Viewports are the window into the Max world. Remember that if you can't see it, you can't work with it, so you need to learn to use the viewports. You can also configure viewports to display just the way you desire.
This chapter covered the following topics:
3D space and the various viewport types
The various Viewport Navigation Control buttons
The Rendering Level and Display options in the Viewport Configuration dialog box
The other panels of the Viewport Configuration dialog box that allow you to change the layout, safe frames, regions, and statistics.
How to use Adaptive Degradation to maintain a constant frame rate for viewport animation sequences
A viewport background image
In the next chapter, you find out all the details about working with files, including loading, saving, and merging scene files. You also learn about External References (XRefs) and how to use them to manage scene creation in a workgroup. The next chapter also covers import and export options for interfacing with other software packages.