3ds Max 2022
by: Brian Chapman
3ds Max– Tips for Beginners T
his month, we’ll share some tips to help users create better content using 3ds Max as a beginner. Topology, UV mapping, and lighting influence everything in creating 3D content, so I’ll focus on those.
TOPOLOGY
Topology is the foundation of everything in 3D. There are many ways lousy topology can lead to undesirable results. We’ll discuss some of these, hoping to inspire beginners to build a solid understanding and foundation of topology as they begin their journey into the 3D world. First, let’s discuss the base of topology. For 3D models, topology can consist of tris, quads, and n-gons (any object with more than four sides). It’s a common misconception that almost everything has to be quads. That is primarily true for characters requiring skin weights and proper deformation (however, triangles are often unavoidable, so strategically placed). On the other hand, hard16
AUGIWorld Magazine | February 2022
surface objects do not need to deform. That means we can collapse edge loops to reduce vertices and polygons (especially on flat surfaces like tabletops and walls). Avoid n-gons altogether. The software doesn’t know how you want n-gons divided and will attempt to divide it in its way. That leads to problems with rendering and game engines and how those faces will display when it divides them. Instead of leaving it to software to guess how to divide it, divide it yourself intentionally. See Figure 1 by Giuseppe Mottola demonstrating optional ways to divide an n-gon. Second, having proper topology allows for faster selection. Every click on an object costs time. As we reduce the number of unnecessary clicks, we can spend more time on more important details. That means we need to consider methods like edge channels and flow. Utilizing proper channel techniques allows us to select, model, augi.com
