The most efficient, affordable, must-have guide to the leading 3D modeling and animation application for Windows. It covers all of the new features in the latest version, 3ds max 6. This popular format functions as a tool for learning 3D modeling, animation, and rendering, and as a handy reference. With 3ds max 6, illustrators, animators, game designers, and special effects designers can create and animate dazzling, highly realistic 3D graphics such as those seen in summer blockbusters like Minority Report and Spider-Man. That's one reason so many art schools offer 3ds max training to aspiring professionals. The complex interface and powerful technology underlying 3D animation and modeling software can be intimidating to newcomers, but the 3ds max 6 for Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide breaks the process down into manageable tasks to remove the fear factor. The amply illustrated, task-based format also makes the book an invaluable reference for experienced users upgrading to the new version. This is an efficient but authoritative guide. After a thorough introduction to the program's interface, navigation, and display tools, the book gets to the real heart of this QuickStart Guide: modeling and transforming objects, surface mapping, 3D rendering and animations. It covers all of the program's new features, including enhanced character animation, the Active Shade interactive renderer, improved UV mapping tools, advanced lighting and shadows, and more, and presents them in the straightforward, well-paced style that characterizes the Visual QuickStart Guide series. This book is essential for anybody wanting to gain or enhance professional skills in 3ds max 6.