Well, here we are again with a new version of Max, and the first question

Transcription

1 Explorig the Max Iterface Well, here we are agai with a ew versio of Max, ad the first questio o the mids of existig users is Did the iterface chage? The aswer is a happy very little. Most serious users would rather go through root caal surgery tha have their user iterface (UI) chage, ad Autodesk has leared ad respected this valued opiio by keepig the iterface chages to a miimum. As you look aroud the ew iterface, you ll see that everythig is still there but that Max has a few ew additios. You may fid yourself sayig, as you avigate the iterface, where did that come from? But, just like ecouterig a ew house i your eighborhood, over time you ll become accustomed to the additio ad may eve meet some ew frieds. Why is the software iterface so importat? Well, cosider this: The iterface is the set of cotrols that eable you to access the program s features. Without a good iterface, you may ever use may of the best features of the software or sped a frustratig bit of time locatig those features. A piece of software ca have all the greatest features, but if the user ca t fid or access them, the the software wo t be used to its full potetial. Max is a powerful piece of software with some amazig features, ad luckily the iterface makes these amazig features easy to fid ad use. The iterface s purpose is to make the software features accessible, ad i Max you have may differet ways to access the features. Some of these access methods are faster tha others. This desig is itetioal because it gives begiig users a ituitive commad ad advaced users direct access. For example, to udo a commad, you ca choose Edit Udo (requirig two mouse clicks), but as you gai more experiece, you ca simply click the Udo ico o the toolbar (oly oe click); a expert with his hads o the keyboard ca press Ctrl+Z without havig to reach for the mouse at all. All three of these methods have the same result, but you ca use the oe that is easiest for you. IN THIS CHAPTER Learig the iterface elemets Previewig the meu commads Becomig familiar with the toolbars Usig the Commad Pael Examiig the Lower Iterface Bar Iteractig with the iterface Gettig help COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL 15

2 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max Has the Max iterface succeeded? Yes, to a degree, but like most iterfaces, it always has room for improvemet, ad we hope that each ew versio takes us closer to the perfect iterface (but I m still lookig for the read my thoughts feature). Autodesk has built a loophole ito the program to cover ayoe who complais about the iterface customizatio. If you do t like the curret iterface, you ca chage it to be exactly what you wat. CROSS-REF Customizig the Max iterface is covered i Chapter 4, Customizig the Max Iterface ad Settig Prefereces. This chapter examies the latest icaratio of the Max iterface ad presets some tips that make the iterface feel comfortable, ot cumbersome. The Iterface Elemets If you re ew to the Max iterface, the first order of busiess is to take a stroll aroud the block ad meet the eighbors. The Max iterface has a umber of iterface elemets that eatly group all the similar commads together. For example, all the commads for cotrollig the viewports are grouped together i the Viewport Navigatio Cotrols foud i the lower-right corer of the iterface. NOTE If all the details of every iterface commad were covered i this chapter, it would be a awfully log chapter. So for those commads that are covered i more detail elsewhere, I iclude a cross-referece to the chapter where you ca fid their coverage. The etire iterface ca be divided ito five easy elemets. Each of these iterface elemets, i tur, has groupigs of sub-elemets. The five mai iterface elemets are listed here ad show separated i Figure 1.1: Meus: This is the default source for most commads, but also oe of the most time-cosumig iterface methods. The meus are foud alog the top edge of the Max widow. Toolbars: Max icludes several toolbars of ico buttos that provide sigle-click access to features. These toolbars ca float idepedetly or ca be docked to a iterface edge. The mai toolbar is the oly toolbar that is visible by default. Viewports: Four separate views ito the scee show the Top, Frot, Left, ad Perspective viewpoits. Commad Pael: The major cotrol pael located to the right of the four viewports, it has six tabbed icos at its top that you ca click to ope the various paels. Each pael icludes rollouts cotaiig parameters ad settigs. These rollouts chage depedig o the object ad tab that is selected. Lower Iterface Bar: Alog the bottom edge of the iterface widow is a collectio of miscellaeous cotrols. I additio to these default elemets are several additioal iterface elemets that are t iitially visible whe Max is first loaded. These additioal iterface elemets iclude the followig: Floatig toolbars: Several additioal toolbars are available as floatig toolbars. You access them by choosig Customize Show UI Show Floatig Toolbars or by selectig them from the toolbar s right-click pop-up meu. 16

