topic Re: Guides (Helper lines) for viewport? I need to align objects exactly in 3ds Max Forum

Guides (Helper lines) for viewport? I need to align objects exactly

Alexx31 — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 12:55:02 GMT

Hello,

is there a possibility to show guides (like in Photoshop) which are independent from camera or perspective?

I have a scene with elements, that are not perfectly aligned, but the only way is to solve it, is to have monitor guide lines (to see from from view perspective).

I do not mean the orthogonal grids!

Thanks

Re: Guides (Helper lines) for viewport? I need to align objects exactly

10DSpace — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 14:51:41 GMT

@Alexx31

"is there a possibility to show guides (like in Photoshop) which are independent from camera or perspective?"

Easiest way to get the visual guide in Max is to create a (guide) plane and orient it to whichever axis you want.

"I have a scene with elements, that are not perfectly aligned, but the only way is to solve it, is to have monitor guide lines (to see from from view perspective)."

You can also use the transform type-in at the bottom of the screen with an object selected and Select and Move active in World or View Coordinate system. If you want objects to be at a certain point along the x axis for example, you can just enter the same value in the x type-in or cut and paste values across different objects. This will align the objects by their pivot point to that x value.

Re: Guides (Helper lines) for viewport? I need to align objects exactly

Alexx31 — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 07:19:45 GMT

Thank you,

so which would be the easiest way to align an existing plane to a camera?

Is there a difference between an image plane and a standard plane? (besides the parenting under the camera)

Thanks

Re: Guides (Helper lines) for viewport? I need to align objects exactly

10DSpace — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 19:05:41 GMT

@Alexx31

"so which would be the easiest way to align an existing plane to a camera?"

Do you mean to align the plane with the camera view as opposed to literally aligning the plane with the camera pivot? If so, check out this free script which will create a plane aligned to the current camera view:

https://apps.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/en/Detail/Index?id=937735873795409037&appLang=en&os=Win64

"Is there a difference between an image plane and a standard plane? (besides the parenting under the camera)"

Well the term, "image plane" is sometimes used conceptually to refer to the field of view of a camera at it's target distance, and sometimes used to mean any actual plane with a texture on it in the max scene (as a guide to help in modeling, for example). But there is not a separate max object called "image plane". You just use the max plane primitive and apply a texture to it.