3d Studio Max. Help and advice appreciated.

I haven't much of a clue what you're on about PM, but reckon one of Mrs T's students would be able to help out. What is the problem exactly?

I used to use it a lot back when it was a Discreet product

Its mainly for 3D animation

Good evening, gentlemen. :)

Torque: I don't have a particular problem just yet, sir, it was more a case of sounding out some 3d Studio Max users for a bit of help and advice in the future. Many thanks indeed for the offer though, very much appreciated.

Dusty: Great to discover a Chit Chatter with experience of this (rather complicated) software. I'd be very grateful for some advice if I get stuck once or twice, sir.

No problem, glad to help if I can!

Well its been a longtime since I switched from using it, think the last iteration was 2007 so its perhaps changed a bit.
Its also been acquired by Autodesk (unless Discreet was some subsidiary without my knowing) and therefore perhaps brought into line with their other packages.

Max is a huge bit of kit and if its presentation side of things then its one of the flagships in 3D, but it had serious limitations to actually create real things with it, I seem to recall no CAM integration at all, so precision isn't its thing.

If you are still making stuff like those fancy pool balls then its visual so mapping bitmaps onto primitives, using environmental effects, lighting etc and then the materials editor and render engines will create photo realistic results. Just keep the model simple and add complexity only where required.

If on the other hand you want to make stuff, you are really needing proper parametric software with CAM.
Autodesk make several of those, Fusion360 is one of the best based on the fact its free to get to grips with but has a totally different method to create things in 3D called T-Splines.

The good thing about Max being a flagship product is that it was pirated to death years ago and hence all the tech kids had copies that they played around with and subsequently made tutorials on, if you look up any area of its vast features somebody has made a tutorial on it.

Good evening, Dusty. :)

Many thanks indeed for taking the time and trouble to offer such valuable advice, it certainly is very much appreciated. And your memory is equally impressive, sir, suspicions concerning pool balls are bang on the money. :)

I acquired 3d Studio Max for two particular projects, both rather labours of love more than anything else. The first concerns illustrating a billiards trickshot and coaching book. Although my own endeavours to this end might charitably be described as perfectly adequate, I chanced upon the truly superb creation offered by a Turbo Squid member, linked below, which I hope to render at various angles and set ups to suit my needs.

https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/pool-table-8ft-classic-3d-model/552998

As soon as I saw this beautiful table diagram nothing else would suffice in my eyes so, after confirming the sale price included all necessary rights and permissions, I purchased the product for $49. The subsequent download returned seven separate folders labelled Pool Table 1 through 7. When one double-clicks on the Max icon (in folder 4) the basic model opens okay, but is obviously missing many of the wood textures, colours etc... a small window appears alerting me to the fact that about twenty files are absent. All the requisite data is no doubt present in the other six folders, of course, I just need to work out how to access them. In my defence I only received the files a few days ago and haven't really had a chance to experiment. :)

The second project is a customised box of pool balls. I aim to design a set with a 'world globe' theme, ultimately creating an animation for the manufacturers in China.

I'll let you know how I fare, Dusty, and thank you once again for all your kind help and advice. Any other suggestions in the meantime will all be most welcome and gratefully received. :)

Yes PM I recall the images of the pool balls they looked good.

Off the top of my head the file issue sounds familiar, I think theres either an import or open option where you select all files to open into the scene.

You certainly could do what you plan on doing but you will find it tricky creating a rolling ball that looks realistic, and if they are collide...my god, you wouldn't be able to do that manually it would drive you mad, there has to be some sort of computer calculation that would work out the havok relationships to look real.

Another issue would be the mapping on a rolling ball. Depending on the complexity of the designs you might have a join on the back of the ball.
If you play around with the options or add a uvw modifier (or similar) you might get away with it....then again it might just work who knows?

I did quite a bit of animating with it about 15 years ago now. I recreated the old Hadfield steel company on the site of present day Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield, it had all the blast furnaces going and Bessemer Convertors in operation so you could see inside and how they worked for teaching aides for local schools.

I quite enjoyed it, Ill see if I can find some images from it and Ill post them on here.
Let me know how it turns out.