Frustrating View Settings

[Anonymous]

I would like to be able to have an object selected and use F3 to get rid of the solid shading of it so I can see thru it and use F4 to turn the edged facing on and off. I can get that to happen but when I do, then all my objects turn into a wireframe box when I arc rotate it around in perspective view. To get it solid again in perspective view I can turn on the shade selected option but then the F3 key no longer turns on and off the shading of the objects I have selected. I've tried every friggin setting combo and I cannot figure it out.

What settings do I need to turn on to be able to arc rotate and always see my selected object as a solid, be able to toggle the shading of all unhidden objects on and off at will using F3 whether I have the objects selected or not, and use F4 at will to see the edged facings?

[Tim_Wilbers]

I'm sure I do not understand, but the "cure" for turning on and off Adaptive Degradation when navigating a Viewport is the letter "O" key.

[Anonymous]

Thanks that did it.

[Anonymous]

Looks like I jumped the gun. It worked yesterday but today I'm back to my objects displaying always solid when selected. Now the o key doesn't change anything and F3 only changes unselected objects. Surely there is a setting somewhere that controls this? I have every checkbox in the General Degredation and Active Degredation options turned off.

Maybe someone can just run thru every setting in the view options panels and just tell me what the defaults are because I'm sure I got them all wonky now. I sure would hate to have to reinstall 3ds max just to fix this simple thing.

[Tim_Wilbers]

If you want to restore the factory defaults, find your 3dsmax.ini file, mine is located in:

C:\Documents and Settings\ \Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\9 - 32bit\enu

and rename it. Then restart max.

Cures many problems and faster than an un-install, delete the install directory, and re-install.

Actually, if you just un-install and re-install, the 3dsmax.ini file is not overwritten. You would have gained nothing for your troubles.

[Anonymous]

Ok thankyou -- back to normal now. In case anybody else reads this my .ini file was in the folder where I installed 3ds max not over in the Documends & Settings folder.

[Tim_Wilbers]

Yes, you are correct. I forgot this was the Max 8 discussion.
It did not move until Max 9.

My error.

[Anonymous]

Ho hum...another view problem has arisen.

In the materials editor there is a button called Show Map In Viewport. As I understand it, when you click this one on it's supposed to show the material on the objects in the view ports. For me it seems to have no effect at all. All my objects are the standard plain flat color even when I have applied a material that has the button selected. The only way I can see the material is to perform a render. Any ideas why this might happen?


Edit: Well I recreated a new scene file and imported everything from my old one and it now the button displays the material properly in the views. Naturally, I can't turn it off now and turning it on for any material affects every material in the scene apparantly forever, but I suppose I can live with that. Sure seems like this software is poorly behaved. Wish I knew what happened to my original file. . .

[Tim_Wilbers]

What you are describing is not normal behavior.

Show Map in Viewport in the Material Editor on my Max 8 install, only affects the one material.

If it is a 2D map, then Show Map at the Material level, or the Map level should turn it on and off in the viewport.
If it is a 3D map, then you need to use Show Map at the Map level.

Use the File > Save As... + option often. If your scene becomes corrupt, it is much easier to back up to an uncorrupted version.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate all your help Tim it is very nice of you to spend your time on my behalf.

The "normal" behavior you describe is definitely not what I am seeing. I have a material that has the button unselected at every level and it still shows up in the views. In fact, I went thru all the materials in my editor and turned the button off at every level for all of them, and they all still show. But I'll keep playing around with it and maybe I can figure out what's going on eventually. I don't have to save the scene after doing that to make it take effect do I?

I haven't learned the difference between a 2D and 3D map yet so maybe once I get my head around that it will make more sense. My material was created by clicking the little square button next to the diffuse slot and choosing "Checkers" then tiling it (I'm doing a chess set tutorial). I'm thinking that must be a 2D one? The other material I'm using is the standard "Oak" one found in the 3DSMax library. I'm guessing that one is 3D? My checker material is applied to a single poly in the chessboard model and the Oak is applied to the entire board. Should that make a difference?


<b>Edit: </b> Heh, well wouldn't you know it. I shut down Max and restarted it and now they are working again -- same scene file. Pretty baffling to me. I'm starting to think my install is dorked up somehow and I should do a reinstall to make sure.

[Tim_Wilbers]

2D vs 3D maps:

In the Material Editor, click on any of the map slots.
On the lower-left portion of the Material/Map Browser you can find the different types of maps.
Check 2D then 3D to see which are which.

Basically a 2D map (bitmap is probably the most common one used) is "wrapped" onto the surface of the mesh object is some fashion.

A 3D map exists in 3 dimensional space. Wood is a 3D map. The wood-grain exists in 3-dimensions, just like a real piece of wood.

Can you zip and post your problem scene, just the chessboard. I'll take a look at it here.