Setting Preferences


The Preference Settings dialog box lets you configure Max so it works in a way that is most comfortable for you. You open it by choosing Customize image from book Preferences. The dialog box includes eleven panels: General, Files, Viewports, Gamma and LUT, Rendering, Animation, Inverse Kinematics, Gizmos, MAXScript, Radiosity, and mental ray.

General preferences

The first panel in the Preference Settings dialog box is for General settings, as shown in Figure 5.17. The General panel includes many global settings that affect the entire interface.

image from book
Figure 5.17: The General panel lets you change many UI settings.

Tip 

The quickest way I've found to open the Preference Settings dialog box is to right-click the Spinner Snap Toggle button.

Undo Levels and the Reference Coordinate System

The Scene Undo spinner sets the number of commands that can be kept in a buffer for undoing. A smaller number frees up memory, but does not let you backtrack through your work. The default Undo Levels is 20.

The Reference Coordinate System setting makes all transform tools use the same coordinate system and transform center when the Constant option is enabled. If disabled, each transform uses the coordinate system last selected.

Loading Plug-Ins and Sub-Material settings

The Load Plug-Ins When Used option keeps plug-ins out of memory until they are accessed. This saves valuable memory and still makes the plug-ins accessible.

The Automatic Sub-Material Assignment option, when checked, enables materials to be dragged and dropped directly onto a subobject selection. This applies the Multi/Sub-Object material to the object with the dropped material corresponding with the subobject selection's Material ID.

Scene Selection settings

The Auto Window/Crossing by Direction option lets you select scene objects using the windowing method (the entire object must be within the selected windowed area to be selected) and the crossing method (which selects objects if their borders are crossed with the mouse) at the same time, depending on the direction that the mouse is dragged. If you select the first option, then the Crossing method is used when the mouse is dragged from right to left and the Window method is used when the mouse is dragged from left to right.

Tip 

I like to keep the Auto Window/Crossing by Direction option disabled. I use the Crossing selection method and find that I don't always start my selection from the same side.

The Paint Selection Brush Size value sets the default size of the Paint Selection Brush. In the default interface, this size is set to 20. If you find yourself changing the brush size every time you use this tool, then you can alter its default size with this setting.

Spinner, Rollout, and Vertex Normal settings

Spinners are interface controls that enable you to enter values or interactively increase or decrease the value by clicking the arrows on the right. The Preference Settings dialog box includes settings for changing the number of decimals displayed in spinners and the increment or decrement value for clicking an arrow. The Use Spinner Snap option enables the snap mode.

image from book You can also enable the snap mode using the Spinner Snap button on the main toolbar.

Tip 

Right-click on a spinner to automatically set its value to 0 or its lowest threshold.

You can also change the values in the spinner by clicking the spinner and dragging up to increase the value or down to decrease it. The Wrap Cursor Near Spinner option keeps the cursor close to the spinner when you change values by dragging with the mouse, so you can drag the mouse continuously without worrying about hitting the top or bottom of the screen.

The Rollout Threshold value sets how many pixels can be scrolled before the rollup shifts to another column. This is used only if you've made the Command Panel wider or floating.

The Use Legacy R4 Vertex Normals option computes vertex normals based on the Max version 4 instead of the newer method. The newer method is more accurate but may affect smoothing groups. Enable this setting only if you plan on using any models created using Max R4 or earlier.

Interface Display settings

The options in the UI Display section control additional aspects of the interface. The Enable Viewport Tooltips option can toggle tooltips on or off. Tooltips are helpful when you're first learning the Max interface, but they quickly become annoying and you'll want to turn them off.

The AutoPlay Preview File setting automatically plays Preview Files in the default media player when they are finished rendering. If this option is disabled, you need to play the previews with the Animation image from book View Preview menu command. The Display Cross Hair Cursor option changes the cursor from the Windows default arrow to a crosshair cursor similar to the one used in AutoCAD.

For some actions, such as non-uniform scaling, Max displays a warning dialog box asking whether you are sure of the action. To disable these warnings, uncheck this option (or you could check the Disable this Warning box in the dialog box). Actions with warnings include topology-dependence and collapsing the Modifier Stack.

The Save UI Configuration on Exit switch automatically saves any interface configuration changes when you exit Max. You can deselect Use Large Toolbar Buttons option, enabling the use of smaller toolbar buttons and icons that reclaims valuable screen real estate.

