3ds Max® 2012 Bible

CHAPTER 25

Building Complex Scenes with Containers, XRefs, and the Schematic View

IN THIS CHAPTER

Working with containers

Externally referencing objects and scenes

Setting up an asset management system

Understanding Autodesk's vault system

Working with the Schematic View window

Working with hierarchies

Setting Schematic View preferences

Using List Views

Using containers and external references (XRefs), you can pull multiple scenes, objects, materials, and controllers together into a single scene. Both of these features allow a diverse team to work on separate parts of a scene at the same time. They also provide a great way to reuse existing resources.

A valuable tool for selecting, linking, and organizing scene objects is the Schematic View window. This window offers a 1,000-foot view of the objects in your scene. From this whole scene perspective, you can find the exact item you seek.

The Schematic View window shows all objects as simple nodes and uses arrows to show relationships between objects. This structure makes the Schematic View window the easiest place to establish links and to wire parameters. You also can use this view to quickly see all the instances of an object.

Working with Containers

Containers provide a great way to group several objects together, but containers have several additional features that extend beyond simply grouping objects together. For example, a container can be saved as an external file, which makes them easy to reuse in other scenes. Containers ...