Working with Viewport Backgrounds


Remember in grade school when you realized that you could immediately draw really well using tracing paper (where all you needed to do was follow the lines)? Well, it's not quite tracing paper, but you can load background images into a viewport that can help as you create and position your objects.

Loading viewport background images

The Views image from book Viewport Background menu command (Alt+B) opens a dialog box, shown in Figure 2.24, in which you can select an image or animation to appear behind a viewport. Each viewport can have a different background image. The displayed background image is helpful for aligning objects in a scene, but it is for display purposes only and will not be rendered. To create a background image to be rendered, you need to specify the background in the Environment dialog box, opened using the Rendering image from book Environment (keyboard shortcut, 8) menu command.

image from book
Figure 2.24: The Viewport Background dialog box lets you select a background source image or animation.

If the background image changes, you can update the viewport using the Views image from book Update Background Image menu command (Alt+Shift+Ctrl+B). This is helpful if you have the background image opened in Photoshop at the same time. You can update the background image, save it, and then immediately update the image in Max. The Views image from book Reset Background Transform menu command automatically rescales and re-centers the background image to fit the viewport. You should use this if you've changed the viewport size or changed the background's size.

The Files button opens the Select Background Image dialog box, where you can select the image to load. The Devices button lets you obtain a background from a device such as a Video Recorder. If an environment map is already loaded into the Environment dialog box, you can simply click the Use Environment Background option. Keep in mind that the background image will not be rendered unless it is made into an Environment map.

CROSS-REF 

Environment maps are covered in Chapter 43, "Learning Rendering Basics."

Loading viewport background animations

The Animation Synchronization section of the Viewport Background dialog box lets you set which frames of a background animation sequence are displayed. The Use Frame and To values determine which frames of the loaded animation are used. The Step value trims the number of frames that are to be used by selecting every Nth frame. For example, a Step value of 4 would use every fourth frame.

Tip 

Loading an animation sequence as a viewport background can really help as you begin to animate complex motions, like a running horse. By stepping through the frames of the animation, you can line up your model with the background image for realistic animations.

The Start At value is the frame in the current scene where this background animation would first appear. The Sync Start to Frame value is the frame of the background animation that should appear first. The Start and End Processing options let you determine what appears before the Start and End frames. Options include displaying a blank, holding the current frame, and looping.

If you select an animation as the background, make sure that the Animate Background option is selected. Also note that the viewport background is not visible if the Display Background option is not selected.

The Aspect Ratio section offers options for setting the size of the background image. You can select to Match Viewport, Match Bitmap, or Match Rendering Output.

The Lock Zoom/Pan option is available if either the Match Bitmap option or the Match Rendering Output option is selected. This option locks the background image to the geometry so that when the objects in the scene are zoomed or panned, the background image follows. If the background gets out of line, you can reset its position with the Views image from book Reset Background Transform command.

Caution 

When the Lock Zoom/Pan option is selected, the background image is resized when you zoom in on an object. Resizing the background image fills the virtual memory, and if you zoom in too far, the background image could exceed your virtual memory. If this happens, a dialog box appears to inform you of the problem and gives you the option of not displaying the background image.

You can set the Apply Source and Display to option to display the background in All Views or in the active viewport only.

Tutorial: Loading reference images for modeling

When modeling a physical object, you can get a jump on the project by taking pictures with a digital camera of the front, top, and left views of the object and then load them as background images in the respective viewports. The background images can then be a reference for your work. This is especially helpful with models that need to be precise. You can even work from CAD drawings.

To load the background images of a brass swan, follow these steps:

  1. Choose File image from book New (or press Ctrl+N) to open a blank scene file.

  2. Right-click on the Front viewport to make it the active viewport, and choose Views image from book Viewport Background (or press Alt+B).

    The Viewport Background dialog box opens.

  3. Click on the Files button, and in the File dialog box that opens, select the image from book Brass swan-front view.jpg image from the Chap 02 directory on the DVD.

  4. Select the Match Bitmap, Display Background, Lock Zoom/Pan, and Active Only options, and click OK to close the dialog box.

    The image now appears in the background of the Front viewport.

  5. Repeat Steps 2 through 4 for the Top and Left viewports.

Figure 2.25 shows the Max interface with background images loaded in the Front, Top, and Left viewports.

image from book
Figure 2.25: Adding a background image to a viewport can help as you begin to model objects.




3ds Max 9 Bible
3ds Max 9 Bible
ISBN: 0470100893
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 383

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net