Mastering Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 phần 4 pdf

In the File Link Manager dialog box, select the Files tab; then click the contour.dwg ing in the Linked Files list box at the top of the dialog box.. In the Select File to Import dialog

4. Back in the File Link Manager dialog box, click the Attach This File button The contours appear in the 3ds Max Perspective viewport, as shown in Figure 5.3.

5. Close the File Link Manager

turn Off the Grid If Necessary

You may want to toggle the grid off if it makes the scene appear too cluttered

By linking an AutoCAD file, you keep the imported geometry associated with the original AutoCAD file As you’ll see a bit later, this link will enable you to update the 3ds Max scene whenever changes occur to the AutoCAD file

Now let’s see how the contours can be turned into a surface model:

1. Click the Select by Name button to open the Select from Scene dialog box Select both objects in the list; then click OK

2. Make sure that the Geometry button is selected in the Create tab of the Command panel; then choose Compound Objects on the Create drop-down list

3. Click Terrain on the Object Type rollout

Figure 5.4 shows the surface that appears over the contour lines

The surfaces created

using the Terrain

compound object

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3ds Max creates a Terrain object based on the contour lines You can improve the visibility of the terrain’s shape by using the Color by Elevation option:

1. In the Command panel, scroll down to the Color by Elevation rollout and open it

2. Click the Create Defaults button in the Zones by Base Elevation group

The Terrain object changes to show a series of colored bands, as shown in Figure 5.5

The values in the Zones by Base Elevation list box tell you the base elevation for each of the colors You can change the color and the base elevation:

1. Select the first elevation value in the list box of the Zones by Base Elevation group

2. In the Color Zone group, click the Base Color swatch

3. In the Color Selector dialog box, click a cyan color in the Hue/Blackness field and then click OK

4. Click the Modify Zone button in the Color Zone group The base of the Terrain object changes to the cyan color you selected

You can also change the vertical location for a color by changing the Base Elev value in the Color Zone group This doesn’t have any effect on the shape of the Terrain object; it only changes the location of the color

Updating Changes from an AutoCAD File

You imported the AutoCAD contour map by clicking the Application menu and choosing the References  File Link Manager option By using this option, you link your 3ds Max scene to the contour.dwg file in a way that’s similar to XRef files in both 3ds Max and AutoCAD The conceptual difference between file linking and external references is that with XRefs, you are bringing in native files, whereas with file linking, you are bringing in files that were made in another application Just as with changes made to an XRef, changes in the contour.dwg file will affect any 3ds Max file to which it’s linked

Let’s suppose that you have some corrections to make to the AutoCAD contour drawing that will affect the Terrain object you’ve just created You can change the AutoCAD drawing file and then update the 3ds Max scene to reflect those changes:

1. If you have AutoCAD 2004 or later, open the contour.dwg file in AutoCAD and make the changes shown in Figure 5.6 Save the file when you are done, overwriting the original

2. If you don’t have AutoCAD, use Windows Explorer to delete the contour.dwg file; then make a copy of the modified contour.dwg file and rename it contour.dwg to replace the file you deleted The modified contour.dwg file contains the changes shown in Figure 5.6

3. In 3ds Max, click the Application menu and choose References  File Link Manager

4. In the File Link Manager dialog box, select the Files tab; then click the contour.dwg ing in the Linked Files list box at the top of the dialog box

list-5. Click the Reload button The File Link Settings: DWG Files dialog box displays

6. In the File Link Settings: DWG Files dialog box, click OK The file is reloaded, and the changes are applied in the current 3ds Max scene

the Scene May Lose the terrain Compound Object parameters

Some installs of 3ds Max Design have a problem updating changes from AutoCAD regarding the Terrain compound object This is a known issue and is being looked into by Autodesk If your file doesn’t update properly (in other words, the Terrain compound object gets deleted), reselect the two contour objects and re-create the Terrain compound object

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7. Close the File Link Manager dialog box The changes to the drawing are reflected in the 3ds Max scene See Figure 5.7

