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Mastering
3D Studio MAX R3 |
Examining
Other Tabs
In addition to the Main Toolbar, the Tabs consist of nine different areas.
Whereas the Main Toolbar Tab holds all different types of commands, each
other Tab holds commands that are used for a specific area. Many of the
buttons found in the Tabs are also located in the Command Panel. As you
click through each Tab, notice that some Tabs have image-based buttons
while others have text-based buttons. Some Tabs have more commands than
others; they’re all described in Table 3.11. Becoming familiar with
the Tabs can help increase your speed; click each Tab to see what its
command buttons look like.
| Table 3.11: COMMANDS
ON THE TABS
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| Tab
| Description
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| Objects Tab
| Holds many of the common objects
found in the Create Ø Geometry
area of the Command Panel. Useful for creating basic 3D objects—Standard
and Extended Primitives—as well as NURBS Surfaces and Patch Grids.
|
| Shapes Tab
| Consists of many of the commands
used to make 2D shapes
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| Compounds Tab
| Holds the compound objects.
Many of these commands combine two or more objects into a single object.
You can find a complete list of these commands under Create Ø
Geometry Ø Compound Objects in
the Command Panel.
|
| Lights & Cameras Tab
| Tools that can assist you
in making your scene look bit more realistic. These are broken into
separate areas in the Command Panel.
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| Particles Tab
| Systems that can create other
objects to simulate certain effects like rain, snow, and explosions
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| Helpers Tab
| Holds the Standard Helper
objects. These objects assist you in measuring, transforming, and
animating things in your scene. Helpers are non-renderable objects.
There are many other types of helpers found in the Command Panel under
Create Ø Helpers.
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| SpaceWarps Tab
| Space warps can affect the
appearance of your geometry by changing the shape of space itself.
They can also work with Particle Systems. Space warps work in world
space.
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| Modifiers Tab
| Commands that change the shape
of your objects. You can find many more in the Command Panel under
the Modify tab.
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| Modeling Tab
| Holds a mixture of commands
from other Tabs. All these tools help in the modeling process.
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| Rendering Tab
| Holds common render commands
found in many other areas of MAX
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Customizing
the Shelf Area
MAX gives you the ability to customize both toolbars and the Tabs, and
the customization that provides the most flexibility is the ability to
create new Tabs and toolbars. Tabs and toolbars are very interchangeable;
the only difference between them is that Tabs are placed within the Shelf
Area and toolbars are not. You can very easily turn a Tab into a toolbar
or vice versa.
All of the customization features for the Shelf Area are accessed by
right-clicking the name of a Tab to bring up the shortcut menu, shown
in Figure 3.7 and described in Table 3.12. Remember, if you right-click
the Main Toolbar Tab, the Delete Tab and Rename Tab commands are grayed
out.
FIGURE
3.7 A Tab shortcut menu
| Table 3.12: COMMANDS
FROM THE SHORTCUT MENU
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| Command
| Use
|
| Add Tab
| Creates a new Tab
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| Delete Tab
| Deletes the selected Tab
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| Rename Tab
| Allows you to rename the selected
Tab
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| Move Left
| Moves the Tab one space to
the left. (When a Tab is at the left end, Move Left wraps it to the
right end.)
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| Move Right
| Moves the Tab one space to
the right. (When a Tab is at the right end, Move Right wraps it to
the left end.)
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| Convert to Toolbar
| When you convert a Tab into
a toolbar it is no longer held in the Shelf Area.
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| Customize
| Brings up the Customize UI
dialog area. Here you can create your own toolbars.
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| TIP To reset the Shelf
Area to its original state, from the MAX menu bar choose Customize
Ø Revert to Startup UI Layout.
This is handy when you have accidentally changed your UI, but use
this command with caution as it will undo all your customization.
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© 2000, Frol (selection,
edition, publication)
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