Image files, also known as bitmaps, have a variety of uses in 3ds Max scenes. You can use bitmaps as textures for materials, as backgrounds to viewports, as environment maps, as Image Input events in Video Post, or as images projected from a light.
An image file can be a single still image, or a sequence of images that form a video sequence or animation. When you assign an animation for use as a bitmap, then the image changes over time when you render the 3ds Max scene.
When you render a scene, you can render a still image or an animation. You can render to most of the formats listed below. Some of the formats support various options. If there are output options, these appear in a dialog that is described along with the image file's format.
The AVI (Audio-Video Interleaved) format is the Windows standard for movie files. The .avi file-name extension indicates a Windows AVI movie file.
BMP files are still-image bitmap files in the Windows bitmap (.bmp) format.
A file format that stores a single frame of a motion picture or video data stream. Each frame is saved as cineon version 4.5 with a CIN file-name extension. The file contains no user-defined data such as a thumbnail, and supports 10-bit log, and three colors per pixel. Alpha channels are not supported.
The file format for the Combustion™ software from Autodesk. CWS is a resolution-independent, vector/raster file format.
The DirectDraw ® Surface (DDS) file format is used to store textures and cubic environment maps, both with and without mipmap levels. This format can store uncompressed and compressed pixel formats, and is the preferred file format for storing DXTn compressed data. Microsoft ® is the developer of this file format.
3ds Max can render images to Encapsulated PostScript ® format files, which have the .eps or .ps extension.
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is an 8-bit (256-color) format developed by Informix for the CompuServe ® information service. It was originally designed to minimize file transfer times over telephone lines.
An IFL (Image File List) file is an ASCII file that constructs an animation by listing single-frame bitmap files to be used for each rendered frame. When you assign an IFL file as a bitmap, rendering steps through each specified frame, resulting in an animated map.
The Autodesk ME Image Sequence (IMSQ) format is an XML file used by the Autodesk products Cleaner and Toxik. You generate IMSQ files in the Render Output group of the Render Setup dialog Common Parameters rollout by turning on Put Image File List(s) In Output Path(s) and then clicking Create Now.
JPEG (.jpeg or .jpg) files follow the standards set by the Joint Photographic Experts Group. These files use a variable compression method that is called lossy compression because of the loss of image quality as you increase the compression. However, the JPEG compression scheme is extremely good and you can sometimes compress the file up to 200:1 without severe loss of image quality. JPEG is consequently a popular format for posting image files on the Internet for minimum file size and fast download time.
QuickTime ® is a standard file format created by Apple ® for storing common digital media types such as audio and video. When you choose QuickTime (*.mov) as the Save As Type, your animation is saved as a .mov file.
The MPEG format is a standard for movie files. MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group. MPEG files can have a .mpg or .mpeg file name extension. MPEG is supported only as an input file format. You can use MPEG files as texture maps.
3ds Max can both read and write image files in the OpenEXR format. OpenEXR is both an image file format and a general open-source API for reading and writing such files.
3ds Max can import and export Radiance Picture (PIC) files. The PIC file is a lighting-analysis format used for the same purpose as LogLUV TIFF files. The PIC format differs from the LogLUV TIFF format by creating separate files for luminance and illuminance channel data (the LogLUV TIFF format creates one file containing both channels).
PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a still-image file format developed for use with the Internet and World Wide Web.
PSD is the filename extension for graphics files native to Adobe ® Photoshop ® . This image format supports multiple layers of images superimposed to get the final image. Each layer can have any number of channels (R, G, B, Mask, and so on). It is a powerful file format because multiple layers can contribute to a variety of special effects.
The Radiance image file format is used for high-dynamic-range images (HDRI). Most cameras don't have the capability to capture the dynamic range (the gamut of luminances between dark and bright regions) that is present in the real world. However, the range can be recovered by taking a series of pictures of the same subject with different exposure settings, and combining them into one image file.
The RLA format (Run-Length Encoded, version A) is a popular SGI ® format that supports the ability to include arbitrary image channels. While setting up a file for output, if you select RLA Image File from the list and click the Setup button, you'll go to the RLA setup dialog. Once there, you can specify what channels (and what format) you want to write out to the file.
RPF (Rich Pixel Format) is the format that supports the ability to include arbitrary image channels. While setting up a file for output, if you select RPF Image File from the list, you'll go to the RPF setup dialog. Once there, you can specify what channels you want to write out to the file.
The SGI™ Image File format is a bitmap file type created by Silicon Graphics ® . SGI Image File support in 3ds Max lets you load and save files in both 8- and 16-bit color depth, with alpha channels, and RLE Compression.
The Targa (TGA) format was developed by Truevision for their video boards. The format supports 32-bit true color; that is, 24-bit color plus an alpha channel, and is typically used as a true color format.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a multiplatform bitmap format originating on the Macintosh® and in desktop-publishing applications. TIFF is a common choice if you plan to send your output to a print service bureau or import the image into a page-layout program.
YUV files are still-image graphics files in the Abekas ® Digital Disk format. YUV is supported only as an input file format. You can use YUV files as general-purpose bitmaps, but you can't render to a YUV file.