8. Save your terrain as Mycontours.max

Like XRef files, 3ds Max scenes that are linked to AutoCAD files can be updated to reflect changes that are made to the source AutoCAD file You’ll get a chance to take a closer look at this feature later in this chapter

Exploring Terrain Options

The Terrain object has quite a few parameters that allow you to make adjustments to the

ter-rain For example, if you prefer, you can have the terrain appear as a terraced form instead of a smooth one, as shown in Figure 5.8

the Layered Solid Option Is Similar to a traditional Model

The Layered Solid option of the Terrain object creates a surface that resembles a traditional plan physical model made of plywood, foamcore, or similar a material

site-Figure 5.7

The modified DWG

file after reloading

it into the 3ds Max

scene

Figure 5.8

The Terrain object

with the Layered

Solid option The

scene is shown

ren-dered for clarity

You’ve already seen how a few of the Color by Elevation rollout options work Here’s a down of the rest of the Terrain object parameters These options allow you to add additional splines to, or delete splines from, an existing Terrain object.

run-the PicK oPerand rollout

The Pick Operand rollout, shown in Figure 5.9, allows you to add other splines to an ing Terrain object The splines used for the Terrain object are referred to as the operands of the Terrain object When a Terrain object is created, a Reference clone of the selected splines

exist-is added as part of the Terrain object Thexist-is exist-is the default option in the Pick Operand rollout When adding additional splines, you can choose the type of clone you want to use instead of the Reference clone The Override option lets you replace one operand with another

the ParameterS rollout

The Parameters Rollout, shown in Figure 5.10, offers settings that control the overall form of the Terrain object The Operands group lets you selectively delete operands from the terrain.The Form group gives you control over the way the contour data is shaped into the terrain Graded Surface creates the type of terrain you’ve seen in previous exercises Graded Solid cre-ates a solid form that encloses the entire terrain, including the underside Layered Solid creates

a terraced form The Stitch Border option improves the formation of terrain where open splines are used in the contour Retriangulate helps to generate a terrain that follows the contours more closely, especially when they are close together

The Display group allows you to view the terrain as a surface terrain only, as contour lines only, or as both The default is to show only the terrain

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At the bottom of the rollout, the Update group lets you control the way that the Terrain object

is revised when the operands are edited The Always option updates the Terrain object as soon

as a contour is modified The When Rendering option updates when you render the scene You can also use the Update button with the Manually option to selectively update the terrain

the SimPliFication rollout

3ds Max uses the vertices of the original contour polylines to generate the Terrain object The Simplification rollout (see Figure 5.11) options give you control over the number of vertices used

to generate the terrain

In the Horizontal group, both the Use 1/2 of Points option and the Use 1/4 of Points option reduce the number of points used from the contour line These procedures reduce the accuracy

of the terrain, but they also reduce the complexity of the geometry, thereby making the terrain’s memory requirements smaller and rendering time shorter The Interpolate Points options increase the number of points used Interpolate Points * 2, for example, doubles the number of vertices used by interpolating new points between the existing points in the contour

The Vertical group determines whether all of the selected contour lines are used You can reduce the terrain’s complexity by using either the Use 1/2 of Lines option or the Use 1/4 of

Lines option

the color bY eleVation rollout

3ds Max lets you color the Terrain object by elevation, using the rollout shown in Figure 5.12 This enables you to visualize the terrain more clearly and helps you identify elevations by color-coding them

The Maximum Elev and Minimum Elev options display the maximum and minimum extents of the terrain, based on the contour data The Reference Elev option lets you establish

a reference elevation that is used for assigning colors to the terrain If this value is equal to or less than the lowest contour, 3ds Max generates five color zones for the terrain, as you saw in an earlier exercise If the Reference Elev is greater than the lowest contour, 3ds Max treats the lower elevations as water, using the Reference Elev value as the water level Water is given a blue color

by default

The Zones by Base Elevation group gives you control over the individual colors for each color zone As you’ve seen from the exercise, the Create Defaults button applies the colors to the Terrain object based on the current settings of the rollout You can also change the color of each zone by selecting the zone elevation from the list box and using the Base Color swatch to select

a color

The Blend to Color Above and Solid to Top of Zone options let you choose to blend colors between zones or to have each zone one solid color By default, colors are blended You can change from blended to solid by selecting the zone elevation from the Zones by Base Elevation list, selecting Solid to Top of Zone, and then clicking the Modify Zones button The Add Zone and Delete Zone options add and delete zones

