3ds max 4 Bible

i reccomend this book to anybody who is new to the program and who could use a reference book.

Here is what I've found after flipping through this book for about a week now:
It is an indispensible reference when it comes to things like "hey, what is this little button here?" or "how do I get to that particular rollout again?" You will not find insight into WHY you would use certain functions, you will only find WHAT they do. To reach the enlightened level of a 3D PROFESSIONAL, you are going to have to go to other books.
This book has a tutorial on nearly EVERY page, but these tutorials are JUST for the section you find them in, and do not go anywhere beyond the basics. THIS IS NOT A BAD THING! You just need to realize that this is a REFERENCE book, nothing more.

If you are one of those people who don't know what all the menus and buttons are for and want to learn THE BASICS of MAX 4 while sipping Scotch on your couch and not staring at a computer screen reading the help file, by all means, get this book.

3D Studio Max 4 Bible has been a excellent book, I've only read about half of it but so far its proved to be a excellent reference and tutorial based book. Some of the tutorials are a little to simple, but the author is trying to make sure you know exactly what hes talking about, and that you fully understand it. So simple isn't bad. At times its flow is a little disorianted meaning its hard to read a chapter and then say "Oh!, I want to try that" because its a little different then that. It goes into each aspect of 3Ds Max and lays out what each button and tool does. If your BRAND NEW to 3D Studio max and 3D Modeling in general this book is unmatched. I think my mom, having no computer knowledge what so ever, could sit down and follow the tutorials and create a spinning couch in a mater of a few hours, and understand exactly how she did it. Its a great book. At times you'll find your self yawning because it goes so into detail, but months from now, when your doing your first big scene your going to be happy you read that chapter on viewport configuring, because if you didn't your not going to realize "Hey!, theres a easier way to do this" and so on and so on. Plus if you skim the book because your so excited to make your 3D logo/character and you get lost while doing so, you can flip to the chapter that pertains to your question and it will start right from the beggining on that topic. Through out the whole book it rarely references back to something you previously read to make the writing easier, it always uses the menu standards so you don't get lost, ie File->Views->so on and so on. I'm in love, I haven't put the book down yet, but I will admit sometimes I find my self getting itchy fingers and paging ahead to the more advanced chapters on editing mesh's etc.

Anyways, I suggest this book to Absolute Begginers or people looking for an Excellent Reference book for all the commands/buttons/options that 3Ds Max has. If you really want to master 3Ds Max your going to need to purchase other books like Inside 3Ds Max 4 by New Riders publishing, books like those skip the "how to use the interface" type chapters and tutorials and move into the more advanced methods of doing things.

But remember, this will only teach you how to use the pencil, no book will ever teach you how to be a good artist, thats what imagination and patentice is for.