3ds Max Design 2010 doc

Uses actual examples from the author’s experience, including retail spaces, small offices, residential develop-ments, and more Concise explanations, focused examples, step-by-step instr

Design 2010

Mastering

Design 2010

Mark Gerhard

Jeffrey M Harper

Jon McFarland

Copy Editor: Kathy Grider-Carlyle

Editorial Manager: Pete Gaughan

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Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-40234-4

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

McFarland, Jon

Mastering 3ds max design 2010 / Jon McFarland 1st ed

p cm

Summary: “The only comprehensive tutorial/reference exclusively devoted to Autodesk’s robust architectural visualization software 3ds Max

Design is a powerful real-time 3D design, modeling, and animation tool for architectural visualizations This book covers all the software’s crucial

features, including how to simulate and analyze sun, sky, and artificial light-crucial factors for sustainable design-and how to define and assign

real-istic materials and work with AutoCAD and Revit files You’ll quickly learn how to get the most from this powerful software’s 3D modeling,

anima-tion, and rendering capabilities McFarland is an Autodesk Authorized Author with professional experience in creating complex visualizations for a

large property development company His real-world focus means workflows and instructions are professional and proven, and projects will include

those that pros work on every day Uses actual examples from the author’s experience, including retail spaces, small offices, residential

develop-ments, and more Concise explanations, focused examples, step-by-step instructions, and hands-on tutorials teach the basics and fine points of the

software Covers all the essential features, such as how to simulate and analyze sun, sky, and artificial light Demonstrates efficient use of the

inter-face; how to work with Revit and AutoCAD files; using data, scene management, and solid modeling tools; rendering real-world surfaces; and setting

up animated walkthroughs Mastering 3ds Max Design 2010 provides a practical education in using this powerful architectural visualization

TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc and/or its affiliates, in

the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission Autodesk and 3ds Max are registered trademarks of

Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Mastering Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 This book is part of a family

of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching

Sybex was founded in 1976 More than 30 years later, we’re still committed to producing tently exceptional books With each of our titles, we’re working hard to set a new standard for the industry From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available

consis-I hope you see all that reflected in these pages consis-I’d be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how we’re doing Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at nedde@wiley.com If you think you’ve found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com Customer feedback is criti-cal to our efforts at Sybex

Best regards,

Neil Edde Vice President and Publisher Sybex, an Imprint of Wiley

grandson Mateo, may he enjoy the future And to my mother and father who gave me the encouragement

to do whatever I wanted, no matter how wacky it seemed at the time

—M.G

This book is dedicated to my family and friends, for always encouraging me in my endeavors, providing their emotional support, and for their understanding when I had to miss events or disappear from the face

of the Earth to finish projects such as completing this book on schedule

I would also like to dedicate this to Mr Gil Moscatello, for introducing me to AutoCAD back

in 1989 in his Architectural Drafting classes, for tolerating my enthusiastic investigation and critiquing of the software, and for his guidance and encouragement which has and will continue to help

me throughout my career

—J.H

To my wife Lucy and our two sons, Zach and Jacob

—J.M

Thanks to everyone at Wiley/Sybex for their continued support over the years Big thanks to Tom Hudson for pursuing his dream that turned into this software, and Gary Yost, Dan Silva, Rolf Bertteig, and Jack Powell for creating a program that has turned into my life’s work I’d like

to acknowledge Frank Moore, for getting me into this mess by hiring me at Autodesk in 1990

And my gratitude goes to Gary Rackliff for hiring me exactly at the right moment in my life

Thanks to Jeff Harper for incredibly hard work under the gun And double thanks to my wife Rhonda, for keeping me sane when my computer was driving me otherwise

—Mark Gerhard

I would like to acknowledge the support of Mark Gerhard in recommending me for editing

and updating the Mastering Autodesk VIZ 2008 book to make it appropriate for the new 3ds Max

Design 2010 software, and for his help in updating the content I would also like to acknowledge Willem Knibbe, Denise Lincoln, Pete Gaughan, Liz Britten, and everyone else on the Wiley/

Sybex Team who helped keep me on schedule, assisted with graphics and figures, and made the edits and corrections

Thanks go out to Jon McFarland, Scott Onstott, and George Omura, who worked on the previous

editions of Mastering Autodesk VIZ They provided a very thorough framework on which to build I

would also like to thank Scott Onstott for allowing us to use his models as examples for a number

of chapters of this book Thanks also go out to Michael Clamp for the use of his wonderful graph of Notre Dame de Haut in Chapter 4 and to Brian P Skripac, former Architectural Consulting Expert at IMAGINiT Technologies, for the Revit model used in Chapter 15

photo-I have to thank my family and friends again for all their love, support, encouragement, faith, and patience

—Jeff Harper

Mark Gerhard is a 3ds Max Guru He has devoted the past two decades to this software in all its forms Mark was one of the first artists hired by Autodesk in 1990 to test the first version of 3D Studio on MS-DOS In his 14-plus years at Autodesk he worked as an instructor, product manager, demo artist, application engineer, and technical writer He wrote many of the tutorials that shipped with 3ds Max from versions 3 to present He has been an ATC instructor, teaching 3ds Max to countless individuals at high schools, community colleges, and universities around the world He has been the technical editor on numerous books on 3ds Max for New Riders, Wiley/Sybex, Friends of ED, Apress, 3DATS, and Focal Press He has been co-author of several books as well

Currently Mark teaches 3ds Max to architects and engineers across the United States and Canada He is also a Forum Assistant on The Area, Autodesk’s forum for all things 3D

Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in Practice of Art from University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on painting and sculpture He is the author of the children’s book “The Elf of the Shelf Sees Himself” (Push Press, 1983) He is also a trained musician, proficient in the tradi-tion of North Indian Classical Music, having studied tabla with Ustad Shankar Ghosh and Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh of Calcutta He has also studied vocal music with Ustad Ali Akbar Khansahib He is also a student of Indian folk music, having studied and performed with the Bauls of Bengal (Babukishan Das Goswami Baul)

Jeff Harper started using Autodesk products (initially AutoCAD 9) in his architectural ing classes when he was high school Jeff was very excited to see AutoCAD add 3D modeling to its toolset and starting thinking cinematographically, creating renderings of his CAD files with AutoShade Soon he began using 3D Studio R3 (for DOS) to help visualize his projects while

draft-he studied Architecture at tdraft-he University of Colorado at Boulder He upgraded to 3D Studio Max 1.0 for Windows when it was released, and he has used every version since, he also used LightScape 3.2 and a few versions of Autodesk VIZ