Setting Up an AutoCAD Plan for 3ds Max

If you’re an experienced AutoCAD, Revit, AutoCAD Architecture, or AutoCAD Mechanical user, you may find it easier to create at least part of your 3D model in your CAD program and then import the model into 3ds Max to refine it If this is the case, simply import or link the CAD model into 3ds Max and then resume your design visualization workflow at the point of assign-ing material, or adding lights and cameras Then you can animate and render the scene

On the other hand, you can also import 2D plans and elevations and build your 3D model entirely in 3ds Max In this section, you’ll explore the ways you can set up an AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT 2D drawing to take advantage of 3ds Max’s superior modeling tools

One of the drawbacks of importing fully developed 3D models from AutoCAD is that quently, the surface normals of the AutoCAD model are not all oriented in the proper direction You can use 3ds Max to adjust the normals to point in the correct direction, but that takes time

fre-In this situation, it’s sometimes more efficient to apply two-sided materials to the offending objects and leave it at that Using two-sided materials increases rendering time; however, this disadvantage is often offset by the amount of time it would have taken to identify and adjust misaligned normals You can also use the Normal modifier or apply the Edit Poly modifier to selected objects and adjust individual sub-objects in order to correct problems with surface normals

This is less of a problem when the 3D geometry is created in Revit and then linked into 3ds Max Design using the Filmbox (FBX) file format The geometry almost always comes in correctly using this method Be sure to update to the latest FBX version by using the Web Update button

in the FBX import dialog The FBX importer has been updated since the release of 3ds Max 2011 FBX also imports materials and lights from Revit; its only real drawback is that it has a huge file size, so you often have to import pieces of your Revit project and assemble them inside 3ds Max Design 2011

You can avoid the normals problem altogether by importing a specially prepared 2D drawing from AutoCAD into 3ds Max

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In the next set of exercises, you’ll use AutoCAD to prepare a plan for export to 3ds Max If you don’t have AutoCAD, you can skip to the section “Importing AutoCAD Plans into 3ds Max Design.”

1. Open AutoCAD 2004 or later; then open the savoye-ground.dwg file, which you’ll find in the Chapter 5 archive at this book’s accompanying web page, www.sybex.com/go/mastering 3dsmaxdesign2011 This is the ground floor plan of the Villa Savoye This is an early twentieth-century residential design built at Poissy, outside of Paris, France, by the world-famous architect Le Corbusier (see Figure 5.13)

Using a Legacy Version of autoCaD

All the files provided with this book are saved in the AutoCAD 2004 file format If you have a version

of AutoCAD previous to 2004, you will not be able to open the provided files You can download the Autodesk DWG TrueView application from www.autodesk.com and install it on your system

to open and save the files to a previous version of AutoCAD’s file format so you can open the files and work along with these exercises

2. Select WALL-3ds-EXT from the Layer drop-down list on the Layer Properties toolbar, as shown in Figure 5.14 You may need to unhide the toolbar if it is hidden in your AutoCAD

Select the

appropri-ate layer in the Layer

drop-down list

3. Use the Zoom Window tool to enlarge your view so that it looks similar to Figure 5.15.

4. Choose Draw  Boundary The Boundary Creation dialog box displays

5. In the Boundary Creation dialog box, click Pick Points The dialog box temporarily pears to allow you to select points

disap-At times, you might encounter an error message while selecting areas with the Boundary Creation dialog box This is usually caused by one of two reasons: either the area you select isn’t completely closed or a single line intrudes into the space you’re trying to out-line In these cases, you will have to manually trim away intruding lines or join lines that

on this layer The layer’s color is magenta, so the wall acquires the layer’s color

