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Toggle to make selected object TRANSPARENT (or XRAYmode?) in the viewport?

13 REPLIES 13
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Message 1 of 14
timd1971
13225 Views, 13 Replies

Toggle to make selected object TRANSPARENT (or XRAYmode?) in the viewport?

I searched and CTRL-X turned up by somebody for a XRAY mode? That did not work, 3ds entered EXPERT MODE.

Sketchup has a XRAY see-thru mode...what is 3ds max equiv?

thanks!
13 REPLIES 13
Message 2 of 14
tobyfuller
in reply to: timd1971

In the object properties select "see through" and make sure the object properties are set to "by object" and not "by layer" In the same dialog area. Alternatively you could select x-view under the views menu and again check see through, which will x-ray every object in your scene set to use object properties vs layer properties. Love layers? You could also right click on a layer in the layer manager and open the layer properties where you will again find the "see through" option for the entire layer. I could go on, but that's probably enough for now.

Oh, and the hotkey is alt X, not control X.
Message 3 of 14
timd1971
in reply to: tobyfuller

thanks Toby.

Yeah, I tried ALT-X also, and nothing, probably something wrong I am doing. SO I just assigned a standard material,and set transparency to 50% or so...worked fine...just didn;t know if there was viewport specific hot key toggle to do this quickly no matter the object material etc. like in other softwares. I used to use the see-thru in the properties, but that was not quick enough for me..and i think it DITHERED the object? uggh.

thanks again.
Message 4 of 14
tobyfuller
in reply to: tobyfuller

If your using materials for see through work than another trick is to animate the opacity of the material. Key 100% opacity at frame 0 and 0% opacity at frame 100 (or vice versa). Then you can adjust the opacity to whatever you need as you are working by simply dragging the time slider. Works great if you are not using the timeline for anything else at the moment.
Message 5 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: timd1971

My alt + x wasn't working for my x ray mode as well, and after searching for a while I found that you have to make sure the Keyboard Override isn't active. Click that off and you should be good to go.
Message 6 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I ended up just right clicking my object and and, in properties, turning in transparent.
Message 7 of 14
Steve_Curley
in reply to: timd1971

Alt-X works prefectly as it is exactly equivalent to Object Properties > See Through.

Check in Customise > Customise UI > Keyboard (tab) that Alt-X is actually assigned to "Display as See-Through Toggle".

Any chance the objects are on a Layer and the Layer Properties are overriding the individual Object Properties?

Max 2016 (SP1/EXT1)
Win7Pro x64 (SP1). i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX11.
nVidia GTX760 (2GB) (Driver 430.86).

Message 8 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: timd1971

You have to have objects selected when issuing Alt-X, otherwise you won't see the effect of it.
Message 9 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: timd1971

I've had this problem so I was happy to find the suggestions here, except I still found that ALT-X sometimes worked and sometimes didn't work.

I have found that it depends on your Object Properties / Display Properties being on 'By Object' and not 'By Layer' - as someone here mentioned. But I still had to change this setting manually everytime, for any object where ALT-X did not work. Then I found you can customise this - you go to the Cusomise menu / Preferences and in the General tab under Layer Defaults, uncheck 'Default to By Layer for New Nodes'

Now whenever I create a new object it goes to x-ray mode when I hit ALT-x, because every new object has its Display Properties set to By Object by default.

Does this work for anyone else?
Message 10 of 14
Steve_Curley
in reply to: timd1971

It will work because you're overriding the defaults. For that option to be on (by default) you either have Max Design, or you changed the defaults using Customise > Custom UI & Defaults Switcher. The 2 versions are aimed at different markets with different needs, therefore you possibly chose the wrong version to begin with, or maybe you made changes without fully understanding the impact of those changes. Either way, the behavior you described is perfectly normal, not a bug, just one of the many, many differences in the default settings between the 2 versions of Max.

Max 2016 (SP1/EXT1)
Win7Pro x64 (SP1). i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX11.
nVidia GTX760 (2GB) (Driver 430.86).

Message 11 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: Steve_Curley

Thanks Steve
Message 12 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: timd1971

Sorry Steve, still a bit confused - ALT-X see through mode should be on by default in Max Design 2011 or Max 2011?

I realise I've posted this in Max Design 2011, but does someone changing anything in the Custom UI and Defaults Switcher change this in either version of Max?
Message 13 of 14
Steve_Curley
in reply to: timd1971

This sub-forum is for both MAx (standard) and Max Design.

The Design version has "Default to By Layer for New Nodes" on by default, Max does not. Alt-X is always there as a valid shortcut, but gets overriden because the Layer properties take precedence. Turning that option off allows new nodes to be created "by Object" which returns precedence to the shortcut and away from the layer properties. It does not affect existing nodes as they will have been created By Layer thus the Layer properties will still take precedence for them.

The Custom UI & Defaults Switcher can turn either version into the other, insofar as that is possible, with respect to the UI and the default settings.
If you look at that option (the switcher) there are 4 main options. "MAX" will set the normal (non-design) defaults, "designviz.mentalray" will set the Max Design defaults.
Obviously some things cannot be changed, so turning Max into Max Design will not magically install the Lighting Analysis which is a Max Design only feature.

Max 2016 (SP1/EXT1)
Win7Pro x64 (SP1). i5-3570K @ 4.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX11.
nVidia GTX760 (2GB) (Driver 430.86).

Message 14 of 14
Anonymous
in reply to: timd1971

Mate, that's great.

This is one of those things I've often got lost in without fully understanding. I see clearly now.

Thanks Steve.

EDIT:
Actually that explains a lot more, reading it again I understand more of what I've seen in work done by colleagues in the field of ArchViz. Cheers

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