3 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 Quadmeus: Right-clickig o the active viewport reveals a pop-up meu with up to four paes, referred to as a quadmeu. Quadmeus offer cotext-sesitive commads based o the object or locatio beig clicked ad provide oe of the quickest ways to access commads. Dialog boxes ad editors: Some commads ope a separate widow of cotrols. These dialog boxes may cotai their ow meus, toolbars, ad iterface elemets. A good example of this iterface elemet type is the Material Editor, which has eough cotrols to keep you busy for a while. FIGURE 1.1 Max icludes five mai iterface elemets. Meus Mai Toolbar Viewports Commad Pael Lower Iterface Bar 17

4 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max Usig the Meus The pull-dow meus at the top of the Max iterface iclude most of the features available i Max ad are a great place for begiers to start. Several of the meu commads have correspodig toolbar buttos ad keyboard shortcuts. To execute a meu commad, you ca choose it from the meu with the mouse cursor, click its correspodig toolbar butto if it has oe, or press its keyboard shortcut. You ca also select commads usig the keyboard arrows ad press the Eter key to execute them. The mai meu icludes the followig optios: File, Edit, Tools, Group, Views, Create, Modifiers, reactor, Aimatio, Graph Editors, Rederig, Customize, MAXScript, ad Help. Ulike some other programs, these meu optios do ot disappear if ot eeded. The list is set, ad they are always there whe you eed them. If a keyboard commad is available for a meu commad, it is show to the right of the meu item. If a ellipsis (three dots) appears after a meu item, that meu commad causes a separate dialog box to ope. A small black arrow to the right of a meu item idicates that a submeu exists. Clickig the meu item or holdig the mouse over the top of a meu item makes the submeu appear. Toggle meu optios (such as Views Show Ghostig) chage state each time they are selected. If a toggle meu optio is eabled, a small check mark appears to its left; if disabled, o check mark appears. CROSS-REF A complete list of keyboard shortcuts ca be foud i Appedix C, Max Keyboard Shortcuts. You ca also avigate the meus usig the keyboard by pressig the Alt key by itself. Doig so selects the File meu, ad the you ca use the arrow keys to move up ad dow ad betwee meus. With a meu selected, you ca press the keyboard letter that is uderlied to select ad execute a meu commad. For example, pressig Alt ad the F (for File) ad N (for New) executes the File New commad; or you ca press Alt, use the dow arrow to select the New commad, ad press the Eter key. TIP By learig the uderlied letters i the meu, you ca use the keyboard to quickly access meu commads, eve if the meu commad does t have a assiged keyboard shortcut. Ad because you do t eed to stretch for the Y key while holdig dow the Ctrl key, uderlied meu letters ca be faster. For example, by pressig Alt, G, ad U successively, you ca access the Group Ugroup meu commad. The keyboard buffer remembers the order of the letters you type regardless of how fast they are keyed, makig it possible to quickly access meu commads usig the keyboard. Over time, you ca lear patters to help you remember how to access certai meu commads, such as Alt, C, H, E for creatig a ellipse. Not all meu commads are available at all times. If a meu commad is uavailable, the it is grayed out, as show i Figure 1.2, ad you caot select it. For example, the Cloe commad is available oly whe a object is selected, so if o objects are selected, the Cloe commad is grayed out ad uavailable. After you select a object, this commad becomes available. 18

