Configuring the Viewports

If the Viewport Navigation Controls help define what you see, then the Viewport Configuration dialog box helps define how you see objects in the viewports. You can configure each viewport using this dialog box. To open this dialog box, choose the Customize Viewport Configuration menu command. You can also open this dialog box by right-clicking the viewport's name located in the upper-left corner of each viewport and choosing Configure from the pop-up menu. The pop-up menu itself includes many of the settings found in the Viewport Configuration dialog box, but the dialog box lets you alter several settings at once. You can also make this dialog box appear for the active viewport by right-clicking any of the Viewport Navigation Control buttons in the lower-right corner.

The Viewport Configuration dialog box contains several panels, including Rendering Method, Layout, Safe Frames, Adaptive Degradation, Regions, and Statistics. The Preference Settings dialog box also includes many settings for controlling the behavior and look of the viewports.

CROSS-REF 

See Chapter 5, "Customizing the Max Interface and Setting Preferences," for more on the Preference Settings dialog box and all its options.

Setting the viewport rendering method

Complex scenes take longer to display and render. The renderer used for the viewports is highly optimized to be very quick, but if you're working on a huge model with lots of complex textures and every viewport is set to display the highest quality view, then updating each viewport can slow the program to a crawl. The Viewport Configuration dialog box's Rendering Method panel, shown in Figure 2.8, lets you set the rendering settings for the Active Viewport, All Viewports, or All but Active viewport.

Figure 2.8: The Rendering Method panel holds controls for specifying the Rendering Level and several other viewport rendering options.

Tip 

If you ever get stuck waiting for Max to complete a task, such as redrawing the viewports, you can always press the Escape key to suspend any task immediately and return control to the interface.

Note 

These settings have no effect on the final rendering specified using the Rendering menu. They affect only the display in the viewport.

Rendering levels

The Rendering Level options, from slowest to fastest, include the following:

• Smooth+Highlights: Shows smooth surfaces with lighting highlights.

• Smooth: Shows smooth surfaces without any lighting effects.

• Facets+Highlights: Shows individual polygon faces and lighting highlights.

• Facets: Shows individual polygon faces without any lighting effects.

• Flat: Shows the entire object using a single color.

• Hidden Line: Shows only polygon edges facing the camera.

• Lit Wireframes: Shows all polygon edges with lighting effects.

• Wireframe: Shows all polygon edges only.

• Bounding Box: Shows a box that would enclose the object.

NEW FEATURE 

The Hidden Line rendering option is new to 3ds Max 9.

Although it really isn't a rendering method, the Edged Faces option shows the edges for each face when a shaded rendering method is selected. You can enable and disable this option with the F4 keyboard shortcut. Figure 2.9 shows, side by side, all the various viewport rendering methods applied to a simple sphere.

Figure 2.9: The viewport rendering methods are shown from left to right. First Row: Smooth+Highlights, Smooth, Facets+Highlights, Facets, and Flat. Second Row: Hidden Line, Lit Wireframes, Wireframe, Bounding Box, and Edged Faces applied to Smooth+Highlights.

The most common rendering setting is Wireframe. It gives a good representation of the object while redrawing very quickly. By default the Top, Front, and Left viewports are set to Wireframe, and the Perspective viewport is set to Smooth+Highlights. Faceted rendering displays every face as a flat plane, but it shows the object as a solid model and is good for checking whether objects overlap. The Smooth rendering level shows a rough approximation of the final rendering. Setting the rendering level to include highlights shows the effect of the lights in the scene.

Note 

Many effects, such as bump maps, transparent maps, and shadows, cannot be seen in the view-port and show up only in the final render.

Viewing transparency

In addition to these shading types, you also can set the viewport to display objects that contain transparency (which is set in the Object Properties dialog box). The three Transparency options are None, which doesn't display any transparency; Simple, which cross-hatches the transparent object; and Best, which includes a transparency effect for a smooth look. Figure 2.10 shows these three transparency options with the help of a hungry little animated creature and his ghostly rival.

Figure 2.10: The viewport transparency options include None, Simple, and Best.

Rendering options

The Rendering Options section within the Rendering Method panel includes several other options, such as Disable View (D) and Disable Textures. These options can help speed up viewport updates or increase the visual detail of the objects in the viewport.