He has used 3ds Max to create architectural and civil engineering visualizations from a bination of aerial and terrestrial LiDAR, USGS NED data, high-resolution digital orthophotog-raphy, stereo-compiled mapping data, and CAD files from different packages and disciplines

com-Jeff has also used 3ds Max to create models, stills, and animations used in Computer-Based Training programs for aircraft maintenance Jeff has even used 3ds Max to create an STL file used to create a rapid-prototyped form from which he hand-pressed ceramic tiles used in the backsplash for a kitchen remodeling project

As a CADD Manager and Data Manager for a large multistate, multidiscipline engineering firm, Jeff wrote a number of workflow/training documents to assist users with certain CAD and GIS functions and assisted users with AutoCAD, Revit Structure, Civil 3D, MicroStation, InRoads, Adobe Photoshop, and ArcGIS

Jon McFarland lives in Cleveland, Ohio He manages a design department at a property opment company, where he uses AutoCAD and 3ds Max to create visualizations of proposed facility construction and expansions He has authored five books and teaches AutoCAD and 3ds Max courses at the university level

devel-Contents at a Glance

Introduction xxi

Chapter 1  •  Getting to Know 3ds Max Design 2010 1

Chapter 2  •  Introducing 3ds Max Objects 65

Chapter 3  •  Creating Shapes with Splines 115

Chapter 4  •  Editing Meshes and Creating Complex Objects 177

Chapter 5  •  Creating AEC Objects 271

Chapter 6  •  Organizing and Editing Objects 297

Chapter 7  •  Light and Shadow 347

Chapter 8  •  Enhancing Models with Materials 397

Chapter 9  •  Using the 3ds Max Camera 467

Chapter 10  •  Working with External Files 511

Chapter 11  •  Using mental ray 553

Chapter 12  •  Understanding Animation 609

Chapter 13  •  Creating Animations 655

Chapter 14  •  Atmospheres, Effects, reactor, and Particles 685

Chapter 15  •  Using Other Autodesk Applications with 3ds Max Design 2010 723

Appendix A  •  The Bottom Line 775

Appendix B  •  Modifiers and Materials 823

Index 853

Introduction xxi

Chapter 1  •  Getting to Know 3ds Max Design 2010 1

Introducing the New 3ds Max Design 2010 Features 1

Getting Started 4

Touring the Interface 5

The Menu Bar 5

The Quick Access Toolbar 7

The Information Center Toolbar 8

The Main Toolbar 8

Docked and Floating Toolbars 9

Toolbar Flyouts 13

The Viewports 13

Tools for Working with the Viewports 14

Getting to Know the Command Panel 17

Understanding 3ds Max’s Tools 18

Working with Objects 24

Selecting and Moving Objects 24

Rotating and Scaling Objects 28

Copying an Object 32

Selecting Multiple Objects 34

Naming Selection Sets 40

Editing Named Selection Sets 41

Getting the View You Want 44

Understanding the Perspective Viewing Tools 44

Using Multiple Viewports 50

Changing the Viewport Display and Configuration 53

Working with the Custom UI and Defaults Switcher 60

The Bottom Line 63

Chapter 2  •  Introducing 3ds Max Objects 65

Understanding Standard Primitives 65

Adjusting an Object’s Parameters 67

Accessing Parameters 73

Introducing the Standard Primitive Objects 74

Modeling Standard Primitives with Modifiers 78

Adding a Modifier 78

Accessing Modifier Parameters 81

Placing Modifiers Where You Want Them 84

Using the Modifier Stack Tools 86

How 3ds Max Sees Objects 88

Making Clones That Share Properties 88

Creating an Instance Clone 89

Creating a Reference Clone 91

Scaling and Rotating Objects with Transform Tools 94

Making a Clone Unique 98

Cloning a Modifier 98

Introducing Extended Primitives 101

Modeling a Couch 101

Working with Groups 108

Grouping the Components of the Couch 108

Working Within Groups 110

Disassembling Groups 112

The Bottom Line 113

Chapter 3  •  Creating Shapes with Splines 115

Drawing with Splines 116

Drawing Straight-Line Segments 117

Constraining Lines Vertically and Horizontally 119

Drawing Curves 120

Lathing a Spline 122

Modifying a Shape Using Sub-object Levels 124

Adjusting the Lathe Axis 125

Flipping Surface Normals 127

Smoothing Spline Corners 128

Adjusting Tangent Handles 132

Creating Thickness with a Spline 134

Outlining and Extruding Splines 138

Drawing Accurate Line Splines 138

Giving Walls Thickness 140

Using Grids and Snaps to Align Objects Accurately 142

Adjusting a Wall Location 149

Combining and Extruding Primitive Splines 152

Combining Splines 153

Joining Closed Splines with Boolean Tools 158

Creating a Solid Form with Splines 161

Introducing the Spline Types 165

Editing Splines 169

Placing and Beveling Text 170

The Bottom Line 175

Chapter 4  •  Editing Meshes and Creating Complex Objects 177

Creating Openings in a Wall with Boolean Operations 177

Hiding Shapes That Get in the Way 178

Creating the Shape of the Opening 180

Subtracting the Opening from the Wall 181

Creating Multiple Openings in a Single Wall 184

Making Changes to the Opening 184

Tracing a Sketch 187

Contents | xIII

Using a Bitmap Image 188

Scaling the Image Plane to the Model’s Size 191

Tracing the Image 194

Building Objects from Traced Lines 196

Editing Meshes 205

Creating a Tapered Wall 206

Converting the Spline to a Mesh 209

Moving a Single Mesh Vertex 213

Tapering the Top of the Wall 218

Using Instanced Clones to Create Symmetrical Forms 222

Adding a User Grid to Aid Tracing 223

Building the Tower Walls 224

Adding the Vaulted Ceiling 228

Creating the Smaller Towers 235

Drawing the Remaining Walls 239

Attaching Objects to a Mesh 243

Smoothing Meshes 246

Smoothing within a Mesh 246

The Smooth Modifier 249

Creating Objects Using Box Modeling 251

Preparing a Box for Box Modeling 251

Using the Transform Toolbox 258

Creating Clones with Array and Snapshot 261

Creating a Column Grid With Array 261

Creating a Multitransform Polar Array 265

Creating Multiple Clones Using Snapshot 267

The Bottom Line 270

Chapter 5  •  Creating AEC Objects 271

Creating a Parametric Wall 271

Creating a Parametric Wall 272

Adjusting the Wall’s Parameters 274

Adding Doors and Windows to Walls 274

Changing the Door’s Parameters 277

Adding Doors to Existing Openings 278

Creating a Parametric Window 281

Changing Elevations with Stairs 283

Setting Boundaries with Railings 288

Adding Foliage to a Scene 292

The Bottom Line 295

