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Part I ✦ Attacking gmax Hard and Fast
Figure 1-6: The Train Simulator game pack is also very similar to the Flight Simulator
game pack.
Discreet keeps a list on its Web site of games that users have voted to provide with
gmax support. If your favorite games aren’t on the list, you can make your voice
heard at the Discreet site.
Understanding the Limitations of gmax
Nobody likes to hear that software has limitations, and you may be screaming,
“Hey, don’t tell me what I don’t have.” But gmax may be just the starting point to a
lifetime of work with 3ds max, and knowing where one ends and the other begins
can help you in the long run. Also, by knowing the limits of gmax, you won’t be
spinning your wheels looking for a feature that isn’t there.
Now that you’re armed with a lame excuse, I’ll give you the real excuse. Much of the
features left out of gmax were excluded on purpose because games don’t need
them. For example, gmax doesn’t include a way to render your scenes because the
game engine has an optimized renderer built into it. The main purpose of gmax is to
build and animate additional content for games, and almost all the modeling and
animation features remain. See, someone is watching out for you.
Tip
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