3ds Max® 2012 Bible

CHAPTER 4

Changing Interface Units and Setting Preferences

IN THIS CHAPTER

Setting system units

Learning the general preferences

Altering viewport preferences

Changing gamma preferences

One of the first things you'll want to set before beginning a project is the scene units. Units can be as small as millimeters or as large as kilometers, or they could be generic, which means they have meaning only relative to the other parts of the scene. Max offers a large array of available units, or you can even define your own.

Max also has a rather bulky set of preferences that you can use to set almost every aspect of the program. This chapter also covers various ways to make the Max interface more comfortable for you.

Selecting System Units

One of the first tasks you need to complete before you can begin modeling is to set the system units. The system units have a direct impact on modeling and define the units that are represented by the coordinate values. Units directly relate to parameters entered with the keyboard. For example, with the units set to meters, a sphere created with the radius parameter of 2 would be 4 meters across.

Max supports several different measurement systems, including Metric and U.S. Standard units. You also can define a Custom units system. (I suggest parsecs if you're working on a space scene.) Working with a units system enables you to work with precision and accuracy using realistic values.

Tip

Most game engines work with meters, so if you're building assets ...