Tip 

At any time during a viewport update, you can click the mouse or press a key to cancel the redraw. Max doesn't make you wait for a screen redraw to be able to execute commands with the mouse or keyboard shortcuts.

The Disable Textures option turns off texture rendering for quick viewport updates. The Texture Correction option speeds rendering updates by interpolating the current texture rather than re-rendering. Texture Correction (along with Disable View and Viewport Clipping) is one of the options available in the pop-up menu by right-clicking the viewport name.

A z-buffer is an area of memory used to keep track of each object's distance from the camera. Enabling Z-Buffer Wireframe Objects causes the wireframe objects to be drawn from back to front. If your wireframe lines seem to be disappearing, it could be that the viewport is drawing the lines in whatever order and some lines that should appear in the back are being drawn on top of the ones in the front. Enabling this option helps prevent that.

Force 2-Sided makes both sides of all faces visible. For example, suppose you have a sphere with a hole in it. This setting enables you to see the interior surface of the sphere through the hole. Figure 2.11 shows a sphere with a star-shape cutout of its surface. The left image has the Force 2-Sided option disabled, and the image on the right has it enabled.

Figure 2.11: The Force 2-Sided option makes the interior of objects visible.

The Default Lighting toggle deactivates your current lights and uses the default lights. This option can be helpful when you're trying to view objects in a dark setting because the default lighting illuminates the entire scene without requiring you to remove or turn off lights. You can also specify whether default lighting uses one light or two. The one-light option creates a single light positioned behind the viewer and at an angle to the scene. Scenes with one light update quicker than scenes with two lights.

Making selected objects visible

You use Shade Selected Faces (F2) to shade selected subobject faces in red, making them easy to see.

Note 

The Shade Selected Faces (F2) option, which shades selected subobject faces, is different from the Views Shade Selected menu command, which turns on shading for the selected object in all viewports.

The Use Selection Brackets option displays white corners around the current selection. Selection brackets are useful for helping you see the entire size of a grouped object but can be annoying if left on with many objects selected. Uncheck this option (or press the J key) to make these brackets disappear.

The option to Display Selected with Edged Faces helps to highlight the selected object. If this option is enabled, then the edges of the current selection are displayed regardless of whether the Edged Faces check box is enabled. Figure 2.12 shows the grips of an M-203 rifle that was created by Viewpoint Datalabs selected with the Display Selected with Edged Faces and the Use Selection Brackets options enabled. These options make the current selection easy to see.

Figure 2.12: The Display Selected with Edged Faces and Use Selection Brackets options make identifying the current selection easy.

Using clipping planes

Clipping planes define an invisible barrier beyond which all objects are invisible. For example, if you have a scene with many detailed mountain objects in the background, working with an object in the front of the scene can be difficult. By setting the clipping plane between the two, you can work on the front objects without having to redraw the mountain objects every time you update the scene. This affects only the viewport, not the rendered output.

Enabling the Viewport Clipping option places a yellow line with two arrows on the right side of the viewport, as shown in Figure 2.13. The top arrow represents the back clipping plane, and the bottom arrow is the front clipping plane. Drag the arrows to set the clipping planes. You can quickly turn Viewport Clipping on or off by right-clicking the viewport name and choosing Viewport Clipping from the pop-up menu.

Figure 2.13: The clipping planes can be used to show the interior of this car model.

Enabling Fast View

The Fast View option speeds viewport updates by drawing only a limited number of faces. The spinner value determines how often faces are drawn. For example, a setting of 5 would draw only every fifth face. This option renders viewport updates much quicker and gives you an idea of the objects without displaying the entire object.

Tutorial: Viewing the interior of a heart with Clipping Planes

You can use the Clipping Planes setting in the Viewport Configuration dialog box to view the interior of a model such as this heart model created by Viewpoint.

To view the interior of a heart model, follow these steps:

1. Open the  Heart interior.max file from the Chap 02 directory on the DVD.

2. Choose Customize Viewport Configuration to open the Viewport Configuration dialog box. Enable the Viewport Clipping option and the Force 2-Sided option, and then close the dialog box.

3. The Clipping Plane markers appear to the right of the viewport. The top marker controls the back clipping plane, and the bottom marker controls the front clipping plane. Drag the bottom clipping plane marker upward to slice through the heart model to reveal its interior, as shown in Figure 2.14.