Make Sure You Can See the entire Boundary

Depending on your version of AutoCAD, you may be required to see the entire boundary on the screen before picking a point to create a boundary object The Boundary Creation tool may fail unless the boundary is visible because the older algorithm analyzes what is visible on the screen only Try zooming out a bit and choosing Draw  Boundary again if you get the message “Boundary Definition Error: Valid hatch boundary not found.” Boundary creation will also fail if you click outside the lines, or if the point you click is directly on an object

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Next, continue to add the outlines of the exterior walls using the Boundary Creation

dialog box:

1. Use the Pan tool to adjust your view to look similar to Figure 5.16

2. Open the Boundary Creation dialog box again and then click the Pick Points button

3. Select the points indicated in Figure 5.16

4. Press Enter when you’ve selected all the points

5. Adjust your view so it looks like Figure 5.17

6. Use the Boundary Creation dialog box again to select the areas indicated in Figure 5.17 Press Enter when you’re done

7. Select WALL-3ds-INT from the Layer drop-down list on the Layer Properties toolbar

8. Use the Boundary Creation dialog box to create outlines of the interior walls When

you’re done, the interior walls should all appear in the cyan color, which is the color for the WALL-3ds-INT layer

You want the interior walls to be on a different layer from the exterior walls so that when the drawing is imported into 3ds Max, you can apply separate materials to the interior and exterior wall objects By default, 3ds Max converts AutoCAD objects into 3ds Max objects based on their layers, although you can have 3ds Max use other criteria for converting objects if you choose.

Go ahead and use the Boundary Creation dialog box to outline the other portions of the drawing:

1. Choose the WALL-3ds-EXT-HDR layer; then use the Boundary Creation dialog box to outline the door headers over the exterior doors

2. Turn off the Glass layer; then make the WALL-3ds-SILL layer current

3. Use the Boundary Creation dialog box to outline the areas where the windows are cated in the plan, as shown in Figure 5.18

indi-4. Finally, turn off the MULLION-VERT layer, set the current layer to MULLION-3ds-HORIZ, and outline the areas indicated in Figure 5.19

Outline the areas

that are the

hori-zontal mullions

Select the outline of the curved windows.

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5. Make sure all the layers are turned back on; then choose File (the Application menu in AutoCAD 2009 and newer), choose Save As, and save the file as MySavoye-ground-max.dwg.The main point of these exercises is that you want to segregate the different parts of the

drawing so that later, in 3ds Max, you can control the extruded heights of the separate layers individually You ensure that you can do this by using layers in AutoCAD to organize the closed polylines that are to be extruded in 3ds Max

You used the Boundary Creation dialog box to ensure that the polyline outlines are ous and closed Alternatively, you can just use the Polyline tool on the Draw toolbar to trace over the wall outlines if you prefer The Boundary Creation dialog box makes the work a lot easier because it relieves you from having to click every point in each boundary

continu-Importing AutoCAD Plans into 3ds Max Design

Now that you’ve got the plan set up, you can import it into 3ds Max and make fairly quick work

of the conversion to 3D You’ve done all of the organizing in AutoCAD, so all that is left is to extrude the building parts to their appropriate heights:

1. Open 3ds Max, or click the Application menu and choose Reset if it is already open You don’t have to save your changes from the terrain exercise, so click No at the “Do you want to save your changes?” warning and click Yes at the “Do you really want to reset?” warning

2. Click the Application menu and choose Import The Select File to Import dialog box

displays

3. In the Select File to Import dialog box, select AutoCAD Drawing (*.DWG, *.DXF) from the Files of Type drop-down list; then locate and open the MySavoye-ground-max.dwg file If you haven’t done the preceding AutoCAD exercises, you can open the savoye-ground-max.dwg file

4. In the AutoCAD DWG/DXF Import Options dialog box, make sure the settings are the same as those shown in Figure 5.20

Figure 5.20

The AutoCAD

DWG/DXF Import

Options dialog box

showing the

set-tings needed for

this exercise

5. Make sure that the Orient Normals of Adjacent Faces Consistently check box is selected This is an important setting because it tells 3ds Max to align all the normals so that they are pointing outward.