5 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 FIGURE 1.2 All meus feature visual clues. Disabled commad Keyboard shortcut Opes dialog box Submeu exists Usig the Toolbars Now that you ve leared the meu two-step, it is time for the toolbar oe-step. The mai toolbar appears by default directly uder the meus at the top of the Max widow. Usig toolbars is oe of the most coveiet ways to execute commads because most commads require oly a sigle click. Dockig ad floatig toolbars By default the mai toolbar is docked alog the top edge of the iterface above the viewport, but you ca make ay docked toolbar (icludig the mai toolbar), a floatig toolbar by clickig ad draggig the two vertical lies o the left (or top) ed of the toolbar away from the iterface edge. After you separate it from the widow, you ca resize the floatig toolbar by draggig o its edges or corers. You ca the drag ad dock it to ay of the widow edges or double-click o the toolbar title bar to automatically dock the toolbar to its latest locatio. Figure 1.3 shows the mai toolbar as a floatig pael. If you right-click o ay floatig toolbar away from the buttos, you ca access a pop-up meu that icludes optios to dock or float the curret toolbar, access the Customize UI widow, or show or hide ay of the toolbars or the Commad Pael. The mai toolbar ca be hidde with the Alt+6 keyboard shortcut. 19

6 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max FIGURE 1.3 The mai toolbar icludes buttos ad drop-dow lists for cotrollig may of the most popular Max fuctios. CROSS-REF You ca customize the buttos that appear o ay of the toolbars. See Chapter 4, Customizig the Max Iterface ad Settig Prefereces. If you select the Customize Show UI Show Floatig Toolbars meu commad, several additioal toolbars appear. These are floatig toolbars. You also ca make them appear by selectig them idividually from the toolbar right-click pop-up meu. These floatig toolbars iclude Axis Costraits, Layers, reactor, Extras, Reder Shortcuts, Saps, Aimatio Layers, ad Brush Presets. Usig tooltips ad flyouts All ico buttos (icludig those foud i toolbars, the Commad Pael, ad other dialog boxes ad widows) iclude tooltips, which are idetifyig text labels. If you hold the mouse cursor over a ico butto, the tooltip label appears. This feature is useful for idetifyig buttos. If you ca t remember what a specific butto does, hold the cursor over the top of it ad the tooltip gives you its ame. All toolbar buttos with a small triagle i the lower-right corer are flyouts. A flyout is a sigle toolbar butto that expads to reveal additioal buttos. Click ad hold o the flyout to reveal the additioal icos, ad drag to select oe. Figure 1.4 shows the flyout for the Alig butto o the mai toolbar. FIGURE 1.4 Flyout meus budle several toolbar buttos together. NOTE The Geeral pael of the Preferece Settigs dialog box cotais a optio for settig the umber of millisecods to wait before the flyout appears. Learig the mai toolbar O smaller resolutio screes, the mai toolbar is too log to be etirely visible. To see the etire mai toolbar, you eed to set your moitor resolutio to be at least 1280 pixels wide. To scroll the toolbar to see the ed, positio the cursor o the toolbar away from the buttos, such as below oe of the drop-dow lists (the cursor chages to a had); the click ad drag the toolbar i either directio. Usig the had cursor to 20

7 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 scroll also works i the Commad Pael, Material Editor, ad ay other place where the pael exceeds the give space. TIP The easiest way to scroll the mai toolbar is to drag with the middle mouse butto. Toolbar buttos that ope dialog boxes such as the Layer Maager, Material Editor, ad Reder Scee buttos are toggle buttos. Whe the dialog box is ope, the butto is highlighted yellow, idicatig that the dialog box is ope. Clickig o a highlighted toggle butto closes the dialog box. Correspodig meus (ad keyboard shortcuts) work the same way, with a small check mark appearig to the left of the meu commad whe a dialog box is opeed. Table 1.1 lists the cotrols foud i the mai toolbar. Buttos with flyouts are separated with commas. TABLE 1.1 Mai Toolbar Buttos Toolbar Butto Name Descriptio Udo (Ctrl+Z) Redo (Ctrl+Y) Removes the last performed commad. You ca set the levels of Udo i the Prefereces dialog box. Brigs back the last commad that was udoe. Select ad Lik Establishes liks betwee objects. Ulik Selectio Breaks liks betwee objects. Bid to Space Warp Assigs objects to be modified by a space warp. Selectio Filter drop-dow list Select Object (Q) Limits the type of objects that ca be selected. Chooses a object. Select by Name (H) Opes a dialog box for selectig objects by ame. Rectagular Selectio Regio, Circular Selectio Regio, Determies the shape used for selectig objects with the mouse. Fece Selectio Regio, Lasso Selectio Regio, Pait Selectio Regio (Ctrl+F to cycle) Widow/Crossig Toggle Specifies whether a object must be crossed or widowed to be selected. cotiued 21