Chapter 6  •  Organizing and Editing Objects .297

Naming Objects 297

Renaming the Ceiling Fixtures 302

Organizing Objects by Layers 303

Setting Up Layers 304

Assigning Objects to Layers 305

Assigning Color to Layers 308

Understanding the Icons in the Layer Dialog Box 312

Lofting an Object 313

Setting Up the Shapes to Form the Pedestal 313

Lofting an Object 316

Using Different Shapes along the Loft Path 318

Fine-Tuning a Loft Object 321

Using the Instance Clones to Edit the Loft 327

Using the Noise Modifier 330

Modeling with Soft Selection 332

Extruding with the Sweep Modifier 338

Aligning Objects 341

The Bottom Line 344

Chapter 7  •  Light and Shadow 347

Lighting Your Model 347

Understanding the Types of Lights 347

Adding a Spotlight to Simulate the Sun 349

Moving a Light 351

Editing a Spotlight 353

Changing the Light Type 355

Rendering a View 356

Ambient Light 359

Faking Radiosity 361

Adding a Highlight with an Omni Light 365

Looking at Omni Light Options 369

Adding Shadow Effects 373

Softening Shadow Edges 374

Understanding Shadow Maps 375

Using Ray-Traced Shadows 379

Using Advanced Ray Traced Shadows and Area Shadows 381

Playing in the Shadows 382

Using Two Suns 383

Adding a Second Sun 385

Using Unseen Objects to Cast Shadows 387

Using a Clone to Cast Shadows 389

Using the Light Lister 391

Using Scene States 393

The Bottom Line 396

Chapter 8  •  Enhancing Models with Materials 397

Understanding Bitmap Texture Maps 397

Diffuse Color Maps 398

Surface Properties 402

The Physical Qualities Rollout 403

The Special Effects Rollout 405

Adding Materials to Objects 406

Contents | xv

Adding a Map Path to Help 3ds Max Find Bitmaps 406

Understanding Material Libraries 411

Editing Materials 412

Using Bump Maps 413

Creating a New Material 415

Adding Material Mapping Coordinates 417

Understanding Mapping Coordinates 422

What Happens When You Add the Mapping Coordinates 422

Adjusting the UVW Mapping Gizmo 423

Using the Standard Material 430

Map Scalar Modifiers 432

Adding Entourage 435

Hiding Unwanted Surfaces with Opacity Maps 435

Adjusting an Object to a Bitmap Shape 441

Assigning Materials to Parts of an Object 442

Creating a Multi/Sub-Object Material 442

Applying a Submaterial to an Object’s Surface 444

Exploring the ProMaterials 447

Adjust the ProMaterial Parameters 448

Using the Material Explorer 450

The Material Utilities 451

Modeling with Displacement Maps 454

Using the Displace Modifier 455

Using the Material Editor to Create Displaced Geometry 457

Converting a Displacement Map into an Editable Mesh 461

Creating an Editable Mesh from a Displacement Map 463

The Bottom Line 465

Chapter 9  •  Using the 3ds Max Camera .467

Understanding the 3ds Max Camera 467

Adding a Camera 468

3ds Max 2010 Viewport Improvements 473

Editing the Camera Location with the Viewport Tools 473

Setting Up an Interior View 478

Creating an Environment 480

Making Adjustments to the Background 482

Immersive Environments for Animation 488

Creating a Believable Background 488

Using a Texture Map and Hemisphere for the Sky 489

Using Render Types 494

Render Elements for Compositing 496

Matching Your Scene to a Background Image 498

Setting Up the Model and the Image 499

Adding the Background Image 500

Adding the Camera Match Points 502

Aligning the Camera Match Points to the Background Image 504

Fine-Tuning a Camera-Matched View 506

Matching the Design Image Quality to the Background 507

The Bottom Line 508

Chapter 10  •  Working with External Files 511

Gaining Access to Materials and Objects from Other Files 511

Arranging Furniture with XRefs and the Asset Browser 519

Replacing Objects with Objects from an External File 521

Substituting Objects for Faster Viewport Performance 523

Importing Files with the Asset Browser 525

Arranging Furniture with XRef Scenes 529

Using the Rendered Frame Window 534

Printing Images 535

Opening Multiple RFWs for Comparisons 535

Zooming, Panning, and Controlling Channels in the RFW 536

Obtaining Colors from External Bitmap Files 538

Using the Asset Browser on the Internet 538

Tracking and Locating a Scene’s Assets 541

Creating Panoramas 543

Publishing a DWF File 548

The Bottom Line 551

Chapter 11  •  Using mental ray 553

Understanding mental ray 553

Setting Up mental ray 556

The Material Editor and mental ray 559

Using Photon Maps 563

Testing the Photon Map Effects 565

Final Gathering 579

Reviewing the Basic mental ray Workflow 582

Contour Renderings 583

Using the mr MultiMap Material 587

Skylight Global Illumination 590

Image-Based Lighting and Skylight 593

Using High Dynamic Range Images 596

Using mr Proxy Objects 598

Using Lighting Analysis 601

The Bottom Line 607

Chapter 12  •  Understanding Animation .609

Understanding the World of Video Time 609

Creating a Quick-Study Animation 610

Adding Camera Motion 611

Adjusting the Camera Path 613

Viewing the Camera Trajectory 614

Controlling the Camera Trajectory Visibility 616

Creating a Preview Animation 617

Understanding Keyframes 618

Contents | xvII

Increasing the Number of Frames in an Animation Segment 621

Accelerating and Decelerating the Camera Motion Smoothly 623

Editing Keyframes 625

Adding More Frames for Additional Camera Motion 627

Adding Frames to the End of a Segment 627

Adjusting the Camera Motion Through a Keyframe 629

Compressing and Expanding Time 634

Adjusting the Camera Trajectory Using the Track View 639

Increasing the Number of Frames Between Selected Keys 644

Speeding Up the Preview Rendering Time 645

Adding Frames to the Beginning of a Segment 646

Other Options for Previewing Your Motion 648

Moving the Camera Target over Time 650

Controlling Lights over Time 651

The Bottom Line 654

Chapter 13  •  Creating Animations 655

Rendering the Animation 655

Creating a Study Animation 655

Creating a Quick Overall Study Animation 658

Adding a Moving Car 659

Automating Output of Multiple Still Images 663

Setting Up a Camera for Elevations 664

Setting Up the Four Elevations 665

Rendering a Shadow Study 670

Adjusting for True North 670

Changing from IES Sun to a Standard Light 671

Creating a Walkthrough 673

Fine-Tuning the Camera’s Orientation 674

Adjusting the Camera’s Timing 676

Adjusting the Path 678

The Animation File Output Options 678

