Coursera Flash Sale
40% Off Coursera Plus for 3 Months!
Grab it
Stay on top of the latest 3ds Max tools and techniques.
AI Adoption - Drive Business Value and Organizational Impact
Gain a Splash of New Skills - Coursera+ Annual Nearly 45% Off
Overview
Syllabus
Introduction
- Welcome
- What to know
- Exercise files
- Modeling a floor plan from a 2D drafting document
- Modeling terrain with Displace space warp
- Projecting UVs with the Camera Map world-space modifier
- Capturing shadows with Arnold Shadow Matte map
- Rendering compositing passes with Arnold AOVs
- Mechanical rigging with IK and the LookAt controller
- Modulating animation with Multiply and Ease Curves
- Working with audio and the AudioFloat controller
- Automating with Expression controllers
- Real-time animation with the Motion Capture utility
- Stylized rendering with Scanline Ink 'n Paint
- Getting started with the Max Creation Graph
- Modifying a Max Creation Graph tool
- Sculpting a terrain with Texture Object Mask
- Building a road with Conform space warp
- Shading a landscape with Arnold Curvature
- Creating custom attributes with the Parameter Editor
- Driving animation curves with the Reaction controller
- Rigging a camera-facing matte painting
- Aligning a camera to a background with Perspective Match
- Projecting a photo to proxy geometry with Camera Map
- Automation with wire parameters and manipulators
- Converting scenes for different renderers
- Rendering light groups with Arnold AOVs
- Graphing scene conditions with State Sets Compositor
- Introduction to 3ds Max Fluids
- Modeling with the Motion Field Space Warp
- Non-destructive model adjustment with Linked Xform
- Animating sub-objects with Linked Xform
- Customize and cycle Path Constraint animation
- Generate complex motion with Waveform Controllers
- Illuminate a scene with an Arnold Mesh Light
- Shading with Maya maps in 3ds Max
- Varying shader properties by object with Arnold Color Jitter
- Render a mesh object with Arnold Standard Volume
- Render a Point Cloud object
- Setting track value boundaries with a limit controller
- Drawing curves with Freehand Spline
- Correcting intersections with Spline Overlap
- Reducing curve detail with Optimize Spline
- Resampling curves with Normalize Spline
- Soft-selecting curves with Spline Influence
- Blending curves with Spline Morph
- Combining splines with shape Booleans
- Approximating global illumination in Arnold
- Rendering proxies with Arnold procedurals
- Introduction to the Open Shading Language map
- Basic syntax of Open Shading Language
- Declaring OSL input and output parameters
- Generating a fractal noise pattern in OSL
- Iterating a for loop in OSL
- Using the if… else conditional statement in OSL
- Managing OSL file assets and paths
- Accelerate Arnold rendering with adaptive sampling
- Texturing with the Advanced Wood procedural map
- Art directing the Advanced Wood texture map
- Setting a fluid initial state
- In-camera compositing with Camera Map modifier
- Creating animation layers
- Collaborate online with shared views
- Rendering iridescence with Arnold Thin Film
- Loading and saving fluid presets
- Introduction to 3ds Max Interactive
- Building a motion graphics rig with Data Channel
- Creating custom project folder structures
- Open Shading Language code editor tips and tricks
- Spawning particles from a 3D map
- Rendering a starfield
- Faking GI with an Arnold ambient occlusion filter
- Modeling with the animation Snapshot tool
- Rendering particles with Arnold Standard Volume
- Render Arnold volume with physical values
- Volume indirect global illumination in Arnold
- Removing polygon detail with Freeform Optimize
- Transform and retime a cache with Fluid Loader
- Rendering motion blur in Arnold
- Drawing splines on an editable poly
- Sketching freeform topology over a polygon mesh
- Animating effects with Data Channel Decay
- Animating controllers in the Material Editor
- Painting a vertex color mask with VertexPaint
- Drawing polygon freeform strips
- Extruding polygon freeform branches
- Interactive ActiveShade in a viewport
- Fluid data channels
- Displaying fluid data channels
- Assigning UVW coordinates in an OSL network
- Using named coordinate spaces in Open Shading Language (OSL)
- Shadow group exclusion with Arnold properties
