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3D Studio Max (sometimes called 3ds Max or just MAX) is a 3-dimensional vector graphics and animation program, written by Kinetix (a division of Autodesk). It was developed as a successor to 3D Studio for DOS, but for the Win32 platform. Kinetix was later merged with Autodesk's latest acquisition, Discreet Logic. The current version of 3DS Max as of November 2004 is 7.
Overview
 3D Studio Max v6 Logo 3ds Max is one of the most widely-used 3D software packages today for several reasons, such as its long heritage on the Microsoft Windows platform, its powerful editing capabilities and its ubiquitous plugin architecture. While still supplying most of the needed tools out-of-the-box, there is a plethora of plugins available.
Some previous versions required a special copy prevention device (a dongle) to be plugged into the parallel port while the program was run. Due to the risk of people sharing the dongle (if the people don't use the program at the same time), a software copy prevention method was implemented instead. Registration involving personal information such as name, address and e-mail address is now required.
Currently 3ds Max has a lot of advanced features. Since version 7.0, advanced texturing tools, such as a built-in normal map generator and renderer, have been included to enhance the game design capabilities of the application. Since version 6.0, Mental Ray is included. This is the second advanced renderer included in 3ds Max. Since version 5.0, 3DS Max has had advanced lighting. Advanced lighting included Radiosity and Light Tracer. These were very user-friendly and not so far behind professional rendering systems such as finalRender, Brazil r/s or V-ray.
3D Studio also includes Havok Reactor 2.0. This is a very powerful solution for realistic dynamic simulation (also used in many games such as Half-life 2, Max Payne 2 and Tribes: Vengeance).
Besides the powerful tools, 3ds Max has an intuitive user interface that is relatively easy to use, featuring a stack-based modifier architecture.
There are 5 basic modeling methods:
- Modeling with primitives
- NURMS
- Surface tool
- NURBS
- Polygon modelling
Modeling with primitives
This is a basic method, in which one models something using only boxes, spheres, cones, cylinders and other predefined objects. One may also apply boolean operations, including subtract, cut and connect. For example, one can make two spheres which will work as blobs that will connect with each other. This is called "blob-mesh modeling," or "balloon modeling."
NURMS
NURMS stands for Non-Uniformal Rational MeshSmooth.
This is the 3ds Max implementation of subdivision surface modelling, a methodology that is rapidly displacing NURBS modeling as the methodology of choice for both low- and high-polygon modelling. Point of this method is modeling with polygons(in 3d studio max you are working with editable mesh, or editable poly). After creating approximate model with polygons you apply meshsmooth. Advantage of NURMS meshsmooth is that every vertex and edge has its own weight. Weight symbolizes how much will the final shape affected by that vertex/edge.
NURMS modeling is less complicated than spline modeling, and can serve very well to not so professional users, while providing excellent scalability and control to skilled and experienced artists.
While 3ds Max once was only able to implement subdivision surfaces on a per-mesh basis, with the addition of sub-d tools to the Polygon modifier, individual portions of a model may be subdivided to varying degrees, allowing greater control over the final mesh.
Surface tool
Surface tool was originally a plugin, but Kinetix bought it for version 3.0. The surface tool is for creating common 3ds max's splines, and then applying a modifier called "surface." This modifier makes a surface from every 3 or 4 vertices in a grid.
NURBS
NURBS stands for Non-Uniformal Rational B-Spline.
See: NURBS
Scanline rendering is 3ds Max's default. Max's scanline renderer is fairly robust compared to many similar packages' out-of-box offerings (Lightwave's default renderer being one exception). While several advanced features have been piggy-backed onto the scanliner over the years, such as global illumination, radiosity and ray tracing, advanced users may wish to consider using one of the many 3rd-party renderers available for Max, or make use of the somewhat limited connection to mental ray. A 3rd-party connection tool to Renderman pipelines is also available for those that need to integrate Max into Renderman shops.
Polygon modelling
Polygon modelling is more common with game design than any other technique. Usually, the modeller begins with a primitive, and using such tools as bevel, extrude, and polygon cut, adds detail to and refines the model. This technique is most often used for game design, as the very specific control over individual polygons allows for extreme optimization.
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