Urgently looking for the development history and prospects of 3Dmax!

3D images are a special member of the image family, but as its applications become more and more widespread, we also need to understand it.

The three-dimensional animation software creates a simulated three-dimensional space and is equipped with various tools. These tools can be used to create various three-dimensional models on this software platform. Then set the corresponding material and assign the material to the model. Regardless of changes in materials, changes in object position or shape, all can be recorded as animations.

Development of 3D software

Three-dimensional software is software that uses computers to create geometric models. At first, it could only be used on professional graphics workstations. With the rapid development and popularity of PCs, 3D animation software has also been transplanted to PCs. In the DOS era, the American company Autodesk's 3DS three-dimensional animation software almost monopolized the PC three-dimensional animation market. In 1994, Microsoft acquired Softimage Company for US$130 million. In 1995, it launched the SOFTIMAGE3D3.0 version based on the NT platform, which stirred up the field of three-dimensional animation. Under pressure, in order to maintain the dominance of 3DS in the field of three-dimensional animation, Kinetix launched the Windows NT version of 3DS, 3DSMAX 1.0, in 1996 (some say August 4, 1997). This version has made a qualitative leap in the user interface, organizational structure and functions, and has achieved great success. In 1998, Maya, Alias, and Houdini appeared on the NT platform one after another. In the same year, Autodesk stepped up to the challenge and launched a version of 3DSMAXVIZ that focused on architectural design. This version actually made some additions and subtractions based on 3DSMAX, adding some architecture-related modules and deleting some animation functions. With the rapid popularity of 3D software applications, small 3D software has also sprung up.

Classification of 3D software

3D animation software can be divided into three categories: small, medium and large according to the complexity of software functions.

1. Small software

The overall function is weak, or it focuses on certain functions, and it is relatively easy to learn. There are many small software. Common software with special functions are as follows:

Poser: quickly create various human models. By dragging the mouse, you can quickly change the posture of the human body and generate simple animations.

Rhino: 3D modeling software, which is better than NURBS surface modeling and can build models with 3D contours.

Cool3D: A software specially designed for three-dimensional text production. It provides many background images and animations and is easy to use.

LightScape: Special rendering software, which can only render the input model, can set material lighting, and uses radiosity algorithm. It is the best renderer. Mostly used for rendering indoor and outdoor renderings. It is currently version 3.2.

Bryce3D: Good at constructing natural landscapes such as mountains, water, and sky, with very good results.

2. Medium-sized software

3DSMAX: ??Powerful and open, it integrates model building, material settings, photography lighting, scene design, animation production, and film editing.

LightWave3D: powerful functions, exquisite texture, simple and bright interface, easy to learn and use, and excellent rendering quality. The current version is 5.6c.

3. Large-scale software

SOFTIMAGE 3D: extremely powerful, good at cartoon modeling and character animation, with excellent rendering effects, it is an indispensable tool for film production. Many domestic TV advertising companies They all use it to create TV titles and commercials.

MAYA: More powerful than SOFTIMAGE 3D, but more difficult to master.

HOUDINI: Organically combines two-dimensional image processing, three-dimensional animation and video synthesis.

Three-dimensional animation software presents a prosperous scene where a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend. Many of them are high-quality products with powerful functions. This gives us ample room for choice in front of the dazzling array of 3D software; but we are a little confused in front of the 3D software that has appeared one after another. In fact, you only need to learn one software well first. With this foundation, it will be much easier to learn other 3D animation software. Choose 3DSMAX. There are three reasons:

First, there are many first-class 3D animation software that have very high hardware requirements. For example, Sumatra, the display resolution must reach 1280×1024; Maya requires at least 256MB of memory. 3DSMAX has relatively low hardware requirements, and most 3D animation fans have the ability to configure it; secondly, due to 3DS, 3DSMAX has the most users now, and there are a lot of textbooks and other learning materials, which is conducive to self-study; thirdly, in addition to 3DSMAX In addition to its poor rendering quality, it has powerful functions and numerous plug-ins, and can produce broadcast-level animation effects. It is fully capable of producing general advertisements, TV columns, and games.

