Orthographic Views

The viewports have six views that are categorized as orthographic views: top and bottom, left and right, front and back. Think of orthographic views as 2D, or flat, views. They each show two axes of the object.

	TIP An easy way you can tell whether you are in an orthographic viewport is by the gridlines in the viewport. If the gridlines are parallel, then it’s an orthographic viewport.

Non-Orthographic Views

Still referring to the Views menu, the perspective view is considered a non-orthographic views. The user view is a multiple-purpose view, and for our purposes we’ll consider it non-orthographic as well. A non-orthographic view is considered a 3D view; these are views that begin to show more than two dimensions of your object or scene. Let’s talk a bit about both of them.

The perspective view is different than the other views in that it shows the depth of your scene and/or object. For example, in the real world when we view objects that are far off in the distance, they are less clear than nearby objects, and at times they seem to come to a point, or converge. Objects in the distance do not keep their true scale. You may have experienced this driving on long, flat surfaces, where you have seen something far off in the distance. It looked tiny from a distance, but when you drove by it, it was much larger than you originally thought.

The user view is actually considered an axonometric view, or a view that can show more than one side of a particular scene or object, and at times may looked distorted. The user view is a mix of the orthographic views and the perspective view. When you use the user view you still maintain some parallel lines, as with the orthographic views, yet you can view your scene in a 3D setting, as you can in perspective view. That is why the navigation buttons in the user viewport are the same as in the orthographic viewports.

Let’s look at an example of this in MAX. Figure 1.3 shows a teapot and a cylinder set in a scene so that the cylinder is in front and to the right of the teapot when seen in the right viewport.

FIGURE 1.3  A cylinder and a teapot

If we change all the viewports to the front view and zoom in close, we can compare the effect of similar views. From the front view, if we change one viewport to the user view and another to the perspective view, we get Figure 1.4. Notice that in the perspective view you can actually see the difference in the depth of the scene. We see the cylinder in 3D.

FIGURE 1.4  The user and perspective views

Building Vertices, Edges, and Faces

Modeling objects in MAX can be achieved by using many different techniques. You can create objects using meshes, NURBS, splines, patches, and other techniques. As you become more fimiliar with MAX, you will explore different ways to create things. You will find that each technique has its pros and cons.

	NOTE Refer to Part 2 of this book for a explanation of the different modeling techniques.

We are going to talk about meshes and some of the properties that define a mesh. To illustrate this, we’ll use a standard box object as an example and see what defines it. In order to do this, we will be working in the sub-object area of the box. The term sub-object simply means anything less than the whole object—in this case, the box. For example, if we wanted to make the box uniformly larger, we would scale it up in the basic object selection level. But if we wanted to scale just the top portion of the box without affecting the bottom, we would have to do that in the sub-object level of the box.

1.  Go to the Create Panel and in the Primitives area click on Box.

2.  Go to Command Panel Ø Modify tab Ø More Ø Edit Mesh.

3.  Click the Sub-Object button, then click the drop-down menu next to it.

You are now in the sub-object level of the box. Your screen should look like Figure 1.5. The drop-down list shows the different areas of the sub-object level that define the box.

FIGURE 1.5  Box in sub-object mode

The list consists of Vertex, Edge, Face, Polygon, and Element. These are the different levels that define all mesh objects. Let’s continue to use the example above and look a bit at each of the different levels.

Vertices

If you choose Vertex from the Sub-Object drop-down list, you will notice that the box has blue dots at each corner. Select one of the blue dots by clicking it. That dot turns red, and a set of X, Y, and Z arrows appears (see Figure 1.6).

FIGURE 1.6  Box showing a selected vertex

World Space Origin

Those dots are called vertices. Vertices define the location of points in 3D space, at a numeric distance from a starting point. That starting point is known as the world space origin in MAX. The world space origin is the center of all transformations in your scene. Any time you move, scale, or rotate an object, you are doing so in relation to the world space. In the box scene, locate the two dark, intersecting, black gridlines; the point where they cross is normally the world space origin. Think of it as a central or common point that everything is measured from. The X, Y, and Z axes help locate the vertices in relationship to the origin point.

With your vertex still selected, right-click the Move icon in the Main Toolbar to bring up the Move Transform dialog box (Figure 1.7). You will notice that there is a column with the heading Absolute:World, with X, Y, and Z values for the vertex. Your values will probably be different than those in the figure. Write those values down on a piece of paper, then change the X, Y, and Z values all to zero. Notice where the vertex is now. If you look at the top view, you can clearly see that the point is in the center of the world space origin. Try some different values in the X, Y, and Z, again noticing the relationship to the origin. When you are finished, type in the original values again to get your box back to normal.

FIGURE 1.7  The Move Transform dialog box

Edges

Again with your box selected, choose Edge from the Sub-Object drop-down list. One line, or edge, should now be selected, as in Figure 1.9. Edges can be either visible or invisible. With the box selected, right-click it to bring up the shortcut menu and choose Properties. Uncheck the option Edges Only. Notice the difference in the box. You now see the sides of the box with all their edges.

FIGURE 1.8  Box showing a selected edge