True Color vs 256 Colors 681

File Naming in Animations 682

Choosing an Image Size 682

The AVI Codecs 683

The Bottom Line 684

Chapter 14  •  Atmospheres, Effects, reactor, and Particles 685

Adding Atmospheres Effects 685

Creating a Volume Light 686

Adjusting the Volume Light Parameters 689

Adding Fog 690

Adding a Fire Effect 695

Using Hair and Fur to Add Grass 700

Adjusting the Hair and Fur Parameters 701

Refining the Ground with the Hair and Fur Parameters 702

Using reactor to Animate Objects 704

Assigning Properties to Simulation Objects 705

Assigning Simulation Objects to a Collection 706

Setting Up and Running the Simulation 707

Refining the Settings 709

Using Particle Systems 710

Creating the Initial Flow 711

Adding and Editing the Operators 713

Adding Materials and Space Warps 715

Adding Deflectors 718

The Bottom Line 721

Chapter 15  •  Using Other Autodesk Applications with 3ds Max Design 2010 723 Creating Topography with Splines 723

Updating Changes from an AutoCAD File 728

Exploring Terrain Options 729

Setting Up an AutoCAD Plan for 3ds Max 732

Importing AutoCAD Plans into 3ds Max Design 738

Extruding the Walls 740

Extruding Exterior Wall Headers 741

Extruding the Mullions 742

Creating Interior Wall Headers 743

Adding Glass 745

Creating a Floor with Openings 747

Exploring the File Link Manager 752

Editing Linked AutoCAD Files 753

Understanding the Block Node Hierarchy 755

Understanding the File Link Manager Options 757

Understanding File Link Settings 759

Using the Substitute Modifier with Linked Geometry 765

Importing a Truss 767

Importing Revit Files into 3ds Max 770

Export the Revit File 770

Link the Exported File in 3ds Max 772

The Bottom Line 774

Appendix A  •  The Bottom Line .775

Chapter 1: Getting to Know 3ds Max Design 2010 775

Chapter 2: Introducing 3ds Max Objects 777

Chapter 3: Creating Shapes with Splines 780

Chapter 4: Editing Meshes and Creating Complex Objects 782

Chapter 5: Creating AEC Objects 785

Chapter 6: Organizing and Editing Objects 788

Chapter 7: Light and Shadow 794

Chapter 8: Enhancing Models with Materials 796

Chapter 9: Using the 3ds Max Camera 800

Chapter 10: Working With External Files 802

Contents | xIx

Chapter 11: Using mental ray 805

Chapter 12: Understanding Animation 809

Chapter 13: Creating Animations 813

Chapter 14: Atmospheres, Effects, Reactor, and Particles 817

Chapter 15: Using other Autodesk Applications with 3ds Max Design 819

Appendix B  •  Modifiers and Materials 823

Modifiers 823

Selection Modifiers 823

World-Space Modifiers 824

Object-Space Modifiers 827

Materials and Maps 844

Materials (Blue Spheres) 844

Maps (Green Parallelogram) 848

Index 853

A significant portion of your work as a designer will involve sketching and drawing throughout the design process These visual explorations will not only help convey your ideas to others, but they will also help you see problems with a design and help you refine your ideas 3D computer modeling and animation take design visualization beyond hand-drawn sketches and foam-core models, by allowing you to create a complete replica of your design and study it from any point

of view in any lighting condition

With 3ds Max Design 2010, you can apply color, texture, lighting, and other effects to see how variations of these elements affect your design You can get a realistic look at your design to help you make better decisions as you progress through the design process

Mastering 3ds Max Design 2010 is intended to help architects, designers, and visualization ists present their designs through 3D models, rendered stills, and animations This book focuses

art-on the use of 3ds Max Design 2010 as a modeling and presentatiart-on tool Because Mastering 3ds

Max Design 2010 is focused on design issues, you will not find information about character mation or advanced special effects You also not find descriptions of every single tool or func-tion available in 3ds Max Design 2010

ani-In this book you will find step-by-step tutorials covering the primary functions of the ware that you will use in the process of visualizing designs These tutorials are based on years

soft-of experience using 3ds Max on real projects with real requirements and deadlines By ing the tutorials, you will learn how to construct complex geometric forms and how to apply realistic textures and lighting to study a design You will also learn how to create effects to help emphasize parts of your design for presentations

complet-How to Use This Book

The goal of this book is to give you the appropriate skills to produce professional-level sentations of your ideas, from conceptual designs to finished renderings and animated walkthroughs Once you have mastered those fundamental skills, you will be equipped to confi-dently explore 3ds Max Design 2010 and its robust set of tools and options on your own

pre-To get the most value from this book, you should read the chapters sequentially from front to back, doing all the exercises as you go Each chapter builds on the skills you learned in previous chapters, so you can think of this book as your personal, self-paced course on 3ds Max Design

2010 As you are doing the exercises, don’t be afraid to try things not in the tutorials 3ds Max Design is too robust and complicated a piece of software to completely teach in one volume

The first three chapters of this book will help you become familiar with how 3ds Max Design

2010 works and how it is organized If you are already familiar with 3ds Max, 3ds Max Design,

or Autodesk VIZ, you may want to skim these chapters to become accustomed to the new user interface and to be introduced to the some of the new features of 3ds Max Design 2010 Chapters

4, 5, and 6 will show you how to build fairly complex geometry using a variety of tools These chapters introduce you to the more common methods of constructing and modifying objects in 3ds Max Design 2010 Chapters 7 through 10 show you how to use lights, materials, and cam-eras Chapter 11 covers the mental ray rendering system Chapters 12 and 13 introduce and then expand on animation topics Chapter 14 covers using the built-in particle effect and dynamics systems in 3ds Max for enhancing your visualizations Chapter 15 covers bringing data from other Autodesk programs into 3ds Max