8 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max TABLE 1.1 (cotiued) Toolbar Butto Name Descriptio Select ad Move (W) Selects a object ad allows positioal traslatios. Select ad Rotate (E) Selects a object ad allows rotatioal trasforms. Select ad Uiform Scale, Select ad No-Uiform Scale, Select ad Squash (R to cycle) Referece Coordiate System drop-dow list Use Pivot Poit Ceter, Selects a object ad allows scalig trasforms usig differet methods. Specifies the coordiate system used for trasforms. Specifies the ceter about which rotatios are completed. Use Selectio Ceter, Use Trasform Coordiate Ceter Select ad Maipulate Keyboard Shortcut Override Toggle Sap Toggle 2D, Sap Toggle 2.5D, Sap Toggle 3D (S) Selects a object ad allows parameter maipulatio via a maipulator. Allows keyboard shortcuts for the mai iterface ad the active dialog box or feature set to be used whe eabled. Oly mai iterface shortcuts are available whe disabled. Specifies the sap mode. 2D saps oly to the active costructio grid, 2.5D saps to the costructio grid or to geometry projected from the grid, ad 3D saps to aywhere i 3D space. Agle Sap Toggle (A) Causes rotatios to sap to specified agles. Percet Sap (Shift+Ctrl+P) Causes scalig to sap to specified percetages. Spier Sap Toggle Edit Named Selectio Sets Named Selectio Sets drop-dow list Mirror Selected Objects Determies the amout a spier value chages with each click. Opes a dialog box for creatig ad maagig selectio sets. Lists ad allows you to select a set of amed objects. Creates a mirrored copy of the selected object. 22

9 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 Toolbar Butto Name Descriptio Alig (Alt+A), Quick Alig, Normal Alig (Alt+N), Opes the aligmet dialog box for positioig objects, allows objects to be aliged by their ormals, determies the locatio of highlights, ad aligs objects to a camera or view. Place Highlight (Ctrl+H), Alig to Camera, Alig to View Layer Maager Ope Curve Editor Opes the Layer Maager iterface where you ca work with layers. Opes the Fuctio Curves Editor. Ope Schematic View Opes the Schematic View widow. Material Editor (M) Opes the Material Editor widow. Reder Scee Dialog (F10) Reder Type drop-dow list Opes the Reder Scee dialog box for settig rederig optios. Selects the area or objects to reder. Quick Reder (Productio), Quick Reder (ActiveShade) Produces a quick test rederig of the curret viewport without opeig the Reder Scee dialog box. Usig the Viewports The four viewports make up the largest area of the etire iterface ad provide a way of viewig the objects withi the scee. Each of the viewports is cofigurable ad ca be uique from the others. CROSS-REF Uderstadig how to work with the viewports is vital to accomplishig tasks with Max, so viewports have a etire chapter dedicated just to them Chapter 2, Cotrollig ad Cofigurig the Viewports. Usig the Commad Pael If there is oe place i Max, besides the viewports, where you ll sped all your time, it s the Commad Pael (at least util you re comfortable eough with the quadmeus). The Commad Pael is located to the right of the viewports alog the right edge of the iterface. This is where all the specific parameters, 23

