Posted: Last Saturday we had B. J. Nigrelli from Concepts Animated (www.conceptsanimated.com) come to our shop to show us a few things in Autodesk 3Ds Max animation software. Editing shapes, materials, and speed or direction of motion were just a few things demonstrated.
You can create standard geometry and/or 2D shapes by using the create panel.Mr. Nigrelli says that as you add them, you will want to name them because a scene will get a ton of objects in it before you know it, and you won’t be able to keep them straight.Once you have your objects, you can modify them. In the modify panel, you can resize them, twist them, bend them, and that’s just the beginning. Your options are endless.
The material editor is an important tool as well. Located on the main toolbar, it gives you a wide variety of textures and can change the transparency and amount of shine on an object. Using lights and cameras (located in the create panel) adds quite a bit to your animation, but a tip from Mr. Nigrelli is to wait until all the other parts are finished to add them. It’s very easy to get caught up in perfecting the shadows, etc. instead of getting the more important parts done.
We learned that the most important thing in animation is the curve editor. It allows you to quickly and easily edit the speed and direction of an object in motion. Also located on the main toolbar, it will become your most commonly used tool in animation.
This is a lot to take in. Once you have the basics though, you will find it much easier to expand your learning from there.
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