The Horizontal Text in Vertical Toolbars option fixes the problem of text buttons that take up too much space, especially when printed horizontally on a vertical toolbar. You can also specify a width for text buttons. Any text larger than this value is clipped off at the edges of the button.

The Flyout Time spinner adjusts the time the system waits before displaying flyout buttons. The Color Selection drop-down list lets you choose which color selector interface Max uses.

Layer settings

If you select an object and open its Properties dialog box, the Display Properties, Rendering Control, and Motion Blur sections each have a button that can toggle between ByLayer and ByObject. If ByObject is selected, then the options are enabled and you can set them for the object in the Properties dialog box, but if the ByLayer option is selected, then the settings are determined by the setting defined for all objects in the layer in the Layer Manager.

The settings in the Preference Settings dialog box set the ByLayer option as the default for new objects and new lights. You also have an option to propagate all unhide and unfreeze commands to the layer. You can select Propagate, Do Not Propagate, or Ask.

Real-World Texture Coordinates setting

The Use Real-World Texture Coordinates setting causes the Real-World Scale or the Real-World Map Size option in the Coordinates rollout to be enabled. This setting is off by default, but it can be enabled to be the default by using this setting.

CROSS-REF 

Real-World Texture Coordinates is a mapping method explained in more detail in Chapter 23, "Adding Material Details with Maps."

Files panel preferences

The Files panel holds the controls for backing up, archiving, and logging Max files. You can set files to be backed up, saved incrementally, or compressed when saved.

CROSS-REF 

The Files panel is covered in Chapter 3, "Working with Files and XRefs."

Viewport preferences

The viewports are your window into the scene. The Viewports panel, shown in Figure 5.18, contains many options for controlling these viewports.

image from book
Figure 5.18: The Viewports panel contains several viewport parameter settings.

CROSS-REF 

Although the viewports were the major topic in Chapter 2, "Controlling and Configuring the Viewports," the viewport preference settings are covered here.

Viewport Parameter options

The Use Dual Planes option enables a method designed to speed up viewport redraws. Objects close to the scene are included in a front plane, and objects farther back are included in a back plane. When this option is enabled, only the objects on the front plane are redrawn.

In subobject mode, the default is to display vertices as small plus signs. The Show Vertices as Dots option displays vertices as either Small or Large dots. The Draw Links as Lines option shows all displayed links as lines that connect the two linked objects.

Caution 

I've found that keeping the Draw Links as Lines option turned on can make it confusing to see objects clearly, so I tend to keep it turned off.

When the Backface Cull on Object Creation option is enabled, the backside of an object in wireframe mode is not displayed. If disabled, you can see the wireframe lines that make up the backside of the object. The Backface Cull option setting is determined when the object is created, so some objects in your scene may be backface culled and others may not be. Figure 5.19 includes a sphere and a cube on the left that are backface culled and a sphere and cube on the right that are not.

Note 

The Object Properties dialog box also contains a Backface Cull option.

image from book
Figure 5.19: Backface culling simplifies objects by hiding their backsides.

The Attenuate Lights option causes objects farther back in a viewport to appear darker. Attenuation is the property that causes lights to diminish over distance.

In the Viewport Configuration dialog box, you can set Safe Regions, which are borders that the renderer includes. The Mask Viewport to Safe Region option causes the objects beyond the Safe Region border to be invisible.

The Update Background While Playing option causes viewport background bitmaps to be updated while an animation sequence plays. Viewport backgrounds can be filtered if the Filter Environment Background option is enabled, but this slows the update time. If this option is disabled, the background image appears aliased and pixelated. For quicker refresh times, enable the Low-Res Environment Background option. This reduces the resolution of the background image by half and resizes it to fill the viewport. Enabling this option results in a blocky appearance, but the viewport updates much more quickly. Figure 5.20 shows a background of San Francisco at normal resolution (left) and low-res (right).

image from book
Figure 5.20: Background images can be set to be low-res to enable the viewports to update more quickly.

The Display World Axis option displays the axes in the lower-left corner of each viewport. The Grid Nudge Distance is the distance that an object moves when Grid Nudge (+ and - on the numeric keypad) keys are used. Objects without scale, such as lights and cameras, appear in the scene according to the Non-Scaling Object Size value. Making this value large makes lights and camera objects very obvious.

