Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
There are also other options like Normal Align, which is
similar to AutoGrid for already created objects. You should
explore the use of the Align tool while you're modeling. It
saves a lot of time and frustration when you're trying to line
something up correctly.
Perfect! On to bigger and better things!
Grouping, Selection Sets, and Layers
Let's say you've been working on a scene for a week now and
you've got over 100 objects in that scene. You say, hey, I'd love
to be able to create groups of objects so I can make changes or
move them all together. There are many different reasons you
may need to create a group or selection set. Max has three dif-
ferent implementations of this feature. We'll discuss these in
order of complexity.
Grouping is the most simple of the three. It's a little hid-
den in Max's interface but quite useful. It does just what it
says: groups objects into one object. Create three different
objects in your viewport. Select all of these objects and go up
to Group in the top menu bar next to Tools. Now click Group
within that menu. A little dialog comes up for naming your
group, so name it whatever you like and click OK.
As you can see, it grouped all of the objects and averaged
all of the pivots of these objects into one group pivot. Now you
can move, rotate, and scale all of these objects together. Even
clone them if you like. Another interesting feature of the
group function is that you can select your group and click the
Open feature within the group drop-down. This feature allows
you to edit the objects within the group while still leaving
brackets representing your grouped objects. Later if you want
to break these objects out of the group, just select the group,
return to the Group menu, and click Ungroup.
