Prevent 'Isolate Selection' from changing the camera view - it is misleading and pointless

[jibijib]

Going into 'isolation' mode by pressing ALT&Q, the camera resets to some portion of the scene that is unrequired. This results in loss of orientation while modelling and needs the user to always reset the default camera view - exitting from isolation mode then moves the viewport to another position, and again requires the user to reset the viewport camera.

There is now rhyme or reason why isolation mode should do this. The viewport camera should never be moved unless the user wants it to.

[jarien.skywall]

I agree that Isolate Selection should not adjust the camera view. This has irritated me for years. I just got it in my muscle memory to immediately hit shift+Z after using isolate selection, to return to the previous viewport view. But this extra step should not be necessary, the app simply shouldn't change the view when isolating.

[teratron]

I agree though having it zoom can be useful. You can set a hotkey to "Zoom Extents On Isolate" and it will turn it off until you restart. I think the reverse should be the default though, as I basically turn it off every time.
Its easy enough to isolate and then zoom if you want to.

[345243235]

I believe you can make a startup script to disable this by default.

[jarien.skywall]

Thanks @345243235 . TBH I haven't looked for one and I'm glad that exists...but I still think the native behavior should be changed 😄

[jibijib]

@jarien.skywall 

Yes, create a script called 'isolatecamerazoom.ms' and put it in:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2021 - 64bit\ENU\scripts\startup

The script only needs:

IsolateSelection.ZoomExtents=false

It will start up defaulted to false now - still needs to have that option in Max though.

[shawnolson]

Changing to Future Consideration. Here is a macro I wrote that will solve your issue if the current view is a perspective view. Execute the script then assign it to a keyboard shortcut or button. I did not have time to solve it for orthographic solutions, but we will consider looking into this in the future:

macroscript IsolateSelectionToCurrentView
category:"Views"
buttonText:"Isolate Selection to View"
tooltip:"Isolate current selection and reset view to current view instead of zooming to extents."
(
	on isChecked do (
		IsolateSelection.IsolateSelectionModeActive()
	)
	on execute do (
		--Currently the jumping still happens in Orthographic views
		--@TODO: find correct transform when in ortho views
		--local isPersp = viewport.getType() == #view_persp_user
		local tm = getViewTM()
		if IsolateSelection.IsolateSelectionModeActive() then (
			IsolateSelection.ExitIsolateSelectionMode()
		) else (
			IsolateSelection.EnterIsolateSelectionMode()
		)
		viewport.setTM tm
	)
)

[logan_foster_adsk]

There was a change made in 2023.1 that should cover this request

[jibijib]

Thanks for adding this in 2023! Muchly appreciated!

[shawnolson]

This was implemented in 3ds Max 2023.1 as an option called Zoom Extents on Isolate mode. https://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2023/ENU/?guid=GUID-FCA01DAD-15D6-4432-A10D-C184C7CB003C