"A thorough tome...(it) will take you through the key features of this powerful tool, saving you days of trial and error experimentation." - Imagine magazine

Welcome to the Autodesk Media and Entertainment Official Training Courseware for 3ds Max 8 software! Consider this book an all-access pass to the production and training experience of Autodesk developers and training experts. Written for self-paced learning or instructor-led classroom training, the manual will teach you the fundamentals of using 3ds Max 8. The book is organized into sections dedicated to animation, modelling, materials, lighting and rendering. Each section covers basic theory, and then includes exercises for hands-on demonstration of the concept. By the end of the book, you will have mastered the basics and moved onto full-length projects. Flexibility is built in, so that you can complete the tutorials in the way that works best for you. Complete the book and you will be a seasoned 3ds Max pro, ready to work confidently in a production environment.

For beginners or those new to 3ds max
Tutorials and exercises designed for flexibility and ease of use
CD contains 3ds max support models, materials, textures, and animations for completing the exercises

Welcome to the Autodesk Media and Entertainment Official Training Courseware for 3ds max X software! Consider this book an all-access pass to the production and training experience of Autodesk developers and training experts. Written for self-paced learning or instructor-led classroom training, the manual will teach you the fundamentals of using 3ds max X. The book is organized into sections dedicated to animation, modelling, materials, lighting and rendering. Each section covers basic theory, and then includes exercises for hands-on demonstration of the concept. By the end of the book, you will have mastered the basics and moved onto full-length projects. Flexibility is built in, so that you can complete the tutorials in the way that works best for you. Complete the book and you will be a seasoned 3ds max pro, ready to work confidently in a production environment.

For beginners or those new to 3ds max
Tutorials and exercises designed for flexibility and ease of use
CD contains 3ds max support models, materials, textures, and animations for completing the exercises

Was Not Pleased, but I am not a beginner.
Perhaps I was expecting a lot more from this book.

I am not a beginner in 3D Modeling/Animation/Rendering Programs. I have been working with Maya for about 4 years. I picked up this book because it seemed \"Official\" and Full of Helpful Excercises. Thought I did learn the core basics of working in 3D Studio Max. The interface, the menus, and some of the tools. This book lacked a lot.

Things I wish were in the book.

The book failed to teach me a good way on focusing on a single object, Parenting the Camera by tapping Z, or a Quick way of Transitioning from Views (Alt+W) When you\’re working in scenes you\’re not allways going to be in Quad View ...

I wish there were More advanced Modeling Techniques. It primarilly just covers Basic Deformations and Modifiers and Extruding. Nothing about Dividing Faces, Any sort of Complex modeling (and I use the term complex loosly, a simple SIMPLE character would have been nice) I had to look on other Artist websites to learn that 1,2,3,4,5 swapped between Verts,Edges,Faces,Elements,Top Level.

Another major beef I had with the book was most of the later tutorials (Texturing, Normal Maps, And Some with the Camera) Contained very complex scenes. This isn\’t bad, but the excercise has you simply hit three buttons and doesn\’t really explain what you exactly did. For example, there is an excercise with texturing where you use your camera to project a texture onto a scene of rocks. Although this is quick and easy, this is not allways the correct solution to the problem, also, you are dealing with a complex texture that uses a specular map (which the book really never explains to you.) They give you a stock texture, but never teach you how to create it.

I\’m probably going to have to buy another book to learn character modeling and the tools Max has. Most Maya books I have purchased are more detailed and involved than this book was.

So if you are someone who is trying to learn Max, but have a pretty solid background in Modeling and Texturing, do not buy this book.

For a First Timer, Yes this book is awesome. And I will admit, has some really nice chapters on lighting and camera work.

Great courseware

As a teacher of animation, I chose this book as basic courseware for my students. Although it doesn’t cover every feature of the powerful software program (no single book could), it certainly covers the basics.

This is great for teachers as well as self directed learning.

A great book to get learning fast.

I found this book able to explain the concepts involved with 3D and this particular program very well. It’s in plain english, and has exercises to help you come up to speed fast. It’s best if you have prior experience in other graphical programs. Overall, a great book.