When to turn Off Orient Normals of adjacent Faces Consistently

This option should be turned off when you are working with 3D objects created in AutoCAD Architecture or Revit

6. Click OK to import the AutoCAD file The plan appears in the viewport

The next step is to set up a comfortable view of the model so that you can easily maneuver within it:

1. Right-click the POV label in the upper-left corner of the viewport, and then select Views  Orthographic or press U Your view changes to an orthographic projection instead of a perspective view

turn On the Material Color Option

When AutoCAD files are imported, they often appear uniformly as a dull gray color; in rendered viewports, that may be similar to the viewport background color A common solution to this situ-ation is to open the Display tab in the Command panel and select the Material Color radio button

in the Shaded area of the Display Color rollout If the objects’ material colors don’t have a good contrast with the background color, try the Object Color option instead

2. Orbit so your point of view is above and at a 45-degree angle to the plan Alternatively, you can click the corner of the ViewCube where the Front, Left, and Top faces intersect

3. Press the G key to hide the grid for a clearer view

4. Click the Zoom Extents tool to view the plan so that it looks similar to Figure 5.21

Figure 5.21

The view so far

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Extruding the Walls

The next step is to start extruding the walls The polyline outlines that you created in AutoCAD are converted to closed splines in 3ds Max, so you need only to select the splines and apply the Extrude modifier:

1. Right-click in the viewport and choose Unhide All from the quad menu to unhide the Layer:MULLION-VERT and Layer:GLASS objects Layers that are turned off in AutoCAD are imported as objects that are hidden in 3ds Max

2. In the Unhide All dialog box that opens, click Yes to unhide the layers these objects are on

3. Click the Select by Name tool on the Main Toolbar to open the Select from Scene dialog box Click the Name column title to sort the object names alphabetically

4. Select Layer:Wall-3ds-INT, Layer:Wall-3ds-EXT, and Layer:MULLION-VERT from the list, and then click OK Remember that you can select multiple, nonconsecutive items from a list by holding down the Ctrl key while you click

Combining Objects by Layer

Objects that were combined by layer in the conversion from AutoCAD to 3ds Max have “Layer:” preceding their AutoCAD layer name

5. Select the Modify tab in the Command panel, and then select Extrude from the Modifier List drop-down

6. In the Parameters rollout, set the Amount input box to 9´6˝ The walls and mullions

dis-play in the viewport as shown in Figure 5.22

In this exercise, you applied the same modifier to three objects: Layer:Wall-3ds-INT, Layer:

Wall-3ds-EXT, and Layer:MULLION-VERT Whenever you change the Extrude Amount eter for one object, it changes for the others because the Extrude modifier is instanced across the objects you selected in Step 4, applied to in Step 5 The two sets of walls and the vertical mullions were segregated in AutoCAD so that you could apply a different material to each of them in 3ds Max; but because all of these items are the same height, you applied a single modifier to all three

If you decide that you need to give each set of walls its own Extrude modifier, you can do

so by clicking one of the walls, selecting the italicized Extrude modifier in the stack, and then clicking the Make Unique button in the modifier stack, as shown in Figure 5.23

Italic and Bold Modifiers

Modifiers that appear in italics in the stack are instanced Modifiers that appear in bold in the stack are modifiers applied to instanced objects

Extruding Exterior Wall Headers

Now let’s continue with the exterior door headers and the walls around the windows:

1. Open the Select from Scene dialog box again Then select Layer:WALL-3ds-EXT-HDR and Layer:Wall-3ds-SILL

2. Select Extrude again from the modifier list; then change the Amount value in the Parameters rollout to 1´6˝

3. Click the Select and Move tool; then click the Absolute/Offset Mode Transform Type-In tool next to the coordinate readout so that you are in the Offset mode You’ll see values appear in the coordinate readout

