Share your favorite tips, tricks, workflows, and secrets in 3ds Max.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to make a thread about sharing your favorite tips, tricks, or secrets found within 3ds Max.  From awesome hotkey combos to those really essential tools that everyone may not know about, this is the place to share!  I've started the ball rolling below with some really cool tidbits on the particle flow presets that people may not be aware of.  

Please, share yours too! 

Best Regards,

[irishman_team_kilber]

alpha cut tip for Vray

[irishman_team_kilber]

3ds max Particle Flow basic tutorial

[Anonymous]

Sub-object edge selection trick:

Double clicking an edge selects the whole edge loop or ring in an editable poly and in the edit poly modifier.

[kgokhangurbuz]

Great sticky!

Here's a quick tip from me;

3ds Max has a calculator in it, and here's how to use it:

Just click on any numerical input (fig01).

Then use the shortcut CTRL + N for Numerical Expression Evaluator window (fig02).

Many numerical calculations can be entered here, even complex functions. 

Below are the full command lines for this command;

Expression Techniques - 3ds Max Help

Regards;

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

For my 2nd video, a blast from the past!  Selection Floater UI.  

Best Regards,

[StephenMF]

---

@kgokhangurbuz wrote:

Great sticky!

Here's a quick tip from me;

3ds Max has a calculator in it, and here's how to use it:

Just click on any numerical input (fig01).

Then use the shortcut CTRL + N for Numerical Expression Evaluator window (fig02).

Many numerical calculations can be entered here, even complex functions. 

Below are the full command lines for this command;

Expression Techniques - 3ds Max Help

Regards;

---

My only problem with this is that It does not respect my windows localisation settings. I can not use comma like I do everywhere else.

In the old days you could also just type simple calculations straight in the input fields. THAT was great. 🙂
Maybe a bug fix and a feature request?

😕

Stephen

[StephenMF]

I have a productivity tip.

I have my thumb button mapped to "NumPad 0"

This gives my quick access to the functions I use the most.

NumPad 0 = Zoom Extents All Selected

Ctrl + NumPad 0 = Collapse (poly)

etc.

etc.

Enjoy.

Stephen

[Swordslayer]

---

@StephenMF wrote:

I have a productivity tip.

I have my thumb button mapped to "NumPad 0"

This gives my quick access to the functions I use the most.

NumPad 0 = Zoom Extents All Selected

Ctrl + NumPad 0 = Collapse (poly)

etc.

etc.

Enjoy.

Stephen

---

I have them remapped to Ctrl and Alt - makes it more comfortable to add/subtract from selection, rotate viewport etc. Then again, I use AutoHotkey extensively and have all the other mouse buttons remapped to different actions in different contexts as well. Anyway, some tips and tricks:

While shift moving to copy or instance an object, you can use space button to confirm instead of clicking the OK button - much faster when doing this often.

You can switch between viewports in a way similar to WinTab switching programs by using the Windows key + Shift. This works both with one maximized view and when cycling through the visible views.

When you want to scale only positions of a set of objects, link them to a dummy placed where you want the scale center to be, switch to the Hierarchy panel -> Affect Hierarchy Only and scale the dummy.

If you want to tweak parameters of a modifier but the gizmo obstructs your view (say a noise gizmo), click the Pin Stack toggle and deselect the object - the gizmo will disappear and you will still be able to change the parameters.

To invert vertex colors, you can use UVW XForm - choose Vertex Color Channel and flip all the channels. Works on face/element selection as well.

Symmetry uses the current Subobject selection as the center as long as subobject mode is active when adding it, so when your pivot is not at the desired symmetry plane, select one edge on that plane and add the Symmetry Modifier (if there are modifiers above, sometimes it wonn't work until they are turned off). The Symmetry gizmo will be placed at the center of the selection.

You can use the Select by Name dialog with any pick node event - for example when Link mode is active and it would be hard to pick the parent by clicking, press H and pick the parent from the list.

Align/Normal Align tools also work with any subobject selection.

If AutoGrid is on and you hold down the Alt key, the User Grid displayed together with the object you are creating will remain active (won't work when in AutoKey mode).

If you want a material to render completely black under all circumstances, use Multi/Sub Object material with one slot, righ-click that slot and choose Clear to remove the material.

You can convert the new boolean objects (2017+) to Editable Spline to get the spline at the intersection of the operands. Spline based modifiers work as well.

With some modifiers such as FFD(box), the Show End Result button state doesn't stick and you cannot see the result of the stack. To fix that, paste enableShowEndRes true in the miniListener commandline and press Enter.

If you work in a vertex subobject mode and only want to see the smoothed result of the stack and not the vertex dots, add a Poly Select modifier. You can also turn off the edge cage under Subdivision Surface -> Show Cage.

