3d .
Studio Max is probably the heart of all of the other programs. I say this .
because all files saved in the other programs can be exported into 3d .
Studio Max. Lifeforms and Poser are used to make and animate people or .
animals. You can make aliens, pretty much any creature can be made .
using those two programs. Bryce 3d is extremely awesome. Landscapes .
can be made in seconds. You can make an island, mountain range, river, .
plain, or anything you can imagine. Lightwave is a very good program for .
making special effects like explosions or fire. After you make your .
landscape, your creature, and your effects, you can mix them all together .
in 3d Studio and add the finishing touches like lighting effects, camera .
angles, texturing options, or even add custom objects to the scene. 3d .
Studio Max has the capabilities of making landscapes and effects, but .
Bryce 3d and Lightwave cut down your work time a lot.
Learning the basics is pretty easy. Everyone knows what a cube is .
and what a sphere is. These shapes along with pyramids, cylinders and a .
couple other shapes are called primitives. Just think of it like way back in .
the day of the dinosaurs, the primitive era. The basic, most common and .
unchanged are called primitives. Anything else is usually a modified .
object or an imported object. A modified object is anything that is .
changed by you, other than changing its rotation or location. All physical .
changes are considered modifications.
Next are light sources, anything that emits a type of light whether it .
is a spread out beam of light or a concentrated beam of light is a light .
source. The way the light appears on an object is decided upon how .
opaque you make an object and how reflective you make an object. .
Omni lights are lights that project everywhere like a circle, and other lights .
names after their shape, like oval light, or spotlight etc. Lights are closely .
related to special effects in a scene known as Lens effects.