Enabling ghosting

Ghosting is similar to the use of "onion-skins" in traditional animation, causing an object's prior position and next position to be displayed. When producing animation, knowing where you're going and where you've come from is helpful.

Max offers several ghosting options. You can set whether a ghost appears before the current frame, after the current frame, or both before and after the current frame. You can set the total number of ghosting frames and how often they should appear. You can also set an option to show the frame numbers.

CROSS-REF 

For a more detailed discussion of ghosting, see Chapter 29, "Understanding Animation and Keyframe Basics."

Using the middle mouse button

If you're using a mouse that includes a middle button (this includes a mouse with a scrolling wheel), then you can define how the middle button is used. The two options are Pan/Zoom and Stroke.

Panning, rotating, and zooming with the middle mouse button

The Pan/Zoom option pans the active viewport if the middle button is held down, zooms in and out by steps if you move the scrolling wheel, rotates the view if you hold down the Alt key while dragging, and zooms smoothly if you drag the middle mouse button with the Ctrl and Alt keys held down. You can also zoom in quickly using the scroll wheel with the Ctrl button held down, or more slowly with the Alt key held down. You can select options to zoom about the mouse point in the Orthographic and Perspective viewports. If disabled, you'll zoom about the center of the viewport. The Right Click Menu Over Selected Only option causes the quadmenus to appear only if you right-click on top of the selected object. This is a bad idea if you use the quadmenus frequently.

Tip 

I've found that using the middle mouse button along with the Alt key for rotating is the simplest and easiest way to navigate the viewport, so although Strokes is a clever idea, I always set the middle mouse button to Pan/Zoom.

Using Strokes

The Stroke option lets you execute commands by dragging a pre-defined stroke in a viewport. With the Stroke option selected, close the Preference Settings dialog box and drag with the middle mouse button held down in one of the viewports. A simple dialog box identifies the stroke and executes the command associated with it. If no command is associated, then a simple dialog box appears that lets you Continue (do nothing) or Define the stroke.

Another way to work with strokes is to enable the Strokes Utility. This is done by selecting the Utility panel, clicking the More button, and selecting Strokes from the pop-up list of utilities. This utility makes a Draw Strokes button active. When the button is enabled, it turns yellow and you can draw strokes with the left mouse button and access defined strokes with the middle mouse button.

If you select to define the stroke, the Define Stroke dialog box, shown in Figure 5.21, is opened. You can also open this dialog box directly by holding down the Ctrl key while dragging a stroke with the middle mouse button. In the upper-left corner of this dialog box is a grid. Strokes are identified by the lines they cross on this grid as they are drawn. For example, an "HK" stroke would be a vertical line dragged from the top of the viewport straight down to the bottom.

image from book
Figure 5.21: The Define Stroke dialog box can associate with a command strokes dragged with the middle mouse button.

With a stroke identified, you can select a command in the upper-right pane. This is the command that executes when you drag the stroke with the middle mouse button in the viewport. For each command, you can set the options found below the stroke grid. These options define what the command is executed on.

All defined strokes are saved in a set, and you can review the current set of defined strokes with the Review button. Clicking this button opens the Review Strokes dialog box where all defined strokes and their commands are displayed, as shown in Figure 5.22.

image from book
Figure 5.22: The Review Strokes and Stroke Preferences dialog boxes list all defined strokes and their respective commands.

One of the commands available in the list of commands is Stroke Preferences. Using this command opens the Stroke Preferences dialog box, also shown in Figure 5.20, where you can save and delete different stroke sets, specify to list commands or strokes in the Review Strokes dialog box, set how long the stroke grid and extents appear, and set the Stroke Point Size.

Choosing and configuring display drivers

If you look closely at the right end of the title bar, you notice that the Display driver is displayed and set to Direct X. When Max is installed, it loads the latest Direct X drivers and sets the display to use those drivers, but you can change the display driver to OpenGL or to Software if your video card doesn't support the needed drivers.

The Display Drivers section in the Viewports panel of the Preference Settings dialog box lists the currently installed driver. Clicking the Configure Driver button opens a dialog box of settings for the current driver. Clicking the Choose Driver button opens the Direct3D Driver Setup dialog box, shown in Figure 5.23. This dialog box lets you change the Direct3D version, but unless you have a reason to change it, keep it set to DirectX 9.0 or you'll disable some features. The Software (RefRast) and Debug Use Flags options are enabled only if you have a debug version of Direct3D installed on your system.

image from book
Figure 5.23: You use the Direct3D Driver Setup and the Graphics Driver Setup dialog boxes to select a different display driver.

