General Concepts

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Gizmo

A virtual object or sub-object, represented by a wireframe that initially surrounds the selected object and to which a modifier or specific effect is applied.

Material

A set of surface parameters defining how the object will look after rendering. Note that the concept of material relates only to surfaces and doesn't address volume. (The reason is simple - there is no concept of volume in 3ds max). The only exceptions are the Dynamics module and RayTrace material.

Modifier

A procedure applied to a selected object, set of objects, or selected sub-objects.

Modifier Stack

A list of modifiers applied to an object. 3ds max applies modifiers sequentially, going from the bottom to the top. You can return to any modifier in the stack at any time and change its parameters, move it to another level, or copy or delete it. You can also move modifiers from stack to stack. Be very careful, however! Some modifiers (Edit Mesh, for example) are destructive, which means that the effect of editing object parameters below it on the stack might be unpredictable. As a rule, 3ds max warns the user when such consequences are possible.

Normal

In 3ds max, each surface is oriented in a particular direction and has front and rear sides. In general, the back side is not rendered, except when a two-sided material is used and rendering parameters are set in such a way as to render both sides. The normal is the direction pointing perpendicularly away from the face side. The term "flip normals" means pointing the normals in the opposite direction. The term "unify normals" means changing the orientation in such a way as to make multiple normals point the same way (usually outward).

Object

Any element of the scene. Objects can be renderable (e.g., geometric primitives) or invisible (e.g., light sources, deformations, or virtual objects).

Scene

The entire set of objects, materials, animations, and program settings, containing everything written in the project file.

Sub-object

One of the most fundamental concepts of 3ds max. Each object is composed of a set of sub-objects (e.g., vertices or faces) that you can edit independently. However, sub-objects always belong to a parent object. For each object type, there is a predefined set of sub-objects.

Transformation Matrix

When you create an object, 3ds max creates a transformation matrix in which it records all transformations of that object (such as changes in position, scale, or rotation) in relation to its initial state.

Viewport

Program windows used to edit objects, which are displayed as wireframes or shaded solids.

Visualization or Rendering

The process of turning a scene into an image, based on the objects that make up the scene, their material parameters, lighting, and camera. The term "rendering" is becoming common, since the process involves more than simple "visualization." Interestingly, it is being used not only in 3D graphics, but also in nonlinear mastering (software such as Digital Fusion, for example) and even in sound-processing software.

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