At the back of the book there are a set of appendices that offer general reference information

on some of the more common tools used in 3ds Max Design 2010 Once you have completed the first few chapters of the book, you can use the appendices as an aid in your own exploration of 3ds Max You can then refer to the appendices as you continue to work through the rest of the book

Before you start going through the tutorials in this book, you need to go to the Sybex website (www.sybex.com/go/Mastering3dsmaxDesign2010) and download the compressed files with the content You must extract the chapter archive files to a folder on your computer that you will use to complete the tutorials in the book You will need those files to complete the exercises in the book

Connecting 3ds Max to the Chapter Files

It is important that you configure 3ds Max Design 2010 to recognize the location of the tutorial files from the Sybex website (www.sybex.com/go/mastering3dsmaxdesign2010) Make sure that you perform the instructions given in the section titled “Adding a Map Path to Help 3ds Max Find Bitmaps” in Chapter 8 If you like, you can set up 3ds Max as described in that section right after you have extracted the files

What You’ll Find

To give you a better idea of what you’ll find in this book, here is a summary of the chapters and their contents

Chapter 1: Getting to Know 3ds Max Design 2010 In Chapter 1, you will get an tion to 3ds Max Design 2010 and the new User Interface, and you’ll get a first look at 3ds Max objects and how they are created Toward the end of Chapter 1 you will be introduced to the different ways you can view your designs in 3ds Max Design 2010

introduc-Chapter 2: Introducing 3ds Max Objects Chapter 2 delves deeper into the workings of 3ds Max objects You’ll learn about the different types of objects available in 3ds Max Design 2010 and how you can use them to create the shapes you want You will learn how to manipulate 3ds Max’s core set of shapes, called primitives, and turn them into more complex shapes You will also learn about the different methods you can use to duplicate shapes, and how these methods can help you quickly complete your design

IntroductIon | xxIII

Chapter 3: Creating Shapes with Splines In Chapter 3 you will look at how you can ate complex forms from simple lines Here you will learn how to manipulate a basic type of object called a spline shape and turn it into a wineglass You will look at creating walls and 3D text objects as well

cre-Chapter 4: Editing Meshes and Creating Complex Objects Chapter 4 introduces you to object and editing methods that are common to architectural projects You will start model-ing a well-known building, using a hand-drawn sketch as a template You will also focus on drawing objects that have unusual shapes

Chapter 5: Creating AEC Objects Chapter 5 will introduce you to the parametric AEC (Architectural, Engineering, Construction) objects included with 3ds Max Design 2010, such

as walls, windows, doors, stairs and railings, and foliage objects

Chapter 6: Organizing and Editing Objects In Chapter 6 you will continue working on the main scene from Chapter 5 by exploring ways to organize the components of the design You will learn how to use object names and layers to help identify parts in the design You will also continue your exploration of modeling complex forms by creating additional objects and modifying existing objects to add detail and depth to the scene

Chapter 7: Light and Shadow Chapter 7 uses another well-known building to introduce you to the concepts of lighting and rendering your digital models You will also learn about the different types of lighting and shadows and how to use them together In addition, you will learn how you can create more realistic renderings by the careful placement of addi-tional lights in strategic locations

Chapter 8: Enhancing Models with Materials In Chapter 8, you will continue to build

on what you learned in Chapter 7 by exploring materials You will experiment with the many properties of materials and maps in 3ds Max Design, such as diffuse color, bump map textures, and reflections You will learn how to align a texture to a surface, and you will be introduced to methods for adding entourage, such as trees and people, to scenes

Chapter 9: Using the 3ds Max Camera Chapter 9 discusses placing cameras in your model and creating environments to surround your models You will learn how to control the back-ground to affect the mood of your renderings You will also experiment with rendering only selected portions of your scene to save time

Chapter 10: Working with External Files Chapter 10 shows you different ways to use 3ds Max files You will learn how to combine different files efficiently to allow you to work collaboratively with other members of a design team You will discover ways to share data between project files You will also see how you can share your models on the Internet

Chapter 11: Using mental ray In Chapter 11 you will use the mental ray rendering system

The mental ray system offers you the capability to create incredibly realistic renderings You will learn how to set up and use global illumination, create and use mr Proxy objects, the Multi-Sub-map material, create contour renderings with the Material Override feature, and perform Lighting Analysis on your projects

Chapter 12: Understanding Animation Chapter 12 offers you an introduction to animation in

an architectural context You will learn to create and control the animation of a camera to create

a flyby of one of the buildings you worked on in earlier chapters You will also learn how to edit

an animated object’s motion, create previews of your animation, and control lights over time

Chapter 13: Creating Animations Chapter 13 continues your look at animation by ing the options for outputting your animations to files, creating shadow studies, adding other animated elements to add to the realism of your visualizations, and creating effective walkthroughs of your designs.

explor-Chapter 14: Atmospheres, Effects, reactor, and Particles In Chapter 14 you will learn how

to use the built-in particle systems, effects, and dynamics system to add atmosphere to your visualizations

Chapter 15: Using Other Autodesk Applications with 3ds Max Design 2010 Chapter 15 shows you how to take advantage of files created in other Autodesk products, capitalizing

on their unique strengths to reduce the time and effort you need to expend to create quality finished models in 3ds Max Design 2010

high-In addition to the main chapters in this book, there are two appendices

Appendix A: The Bottom Line Appendix A has the solutions for the Master It exercises found at the end of each chapter

Appendix B: Modifiers and Materials Appendix B is a reference for the Modifiers and Materials found in 3ds Max Design 2010

Intel Pentium®4 or AMD-based equivalent processor

Graphics card supporting 1024

•u × 768, 32-bit color display, 128MBDirectX 9.0c (included on the 3ds Max Design 2010 DVD)

What’s on the Book’s Website

You will want to make sure that you have downloaded and extracted the sample files from the Sybex website (www.sybex.com/go/mastering3dsmaxdesign2010/) that are mentioned through-out the book The website includes the *.max and support files necessary to complete the exer-cises in this book in archive files

Chapter 1

Getting to Know 3ds Max Design 2010

Welcome to Mastering Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 replaces

Autodesk VIZ 2008 and benefits from the development of its sister product, 3ds Max, to give architects and other design professionals an indispensable design and visualization tool

Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 gives designers cutting-edge rendering technology, easy-to-use architectural materials, improved communication with other related software, enhancements to modeling and animation tools, and better viewport interactivity than ever before

This chapter introduces some of 3ds Max Design 2010’s special features and then gets you started working with the 3ds Max interface In this chapter, you will learn to:

Navigate and configure the viewports

Introducing the New 3ds Max Design 2010 Features

3ds Max Design replaces Autodesk VIZ 2008 as Autodesk’s 3D modeling and visualization tool for the architectural industry It is comparable to 3ds Max and is essentially the same product without the Software Developers Kit (SDK), which is used to develop plug-ins that give the pro-grams additional functionality In addition to having all the features that 3ds Max has, 3ds Max Design offers a new Exposure lighting analysis tool, which is used to help meet the Leadership

in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) 8.1 certification standards The program is referred to as either 3ds Max or 3ds Max Design throughout the text

Each new version of 3ds Max incorporates fresh and exciting tools to enhance your ties and workflow while also increasing the performance of the program on your computer system Utilizing these new features is key to improving your skills and decreasing the time

capabili-it takes to complete your projects To help you find information, the 3ds Max Design 2010 Learning Movies dialog box (see Figure 1.1) includes links to essential skills movies, which teach many of the basic skills for using 3ds Max, as well as links to movies that explain the new features and additional 3ds Max–related tutorials

New Features and Essential Skills Movies/What’s New and Learning Path The new tures and additional skills movies are located on the Autodesk website, and an active Internet connection is required to view them When you no longer want the dialog box to appear as 3ds Max opens, simply uncheck the Show This Dialog at Startup option in the lower-left corner

fea-The dialog box can then be opened by choosing Help  Learning Movies from the menu bar

Graphite Modeling Tools The new Graphite Modeling tools provide over 100 new ing features for organic sculpting, texture painting in the viewports, and advanced polygon modeling They are available on the new Graphite Modeling Ribbon These tools bring a new level of interactivity to modeling in 3ds Max

model-Containers Containers are a new toolset within 3ds Max designed to improve project laboration and workflows by aggregating multiple objects into containers Similar objects in a scene can be added to a container so you can interact with them as one unit Containers can

col-be loaded and unloaded from the viewports as necessary to improve the performance of 3ds Max Design 2010

Material Explorer The new Material Explorer is a hierarchical display that allows you to review and manage all materials in a scene Unlike the Material Editor, the Material Explorer does not suffer from a limitation of how many materials it can display at one time

Exposure lighting validation When architectural or engineering visualizations are being created, accurate simulation of lighting conditions can be vitally important to a project’s suc-cess The Exposure feature, only available in 3ds Max Design, allows you to create more sus-tainable design projects by analyzing the interaction of artificial lighting, sun, and skylight directly in your models This information can be studied right in the viewports Although the Exposure name is trademarked by Autodesk, you won’t actually find “Exposure” any-where in the Help file or 3ds Max Interface

xView Mesh Analyzer The xView Mesh Analyzer feature allows you to check your els in the viewport for common mesh errors such as overlapping UV coordinates, isolated

mod-Figure 1.1

The new Learning Movies dialog box

introducinG the new 3ds Max desiGn 2010 Features | 3

vertices, duplicate and flipped faces, and other geometry errors This new feature can help you avoid potentially costly modeling mistakes before projects proceed too far down the pro-duction pipeline

ProSound Included in this release of 3ds Max Design is the new ProSound system, which allows you to work interactively with up to 100 unique audio tracks directly in your scene using the Track View dialog box ProSound can be used to help when working with lip-syncing or cre-ating preliminary audio tracks for your animated projects

Review3 Autodesk has spent a significant effort improving the interactivity of the 3ds Max

2010 viewports The third generation of this technology helps artists get a closer idea of how their final renderings will turn out by previewing the scenes directly in the viewports with interative shadows (hard and soft), ambient occlusion, real time HDR generated lighting, and interactive exposure control, and takes advantage of the mental mill shader technology

mental mill/MetaSL Support Integral to the improvements in the interactive viewports

is the inclusion of support for mental mill (the new shader technology from mental images), which allows users to create, test, and distribute hardware-independent shaders that provide real-time feedback and look the same in the viewport as they do in renderings

Multi-map Shader The new Multi-Map shader for use with metal ray allows you to create materials with built-in variations that can be applied randomly to scene objects or applied based on specific object properties This is a great way to create more natural-looking variations among similar scene objects such as trees, vehicles, furniture, or any anything else you want

Render Surface Map The Render Surface Map in 3ds Max 2010 can create grayscale maps of selected UVW-mapped poly objects based on the unique properties of the objects

bit-The four types of maps that can be rendered are Cavity Map, Density Map, Dust Map, and SubSurface Map

Viewport Canvas The Viewport Canvas tools allow you to paint your maps directly on your poly objects right in the 3ds Max viewports using familiar paint software concepts

ViewCube and SteeringWheel Objects If you are familiar with the earlier versions of 3ds Max or Autodesk VIZ, you might immediately notice two other new features These are the ViewCube and SteeringWheel objects in the viewports The SteeringWheel and ViewCube are used to navigate through a 3D scene and to quickly orient or provide feedback regard-ing your current viewpoint The SteeringWheel and ViewCube are common across several Autodesk products

ProMaterials A library of physically accurate materials, called ProMaterials, is now available from the Material Editor ProMaterials are for use exclusively with the mental ray rendering system and can add a significant degree of realism to a scene The mental ray ren-dering system is covered in Chapter 11

mental ray The mental ray renderer that now ships with 3ds Max Design 2010 has been upgraded to version 3.7 of the high-level, production-quality rendering system An entirely new subdivision surface implementation makes this version faster and more efficient The mental ray renderer is now the default renderer for 3ds Max Design

Updated Biped System 3ds Max has had the Biped system, used to create the bone system for animating two-footed characters, for several releases In this version, a new ability has been introduced that allows a biped’s hands to act as feet in regard to the plane on which the

character is walking This feature makes it easier to use Biped to animate characters with four feet rather than two.

FBX File Format The FBX file format has been improved and can be used to exchange files between 3D programs, including 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Mudbox, and Softimage You will want to make sure you download and install the newest update for the FBX software from the Autodesk website

Updated Recognize Scene-Loading Technology Data from Revit Architecture 2010 files, such as geometry, lighting parameters, camera information, and materials, can now accurately be imported into 3ds Max using the new Recognize Scene-Loading Technology

Recognize is also based on the FBX format mentioned earlier

For more information about new features and improvements in 3ds Max, go to the What’s New

in Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 section of the Help System You can also find information on the Autodesk website or the Autodesk Media and Entertainment forums called “The Area.”

