool. It would create triangular polygons at
intersections. The new quad chamfer gives you the option to create a chamfer entirely of
quads. Again, very good for real-time 3d/game applications.
1. Click on the chamfer box when in sub object edge mode.
2. Click on the triangle symbol on the pop up option menu. You can alternate between
quad and triangular chamfer.
Sphere Quads
A good way to make sure you are modelling using only quads is not to start with a sphere
primitive, this had triangles.
Start with a cube, spherify it using the spherify modifier. Start your model from that.
Swift Loop
Quickly insert loops into your model and delete them.
Wire Draw
To get a cool wire sculpture look from models-
1. Select your model and click on free-form tools in the ribbon.
2. Then ‘draw on’ selection and click splines. If you want to render or see the splines in
the viewport remember to enter the correct settings in the modify command panel.
MODIFIERS Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com
Bend
Remember that the simplest type of modifier will get you the results you want.
Drag To Instance
You can click and drag any modifier to another mesh in the scene. This instantly copies it
to the new mesh.
FFD
Use an FFD modifier on an mesh to change the shape with control points. Unlike normal
mesh editing, you can turn it off and it will go back to the original mesh shape.
Greeble
Install the great free greeble plugin http://max.klanky.com/plugins.htm . Quickly turn any
plane or any mesh for that matter into a surface with cubes resembling buildings. Great for
far off cities and birds eye view cityscapes!
Melt
The melt modifier is a great quick solution to simulate melted/melting objects.
Pro-Optimiser
If you only have a higher polygon mesh but you need to reduce the polygon count in a
quick way that leaves the object fairly ‘clean. Use the pro-optimiser modifier.
Shell
The Shell modifier is a very quick method for thickening the ‘walls’ of models.
Spherify
Remember spherify is good for quickly turning your meshes into more spherical forms.
PHYSICS AND PARTICLES
Mass FX
To show the useful Mass FX toolbar in 3ds Max.
1.Right click in the toolbar area.
2. Select Mass FX.
The floating toolbar will appear.

Particle Presets
Particle presets are a great shortcut to quickly create particle systems based on real world
1, Open particle view.
2. Go to Tools and click on Preset Manager
3. Choose from the pop up box the particle simulation you would like.
For example, a Galaxy Explosion!

Shapes Particle Presets
In particle view, click on shape and you can choose from a nice range of presets! These
hearts for example!
User Real World Inspiration
Physical simulations can only be understood and made believable if you look at real world
examples of physical reactions and interactions. This will improve your particles skills no
end and give you plenty of inspiration!
RENDERINGFree ebooks ==> www.ebook777.com
F9
Hitting F9 will instantly render the selected viewport.
Final View
As 3ds Max progresses with new updates the realistic settings in the viewport get much
better. Use them to have a sense of what the final render will look like.
Print Assistant
This is a useful thing to make sure the prints that you are planning will be the correct size
when you press render.
Region
Speed your render times up by selecting regions on the render setup frame window so that
you don’t need to render the whole scene when render testing small elements or areas of
the scene.
1. Select region in the ‘Area To Render’ box in the top left.
2. Move and scale the region to where you want to render.

Round Corners
Most things in reality have slightly rounder corners, even a knife edge.
Make your corners rounder. Do this without increasing render time dramatically
by using the round corner tick box and spinner in the material editor options.
1. Choose the material
2. Go to round corners and tick enable
3. Use the spinner to adjust how round the corners will be
4. Check the material in the render to see if it is the roundness you want.
Walk-Through
If you use the walk-through tool in a camera viewport while auto key and play on the time
slider is on, it will actually record the moves you make!
SCENE SETUP AND MANAGEMENT
Colour Scheme
Change the colour scheme in 3ds Max.
1. Go to customize on the menu and to Custom UI and Defaults Switcher.
2. Choose the different colour options in the UI schemes box

CTRL Asset Tracker
Shift+T will open the asset tracker window.
Expert Mode
Ctrl+E will take you in and out of expert mode.
Grid
G toggles the viewport grid on and off.
Layers
Layers help you manage large scenes in an orderly fashion. Click on the main toolbar to
open the layer window.
Layout Configuration
Quickly change your viewport configuration, click on the plus symbol in the top left of a
viewport window and choose configure viewports.
New
Ctrl+N will make a new scene.
X Search – Find Things Quickly
Press X and it will bring up a search box where you can type in things you need to find out
in 3ds Max!
VIEWPORTS AND CAMERAS
Alt+W Minimise And Maximise