Application of 3D software

1. Mechanical manufacturing: Use three-dimensional animation to study the shape of mechanical parts and simulate their working conditions during operation.

2. Architectural decoration design: Show the effect of buildings and indoor and outdoor decoration in a three-dimensional form. Not only is it fast and convenient, it can also fully preview the effect of the building from all angles, and the perspective is very accurate.

3. Commercial product styling and packaging design: For example, the design of bottles, boxes, toys, etc. can design the appearance, color patterns, etc. of packaging products.

4. Film, television and commercial advertisements: The titles of many TV columns are produced with 3DSMAX, and more product advertisements, real estate advertisements, etc. can be produced with 3DSMAX.

5. Computer games and entertainment: Beautiful animation graphics and game programs are equally important.

Others: In biochemistry, it is used to study the structural composition of biomolecules. In military science and technology, it can be used for simulated flight of pilots and dynamic research on missile flight. In medicine, it can be used to vividly demonstrate the internal tissues of the human body. Wait, it’s impossible to list them all here.

Hardware configuration of 3D software

An entry-level configuration. CPU: CeleronⅡ600, motherboard: Lenovo QDISX2E, memory: 128MB, hard disk: Maxtor30GB, graphics card: MatroxG450, monitor: Acer77C, recorder: HP8250I.

Used in conjunction with other software

1. Joint use with Photoshop: After the production is completed with 3DSMAX, the entire scene still needs to be supplemented with scenery. Especially the outdoor architectural renderings. If there are no trees, flowers and people as background, and there is only a model of a building standing there alone, no one may want this rendering. Adding characters, flowers and plants is difficult in 3DSMAX and increases the rendering time. In this case, it is much more convenient to use Photoshop. The person in the picture was added later in Photoshop.

2. Used in conjunction with other multimedia software: mainly used in title production, such as frequent cross-switching of several animations, giving people a dazzling feeling. This requires the use of video synthesis software, such as Premiere. This type of software can edit together several videos and animations in different ways, and can also add various entrance and exit stunts and deformations.

A production example

Below we design a "hand cream" and a "baby cream" to illustrate the production process of 3DSMAX.

1. Use Shape/Line in the Front view to outline 1/2 of the cross section of the "Baby Cream" bottle and lid. Open Modify/EditSpline and enter the Vertex level of Sub-Object to modify the unsatisfactory points. Press the [Lathe] button to rotate the section. Set Segments to 30 and click [Min] under Align. In this way, the packaging bottle of "Baby Cream" is completed.

2. In the Top view, use Shape/Circle to draw a circle as the Shape (section graphic), and use Shape/Line to draw a straight line as the Path. Open Geometry/CompoundObject/Loft. If the cross-section graphic is selected at this time, click the [GetPath] button and click the straight line with the mouse to complete the Loft lofting work. But it was still just a round stick. Switch to Modify. At the bottom is the [Deformations] button, which includes 5 types of deformation controls. We use Scale to scale the X and Y sections of the round rod respectively, so that the round rod is kneaded into a hand cream shell like mud.

3. Then open Create/Geometry/Extend?edPrimitives and use ChamferCyl to pull out a round platform with chamfers to make a "hand cream" bottle cap.

4. Press the [M] key to open the material editor, select a sample ball, set it to blue-gray, set SpecularLev?el to 150; set Glossiness to 50, and assign it to the hand cream bottle cap. Select another sample ball and assign the mushroom image previously created in Photoshop to the baby cream bottle cap.

5. Use the BOX tool to pull out a table and give it some reflection.

6. Set up lights and cameras. Click the perspective view and press the [C] key to convert the perspective view to the camera view.

7. Render the camera view (as shown in the figure).

Through the above production, we know that the basic process of making a product model in 3DSMAX is: establishing a model, "create" and "modify" in 3DSMAX are almost inseparable, and can be processed using two-dimensional graphics. Use modification commands such as rotation, lofting, and extrusion to convert it into a three-dimensional model. After directly pulling out the geometry, you generally need to use modification tools to modify it to complete the modeling work; set materials and assign them to the model; set lights and cameras; change perspective Render the camera view after converting the graph to a camera view.