I have lots of questions reguarding 3ds max 9, which I am planning on buying at an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) store online sometime soon. 1. Can you use 3ds max 9 to make objects into cloth, like a cube made into cloth, or even a human model? I already know from seeing the official site that it can make cloth, but I want to know if you can make any object into cloth. 2. Can 3ds max 9 do particle effects? 3. Can you make objects into particles (like the sandman scenes from the movie SpiderMan 3 - or, how did they do that effect of the the sandman changing from human to sand)? 4. Does 3ds max 9 have a feature similar to the PaintFX feature in Maya? 5. Are there help files and/or tutorials to get beginning users started in 3ds max 9 (I mean ones that actually come with the software)? 6. Is 3ds max 9 capable of making pouring liquid simulations of water or some other liquid, and if so, can this be animated?

Download the 30 day evaluation and see if it has all the features you need =]

1) its called the cloth modifier, and i think it can be applied to any mesh but don't take my word for it.

2) it can but am not sure what are the limits of it.

3) No idea

4) -

5) it has many tutorials to get u started on topics you mentioned

6) it has a system to make water and animate it.

I know many people will have a better answers but this is just to get u started, as I said before download the trial version its not limited and you can use it for 30 days =]



~Hope this helps~

Thanks, I thought about doing that but we have multiple comuters (3 computers) in our house, and my computer that i'm using now doesn't have e-mail, only one of the other ones does. But I do have 3 flash drives, and 1 CD-RW, and if I download the trial on that computer maybe I could move it over on one of those, and transport it to my computer, because the rest of my family uses the other two computers, but mostly at night.

Do you think this is okay to do?

Quote: Original post by Spludge Interactive
Thanks, I thought about doing that but we have multiple comuters (3 computers) in our house, and my computer that i'm using now doesn't have e-mail, only one of the other ones does. But I do have 3 flash drives, and 1 CD-RW, and if I download the trial on that computer maybe I could move it over on one of those, and transport it to my computer, because the rest of my family uses the other two computers, but mostly at night.

Do you think this is okay to do?

yes it is =] if am not mistaken they give you the program separate from the tutorials so u can download it in parts and than transfer the parts to other computers and also there is no license for this as this is a trial version but u must provide email to download.

program
materials libs (not sure about that one ) it may be included with the main program
tutorials

Quote: Original post by Spludge Interactive
I have lots of questions reguarding 3ds max 9, which I am planning on buying at an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) store online sometime soon.

1. Can you use 3ds max 9 to make objects into cloth, like a cube made into cloth, or even a human model? I already know from seeing the official site that it can make cloth, but I want to know if you can make any object into cloth.

2. Can 3ds max 9 do particle effects?

3. Can you make objects into particles (like the sandman scenes from the movie SpiderMan 3 - or, how did they do that effect of the the sandman changing from human to sand)?

4. Does 3ds max 9 have a feature similar to the PaintFX feature in Maya?

5. Are there help files and/or tutorials to get beginning users started in 3ds max 9 (I mean ones that actually come with the software)?

6. Is 3ds max 9 capable of making pouring liquid simulations of water or some other liquid, and if so, can this be animated?

1.) yes, as already mentioned, its a modifier called cloth. You can apply it to any object, configure your collision objects and the physics parameters for the cloth object itself to simulate different types of cloth.

2.)Yes, though, unless you're doing pre-rendered animations with it, the system is limited to within 3ds max. Engines tend to have their own particle systems.

3.)You can define custom objects to be the particles. But i am unfamilar with the effect you're speaking of. However, if it was a mesh/model all of a sudden collapsing into particles, then yes. Though it will require some work to get it looking good. You would probably use a mixture of the particle system, your animated mesh, and a bunch of modifiers, perhaps combined with a video post process filter or two.

4.)When asking questions it would help if you could describe the features instead of just naming them. But from a quick google search it looks like something similar to deepuv. I have not used the latest versions so i don't know it something has been added into 3ds max internally. If not then Deep uv should do the job.

5.) Press F1 ;-) Though the documentation may not be as detailed with the trial version, i don't know. But for the full version it is very detailed.

6.) Yes it does simulations and yes they can be animated, so can the cloth for that matter.

Max 2008 is a HUGE improvement over Max 9, you should really consider getting it even if you don't see the reasons right away, they will quickly become apparent.

Thankyou all for your replies!

I did download the trial version, and it turns out that I don't need e-mail to get the download, or serial number. When I installed the trial (3ds max 2009), it asked for the serial number, but it said that if it is a trial version, then just type in all zeros. I did that, and it worked, but I still don't know exactly how to use even the basics of 3ds max 2009. Besides getting 3ds max, I was planning on getting some books from www.amazon.com

The books i'm going to save up for are:
- 3ds Max 9 Bible
- Deconstructing the Elements with 3ds Max, Second Edition: Create natural fire, earth, air, and water without plugins
- Beginning Game Art in 3ds Max 8

Again, thankyou for all the replies, and I will look at the help files.

Original post by Spludge Interactive
I have lots of questions reguarding 3ds max 9, which I am planning on buying at an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) store online sometime soon.

There is no such a thing like an OEM 3ds max. If you think you can buy commercial version for $100-300 you are wrong. 3ds max is about $3500 and thats it!!! Websites advertising OEM software are SCAMMERS! They sell pirated stuff and they do well hehe. Cheers!