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Mastering
3D Studio MAX R3 |
Group Menu
Grouping lets you combine two or more objects into a single grouped
object. Once you group objects, they can be treated as a single object.
Use the commands in the Group menu (Table 3.4) to manipulate the objects
in a group.
| Table 3.4: KEY
COMMANDS ON THE GROUP MENU
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| Command
| Use
|
| Group
| Creates a single group
|
| Open/Close
| Open lets you temporarily
ungroup and access the objects inside the group to manipulate them,
while maintaining their “grouped” status; Close returns
the group status and ends access.
|
| Ungroup
| Ungroups objects altogether
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| Explode
| Ungroups selected objects
and any nested groups
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Views Menu
The Views menu is used to control and set up the viewports in a MAX scene
(Table 3.5). Some of these features can be accessed by right-clicking
the viewport label.
| Table 3.5: KEY
COMMANDS ON THE VIEW MENU
|
| Command
| Use
|
| Undo
| Cancels the last change made
to the current viewport. (This is different than the Undo found in
the Edit menu. Use this Undo when you have either mistakenly zoomed
or incorrectly rotated your viewport.)
|
| Redo
| Cancels the last Undo in the
current viewport
|
| Save Active
| Saves your active viewport
into a temporary state. Very useful after you have found a key view
or camera shot of your scene. Each viewport can have its own temporary
save.
|
| Viewport Background
| Controls the display of the
image of the current selected viewport. You can use this to place
photographs inside the viewports as a background to your scene or
as a guide to trace over.
|
| Shade Selected
| Shades only the selected objects
in your scene when the viewports are set to wireframe mode. This can
greatly speed up your workflow if you have a slow machine.
|
| Redraw All Views
| Use to redraw all your objects;
especially useful when working with complex scenes.
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Rendering
Menu
The Rendering menu holds the controls and settings for producing images
and animations, and environment settings for your scene (Table 3.6).
| Table 3.6: COMMANDS
ON THE RENDERING MENU
|
| Command
| Use
|
| Render
| Allows you to set specific
settings for creating still images and/or animations by using the
Render Scene dialog box. You can also access this through the Main
Toolbar.
|
| Video Post
| Provides commands that allow
you to composite (or overlay) your scene with other types of images
and animations
|
| Make Preview
| Area that allows you to make
a preview file of your current animation to test it
|
| RAM Player
| Allows you to compare two
different images and/or animation sequences. The files load and play
off of your system’s RAM as opposed to playing them off your
hard drive, giving you much smoother and more accurate playback.
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Track View
Menu
The Track View menu allows you to better control your animation sequences
and your overall scene management. Some of things that the Track View
will allow you to do are:
- • Display a list of objects in your scene
- • Change key values
- • Edit blocks of time
- • Add sound to your scene
The pull-down menu allows you to create a new Track View, open an existing
Track View, or delete a Track View. (See “Track View” later
in this chapter for more information, as well as Chapters 6 and 7.)
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|
|
| TIP You can also access
the Track View on the Main Toolbar.
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Schematic
View Menu
Schematic View menu is a different way to view, name, select, and navigate
your current scene. With the Schematic View commands, your scene is shown
in a graph format and objects are displayed as rectangular boxes or nodes.
You can use Schematic View to copy and paste modifiers between objects,
reorder an object’s modifier stack, link objects into hierarchies,
or add materials to objects. The pull-down menu allows you to create a
new Schematic View, open an existing Schematic View, or delete a Schematic
View.
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|
|
|
| TIP You can also access
the Schematic View on the Main Toolbar.
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Customize
Menu
The Customize Menu is very powerful. In it you’ll find many tools
that allow you to change the look of MAX and assist you in setting up
preferences for your scene (Table 3.7).
| Table 3.7: KEY
COMMANDS ON THE CUSTOMIZE MENU
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| Command
| Use
|
| Configure Paths
| MAX uses various paths to
locate different kinds of files, images, and MAXScripts.
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| Viewport Configuration
| Holds commands for rendering
levels, viewport layouts, guides, and helpers for rendering
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| Unit Setup
| Allows you to set a system
of units that you can use in measuring, moving, and scaling the geometry
in your scene
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| Grid and Snap Settings
| Precision controls used in
the creation and transform processes
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Let’s take a look at some of these customizable features.
© 2000, Frol (selection,
edition, publication)
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