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,

[AdrianWise8371]

Found in Slate Material Editor> Options> Preferences Bitmap Editor Path.

Link 3DS MAX directly to your bitmap editor of choice and edit your maps directly from Max

[AdrianWise8371]

Have you ever had multiple nodes in Slate have the same tile setting and offset? Did you know you can drive them all off one Float Controller? right click on a node show additional parameters, right click create controller > float controller and wire it in.

I use this a lot with coloured noise maps for diffuse and black and white for bump/displacement but it has many more applications.

This tip came courtesy of Paul Neale and PEN Productions.

[AdrianWise8371]

When unwrapping your UVW Co-ordinates if your relax looks like a crumpled piece of paper [top right] right click, flip horizontal, and try relax again. [bottom left]

if you are still getting untidy elements in your UV's that just wont relax, check for any un-welded vertices in the problem areas.

[melissa.lax]

@Swordslayer and @AdrianWise8371

Thanks for all the helpful tips tonight! 

Best,

Melissa

[AdrianWise8371]

Found in the Edit Menu, Transform Toolbox, quickly perform common transforms like Rotate by [Pre-Defined Angles], Quick Clone [handily moves the new clone to the side] and Align the Pivot to Min, Centre, Max in X, Y, Z.

Transform Toolbox will stay open in a window or dock anywhere on your UI.

This one came courtesy of Louis Marcoux at Autodesk during the Meet the Experts Webinar Series

[melissa.lax]

@AdrianWise8371 what a clean laptop?! I'm surprised no sticky finger marks or coffee stains.

My colleagues are often shocked when they come to my desk. I've got very few items on it but it's all in the name of fengshui ;p. 

Maybe I should start a thread to check out people's work setups... Something to think about over the weekend. 

Melissa 

[AdrianWise8371]

Ha ha... Max Render Melissa... i don't use a laptop any more

My office from a couple of years ago... i'll tidy up and get an up to date one for you.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

That's a very interesting history @AdrianWise8371, no doubt about it.  I do remember the times of learning before Youtube.  When I first used max I didn't know how to exit creation mode and I was building little cities entirely out of boxes for the first few days, totally using it wrong but loving it all the same.   It's really nice to get to know the background of the users in the forums I think, so that these names are more than just names and I can identify with each of the users.  

I really appreciate the incredible contributions of you and everyone else in this thread and this kind of 'pay it forward' informational threads are by far my favorite.  I am so happy that this thread has done so well, I think it's really great the spirit of the community in here.  There has been a few of these that I was totally unaware of and I love that I am also learning some tips and tricks in here.  Such great information!  Wishing you all the very best!

Best Regards,

[Swordslayer]

Ever needed to subdivide an object dynamically? You can use MeshSmooth modifier for that when you uncheck Apply to Whole Object, and Volume Select modifier to drive the selection:

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Another thing that I use a lot when I get big scenes that went through multiple artists is the function "Instance Duplicate Maps".  It's sort of hidden in the Utilities panel but it's super useful.  Only works on textures (not 3d maps) but still has saved me a lot of times.  It's also pretty smart so if you made adjustments to one of them (like offset or output corrections) it will see that as a unique map and ignore it.  Spiffy.

Best Regards,

[AdrianWise8371]

Do you know, your Render Background and Environment can be two different maps. In the Material Editor, Maps>Mental Ray>Environment/Background Switcher.

You can enter any kind of map type or a flat colour, you background renders as one and your geometry reflects the other, great when rendering isolated objects on flat colours.

[AdrianWise8371]

Found in Render Setup. Global Illumination you can pre calculate you final gather (and Global Illumination Photon Map) cache it to disk to re-use again and again to save render time.

To further save render time pre calculate your FG at a lower resolution (I use half) and then render at production settings for more efficient render times.

This tip came courtesy of Chip Weatherman Snr Designer, Design Animation, 3DSMAX at Autodesk Montreal

[lightcube]

Editing object triangulation helps speed up useful results in many cases. In this case, helping both a model's geometry and UV results of a Map Scaler Modifier.

[bob.bernstein]

Thanks to all the tips.  All of you are more experienced and have better tips, but I should give back while I receive...and we give what we can...here's one I used constantly, and maybe it will help someone.  

If you wish to change a value in a parameter box to zero, you can right click on the arrows.  If the parameter can't be zero, it become minimized.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

You'd be surprised how many people don't know about that one @bob.bernstein, that's a great tip!  I often find myself trying this in other apps and when it doesn't work I'm annoyed.  Excellent time saver!  Kudos!

Best Regards,

[Ihno]

The transform locks.
Pretty common, I know, but easy to overlook.
And rendering animations without using it can be pretty annoying.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

It's a good post @Ihno, and it reminds me of another interesting tidbit.  Holding down Alt when you right click on object brings up animation options, and holding down Shift when you right click an object brings up Snap options.  Just thought I'd throw that in the mix, your post reminded me of these interesting little nuggets.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Create macro script buttons in a custom toolbar with the Macro Recorder.

Sorry, at the beginning, when i click on Customize, Customize User Interface, 3ds Max froze, it happened only when screencast was running and only for this menu.

Here's the link for the Screencast video:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/fe3ddac8-042c-4625-b4ae-2f25dba378cf

Here's the explanations and limitations for the Macro Recorder:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/3DSMa...

[Swordslayer]

The MeshSmooth modifier has a lot of options that are underused, to add to those already mentioned:

[melissa.lax]

@Swordslayer @Anonymous @Ihno @AdrianWise8371 my inbox is looking a little empty? 

I've gotten used to non-stop notifications about your tips & tricks 😛

Any newly uncovered secrets to share this week?