Getting Started

Although many of 3ds Max’s components are typical for a Windows program, quite a few are unique to 3ds Max; therefore, a solid understanding of them is essential to effectively using the program To begin exploring the 3ds Max Design 2010 interface, start the program by doing one

You’ll see a variety of components in the 3ds Max window (see Figure 1.2)—some that may

be familiar and others that may not

Figure 1.2

The standard 3ds Max Design 2010 window

tourinG the interFace | 5

the Large Icons Option

The images in this book use the Large Icons option to better display the toolbar buttons To activate this option, choose Customize  Preferences to open the Preference Settings dialog box In the UI Display section of the General tab, check the Use Large Toolbar Buttons option, and then shut down and reopen 3ds Max for the option to take effect

At the top, you see a typical Windows menu bar and the 3ds Max main toolbar You may also see up to nine more floating or docked toolbars containing additional 3ds Max tools In the center, you see the viewport area, which currently shows the Perspective, Top, Left, and Front viewports At the lower-right corner of the screen, you see the Viewport Navigation tools for adjusting your views in the current viewport You also see the time controls for creating and playing animations, the prompt line and status bar, and the MAXScript Mini-Listener (for creating macros) On the right side of the user interface, you see the Command panel, which contains nearly all the tools you’ll use to create and edit objects in 3ds Max Let’s take a closer look at each of these components 3ds Max often provides several methods, including toolbars, Command panels, menus, and shortcuts, for accomplishing the same task

Touring the Interface

3ds Max offers a wealth of tools, and their sheer number can be overwhelming To get a basic understanding of the 3ds Max window, let’s look at each of the window components individu-ally, starting with the menu bar

The Menu Bar

At the top of the screen is the menu bar Here you find the typical Windows commands for file maintenance, as well as commands specifically for 3ds Max

New to 3ds Max 2010 is the Application button (Figure 1.3) which replaces the traditional File menu The Application button is a graphical representation of the tools from the traditional File menu, including opening and saving files, importing, exporting and referencing files The Application button is also where you can set a project folder, access the Asset Tracking tool, and check statistics about the current file If you are more comfortable using the traditional File menu, it can be restored to the 3ds Max interface using the Customize  Customize User Interface dialog

The options in the menu bar are organized the same way they are in most Windows tions Clicking an option issues a command, and you’re expected to take some action An option that’s followed by three periods, called an ellipsis, opens a dialog box, usually to allow you to make changes to settings related to the option An option with a right-pointing arrow displays

applica-more options in what is called a cascading menu, as shown in Figure 1.4.

Try out the menu bar by taking a look at the Units Setup dialog box:

1. Choose Customize  Units Setup The Units Setup dialog box displays

2. Select the US Standard radio button, and make sure that Feet w/Decimal Inches is selected below it, and that the Inches radio button is selected for Default Units, as shown

in Figure 1.5

3. Click the System Unit Setup button, and you will see the System Unit Setup dialog box shown in Figure 1.6 Make sure 1 Unit is set equal to 1.0 Inches Do not change anything else in the System Unit Setup dialog box, and click OK twice to close both dialog boxes.

Figure 1.5

Defining the units

in the Units Setup dialog box

tourinG the interFace | 7

By setting the Units Setup dialog box, you ensure that you’ll be working with the same units that are discussed in this book

reverting to the Startup Layout

3ds Max Design 2010 is something of a chameleon It can change its appearance, depending on the focus of your modeling needs Users of 3ds Max 2010 will see a somewhat different interface, with the tools designed more for the game and entertainment industries featured If your 3ds Max Design

2010 window doesn’t look the way it does in the figures in this book, choose Customize  Revert to Startup Layout You’ll see a warning message telling you that any user interface (UI) changes you have made will be lost Click Yes to set up your 3ds Max windows to match the interface you see in this book You can also reload Custom UI schemes to reset the interface, or use the Custom UI and Defaults Switcher to accomplish the same thing, plus more See the “Working with the Custom UI and Defaults Switcher” section later in this chapter for more information on this topic

The Quick Access Toolbar

Just to the right of the new Application menu is the Quick Access toolbar, another new addition

to 3ds Max 2010 As its name implies, it provides quick access to a number of useful commands, including New Scene, Open File, Save File, and the Select Project Folder Browser

The Quick Access toolbar is also the new home for the enhanced Undo Scene Operation and Redo Scene Operation tools Click these buttons to undo your last actions, up to 25 by default, or redo any undone actions Clicking the drop-down button next to either the Undo or Redo but-tons brings up a list of actions from which you can select

You can customize the Quick Access toolbar by clicking on the down-arrow icon at the far right of the toolbar

Figure 1.6

The System Unit Setup dialog box

The Information Center Toolbar

All the way across the screen at the upper-right corner of the interface, near the traditional Windows Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons, is the Information Center toolbar The Information Center toolbar provides a search function for 3ds Max topics in the local Help files and on the Autodesk website; the Subscription Center (if you have Subscription Center access);

the Communication Center, where you’ll receive notices of program updates and other relevant announcements; a Favorites panel, where you can store links to commonly accessed websites;

and pages and elements from the 3ds Max Help menu

The Main Toolbar

Just below the menu bar is the main toolbar The tools on this toolbar offer tooltips, which are exposed when the cursor pauses over them, to help you remember their purpose

The first set of tools is for linking and selecting objects The two Linking tools, one for ing and the other for unlinking, cause one object to move, rotate, or scale based on commands applied to another object The third Linking tool, the Bind to Space Warp tool, can be used

link-to attach objects and space warps link-together The Selection link-tools let you select objects by ing them or by selecting them by name The Selection filter allows you to limit what can be

click-selected with the cursor You can also specify the method for selecting objects by using a

selec-tion window, which lets you indicate a selection by placing a rectangle, circle, or other border around the objects

To the right of the Selection tools are the Transform tools This set of tools lets you move, rotate, and scale objects You can also choose the reference coordinate system, set the center of the transform using the pivot options, toggle the keyboard shortcut overrides, use different snap options, work with named selection sets, and use tools to mirror and align objects

