Join Aaron F. Ross for an in-depth discussion in this video Getting familiar with the interface, part of 3ds Max 2013 Essential Training.
Let's take a quick tour of the essential components of the 3ds Max user interface. Previously I mentioned the Caption Bar up here, which is where you'll find the most common file commands, like Open and Save. There is also an Application menu here and that gives us access to some of the deeper file commands, like importing a foreign file format, for example from AutoCAD. The main menu in 3ds Max is kind of a limited menu, it doesn't have all of the commands that you will need.
A lot of these commands are actually redundant to other places in the interface, and there are in fact quite a number of commands that don't show up in the menus at all. This should be familiar to most of us and it's a cascading set of menus. Below the Menu Bar is something called the Main toolbar and this gives us commands such as moving objects. There are many toolbars in 3ds Max and most of them are hidden. If I right-click on an empty spot on the Main toolbar I'll get a list of all the possible toolbars.
For example, the Axis Constraints, that's the one that we'll be using later. The toolbars are dockable and I can just drag them around and drop them wherever I want, so it's quite convenient. I've got another one here on the left- hand side, it's called the Viewport Panel Layout toolbar and it's kind of actually empty, it's taking up a bit of space. So I'm going to right-click and hide the Viewport Layouts. I don't really need that. The main area of the interface is taken up by the so-called viewports and we've got a Perspective view, which is like a camera and then we've got Front, Top, and Left views which are called Orthographic views, and those are like engineering design documents. They are just 2D representations of objects.
On the right-hand side is something called the Command panel, and this is really the heart of the program, and the Command panel has sub-panels within it, we'll be looking at all these. The Command panel is also resizable, you can drag in order to make it larger, and it can be undocked as well. You can just right-click and choose Float. So this is helpful sometimes if you have two monitors. Go ahead and drag it back over there and it will dock back to the interface.
At the bottom of the interface we've got animation controls. We've got a Timeline that's listed in frames, there are bunch of buttons for doing things like creating animation, there are Transport Controls and also most importantly at the extreme lower right-hand corner are controls for the viewports themselves. So that you can navigate within your scenes. We'll be covering all of these in greater detail later in the course. For now that's just a quick introduction to the main components of the 3ds Max interface. What they're called, where they are, and how they work.
Author
Released
5/16/2012- Creating primitives
- Setting units and dimensions
- Modeling with splines
- Lofting objects
- Cloning and grouping objects
- Using the modifier stack
- Editing polygon meshes
- Working with subdivision surfaces
- Creating NURBS curves and surfaces
- Building materials
- Mapping textures
- Controlling lights and shadows
- Keyframing animations
- Rendering a sequence
Skill Level Beginner
Duration
Views
Related Courses
-
Introduction
-
Welcome58s
-
-
1. Getting Started
-
Setting preferences2m 38s
-
Using project folders3m 2s
-
2. The 3ds Max Interface
-
Navigating in the viewports2m 10s
-
Using hotkeys3m 12s
-
Transforming objects3m 42s
-
Using axis constraints1m 54s
-
Choosing shading modes3m 17s
-
3. Modeling Basics
-
Setting units5m 25s
-
Understanding dependencies4m 30s
-
Working with sub-objects3m 26s
-
4. Modeling with Splines
-
Creating shapes4m 35s
-
Creating lines3m 10s
-
Working with Editable Spline2m 13s
-
Using different vertex types4m 34s
-
-
5. Lofting
-
Lofting a vase3m 56s
-
Setting loft parameters3m 25s
-
Editing a path3m 25s
-
Adding a Shell modifier1m 49s
-
Finishing the model3m 33s
-
-
6. Modeling with Primitives
-
Setting up the scene1m 25s
-
Creating chamfer boxes3m 33s
-
Cloning objects2m 35s
-
Using the Array tool4m 17s
-
Grouping objects1m 37s
-
-
7. Using the Modifier Stack
-
Laying out the scene2m 11s
-
Working with Editable Spline4m 32s
-
Applying a Sweep modifier1m 46s
-
-
8. Polygon Modeling
-
Selecting sub-objects2m 36s
-
Bridging parts of a mesh2m 41s
-
9. Subdivision Surface Modeling
-
Using the Symmetry modifier1m 49s
-
Working with TurboSmooth3m 5s
-
Extruding polygons2m 8s
-
Rounding out square corners3m 15s
-
Choosing a transform center5m 55s
-
Editing edge loops2m 34s
-
Baking subdivisions5m 5s
-
10. NURBS Modeling
-
Understanding NURBS1m 1s
-
Creating NURBS curves3m 9s
-
Creating arcs and lines3m 36s
-
Cloning sub-objects1m 50s
-
Creating an offset curve2m 40s
-
Creating a U loft surface3m 16s
-
-
11. Modeling for Motion Graphics
-
Setting up the scene2m 4s
-
Creating text2m 2s
-
Applying a Bevel modifier1m 14s
-
Choosing bevel parameters2m 31s
-
Deforming beveled objects1m 19s
-
Importing Illustrator paths2m 44s
-
-
12. Materials Basics
-
Opening the Material Editor2m 29s
-
-
13. Mapping Textures
-
Applying procedural maps4m 10s
-
Navigating shader trees1m 8s
-
Tracking scene assets5m 48s
-
Projecting UVW mapping4m 51s
-
Mapping a bump channel1m 42s
-
-
14. Camera Basics
-
Working with Display layers6m 28s
-
Creating a free camera2m 2s
-
Using a target camera2m 18s
-
Adjusting Field of View1m 30s
-
Choosing an aspect ratio3m 55s
-
-
15. Lighting Basics
-
Understanding CG lighting7m 44s
-
Creating a target spotlight2m 57s
-
Choosing a shadow type2m 34s
-
Optimizing shadow maps3m 25s
-
Optimizing area shadows3m 27s
-
Creating omni lights3m 53s
-
Using the Light Lister1m 9s
-
-
16. Keyframe Animation
-
17. Hierarchies
-
Understanding hierarchies1m 31s
-
Controlling rotations6m 51s
-
Locking transforms1m 28s
-
Linking objects3m 13s
-
Using Schematic View1m 48s
-
Solving problems with scale7m 13s
-
-
18. Controllers and Constraints
-
Understanding controllers3m 22s
-
Assigning a Link constraint1m 45s
-
-
19. Rendering
-
Specifying file output4m 46s
-
Conclusion
-
Goodbye34s
-
- Mark as unwatched
- Mark all as unwatched
Are you sure you want to mark all the videos in this course as unwatched?
This will not affect your course history, your reports, or your certificates of completion for this course.
CancelTake notes with your new membership!
Type in the entry box, then click Enter to save your note.
1:30Press on any video thumbnail to jump immediately to the timecode shown.
Notes are saved with you account but can also be exported as plain text, MS Word, PDF, Google Doc, or Evernote.
Share this video
Embed this video
Video: Getting familiar with the interface