Viewports
Minimise and maximise your active viewport by clicking Alt+W.
Clay
The clay effect display option in the viewport can help you to model clearly.
1. Right click ‘Realistic and Edged Faces’ in the top left area of the viewport.
2. Select clay
Clipping Plane
Clipping planes can be useful in 3ds Max if you want to make a cutaway without cutting
up your meshes…
1. Select the camera you want to use.
2. Make sure the clipping plane box is ticked.
3. Make sure that the near clip intersects the object where you want to cutaway.
You can see a red box in the non camera viewport to help you.
Colour Pencil
3ds Max , display stylised renders in your real-time viewports!
Right where the image shows, choose stylised in the menu and choose your option!
Ctrl+R
In an active viewport pressing Ctrl+R will make you orbit in the viewport.
Depth Of Field
Depth of field for mental ray can now be previewed in the active viewport! A great help!
Edged Faces
F4 toggles edged faces on and off.
Lenses
Use stock lenses in the camera modifier panel to to simulate real life camera lenses.
Make Camera
When in perspective mode in a view port press Ctrl+C. This instantly makes a camera at
that exact location!
Pin Cushion
Use a mental-ray distortion loom, apply it to the Lens Camera Shader in the render setup
window. Choose pin-cushion or barrel effect and adjust the amount as suited.
Press Z Zoom
Lost the model you are editing in a viewport? Just press Z in your active viewport and you
will go directly to that model.
Safe Frame
Develop your work with the composition dimensions in your final animation or image.
1. Right click on perspective in the viewport. Make sure ‘show safe frame’ is ticked.
2. The safe frame will correspond to the dimensions you set in the Render Setup
panel.
See Through
Sometimes modelling helps when you can see through certain objects in your scene.
1.Right click on the selected object.
2. In the object properties box, click on see through on the display properties box.
Viewport Statistics
Simply by pressing 7 in you viewport, will bring up the useful viewport statistics in the
top left corner of your active viewport.
More Information About Me And What I
Do.
I have worked with 3ds Max commercially as a freelancer since 1999. Most of my work
has been in the visualisation sectors for research and development offshore wave and wind
turbines. I have also had an article written about me in 3d World Magazine and have made
two short animated films that appeared in film festivals. One was for a Channel 4 film
festival, the film was called Structures Like The Leaves. Before this, I graduated from
Edinburgh College of Art in 1999 with a BA (Honours) in Interior Design, this was the
architectural space of an interior not carpets and wallpapers as I often tell people!
I spend my time these days concentrating on running 3d graphics workshops and

producing my own artwork to sell where I mix traditional drawing and other traditional
techniques with 3d graphics technologies. The term ‘tradigital’ can be used I suppose!
I am always interested in hearing from people and what they are creating. I also greatly
value reviews, comments and suggestions.
You can check out my artwork on my website -
My YouTube channel has a lot of features too -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSh49ftomfbu2yvFlx-MHqg
Yes, I am also on twitter -
https://twitter.com/JamesAbellArt
Well, that is all for now. I wish you well with your learning journey in 3ds Max, and 3d
graphics in general.
James Abell. 15.10.2014

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Free ebooks ==> www.ebook777.

Published on 3rd October 2014

Copyright (c) James Abell 2014

Select And Place

Select Options Lasso

Use Pivot Point

Motion Capture On The Cheap

Populate–Easy Crowd Simulation

Sliders–Custom Control Your Animations

Draw Draw Draw!

Film And Games Inspiration

This Is A Tool! You Are The Creator!

Paint With Light

Presets Light Types

MATERIALS AND TEXTURES

Save UVW Render Template|outline

Slate Traditional Material Editor|outline

Unwrap UVW Paint Select|outline

PHYSICS AND PARTICLES

Shapes Particle Presets

Use Real World Inspiration

SCENE SETUP AND MANAGEMENT

CTRL Asset Tracker

X Search – Find Things Quickly

VIEWPORTS AND CAMERAS

More Information About Me And What I Do

How to use this book

1.Select the icon in the main toolbar.

1. Either go the the edit menu or press

2. Use the pop up box to select what you want.

1. Right click on the quad menu.

2. Choose which object to unhide on the pop-up menu.

1. Select the biped.

2. On the setting tab click on the yellow folder.

3. Then choose the BIP file and watch the results!

1. Go to the motion panel.

2. Assign controller, position.

1. Click populate on the ribbon.

3. Click simulate. Other adjustment settings are easy to learn!

1. Create a slider in the command panel.

2. Go to animation wire parameters to connect the slider to the objects to be animated.

1. Select an object, Click on the tools menu. Choose Array.

1. Use the top symbol in the main toolbar.

Remember your parents and your children to avoid mix-ups!

1. Go to motion panel, assign controller and click on rotation.

2. Assign as look at constraint and chose object to ‘look at’

1. Click on tools in the menu, go to ‘render UVW’ template.

2. Choose size of the render.

1. On the free-form tab, select conform.

Ctrl+Page Up to Grow. Ctrl+Page Down to shrink!

1 . Click on the object paint ribbon.

1. Choose The Pro-boolean tab from the utility/geometry toolbar.

3. Tick ‘Make Quadrilaterals’ in the Advanced options panel.

1. Click on the chamfer box when in sub object edge mode.

1. Select your model and click on free-form tools in the ribbon.

1.Right click in the toolbar area.

2. Select Mass FX.

The floating toolbar will appear.

1, Open particle view.

2. Go to Tools and click on Preset Manager

For example, a Galaxy Explosion!

1. Select region in the ‘Area To Render’ box in the top left.

2. Move and scale the region to where you want to render.