Most of the time, the Transform Type-In dialog (F12) is not really needed - you can switch Absolute/Offset mode of the three spinners in the status panel with the button on the left.

UVW Map has a very useful Acquire button - you can pick another object with mapping and it will acquire that mapping (Realtive/Absolute). Useful when adding a new object to a set of already mapped ones.

Many people know there's the Edit > Select By > Color so you can click an object and select all the objects with the same wirecolor. Sometimes it's hard to pick that object in the viewport and you don't know its name but you know the color - and for that, there's the Select By Color button in the Object Color pallette - it's in the lower right and there's only an icon, no name.

You can pick any color on the screen with the color picker - first, click the eydropper under the color palette, click inside the color palette and HOLD the mouse button. Now you can move the cursor outside the color palette and pick from your reference pictures, photoshop or anywhere else.

Max File Finder is the maxfind.exe utility in Max root folder, which makes it easy to find a scene by a material name used in it, object name, author, plugins, you name it.

When you want two object to share the same rotation, x-position etc., you can use Wire Parameters but it's much easier to copy the controller and paste it as an instance. In list controllers, this works as Relative offset, in top-level, it's absolute.

[Ihno]

I didn't know about the Place Highlight tool for ages.
Saves alot of time.

[bob.bernstein]

AJ, this is a cool thread, perhaps it should be stuck up top....last evening it had sunk pretty far down.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Ihno,

That also works on objects, I use it to place planes for reflections in car windows when the opportunity presents itself.

@bob.bernstein,

I'm not really supposed to sticky things that aren't SP announcements, but I was going to keep putting things every couple days to keep this on top.  😉

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

In an editable poly and in the edit poly modifier, if you select a face and want to select the whole ring or loop of faces, shift+clicking on a face next to the one selected will select the whole ring or loop. This also works with verts as well.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello all!  I have a minor one to share to keep this thread bumped while I work on some other forum cases.  

Did you know?:  You can enable the layer toolbar which has a lot of the old layer manager functionality on it.  Simply right click on an empty part of the top toolbar area and enable layers.  I use it all the time!  

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

If you find that your symmetry modifier doesn't seem to be working the way you would expect, try these steps:

1. Remove the symmetry modifier from the stack

2. Reset the object XForms (found in the Utilities Panel)

3. Collapse your modifier stack

4. Add new symmetry modifier, and now symmetry should work properly across the chosen axis

[Swordslayer]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

If you find that your symmetry modifier doesn't seem to be working the way you would expect, try these steps:

1. Remove the symmetry modifier from the stack

2. Reset the object XForms (found in the Utilities Panel)

3. Collapse your modifier stack

4. Add new symmetry modifier, and now symmetry should work properly across the chosen axis

---

I'd argue against using ResetXForm in cases when it's not needed - it's an operation you cannot undo, breaks instances, gets rid of the local mesh transform (should you ever need it - and more often than not, you do) and if you have any modifiers in the stack, you have to collapse them, too.

You can align the object's pivot to world temporarily, switch to Local reference coordinate system, enter the symmetry subobject mode and use the Align tool (Alt+A) to align the Symmetry Mirror. If you then reset the pivot, even the local object transform is restored. See the video:

You can use the same process to align any other modifier gizmo, and if you are aligning it to another object instead, it's even simpler as you don't have to transform the pivot.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello all!

My third video.  This one talks about the auto-viewport pan during spline creation.  Oldie but goodie.  Screencast running did have an affect on the precision of the clicks, but with it off it was fine.  Just an FYI.  

Best Regards,

[Swordslayer]

This is pretty basic concept, yet I not that many people are aware of it - you can use the current snap point as transform center when Snap mode and Use Selection Center are active:

You might want to lock your selection (Spacebar) to avoid accidentaly deselecting/selecting another piece of geometry.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

I've never used it that way @Swordslayer, that's cool!  Thanks!

Best Regards,

[melissa.lax]

Hi everyone,

I'm Melissa, new Learning Content Curator for 3ds Max. A big shout out to you all for sharing these great tips and tricks! 

It really helps our community get ramp up and sparks their curiosity to discover more about Max. 

If I can ask for your feedback, for the coming year we'd really like to focus on creating more "tips and tricks" videos and articles. 

Here's what we've done so far: 

Quick Tips Video Series > http://autode.sk/3dsmaxquicktipsseries

Keyboard Shortcuts > http://autode.sk/3dsmaxkeyboardshortcuts 

Have you ever checked these out? were they helpful?

Any feedback on what we should highlight in our upcoming "tips and tricks" learning materials?  

Best,

Melissa