Figure 2.14: By using Clipping Planes, you can reveal the interior of a model.

Setting the Field of View

You can also alter the Field of View (FOV) for the Perspective view in the Viewport Configuration dialog box. To create a fish-eye view, increase the FOV setting to 10 or less. The maximum FOV value is 180, and the default value is 45. You can also change the Field of View using the Field of View button in the Viewport Navigation Controls. The Viewport Configuration dialog box, however, lets you enter precise values.

CROSS-REF 

See Chapter 26, "Configuring Cameras," for more coverage on Field of View.

Grabbing a viewport image

It's not rendering, but you can grab an image of the active viewport using the Tools Grab Viewport. Before grabbing the image, a simple dialog box appears asking you to add a label to the grabbed image. The image is loaded into the Rendered Frame Window, and its label appears in the lower-right corner of the image, as shown in Figure 2.15.

Figure 2.15: A viewport image can be grabbed using a menu command found in the Tools menu.

Altering the Viewport layout

Now that you've started to figure out the viewports, you may want to change the number and size of viewports displayed. The Layout panel, shown in Figure 2.16, in the Viewpoint Configuration dialog box, offers several layouts as alternatives to the default layout (not that there is anything wrong with the default and its four equally sized viewports).

Figure 2.16: The Layout panel offers many layout options.

After selecting a layout from the options at the top of the panel, you can assign each individual viewport a different view by clicking on each viewport in the Layout panel and choosing a view from the pop-up menu. The view options include Perspective, User, Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left, Right, ActiveShade, Track, Schematic, Grid (Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Display Planes), Extended (Asset Browser, Motion Mixer, Biped Animation WorkBench, MAXScript Listener), and Shape.

Views can also be set to Camera and Spotlight if they exist in the scene. Each camera and light that exists is listed by name at the top of the pop-up menu.

Using Safe Frames

Completing an animation and converting it to some broadcast medium, only to see that the whole left side of the animation is being cut off in the final screening, can be discouraging. If you rely on the size of the active viewport to show the edges of the final output, you could be way off. Using the Safe Frames feature, you can display some guides within the viewport that show where these clipping edges are.

The Safe Frames panel of the Viewport Configuration dialog box lets you define several safe frame options, as shown in Figure 2.17, including the following:

• Live Area: Marks the area that will be rendered, shown as yellow lines. If a background image is added to the viewport and the Match Rendering Output option is selected, then the background image will fit within the Live Area.

• Action Safe: The area ensured to be visible in the final rendered file, marked with light blue lines; objects outside this area will be at the edge of the monitor and could be distorted.

• Title Safe: The area where the title can safely appear without distortion or bleeding, marked with orange lines.

• User Safe: The output area defined by the user, marked with magenta lines.

• 12-Field Grid: Displays a grid in the viewport, marked with a pink grid.

Figure 2.17: The Safe Frames panel lets you specify areas to render.

For each type of safe frame, you can set the percent reduction by entering values in the Horizontal, Vertical, or Both fields. The 12-Field Grid option offers 4 × 3 and 12 × 9 aspect ratios.

The Show Safe Frames in Active View option displays the Safe Frame borders in the active viewport. You can quickly enable or disable Safe Frames by right-clicking the viewport name and choosing Show Safe Frame in the pop-up menu (or you can use the Shift+F keyboard shortcut).

Figure 2.18 shows an elongated Perspective viewport with all the safe frame guides enabled. The Safe Frames show that the top and bottom of my dinosaur will be cut off when rendered.

Figure 2.18: Safe frames provide guides that help you see when the scene objects are out of bounds.

Understanding Adaptive Degradation

When you are previewing a complex animation sequence in a viewport, slow updates can affect the timing of the animation. This can make proofing your work difficult and would require many additional, fully rendered tasks. The feature in Max that addresses this issue is called Adaptive Degradation, and although it sounds like a weapon that some alien might use to disarm you, it enables you to force a viewport to display at a pre-specified number of frames per second. If the display update takes too long to maintain this rate, then it automatically degrades the rendering level in order to maintain the frame rate. This option is very helpful because when you're testing an animation, you are not as concerned about the model details or textures.

The Adaptive Degradation panel is available in the Viewport Configuration dialog box, as shown in Figure 2.19.