10 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max settigs, ad cotrols are located. The Commad Pael is split ito six paels, each accessed via a tab ico located at its top. These six tabs are Create, Modify, Hierarchy, Motio, Display, ad Utilities. You ca pull away the Commad Pael from the right widow edge as a floatig dialog box, as show i Figure 1.5, by clickig o the ope space to the right of the tabbed icos at the top of the Commad Pael ad draggig away from the iterface edge. You ca also dock it to the left widow edge, which is really hady if you re left-haded. While it s a floatig pael, you ca resize the Commad Pael by draggig o its edges or corers (but its width remais costat). After you ve pulled the Commad Pael or ay of the toolbars away from the iterface, you ca re-dock them to their last positio by double-clickig o their title bar. You ca also right-click o the title bar to access the pop-up meu of floatig toolbars, but the pop-up meu also icludes optios to Dock (either Left or Right for the Commad Pael or Left, Right, Top or Bottom for toolbars) ad Float. FIGURE 1.5 The Commad Pael icludes six separate paels accessed via tab icos. Create Motio Modify Display Hierarchy Utilities Workig with rollouts Most of the cotrols, buttos, ad parameters i the Commad Pael are cotaied withi sectios called rollouts. A rollout is a groupig of cotrols positioed uder a gray, boxed title, as show i Figure 1.6. Each rollout title bar icludes a plus or mius sig (a mius sig idicates that the rollout is ope; a plus sig shows closed rollouts). Clickig the rollout title opes or closes the rollout. You ca also repositio the order of the rollouts by draggig the rollout title ad droppig it above or below the other rollouts. NOTE You caot repositio some of the rollouts, such as the Object Type ad the Name ad Color rollouts foud i the Create pael. 24

11 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 FIGURE 1.6 Ope ad close rollouts by clickig o the rollout title. Opeed rollout Closed rollout Right-clickig away from the buttos i a rollout presets a pop-up meu where you ca select to close the rollout you ve clicked i, Close All, Ope All, or Reset Rollout Order. The pop-up meu also lists all available rollouts withi the curret pael with a check mark ext to the oes that are ope. Expadig all the rollouts ofte exceeds the scree space allotted to the Commad Pael. If the rollouts exceed the give space, the a small vertical scroll bar appears at the right edge of the Commad Pael. You ca drag this scroll bar to access the rollouts at the bottom of the Commad Pael, or you ca click away from the cotrols whe a had cursor appears. With the had cursor, click ad drag i either directio to scroll the Commad Pael. You ca also scroll the Commad Pael with the scroll wheel o the mouse. CROSS-REF You ca customize the Commad Pael like the other toolbars. Customizig the Commad Pael is covered i Chapter 4, Customizig the Max Iterface ad Settig Prefereces. Icreasig the Commad Pael s width The Commad Pael ca also be doubled or tripled (or ay multiple as log as you have room) i width by draggig its left edge toward the ceter of the iterface. The width of the Commad Pael is icreased at the expese of the viewports. Figure 1.7 shows the Commad Pael double its ormal size. Tutorial: Rearragig the iterface for lefties I used to work for a compay that required that all computers have the mouse to the left of the keyboard. We swapped computers ofte, ad the boss hated havig to move the mouse to the other side of the keyboard (ad you thought your work eviromet was weird). The reality is that some people like it o the left ad others prefer it o the right, ad Max ca accommodate both. With the Commad Pael o the right side of the iterface, the default Max iterface obviously favors righthaders, but with the dockig paels, you ca quickly chage it to be friedly to lefties. 25

12 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max FIGURE 1.7 Icrease the width of the Commad Pael by draggig its left edge. To rearrage the iterface for lefties, follow these steps: 1. Click the Commad Pael o the empty space to the right of the Utilities tab, ad drag toward the ceter of the iterface. As you drag the Commad Pael away from the right edge, the cursor chages. 2. Cotiue to drag the Commad Pael to the left edge, ad the cursor chages agai to idicate that it will be docked whe released. Release the mouse butto, ad the Commad Pael docks to the left side. 3. For a eve easier method, you ca right-click o the Commad Pael s title bar ad select Dock Left from the pop-up meu. Figure 1.8 shows the rearraged iterface ready for all you southpaws. TIP To save the iterface chages, use the Customize Save Custom UI Scheme meu. The maxstart.cui file is loaded by default whe Max is started. 26