If you click the Revert from Direct3D button, the Graphics Driver Setup dialog box, also shown in Figure 5.23, opens. This dialog box lets you change the display driver. The options include Software, OpenGL, Direct3D (which is recommended because the Max installation includes the latest drivers), and Custom. If you change the display driver, you need to restart Max.

Caution 

The Graphics Driver Setup dialog box displays the options only for the drivers that it finds on your system, but just because an option exists doesn't mean it works correctly. If a driver hangs your system, you can restart it from a command line with the -h flag after 3dsmax.exe to force Max to present the Graphics Driver Setup dialog box again or use the Start image from book Programs image from book Autodesk image from book 3ds Max 9 image from book Change Graphics Mode program icon to restart the program.

The Configure Driver option opens a dialog box of configurations for the driver that is currently installed. The various configuration dialog boxes include options such as specifying the Texture Size, which is the size of the bitmap used to texture map an object. Larger maps have better image quality but can slow down your display.

All the display driver configuration settings present tradeoffs between image quality and speed of display. By tweaking the configuration settings, you can optimize these settings to suit your needs. In general, the more memory available on your video card, the better the results.

CROSS-REF 

You can learn more about the various display drivers in Appendix B, "Installing and Configuring 3ds Max 9."

Gamma preferences

The Gamma and LUT panel, shown in Figure 5.24, controls the gamma correction for the display and for bitmap files. It also includes a Browse button for loading an Autodesk Look-up Table (LUT) file. A Look-up Table is a file that holds all the color calibration settings that can be shared across different types of software and hardware within a studio to maintain consistency.

image from book
Figure 5.24: Enabling gamma correction makes colors consistent regardless of the monitor.

Setting screen gamma

Have you ever noticed in an electronics store that television-screen displays vary in color? Colors on monitor screens may be fairly consistent for related models, but may vary across brands. Gamma settings are a means by which colors can be consistently represented regardless of the monitor that is being used.

Gamma value regulates the contrast of an image. It is a numerical offset required by an individual monitor in order to be consistent with a standard. To enable gamma correction for Max, open the Gamma panel in the Preference Settings dialog box and click the Enable Gamma Correction option. To determine the gamma value, use the spinner or adjust the Gamma value until the gray square blends in unnoticeably with the background.

LUT files can be loaded from other software to ensure consistency across several calibrated monitors in a studio.

Note 

3ds Max cannot create LUT files, but it can use existing LUT files created in other software packages, such as Combustion.

Propagating gamma settings

Although gamma settings have a direct impact on the viewports, they do not affect the colors found in the Color Selector or in the Material Editor. Using the Affect Color Selectors and Affect Material Editor options, you can propagate the gamma settings to these other interfaces also.

Setting bitmap gamma

Many bitmap formats, such as TGA, contain their own gamma settings. The Input Gamma setting for Bitmap files sets the gamma for bitmaps that don't have a gamma setting. The Output Gamma setting is the value set for bitmaps being output from Max.

Note 

Match the Input Gamma value to the Display Gamma value so that bitmaps loaded for textures are displayed correctly.

Other preference panels

The remaining preference panels including Rendering, Animation, Inverse Kinematics, Gizmos, MAXScript, Radiosity, and mental ray are covered in the related chapter.

CROSS-REF 

The details of the Rendering Preferences panel are covered in Chapter 43, "Learning Rendering Basics." The Animation Preferences panel is covered in Chapter 29, "Understanding Animation and Keyframe Basics." To learn more about Applied IK and Interactive IK, see Chapter 40, "Adding Inverse Kinematics." See Chapter 8, "Transforming Objects-Translate, Rotate, and Scale" for more detail on Gizmo preferences. Check out Chapter 49, "Automating with MAXScript" for more on MAXScript commands and preferences. Swing over to Chapter 28, "Working with Advanced Lighting, Light Tracing, and Radiosity," for greater detail on Radiosity preferences. Look to Chapter 45, "Raytracing and mental ray," for more detail on the mental ray renderer.




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

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