Figure 2.19: The Adaptive Degradation panel maintains a defined frame rate by degrading the rendering level.

You can enable Adaptive Degradation by using the Views Adaptive Degradation menu command (or by pressing the O key). Adaptive Degradation, when enabled, is used only for animation sequences where the objects are updated within the viewport quickly. If the animation isn't progressing, then enabling and disabling Adaptive Degradation has no effect.

CROSS-REF 

You learn to animate objects in Chapter 29, "Understanding Animation and Keyframe Basics."

In the Maintain FPS box in the Degrade Parameters section, you enter the frame rate that you want to maintain. The General Degradation selection specifies the render level used by all inactive viewports; the Active Degradation selection is used by the active viewport. You can select several rendering levels in each section.

Tip 

Another way to speed the frame rate in the active viewport is to disable (D) the inactive viewports.

The Reset on Mouse Up option forces Max to render at the specified rendering levels when the mouse is released. The Show Rebuild Cursor option makes the cursor visible as the viewports are rendered. The Update Time is the amount of time between rendering updates. At a setting of 0, each frame must be completely rendered before the next frame is attempted. The Interrupt Time value is how long Max waits before checking to see whether the mouse has moved.

Defining regions

The Regions panel enables you to define regions and focus your rendering energies on a smaller area. Complex scenes can take considerable time and machine power to render. Sometimes, you want to test render only a portion of a viewport to check material assignment, texture map placement, or lighting.

You can define the size of the various Regions in the Regions panel of the Viewport Configuration dialog box, shown in Figure 2.20.

Figure 2.20: The Regions panel enables you to work with smaller regions within your scene.

After you've specified a Blowup Region or a Sub Region, you can select to render using these regions by selecting Region or Blowup from the Render Type drop-down list on the far-right end of the main toolbar and clicking the Quick Render button. After clicking the Quick Render button, the specified region is displayed as an outline in the viewport and an OK button appears in the lower-right corner of the viewport. You can move this outline to reposition it or drag its edge or corner handles to resize the region. The new position and dimension values are updated in the Regions panel for next time. Click the OK button to begin the rendering process.

The difference between these two regions is that the Sub Region displays the Rendered Frame Window in black, except for the specified sub-region. The Blowup Region fills the entire Rendered Frame Window, as shown in Figure 2.21.

Figure 2.21: The image on the left was rendered using the Sub Region option; the right image used the Blowup Region.

CROSS-REF 

You can learn more about Render Types and the Rendered Frame Window in Chapter 43, "Learning Rendering Basics."

The Virtual Viewport is a feature that lets you zoom in and pan within the viewport image using the numeric keypad. This feature is available only if you are using the OpenGL display driver. You can check to see which display driver you are using by selecting Help About 3ds Max. This command opens a credits screen that lists the current driver. You can change the current display driver in the Viewport panel of the Preference Settings dialog box.

If you have OpenGL set as the current display driver, then you can select Use Virtual Viewport to display the viewport in the area to the right. Using the Zoom, X, and Y Offset values, you can specify where the virtual viewport looks or you can drag the rectangular outline in the visible screen to the right.

Once the Virtual Viewport feature is enabled, you can use the divide key (/) on the numeric keypad to turn the virtual viewport on and off. Use the plus (+) and minus (-) numeric keypad keys to zoom in and out, and use the 2, 4, 6, and 8 keys on the numeric keypad to pan within the virtual viewport.

Caution 

The Virtual Viewport feature is available only if you are using the OpenGL driver. If you've specified either the Software Z-Buffer or the Direct X driver, then this option isn't available.

Viewing statistics

The Statistics panel, shown in Figure 2.22, lets you display valuable statistics in the viewport window. These statistics can include Polygon Count, Triangle Count, Edge Count, Vertex Count, and Frames Per Second. You can also select to view these statistics for all the objects in the scene (Total), for just the selected object, or for both. Statistics can be toggled on and off for the active viewport using the 7 key.

Figure 2.22: The Statistics panel lets you display polygon count and frames per second in the viewport.

NEW FEATURE 

The Statistics panel is new to 3ds Max 9.

By enabling the Show Statistics in Active View option, the selected statistics are overlaid on the active viewport, as shown in Figure 2.23.

Figure 2.23: The active viewport can be set to display the selected statistics.