Datasheet

Part I ✦ Attacking gmax Hard and Fast

Several complex materials have also been removed, including most of the Shaders,

Reflection Mapping, Raytrace Materials, and Displacement Mapping. These materi-

als are used to produce detailed looks that take a long time to render and would

slow down your game. (You wouldn’t want that, would you?)

Most of the material modifiers are absent, but the mapping modifiers of UVW Map,

UVW Xform, and UVW Unwrap are still available. So gmax includes all that you need

to work with and manipulate maps.

Effects limitations

gmax can’t do Atmospheric effects like fog or Environment Mapping. Again, the rea-

son is probably because these effects would take too long to render effectively.

gmax allows backgrounds, but you can’t animate them.

3ds max also includes Particle Systems and Space Warps, which sound like B-grade

science fiction movies, but they let you create special effects by controlling the

movement of thousands of tiny particles. A Space Warp is a tool used to create

forces within a scene such as wind, torque, gravity, etc.

No rendering or compositing

There are no rendering limitations in gmax because there are no rendering features

at all. Because the game engine is used to render the objects, rendering objects in

gmax isn’t necessary. gmax does include a flat shade renderer that is used within

the viewport. This renderer can render objects as wireframes, smooth, or smooth

with highlights. For the work you’ll be doing, this is sufficient.

The Video Post interface is also missing. In 3ds max, this interface lets you combine

different animation sequences and edit them in different ways.

Other limitations

3ds gmax includes a Sunlight system, which can simulate the effect of sunlight at

any time during the year in any part of the world. This is missing in gmax.

The Camera Tracker and Camera Match utilities are missing in gmax. These utilities

let you match a camera to a section of video or to an image. The Motion Capture

controllers are also missing.

The Schematic View is also missing in gmax. This view displays all objects as nodes

(small boxes) and includes all the links, groups, and instances of an object in a sin-

gle view. It’s good for getting a macro look at your scene and can even be used to

move and define relationships between objects.

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