Viewport Distortion Help

[DHmouchel]

Hello,

I've been working in 3DS Max for a good few years now and I've come across a graphical error in the viewport that has so far eluded me. The problem I have is that when I zoom in to an object at a certain distance, regardless of the complexity of the object, the model begins to distort graphically. Also, this problem only appears when working in Perspective mode and seem to manage perfectly fine in Orthographic.

I've had this problem for just under a week. One of the reasons it's so confusing is that when I open up a model I've worked on before this issue occoured, there seems to be no problems with it. Models 10x the polygons that I worked on a few weeks ago open up and work in perspective mode without an issue.

I've opened up the models on a colleagues computer, a machine with drastically different hardware, and the problems continue to persist exactly as described above. I've also re-installed Max and am still having the problems.

I've attached three photos, two are of the distortion I'm having in perspective view, and a third is a look at one of the models working fine in orthographic. I would appreciate any help you might be able to offer.


-Dave

[Steve_Curley]

First thing is that reinstalling probably won't help. Removing (or renaming) the folder containing your user settings may well do.
Is it scene specific? Load Max, create a model (sphere, box, anything really). Does the zooming now work as expected?
If you have a Maxstart.max scene file, rename it and restart Max - it's possible you have something wrong in there.
There's also something about Camera Correction about which I can't recall the details - try searching here for that and see what you find.

[DHmouchel]

Hi Steve, thanks for the prompt reply.

I've opened up a new scene, created a cube, and the problem still persists. As I mentioned, I've found that all new scenes I created after a certain point, roughly about a week, all have this recurring issue.

I can't seem to locate the Maxstart.max scene file, could you possibly give me some more details on where we might find it. Am I correct in saying that it's a temporary file?

-Dave

[Steve_Curley]

Maxstart is a normal Max scene file which usually resides in the Scenes folder of the current project. It is loaded automatically whever you start Max or do a Reset. It does not exist by default, it is a user created file, often used to configure Max with specific settings (those which are not global) which are saved along with scenes to give a consistent "starting point". You may well not have one.
Clearing your user settings (by renaming the ENU folder) should probably be your next job - that tends to fix a great many issues.

[DHmouchel]

Hi Steve, thank you very much.

Renaming the ENU folder seems to have fixed the issue completely. I've made a note of your advice to use again if need be.

I'm out of office over the weekend, but if I don't post here again by Tuesday please assume that the problem is solved and close the thread.


Thanks again.
-Dave

[Steve_Curley]

And is much quicker than reinstalling 😉

Glad it helped 🙂