Quote:
Originally Posted by lukevanoort
The tutorials that come with 3DS Max are VERY good--better than those of other software I have used. Spending money on other 3rd party tutorials is a waste of money, Autodesk/discreet's are excellent as is. I imagine you might learn some tricks and cool practices from the DVDs that 3DS Max's tutorials don't teach, but that info could probably be found by just reading a few forums and stuff on the internet.
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I have to disagree with part of that. The tutorials are great if you don't know anything about 3ds max. If you are starting out and learning the basics, the tutorials that come with it are meant for you. Rarely are you going to find good enough books that cover the same amount of material than what 3ds max comes with.
But thats where it abruptly ends. It will tell you what everything does, but not how to use them in such a way that makes your work look astounding. I have not found techniques in the tutorials that come with 3ds max. Some of you will get to a point where you know what everthing is but not how to use them effectivly. I found that third party tutorials are GREAT for this. For example, If you look up character animation in 3ds max it will probably direct to the biped (shudders). And as i have come to find
THE BIPED DOES NOT MAKE A GOOD RIGGING SYSTEM FOR CHARACTER ANIMATION!
whew! anyways... 3ds max will only tell you how it works and how the skin modifier works and yadda yadda yadda. We all know that there is more to character animation than just moving pecies. If your character doesn't move correctly its is the one thing that will destroy a animation. (Yes boys and girls, fancy metal materials will not save you from the fate of a badly animated robot. Where as a badly textured robot, but very well animated, will lead people to believe that you meant to have the robot look that way.)
So your looking for techniques to make your characters move and jump to the beat. I found many books on character animation that explain the mechanics of human motion. And believe me... There is a whole lot of character you can express by walking a certain way. and how many types of walk does the biped have? one.
If you are starting out with 3ds max dont go off and spend your money. Many of these books and third party tutorials assume you already know the basics of 3ds max and animation and don't bother explaining it.