when you sit down to work through and learn all the things there is to know about 3ds Max, this Book is the best book that you could have. the author walks you through with baby steps and makes sure that you know every little thing that is going on. this has not only allowed me to create great looking CG (Computer Generated) material, but it has allowed me to fully understand what is going on with the program when i perform the actions that i perform. The author does a great job of stepping you through all the different sub-object editing tools and after almost every step of the way through a tutorial, the author makes sure that you still understand everything (kind of like a recap). With practically 3 full chapters of just getting to know the program BEFORE even modeling anything, this book, like no other, can set you up for a long term streamline of success in the CG world.