13 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 FIGURE 1.8 Left-haded users ca move the Commad Pael to the left side. Usig the Lower Iterface Bar Cotrols The last major iterface elemet is t really a iterface elemet but just a collectio of several sets of cotrols located alog the bottom edge of the iterface widow. These cotrols caot be pulled away from the iterface like the mai toolbar, but you ca hide them usig Expert Mode (Ctrl+X). These cotrols, show i Figure 1.9, iclude the followig from left to right: Time Slider: The Time Slider, located uder the viewports, eables you to quickly locate a specific frame. It spas the umber of frames icluded i the curret aimatio. Draggig the Time Slider ca move you quickly betwee frames. Clickig the arrow buttos o either side of the Time Slider moves to the previous or ext frame (or key). Track Bar: The Track Bar displays aimatio keys as color-coded rectagles with red for positioal keys, gree for rotatioal keys, ad blue for scale keys. Parameter chage keys are deoted by gray rectagles. Usig the Track Bar, you ca select, move, ad delete keys. The butto at the left ed of the Track Bar is the Ope Mii Curve Editor butto. It provides access to the aimatio fuctio curves. Status Bar: The Status Bar is below the Track Bar. It provides valuable iformatio, such as the umber ad type of objects selected, trasformatio values, ad grid size. It also icludes the Selectio Lock Toggle, Trasform Type-I fields, ad the value of the curret Grid size. 27

14 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max Prompt Lie: The Prompt Lie is text located at the bottom of the widow. If you re stuck as to what to do ext, look at the Prompt Lie for iformatio o what Max expects. To the right of the Prompt Lie is the Commuicatio Ceter butto for settig how ofte Max looks for updates. The Prompt Lie also icludes buttos for eablig Adaptive Degradatio, accessig Commuicatio Ceter, ad addig ad editig Time Tags, which are used to ame specific aimatio frames. Key Cotrols: These cotrols are for creatig aimatio keys ad iclude two differet modes Auto Key (keyboard shortcut, N) ad Set Key (keyboard shortcut, '). Auto Key mode sets keys for ay chages made to the scee objects. Set Key mode gives you more precise cotrol ad sets keys for the selected filters oly whe you click the Set Keys butto (keyboard shortcut, K). Time Cotrols: Resemblig the cotrols o a audio or video device, the Time Cotrols offer a easy way to move through the various aimatio frames ad keys. Based o the selected mode (keys or frames), the Time Cotrols ca move amog the first, previous, ext, ad last frames or keys. Viewport Navigatio Cotrols: I the lower-right corer of the iterface are the cotrols for maipulatig the viewports. They eable you to zoom, pa, ad rotate the active viewport s view. NEW FEATURE The Adaptive Degradatio butto o the Prompt Lie is ew to 3ds Max Right-clickig this butto opes the Adaptive Degradatio settigs pael i the Viewport Cofiguratio dialog box. FIGURE 1.9 The Lower Iterface Bar icludes several sets of cotrols. Time Slider Track Bar Status Bar Prompt Lie Key Cotrols Time Cotrols Viewport Navigatio Cotrols Iteractig with the Iterface Kowig where all the iterface elemets are located is oly the start. Max icludes several iteractive features that make the iterface work. Learig these features makes the differece betwee a iterface that works for you ad oe that does t. Gaiig quick access with the right-click quadmeus Quadmeus are pop-up meus with up to four separate sectios that surroud the cursor, as show i Figure Right-clickig i the active viewport opes these quadmeus. The cotets of the meus deped o the object selected. 28