- Erasing materials with MAXScript or UVW Remove
- Understanding Fluid Churn and Vorticity channels
- Rendering Fluid channels with Arnold User Data
- Keyframe quantization and sub-frame editing with Snap Keys
- Importing a CAD solid model as a Body Object
- Solid model subtraction and intersection with Body Cutter
- Solid model union with Join Bodies
- Denoising an Arnold rendering
- Interactive Update in the animation Curve Editor
- Curve Editor view menu: Tips and tricks
- Editing animation curves with the Region Keys tool
- Combining data channels of Fluids
- Shading per object with OSL Random by Index
- Layering materials of Fluids
- Render particles as Arnold primitives
- Render PFlow particles with Arnold Shape
- Remapping colors with Arnold Ramp RGB
- Rendering contours with Arnold Toon
- Mapping Arnold Toon base color
- Controlling preview quality
- Adding information overlays to a preview with MAXScript
- Modeling with the updated Chamfer modifier
- Applying a chamfer using edge weight and depth
- Baking a map to a mesh with Assign Vertex Color
- Generating cavity and occlusion maps with Render Surface Map
- Baking multiple vertex color channels with VertexPaint
- Compositing vertex color in a shading network
- Optimizing geometry with the MultiRes modifier
- Improving viewport performance with the Substitute modifier
- Constructing a lighting assembly
- Wiring parameters in a lighting assembly
- Measuring with tape helper, the Measure Distance tool, and the Measure utility
- Display panel tips and tricks
- Quickly adjusting transforms and pivot point with the Transform Toolbox
- Stacking objects with Select and Place
- Managing objects and sub-objects with selection sets
- Referencing scenes with containers
- Changing inherited container content with Edit in Place
- Locking and unlocking container parameters
- Editing unlocked container parameters
- Projecting splines onto surfaces with ShapeMerge
- Analyzing and correcting mesh geometry with xView
- Keyframing sub-objects with the Master Point controller
- Managing scene materials with Material Explorer
- Defining a temporary transform center with working pivot
- Customizing keyboard shortcuts with Hotkey editor
- Stylized rendering with OSL Halftone Dots map
- Incorporating scene lighting in a shading network
- Incorporating render resolution in a shading network
- Situating geometry within an OSL HDRI environment
- Studio lighting with HDRI lights map
- White balance and exposure with an Arnold camera filtermap
- Rasterizing maps with bake to texture
- Advanced baking with bake to texture
- Baking to physically based renderer (PBR) materials for export
- Production rendering with Quicksilver hardware
- Varying textures with OSL Randomized Bitmaps
- Deforming a particle system with the Mesher compound object
- Set up Arnold render passes with AOV Manager
- Animating multiple tracks with Parameter Collector
- Improving edge smoothing with Weighted Normals modifier
- Rendering a cutaway with the Arnold Clip Geo material
- Advanced procedural noise with Uber Noise map
- Rendering polygon edges with OSL Wireframe map
- Art directing the OSL Wireframe map
- Introduction to MassFX Rigid Body dynamics
- Setting up a MassFX Rigid Body simulation
- Controlling a MassFX Rigid Body simulation
- Fine-tuning a MassFX Rigid Body simulation
- Automating secondary animation with the Flex modifier
- Keyframing modeling commands with the Edit Poly Animate mode
- Generating UVs with OSL projection maps
- Retiming all keyframes in a scene with the world track
- Snapping surfaces dynamically with MCG Ray Constraint
- Complex sub-object selections with the Selection ribbon
- Adding polygon edges with Paint Connect
- Manipulating sub-objects without changing mapping with Preserve UVs
- Hiding geometry based on distance with Viewport Clipping
- Navigating a scene with walkthrough mode
- Parametric soft transforms with Affect Region
Taught by
Aaron F. Ross
Related Courses
Related Articles
-
Introduction to Programming with Python
-
Online Visual Arts: Learn From Pros Who Worked at Disney, Pixar, Blizzard
-
10 Best Animation Courses for 2026: Art in Motion
-
5 Best PowerShell Courses for 2026: Automate Scripts and Tasks
-
10 Best Blender Courses for 2026: Model and Animate in 3D
-
11 Best Adobe After Effects Courses for 2026
