After more than 15 years as a software trainer (the last 10 as an Autodesk Certified Instructor) and teacher focused almost exclusively on 3ds Max I have decided to upload and offer my training files and documentation here free for download. Note that my last serious training course was held in 2017 and so the version of Max offered in this material is 2017. Still, virtually all the content remains applicable today, especially if your at an introductory level. 2017 was the last version of Max to offer Mental Ray out-of-the-box, prior to adding Arnold as the default render solution in 2018. I took into account that Mental Ray would be gone going forward. A hard pill to swallow for many of us. Autodesk had spent enormous time and energy forcing that beast down our throats. As did I. And as an ACI, I was forced to shove it down the throats of all my students, writing years and years of custom training material around the ever evolving Mental Ray content and changes with each release. I won't belabor that point. It's past history. But I will add that Autodesk's constantly changing policies and the elimination of such a core part of the software that had taken years to master (and around which I had built my business) was one of the primary factors that lead me to become such an advocate for Unreal Engine and abandon any future interest in rendering via Autodesk offerings. Thank You Epic Games.
Below is my custom, introductory courseware to 3ds Max. At 93 pages, it's exhaustive with detailed, step-by-step tutorials and packed with information. You'll need the corresponding files that go along with this training and they are included in a separate download below. Note that it's a large zip file at nearly 154 MB
These other downloads are for more advanced training with even more in-depth tutorials. A continuation for those having completed the content in Part 1.
I offer this content as is, with no warranties implied. Use and learn at your own pace and peril.