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3D Studio MAX 3ds lesson tutorial

Chapter 1 - Getting started with 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ) (Beginner tutorials & video lessons)
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Author - Saju Asokan
Last Updated: Aug 02 2008
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Modify Panel
 
 
Modify Panel - Tutorial on Modifying what you have just created
You created a teapot using a single mouse action in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ). But what about customizing its parameters? We’ve got various attributes for specifying and modifying each object created in 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ). We can do it using the Modify Panel. It is the next panel next to the ‘Create Panel’. Just click on the tab. You will see the Modify panel as shown in the figure.
 
3ds max modify panel tutorial
The 'Modify Panel' displays the name of the object selected at the top most region. If no object is currently selected, then this area will be blank. Here in our example, it should read 'Teapot01'. It is the default name given to the teapot by 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ). You can enter a new name at this field if you like. Note: If the object is not already selected in the viewports, first click on the 'Select Object' tool from the horizontal panel below the Menu bar near the top left of the main window.
3d max tutorial main toolbar

When you click on the tool's icon, it gets selected. Now you are in 'Select' Mode. Simply click on any object seen in any of the viewports. It gets selected. If an object is selected, its name gets displayed in any of the panels displayed at the right pane. Also the object will have a bounding box around it in the perspective view. It will have a white colour in the other orthographic viewports - Front, left etc in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ).

In the figure, you can see the bounding box in white colour surrounding the teapot. It shows that the object is selected. To unselect any current selection, simply click on a vacant space in any of the viewports. Try unselecting it, but before proceeding to the modifications, please select the teapot.
 

Please take a look at the figure of the Modify Panel. Just below the name of the object selected, we have a field named 'Modifier List'. It is a list of modifiers applied to the currently selected object. Since our teapot in this tutorial has no modifier applied, it simply shows 'Teapot'. We will learn more about modifiers later.

Below the modifier's list, we can see a 'Parameters' roll out. Noticed the '-' symbol to the left of the rollout title? Clicking on it, closes the rollout. Clicking it again opens it. This is the method used to expand and close all roll outs in the right pane in 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ). Now lets look at what are the parameters associated with our Teapot. Radius is the first parameter. Enter a new value say '100' to the 'Radius' text box and press Enter. The teapot changes its size to the new radius. You can enter what ever value you want for radius into the field.The next field is 'Segments'. It specifies how complex the model is. Entering higher values makes your model more refined, but complex. Experiment with these settings.

Download the FREE 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) Training Video which demonstrates how to modify objects in 3D Studio MAX here
The download is a RAR file which contains the training video file compressed using MPEG-4 codec. Click here for instructions on viewing the video.
Note: The key factor in learning 3D Studio MAX ( 3DS MAX ) is experimentation. Each primitive in 3D Studio MAX ( 3ds max ) has its own set of attributes. For our teapot, we had only a few. A cylinder may have 'Radius', 'Height' etc. A torus may have another set of attributes. We can't explain each primitive and its attributes here. But we will get to know them when we model more models using primitives later. Feel free to create different primitives by clicking on the primitive's button within the 'Create Panel' as you did for creating the teapot. Then click and drag in any viewport. Then switch to the modify panel with the object selected and examine the various attributes of that primitive. If you want to delete an object, simply press 'Delete' key in your keyboard. The object should be selected prior to deletion.
Saving and Opening the scene
It's time to save our scene. Click on File > Save from the main menu to open the save dialog box. Enter the filename, choose saving location, and click 'Save'. The file gets saved with .max extension at the location you chose for saving with the specified file name. Please save the 'teapot' scene file with the name 'chap1-teapot.max'. To open a file, click File > Open , choose the file to be opened, and click Open from the dialog box. The scene gets opened in a few seconds. You can download the scene here (chap1-teapot.max)
We created a model, modified and saved it. What's next? Lets transform it. Shall we?
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