Create and Assemble Objects: You can create new geometrical objects in Autodesk VIZ, as well as link objects from other programs such as AutoCAD Architecture, and you can augment that geometry with other objects created in 3ds Max. You view objects, change their materials, edit them and animate them in viewports. The objects can be 2D and 3D geometry, all positioned in 3D space. You can display the objects in the viewport as wireframe, shaded, or other options.

Lights and Cameras: You can add light objects to create shadows and illumination. And you can create cameras to shoot movies of your scene.

Materials: You can further enhance geometry surfaces with materials, which you create and edit in the Material Editor.

You toggle the Material Editor by clicking its button on the main toolbar or by pressing the M key on the keyboard.

You can access commonly used materials from the material palettes set in the Tool Palettes window and then apply them to objects in the scene. You can drag entire palettes or individual materials to catalogs in the Content Browser.

Keyframe Animation: Once the objects are assembled in the scene, you create animated versions of the design with keyframe animation. This form of animation, incidentally, takes its name from traditional, hand-drawn animation in which lead artists draw the major, “key” frames, and then assistant artists draw all in-between frames to complete the action. Click the Auto Key button, and then select objects in the scene. Move, rotate, and scale the objects at different times to create the animation. Or change the position of a camera over time to create an architectural walkthrough.

The time slider lets you “time travel” to any frame, and you can use the VCR controls to play the animation, jump between keyframes, and go instantly to the start or end.

Rendering: Once the animation is complete, you use rendering to create still images, movie sequences or interactive panoramic views. The output of the animation can be a movie file format or a sequence of still images. Autodesk VIZ can render to most industry-standard file formats. You can set image resolution to whatever you want.

You can use bitmap images as the background to your renderings in order to create stunning photosimulations.