15 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 TIP May of the real pros use quadmeus extesively. Oe reaso is that they ca access the commads from the mouse s curret locatio usig a couple of clicks without havig to go all the way to the Commad Pael to click a butto. FIGURE 1.10 Quadmeus cotai a host of commads i a easily accessible locatio. Clickig with the left mouse butto away from the quadmeu closes it. For each meu, the last meu item selected is displayed i blue. To quickly access the blue meu item agai, simply click the gray-shaded bar for the quadrat that cotais the blue meu item. Usig Customize Customize User Iterface, you ca specify which commads appear o the quadmeus, but the default optios have just about everythig you eed. If you press ad hold the Alt, Ctrl, ad Shift keys while right-clickig i the active viewport, you ca access specific sets of commads; Shift+right-click opes the Sap optios, Alt+right-click opes Aimatio commads, Ctrl+right-click opes a meu of primitives, Shift+Alt+right-click opes a meu of reactor commads, ad Ctrl+Alt+right-click opes a meu of rederig commads. Uderstadig the butto color cues Max s iterface uses color cues to help remid you of the curret mode. Whe a butto is yellow, it wars that it has cotrol of the iterface. For example, if oe of the select buttos o the mai toolbar is selected, it turs yellow ad ay draggig i the viewport affects the object; however, if oe of the Viewport Navigatio Cotrol buttos is selected, it turs yellow ad draggig the viewport chages the view. Kowig what the curret mode is at all times ca keep you out of trouble. Right-clickig i the active viewport exits ay Viewport Navigatio mode that has cotrol ad TIP returs cotrol to the most recet trasform tool. Right-clickig i oe of the iactive viewports keeps the focus where it is ad makes that clicked viewport active. 29

16 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max Aother commo butto color is red. Whe either the Auto Key or Set Key buttos are depressed, they tur red. The edge of the active viewport beig aimated alog with the Time Slider also turs red. This remids you that ay modificatios will be saved as a key. Toggle buttos are buttos that ca be tured o ad off. Example toggle buttos iclude the Sap buttos. Whe a toggle butto is eabled, it also turs yellow. Toggle buttos highlighted i blue are o-exclusive, but they otify you of a mode that is eabled, such as the Key Mode Toggle or the Affect Pivot Oly butto. CROSS-REF All iterface colors ca be customized usig the Customize User Iterface dialog box, which is discussed i Chapter 4, Customizig the Max Iterface ad Settig Prefereces. Usig drag-ad-drop features Dialog boxes that work with files beefit greatly from Max s drag-ad-drop features. The Material Editor, Backgroud Image, View File, ad Evirometal Settigs dialog boxes all use drag ad drop. These dialog boxes let you select a file or a material ad drag it o top of where you wat to apply it. For example, with the Maps rollout i the Material Editor ope, you ca drag a texture image fileame from Widows Explorer or the Asset Maager ad drop it o the Map butto. You ca eve drag ad drop Max files from Widows Explorer ito the Max iterface to ope them. Cotrollig spiers Spiers are those little cotrols throughout the iterface with a value field ad two small arrows to its right. As you would expect, clickig the up arrow icreases the value ad clickig the dow arrow decreases the value. The amout of the icrease or decrease depeds o the settig i the Geeral tab of the Preferece Settigs dialog box. Right-clickig o the spier resets the value to its lowest acceptable value. Aother way to cotrol the spier value is to click the arrows ad drag with the mouse. Draggig up icreases the value, ad draggig dow decreases it. The effect of the spier drag is show i the viewport if the Update Durig Spier Drag meu optio is eabled i the Views meu. If the cursor is located withi a spier, you ca press Ctrl+N to ope the Numeric Expressio Evaluator, which lets you set the value usig a expressio. For example, you ca set a spier value by addig umbers together as you would usig a calculator. A expressio of sets the value to 105. CROSS-REF Chapter 33, Aimatig with the Expressio Cotroller ad Wirig Parameters, covers the Numeric Expressio Evaluator i more detail. Uderstadig modeless ad persistet dialog boxes May dialog boxes i Max are modeless, which meas that the dialog box does t eed to be closed before you ca work with objects i the backgroud viewports. The Material Editor is a example of a modeless dialog box. With the Material Editor ope, you ca create, select, ad trasform objects i the backgroud. Other modeless dialog boxes iclude the Material/Map Browser, the Reder Scee dialog box, the Video Post dialog box, the Trasform Type-I dialog box, the Display ad Selectio Floaters, ad the various graph editors. Pressig the Ctrl+~ keyboard shortcut closes all ope dialog boxes. Pressig the same keyboard shortcut agai reopes the dialog boxes that were previously closed. Aother feature of may, but ot all, dialog boxes is persistece, which meas that values added to a dialog box remai set whe the dialog box is reopeed. This feature applies oly withi a give Max sessio. Choosig the File Reset commad butto or exitig ad restartig Max resets all the dialog boxes. 30