The next group of tools to the right includes access to the Layer Manager, Graphite Modeling tools display toggle, the Track View Curve Editor, the Schematic View tools, and the Materials and Rendering tools The Layer Manager gives you control over all the settings for layers in your scene and the objects contained in those layers The Graphite Modeling tools are a com-pletely new set of over 100 tools to improve creating and editing poly objects within 3ds Max

The Curve Editor tools display your scene information as graphs or wiring diagrams to indicate the functionality or relationships of scene objects The Schematic View tools provide a visual graph and control how all the elements of your scene are linked The Materials tools give you control over the appearance of objects by defining and applying their surface properties With these tools, you can create color, texture, opacity, and other material characteristics, and then apply these characteristics to objects in your model You can also open the Render Setup dialog box, select the render type, and perform a quick render with the buttons on the far right

tourinG the interFace | 9

The Rendering tools give you control over the image output of your 3ds Max scene Unlike output from most applications, output from 3ds Max Design 2010 is most likely to be image or animation files, or real-time virtual models The Rendering tools let you set the type and size of output, from single, large-format stills to video-ready animations

Working on a Lower-resolution System

If you’re working with a screen resolution less than 1280 × 1024, you will not be able to see all the tools on the main toolbar Some of the tools are off the screen to the far right To access these tools, place the cursor on the toolbar so that a Hand icon appears, and then click and drag the toolbar to the left If you have trouble with this, move your cursor under one of the drop-down lists on the main toolbar, to access the Pan Hand The hidden tools will emerge You can also click the Rendering menu item to access all the rendering tools The smallest supported screen resolution for the UI in 3ds Max Design 2010 is 1024 × 768, but the recommended resolution is 1280 × 1024 or higher

Docked and Floating Toolbars

In addition to the main toolbar, you will see several “floating” toolbars that may be sitting on top of the viewport (see Figure 1.3) However, some of the toolbars may be hidden You can open hidden toolbars by right-clicking on a blank part of any open toolbar A context menu will appear listing the available toolbars Let’s take a quick look at the floating toolbars

1. Right-click on a blank area of the main toolbar and click on any of the toolbar items that

do not have a checkmark next to them

2. Repeat the process until all the floating toolbars are exposed

All the toolbars float over the viewports and have titles such as Layers, Render Shortcuts, Snaps, Axis Constraints, and Extras As with most toolbars, you can dock these floating toolbars

to the side or hide them altogether to gain better access to objects in the viewports The toolbars can be resized by clicking on and dragging any of their edges

Consider a Dual-Screen System

In 3ds Max and many other graphics programs, screen space is always at a premium You can use

a two-monitor system to help unclutter your screen Simply move items such as floating toolbars, the Material Editor, Curve Editor, Rendered Frame Window, and so forth to the second monitor, freeing up as much screen real estate as possible

Layers are like overlays that help you organize the objects in your model If you are an AutoCAD or Adobe Photoshop user, you should have an idea of how layers work You’ll learn more about layers in Chapter 6, “Organizing and Editing Objects.”

Render shortcuts contain predefined render settings, such as resolution and output file type, that are used to create content from your 3ds Max scenes The Render Shortcuts toolbar is where you will find the tools for saving and storing your preset values You’ll learn about rendering in Chapters 9 through 13

Snaps are features that control where the cursor jumps to, adding a degree of precision to your scene, when the cursor is near a characteristic in the scene Using snaps, you can eas-ily move the corner of one object to the midpoint of another or nearly any other characteristic combination

Objects are frequently transformed (moved, rotated, or scaled) along a particular axis, or direction, relative to the object or the scene This functionality is usually utilized through the Transform gizmo, an onscreen tool used to facilitate the transforms The Axis Constraints tool-bar also contains these tools

The Extras toolbar contains tools that don’t fit cleanly into other categories With the AutoGrid button, you can turn on a creation grid relative to the surface of any object in the

scene You can also create an array (numerous, precisely placed clones) of objects in matrices,

along a path or at equal intervals

tourinG the interFace | 11

Several tools found within 3ds Max utilize a paint brush analogy in their implementation

The location and intensity of the effects are determined by how the brush cursor is dragged over

an object’s surface The Brush Presets toolbar gives you access to the standard brushes and the Brush Preset Manager so you can modify and save a brush’s parameters This toolbar is grayed out unless a tool that utilizes it is active

The Animation Layers toolbar lets you access tools that control the layering of objects’

ani-mated parameters Layering allows you to designate which aniani-mated features are enabled and

which are not, allowing for many possible combinations

Large scenes and projects can become very complicated quickly Containers help you nize assets by combining them into groups They can be loaded and unloaded at will to reduce the size of files and how much information is active at one time By refreshing the link to a con-tainer, you can help coordinate data and project changes among project teams By limiting write access to data files, you can protect project scene files

orga-Interactions between objects (for example, collisions, fluid surfaces, and jointed constraints) can be difficult to animate manually Using reactor, a physics simulation toolset, you can quickly and accurately create simulations that account for properties such as gravity, friction, and wind

You can dock the floating toolbars or float the docked toolbars Try the following exercise to see how to change the location of toolbars:

1. Click and drag the title bar of the Layers toolbar so that the toolbar is below the main toolbar (see Figure 1.7) The Layers toolbar appears ghosted as a horizontal outline just before you release the mouse button

2. When the outline is in the position shown in Figure 1.7, release the mouse button The Layers toolbar is now in a docked position

Figure 1.7

Docking the Layers toolbar under the main toolbar

3. Click and drag the Extras toolbar and dock it just to the right of the Layers toolbar (also just under the main toolbar), as shown in Figure 1.8.

4. Right-click the two vertical lines (called the toolbar handle) on the left side of the Extras

toolbar to open the context menu, as shown in Figure 1.9

5. Select Float from the context menu The Extras toolbar returns to its floating position

Another way to do this is to drag the toolbar by its handle down into the viewport

6. Toolbars can be docked on any side of the viewports However, you should avoid docking toolbars to the left and right sides of the interface if the toolbars have drop-down lists;

otherwise, the lists will not appear Select the Axis Constraints toolbar and dock it to the left side of the user interface (Figure 1.10)

7. Select the remaining floating toolbars and dock them on the top, right, or left edge of the viewport

In this brief exercise, you learned how to dock and float toolbars, and how to access the text menu where you can toggle the toolbars on and off Most of the toolbars aren’t required in the early chapters of this book, and they occupy a portion of available screen space You can hide

con-or float the toolbars however you like

Figure 1.10

Some of the bars docked left