Inside 3ds Max 7

This book is simply amazing. 800 pages of pure greatness. If you have gotten your feet wet a little bit in max, and you are looking to step your skills up to the next level, this is a must have book. I think it would be worth the $35 for just the thorough particle effects chapters alone. But you get so much more, character studio info, compositing, environment modelling, and even scripting (which i still haven't touched in max, but the info is there when i need it nonetheless)

Before I started reading the Inside 3ds Max 7 book, I had read the authors biography. Most of them got a long history with 3ds Max, which makes this book a must-read experience. The authors described each tool in the program and showed its strength without focusing on a specific production process, which makes this book suitable for all 3ds Max users in many fields. The Inside 3ds Max 7 is for intermediate and advanced users. So, if you are new with 3ds Max, try to get a basic background before start reading this book to be able to acquire all the experience included in the book. The 3ds Max 7 book gives you a great experience with the program features that make you able to do professional tricks and effects. The first part of the book shows what is new in 3ds Max 7 concerning each feature. And the following parts go deeper in program features to fully cover the program tools. The 3ds Max book is a great book and will surely give you a solid experience with the program and its features.

This book is perfect for the person that is comfortable with 3ds max basics and is ready to move on to the juicy treats the program has to offer. What I like most is how the example projects are based on real word examples. You wont have to suffer through boring generic concepts that don't show how the tools can be really used. Advanced topics such as scripting, particles, rendering and compositing are presented in a way that let you put the ideas to work in your own projects quickly. For example, the scripting section shows you how to make the most of a few scripting terms so you are not overwhelmed and can start using maxscript right away. The example walkthroughs are just right... very clear and concise but don't insult your intelligence by telling you what to click to create a box primitive. I agree with a previous reviewer about the advanced rigging tutorial on the DVD rom. It is the best written tutorial on the subject I have seen. Even though 3ds max 8 has been announced, this reference is still very current and definitely a "must buy".

The animation, particle systems, and rendering parts of this book are really extraordinary. Very easy to follow, but also some ways to use the tools I haven't seen anywhere else. I don't know of ANY max book that covers Particle Flow with this much depth. The modeling and lighting sections are pretty good, not quite as advanced, but a good guide for people wanting to refresh their skills. The BEST part of the book isn't even in the book! It's mentioned real small on the back cover that there's extra chapters on the DVD. One of these is on advanced character rigging, and it goes into more depth than I have ever seen a chapter on this. With Character Studio included in max now, a lot of animators will be using that, but if you want to set up custom rigs for muscles and twisting joints and such, the character rigging tutorial easily justifies the cost of this book.

As a professional game developer for three years, I've been using max quite a bit, and I usually skip these sorts of books, as they mostly just go over the stuff that's in the manuals. Inside 3ds max 7 seems to go deeper into the tools in max that I use. Even after using max for three years, I have gotten a bunch of cool tricks from this book that actually save me time when I'm modeling or texturing at work