If you had 30 days...

Just a few weeks ago, I posted this for someone seeking training.

http://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=18&postid=8...

Autodesk has some great material to learn from, short and to the point with a little flair. If that doesn't cut it for you, then I highly recommend John Chismar. When he came out on the market I wanted to review his books for folks but never could at the time, Project fell through somewhere. He is a really nice guy (met him personally a while back). Check out his awesome books (IMHO of course) on 3DS Max. "3ds Max Media Animation" both 3 and 4.

It may be some old information, but he definitely hits the shorter and to the point path, and he lets you jump right in and learn fast. In the end he leaves you with a good sense of confidence. Again these are older books, but you can adapt quite easily if you know your way aroung Max already.

Now some folks may not like his approach, but I gotta tell ya, he uses true real world examples, so say Good bye to the evil Tea Pot!!!

:>)
Tom

I second Tom's recommendation of John Chismar's Media Animation. It is an excellent book. John walks you through three large real-world projects step-by-step. By the time you complete the projects, you will have a good grasp of basic video and broadcast animation using 3ds Max. My only wish is that John would update the book for newer versions of Max, as the two books in circulation are for v.3 and v.4.