3D Studio MAX R3 ================ Light ----- General Parameters: Affect Surfaces: Diffuse : Lights the brigthest spot on the surface Specular: Remove when using ambient light that shouldn't be reflected. Spotlight Parameters: Projector Map: Map: Use maps to block parts of ligth stream - creats some nice shadows. Shadow Map Params: Absolute Map Bias: Cast shadows on object visible at the current frame only (off) - usefull in static pictures. Cast shadows on all objects in the scene (on) - usefull in animations. Material Editor --------------- Shader Basic Parameters ----------------------- Anistrophic: Used for brushed metal or hair. Creates a highlight that is stretched and angled. MultiLayer : Two anistrophic shaders in one. Used to make two different highlights with independent controls. Simulates materials such as a metal that is covered with a shiny coat of wax. Metal : Used for making metals. Strauss : Also used for metals. Allows you to control the degree of metallic characteristics of the material. Phong : Allows smoothing between faces. Blinn : Considered an improvement on the Phong shader. Extended Parameters ------------------- Advanced Transparency: Type: Filter : Filter color multiplied by the color behind the transparent surface. Ray-traced shadows tinted with the filter color. Substractive: Subtracts from the color behind the transparent surface Adaptive : Adds to the color behind the transparent surface. Index Of Refraction: Controls how severely the material refracts transmitted light. (air-1.0003, water-1.333 etc.) Reflection Dimming: Apply : When on, the reflection-mapped material affected by the presence or absence of direct light. Dim Level : The amount of dimming that takes place in shadow. (0.0-reflection map is completley dark in shadow) Refl. Level : Intensity of the reflection that is not in shadow. Used to compensate for dimming. SuperSampling ------------- Enable Sampler: Use it when using Bump map. It fixes the mapping (takes longer to render) Maps ---- Ambient Color : The light that fills the object. Diffuse Color : The map on the object. * Ambient should differ from Diffuse (always unlock them). Ambient should be darker to creat depth illusion. Nice effect when ambient comletes the Diffuse clolor (meaning if you mix them both of them it creates white color). Specular Color: Aditional light that surrounds the object - more intense than ambient - uses both RGB and map. Specular Level: Determines the area that will react to light - darker will reflect less light. Glossiness : Focus the Specular Level light (higther value - more focus). Opacity : Defines the material opacity (used to make holes in materials). Bump : Should cover Diffuse and Ambient textures. Material/Map Browser -------------------- Raytrace -------- Raytracer Parameters: Options: Global : Affects all Raytrace materials in scene. Local : Affects only the current material. Global Parameters: Ray Depth Control: Cutoff Threshold : If the contribution of any ray to the final pixel color drops below the cutoff threshold, the ray is terminated. 0.00(min) 1.00(max) Global Ray Antialiaser: To blur reflections or refractions. (Antialiasing must be turn on) Fast Adaptive Antialiaser: (up to 15 rays) Blur/Defocus: Blur Offset : Sharpness or blurriness of the reflections or refractions without regard to distance. Blus Aspect : The shape of the blur. (If aliasing along horizontal line - increase blur aspect If aliasing along vertical line - decrease blur aspect. Default is 1) Defocusing : Blur based on distance. Defocus Aspect: The shape of the defocusing. Multiresolution Adaptive Antialiaser: Adaptive Control: Treshold: The sensitivity of the adaption algorithm. From 0 (maximum number of rays) to 1 (minimum). Manual Acceleration: Single Pipe: Subdivides the scene at the face level Bounds Checking: Optimizes raytracing for scenes whose objects have a high polygon count. Face Limit : Sets the maximum number of faces allowed in a lattice voxel before it is subdivided. Balance : The sensitivity of the subdivision algorithm. Max. Depth : Sets the maximum number of lattice subdivisions. Max. Divisions : Sets the initial lattice dimension. (4 is 4x4x4 - x,y,z) Dual Pipe: Scene Voxel Tree : Subdivides the scene based on objects. Object Voxel Trees: Subdivision of individual objects in addition to the scene subdivision (single pipe). Trace Mode: Auto Detect: When you use a strong bump map, choose one of the explicit options. Antialiasing: Override Global Settings: (Antialiasing must be turn on) Adaptive Control: Adaptive: Enables the adaptive antialiaser. Attenuation: Objects beyond attenuation range aren't considered by the raytracer (faster rendering) Falloff Type: Linear : Calculated between the start and end range values. Inverse Square: Calculated using only the start range. Exponential : Calculated between the start and end range values. (Specify the exponent to use) Custom Falloff: Custom curve to use for attenuation. Ranges: The distance in world units where attenuation begins and ends. Custom Falloff: Near: Strength of the reflected/refracted ray at the start range distance. Control 1: Controls the shape of the curve near the curve start. (1/3) Control 2: Controls the shape of the curve near the curve end. (2/3) Far : She strength of the reflected/refracted ray at the end range distance. (percent) Basic Material Extensions: Reflectivity/Opacity Map: Varies the amount of raytracing using bitmap Refractive Material Extensions: Color Density (Filter): Transmission color based on the thickness of the object (color inside the object) Amount : Amount of density color. Start Dist, End Dist: The area inside object where density should apear. (In world units Fog: Fills the object with a fog that is both opaque and self illuminated. (Like smoke in glass) Dynamics Properties: Enables different surface dynamic properties for each face in an object. ------------------- Bounce Coefficient: A value of 1 represents a "perfectly elastic collision". Utilities --------- Dynamics -------- Dynamics: Objects In Simulation: Edit Object List: Add objects to simulation. Edit Object: Change parameters for object in simulation. Dynamic Controls: Use Initial State : When on, solves for the object dynamics parameters at the simulation's starting frame (specified in the Start Time spinner). This Object Is Unyielding : Object is immovable relative to other objects that collide with it. Phisical Properties: Calculate Properties Using: Vertices : Treats an object as a collection of vertices without segments. Each vertex is 1 gram. The object itself has no volume. Surface : Treats the object as a hollow shell whose thickness is 1 centimeter. (no volume) Bndg Box, Cylinder, Sphere : Solid bounding box, cylinder, sphere. Mesh Solid : The geometry of the object. Collision Test: Choose shape to be used for collision calculation. (mesh-the exact shape of your object) Assign Effects/Colisions: Assign Object Collisions: Pick objects from Object List to interact with your object. Timing & Simulation: Timing: Calc Intervals Per Frame: Calculation for intervals between frames. (Use more than '1' if objects are moving fast). Modify ------ XForm ----- Modifier to apply transformations (Move, Rotate, Scale) to objects at any point in the stack. Provides a gizmo (enables transformations) and center (enables offset) for any geometry it receives from the stack. Editable Mesh ------------- * Edit Stack (convert to:) Editable Mesh. Before converting apply a modifier to a parametric object that turns the object into a mesh and collapse all. All parametric controls will be removed. Edit Mesh --------- * Same like "Editable Mesh" except it doesn't remove the creation parameters. Tessellate: Subdivides faces in the current selection. ---------- Operate On: Faces : Treats the selection as a set of triangular faces. Polygones : Treats polygones as a single face. Edge : Divides the face or polygon from its center to the middle of each edge. Face-Center : Divides the face from the center to the vertex corners. Tension : when >0 faces are concave. when =0 faces are flat. when <0 faces are convex. Iterations : The amount of times the tessellation is applied. MeshSmooth ---------- MeshSmooth Type: Classic : Produces three- and four-sided facets. NURMS : Non-Uniform Rational MeshSmooth object. Set different weights for each control vertex and edge. Quad Output: Produces only four-sided facets. (similar to Tesselite modifier) Input Parameters: Operate On: Faces/Polygones : (check Tesselate modifier for details) Keep Faces Convex : Turn on for non-convex faces to become convex. (useful for letters) Apply To Whole Mesh: When on sub-object selection passed up the stack is ignored. Smoothing Parameters: Strenth: x<0.5: creates small faces that are very thin and close to the original vertices and edges. x=0.5: size faces evenly between edges. x>0.5: creates large new faces and make the original faces very small. Relax: Smooth all vertices. Project to Limit Surface: Places all points on the "limit surface" (imitates infinite number of iterations) of the MeshSmooth result. Subdivision Amount: Iterations : Number of iterations used to smooth the mesh. Smoothness : Determines how sharp a corner must be before faces are added to smooth it. Render Values: Iterations and Smoothness applied to an object while rendering. Display/Weighting: (for NURMS objects only) Display Control Mesh: Wireframe gizmo that shows what the control mesh looks like before the smoothing occurs. Object Selected : Shows the ID number and type of sub-object selected. Weight : Increasing a vertex weight "pulls" the smoothed result towards that vertex. Reset all Weights : Reset to 1.0. Surface Parameters: (restrict the MeshSmooth effect by surface properties) Smooth Result: Applies the same smoothing group to all faces. Separate by Materials: Prevents the creation of new faces for edges between faces that do not share Material IDs. Separate by Smoothing Groups: Prevents the creation of new faces at edges between faces that don't share at least one smoothing group. Track View ---------- Filters: Display or limit items in the Hierarchy list, and function curves in the Edit window. Copy Controller : Copies the selected item to the Track View clipboard. (copied item can only be pasted into item of the same type) Assign Controller : (read tutorial about this one) Make Controller Unique: Converts an instanced clone of a controller to a copy that's unique to the current object. -------------- CV: Control Vertex