Great beginners book

Honestly a few days ago I did not know a thing about 3D Studio Max 8. All that I knew was that I needed to learn it. This book Ultimately is the beginner’s bible for those out there that have no clue about how to use 3d Studio Max. It is divided into sections which cover all the bases from the Overall user interface, modelling, Animation, texturing and finally rendering.
If you want to get started on 3D studio max 8 this is the book, But!!

IF YOU ARE ALREADY EXPERIENCED AT USING IT THIS BOOK IS MORE OR LESS USELESS TO YOU!!!(Maybe as just a reference but that’s it)

Great book

Great book for 3D beginners, but that’s about it. Some tutorials on ligting and shadows are pretty good.

Great for beginners

A great book that demonstrates how to use 3ds max 8 to perform all the basic functions that a new user would want to do. This gives the user a rock solid platform on which to build his/her skills. Not all items are covered, and a lot of experimentation with the program will be required at a later date, but if you are a beginner or near beginner, then this book is a must have buy!

Great for beginners

A great book that demonstrates how to use 3ds max 8 to perform all the basic functions that a new user would want to do. This gives the user a rock solid platform on which to build his/her skills. Not all items are covered, and a lot of experimentation with the program will be required at a later date, but if you are a beginner or near beginner, then this book is a must have buy!

Hands on for beginners

I am new to the world of 3d and have no clue with regards to a 3d environment. My company bought 3ds Max 8 and have also sent me on a course to "get-up-to-speed" quickly. Before the course started I thought I would purchase this book so that I do not look like a total novice on the course. What I love about the book is that it explains concepts and then moves into a practicle aspects of what it explained. At all times I knew exatly what I had to do (as they have many screen dumps) and I never found myself looking for a button or a tab (which I often find myself doing with training matterial). I have completed the book and have attended 2 days of the 3ds Max course. To my amazement I would say that I am compentent at this stage of the course.
To conclude: I think that attending a course is always the best way of learning (if you have a great facilitator) BUT this costs a lot of money. If money is an issue I can highly recommend this book to learn the basics of 3ds Max 8. I hope that they bring out another book that is more indepth.

Great intro Book

This is a good introduction to Max. The book is clearly written and is a great starting point to those new to Max. The theory of the techniques are covered well and the tutorials are simple and thorough enough so it doesn’t seem as though they are just asking you to press buttons.

It does lack a little in the demonstration of the new features of max 8 such as pelt (there’s only a brief description on it), and does teach some old techniques such as boolean and shape modeling which are used infrequently today.

Overall it’s a great text for beginners and I’ll be recommending it to the students in my 3d classes.

Great Starter Guide and Workbook.

Though most of the book is a repeat of previous material from the Courseware Fundamentals text, I found the book well organized and clearly written for NEW or BEGINNING students who wish to learn how to use 3ds max in a logical and well structured approach. The lessons are written to help the user understand the approach to animation, not just how the software tool functions and will help users to better grasp how the software fits into a broad scheme of creating animation. All basic functional areas are touched except reactor and particles, but these are dealt with adequately in the online reference and tutorial manuals that accompany the software package if you are an experienced user. However, for most people who are just starting out in 3D animation, the online tutorials may be somewhat advanced and expect the user to already be familiar with the interface. In that case, 3ds max 8 Essentials is a great place to start if you have never before worked with an animation software application.

NOT about 3ds max 8

As near as I can tell, Focal Press, the publisher of 3ds Max 8 Essentials, took their max 7 book and renamed it. The so-called "Max 8" version covers NONE of the features new to 3ds max 8. Don’t waste your money if you already have a max 7 guide.

(In my opinion, Focal Press -- an imprint of Elsevier -- puts out a lot of long-winded, over-priced texts.)

This is a reasonably good max 7 text, but New Riders press puts out better guides in its Fundamentals series.

Good beginner Book

This book is probably the best beginner book available for 3ds max v8. I found it rather similar to another book i own called 3ds max 7 Fundamentals and Beyond Courseware (Discreet 3ds Max). its even by the same publisher.

Even so, theres was more information and fun labs to do. This book is to take a beginner to an intermediate user.

I’m already an advanced user, so this book didn’t help to much, but it did help me remember some fine details and modifiers.

I wish it would cover more extensively the more advanced topics like clothing effects, particle systems, plugins, character studio, and hair.

Other than that, it was a very good book.