17 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 Gettig Help If you get stuck, Max wo t leave you straded. You ca tur to several places i Max to get help. The Help meu is a valuable resource that provides access to refereces ad tutorials. The User Referece ad MAXScript Referece are comprehesive help systems that work like a Web browser. The Tutorial commad loads the tutorials, which offer a chace to gai valuable experiece. Whe Max first loads, users are greeted with a Welcome Scree, show i Figure 1.11, that icludes seve Essetial Skills Movies. These simple movies explai the basics of workig with Max. The Welcome Scree icludes a lik to Area, which is the Autodesk commuity site. The Area Web site is aother excellet resource for help. After viewig the videos, you ca disable the Show this dialog at startup optio to prevet the Welcome Scree from appearig ext time you start Max. You ca access the Welcome Scree at ay time usig the Help meu. CROSS-REF The Welcome Scree with its helpful video clips is ew to 3ds Max FIGURE 1.11 The Welcome Scree icludes video clips that show the basic skills for workig with Max. The Help Data Exchage Solutios meu opes a Web page that explais how to use the FBX format to exchage files with other software packages. The ext set of help meu commads applies to users with 3ds Max subscriptios. They let you access various e-learig lessos, submit ad view support requests, ad edit your subscriptio profiles. All of these commads require that you eter your subscriptio cotract umber. 31

18 Part I Gettig Started with 3ds Max The Hotkey Map displays a iteractive iterface for learig all the keyboard shortcuts. Additioal Help presets help systems for ay exteral plug-is that are loaded. The 3ds max o the Web optios (Olie Support, Updates, Resources, Parters, ad Traiig) automatically ope a Web browser ad load the Autodesk Support Web pages or look for updates. The Activate 3ds Max commad lets you eter a activatio umber to authorize the software. The Licese Borrowig optio lets you borrow ad retur the curret Max licese for use o aother computer. The About 3ds Max commad opes the About dialog box. This dialog box displays the serial umber ad curret display driver. Browser-based referece guides The New Features Guide, User Referece, MAXScript Referece, ad Tutorials are Web browser based help iterfaces. A orgaized list of topics is available i the left avigatio pae, as show i Figure 1.12, ad the right icludes a pae where the details o the selected topic are displayed. Across the top are five toolbar buttos used to cotrol the iterface. The Hide butto hides the left avigatio pae, the Back ad Forward buttos move betwee visited pages, the Prit butto prits the iformatio i the right pae, ad the Optios butto displays a pop-up meu of optios. FIGURE 1.12 The User Referece icludes paels for viewig the idex of commads ad searchig the referece. 32

19 Explorig the Max Iterface 1 Above the left avigatio pae are five tabs that ope separate paels whe selected. The Cotets pael displays a list of topics; the Idex pael lists all topics alphabetically; the Search pael icludes a text field where you ca search for specific keywords; the Favorites pael keeps a list of bookmarks to topics you add to the list; ad the Query pael lets you type a questio ad query for aswers. Throughout the textual descriptios, keywords liked to other related topics are highlighted i blue ad uderlied. Olie help The Web offers may sites that ca also help, ad Max liks to the Olie Support, Updates, Resources, Parters, ad Traiig pages o the Autodesk site from the Help 3ds max o the Web meu. Selectig either of these meu commads automatically opes a Web browser ad loads the Autodesk Web pages. Summary You should ow be familiar with the iterface elemets for Max. Uderstadig the iterface is oe of the keys to success i usig 3ds Max. Max icludes a variety of differet iterface elemets. Amog the meus, toolbars, ad keyboard shortcuts, several ways to perform the same commad exist. Discover the method that works best for you. This chapter covered the followig topics: The iterface elemets Viewig ad usig the pull-dow meus Workig with toolbars Accessig the Commad Pael Learig the lower iterface cotrols Iteractig with the Max iterface Gettig additioal help I this chapter, we ve skirted about the viewports coverig all the other iterface elemets, but i the ext chapter, we re goig to hit the viewports head-o. 33

20