3Ds Max

Formerly known as "3DStudio,"3ds Maxis a 3Dmodeling, animation and rendering program from the Media and Entertainment division of Autodesk, Inc., San Rafael, CA ( AutoDesk ).

The 3D Studio Max is one of the most popular 3D modeling and animation software in the market today. It is widely used in 3D game design and is gaining popularity in special effects and digital film production. It has modest hardware requirements and it runs on Win95/98 although it was designed for Windows.

The Max modeler is very powerful and offers you a variety of methods to create your objects. The most basic objects you can create in Max are the primitives. After you are comfortable with the Max modeling interface, it is time to try some more interesting and more complex objects. Modeling a Wine glass, modeling an apple, modeling an Egg, Modeling a Banana, Modeling a Book, creating a landscape. It is always best if you can create all your own models from scratch.

In addition to its modeling and animation tools, the latest version of 3ds Max also features advanced shaders (such as ambient occlusion and subsurface scattering), dynamic simulation, particle systems, normal map creation and rendering, global illumination, an intuitive and fully-customizable user interface, and its own scripting language.