Guardian of the Enchanted Forest—Marc Tan (Insane Polygons)
Welcome to the 3ds max User Reference. This reference contains detailed information about all the features and capabilities of 3ds max. 3ds max brings 3D modeling and animation to your desktop system.
The reference is organized mainly by functional areas. The “User Interface” chapter gives you a guide to program controls and where to find them.
If you've already used previous versions of this program, you might want to start here: What's New in 3ds max 5
If you're new to this software, this would be a good place to start: Getting Started with 3ds max
Here's where you can get an overview of the entire documentation set: Documentation Set
You can find a guide to using the electronic version of this reference here: Using the Reference Online
And here's a list of important introductory topics:
Viewing and Navigating 3D Space
Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objects
Space Warps and Particle Systems
Material Editor, Materials, and Mapping