Quick align two rendered lines

[Anonymous]

I searched align segments and align lines but came up results that had nothing to do with it. But maybe I'm using the wrong search terms. I followed a tutorial how to make tubes in 3ds max. I made a line with the line tool, then under render I click render viewport and some reason it makes a tube. Now I have a line rendered and a circle edited into a poly object and rendered. Is there a quick way to align them together and attach? Or do I have to painstakingly align them with the move tool every time? I'd like to make it faster. Both lines are the same size.

[10DSpace]

Hi @Anonymous 

Is there a quick way to align them together and attach? Or do I have to painstakingly align them with the move tool every time?

Yes' there is a quick way.  The trick to easy aligning in max is to place each objects pivot in the right place first before you align.  In your case, go to the Snaps settings and check "Vertex" and then enable Snaps (shortcut = S). o.  Now select the line (disable rendering in viewport so you can see the vertex of interest) and enable "Affect Pivot Only" in the Hierarchy tab and then snap its pivot to the vertex.  Do the same thing for the arc shape and align its pivot where you want it to join with the line.  Now select the line, click on "Align" on the top toolbar, select "Pivot Point" in the Align selection dialogue and then select the arc shape.  That's it.  It's probably simpler than it sounds. Took under 2 minutes.   see below

Concerning how to attach the 2 objects that's also easy.  Enable Render in viewport collapse each to an editable poly and with one object selected, click "Attach"  in the editable Poly Rollout and select the other.   Hope this answers your questions and helps your workflow.

[Anonymous]

I've been trying to understand your response for the past hour but no luck. Is there an option in 3ds max to connect a group of vertices from one object like for e.g the end of a pipe to another group of vertices on another pipe with a shortcut key? Otherwise using view ports to align it takes me less than 30 seconds.

[10DSpace]

@Anonymous 

Sorry, I misunderstood your question to be about aligning and then connecting the 2 lines to look like that in your posted image and it is still unclear to me exactly what you are asking.  Some of the confusion may be related to Max terminology.

From your recent post you are saying that they are already aligned and it only took you 30 seconds.  But in your original post you asked, "Is there a quick way to align them together and attach? Or do I have to painstakingly align them with the move tool every time"     So,  I am genuinely confused as to what is painstaking about a 30 second process?

Is there an option in 3ds max to connect a group of vertices from one object like for e.g the end of a pipe to another group of vertices on another pipe with a shortcut key? 

In your new question, I am not sure what you mean by "connect" the group of vertices.  I would interpret this to mean one of 2 possible Max terms,   (1)  Weld or ( 2) Bridge.  And to do either, the vertices in question must be part of the same editable poly or editable mesh. So, you must first attach the objects using the edit poly rollout attach as I explained above.   From there the workflow is slightly different for each case.  For welding it is assumed that the pipe ends are already in position but the polygons at each pipe end must be deleted for the weld operation to work.   Then you just select all of the vertices and weld with a low threshold value like 0.1 (obviously, you may need to tweak this depending on the dimensions of your mesh)  

For bridging, the pipes can be any distance apart but the opposing faces still need to be lined up if you want a straight looking pipe.  Then, it is easy to select the 2 opposing polygon pipe ends and click on "Bridge" in the Editable Poly Rollout. 

Regarding a shortcut key, the above is a multi-step process (even if the steps are straightforward and simple) and no single shortcut exists since each step (align, attach, select and (possibly delete) specific subobjects, weld or bridge)  requires user guidance.  

So if I have again misunderstood your question, I apologize, but I do hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

I just learned about how to use the bridge and weld tool. But what I want is to magnetize two objects together without aligning them. I posted a jpg to help make it more simple.

[10DSpace]

@Anonymous 

I want is to magnetize two objects together without aligning them. 

Have a look at the "Select and Place" option.  It's the closest Max comes to "magnetizing".  However it depends on the placement of the object pivots so you may have to adjust pivots first, ie. not just a single click.   

Regarding your new graphic, what I have been trying to explain to you is that your step 1 (selecting vertices at the same time from 2 separate objects) is not possible in Max. 

So to borrow your terminology, Step 1 = Nonstarter.

Otherwise, beyond Select and Place I do not know of a shortcut or single action in Max to achieve "magnetization without alignment".

[10DSpace]

@Anonymous 

Sorry, I have to correct a misstatement I made.  It is possible to place an Edit Poly modifier on multiple objects and with them all selected, select vertices from the different objects.  However these selected vertices do not behave independently in that situation (i.e., all selected verts move together) so I it doesn't help with your magnetization request and I still think "Select and Place" is the closest that max has.