4. In the coordinate readout, change the Z value to 8´0˝ Figure 5.24 shows the door headers all moved to their positions above the doors

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You may have noticed that in step 3, the coordinate readout showed values only when you selected the Offset mode from the Absolute/Offset Mode Transform Type-In tool This is because you have more than one object selected The Absolute mode has no significance for multiple selections because several objects can have different locations in the scene

Also, just as with the walls, you used a single instanced Extrude modifier to effect changes to multiple objects

Now, take a closer look at the windows You have the window headers in place, but you also need a portion of wall to fill in below the windows You’ll need to copy the window headers and change their Extrude amount:

1. Select the Layer:WALL-3ds-SILL object You can use the Select from Scene dialog box

to do this, or you can simply click one of the window headers toward the back of the building

2. With the Select and Move tool selected, Shift+click the blue Z-axis arrow of the Transform gizmo and drag the selected header down to make a clone of the window header object, roughly placing the copy at ground level

3. In the Clone Options dialog box, click the Copy radio button to enable it You can keep the Layer:WALL-3ds-SILL001 name Click OK to accept the clone settings

4. Click the Absolute/Offset Mode Transform Type-In tool to change to the Absolute mode; then right-click the Z spinner arrows to change the Z value in the coordinate readout to 0

5. Change the Amount value in the Parameters rollout of the Modify tab to 2´8˝

Extruding the Mullions

You now have the walls in place Because you did some prep work in AutoCAD, the work in 3ds Max went fairly quickly Even so, you still need to take care of a few items The horizontal mul-lions for the curved window need to be created:

1. Use the Zoom Region tool to enlarge your view of the plan near the entrance to the right,

as shown in Figure 5.25

2. Select the horizontal mullion outline named Layer:MULLION-HORIZ

3. Select the Extrude modifier in the Modifier List drop-down; then change the Amount parameter to 2˝

Figure 5.25

A close-up view of

the entrance and

curved window

4. Choose Edit  Clone; then, in the Clone Options dialog box, click Instance, and then click

OK The clone is now the selected object

5. Click the Select and Move tool; then change the absolute Z value in the coordinate out to 32˝ or 2´8˝

read-6. Choose Edit  Clone again; then click OK in the Clone Options dialog box

7. With the Select and Move tool still selected, change the Z value in the coordinate readout

to 9´4˝ The horizontal mullions for the curved window are now in place

Creating Interior Wall Headers

You used the Extrude modifier to create the headers for the exterior walls of the Villa You are going to use a different method to create the headers for the interior walls

1. Select Layer:WALL-3ds-INT object

2. On the Modify tab, select the Extrude modifier and then select the Make Unique button that was mentioned earlier in the chapter

3. In the Parameters group of the Extrude modifier, change the number of segments to 2

4. Right-click the Shading viewport label and select Edged Faces You should see the extra segment on your interior walls, as shown in Figure 5.26

5. With the Layer:WALL-3ds-INT object selected, add an Edit Poly modifier to the stack

6. Expand the Edit Poly modifier and select the Vertex sub-object mode

7. Right-click to make the Left viewport active and make a selection window through the middle of the first floor, as show in Figure 5.27, to select the newly added vertices

8. In the Mini-Transform Type-In field, change the Z value to 8´

9. Deselect the vertices you just moved

10. Change the sub-object mode to Polygon and select the polygon, as shown in Figure 5.28

Figure 5.26

Extra segments on

the interior walls

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11. Using View-Rotate-Sub-Object, arrange the view so you can see the opposite side of the closet

12. Ctrl+click and select the polygon opposite the currently selected polygon

13. On the Graphite Modeling toolbar, go the Polygons tab and select the Bridge command,

Select the polygon at

the top of the wall

The Bridge tool connects the selected polygons, removing any interior polygons and welding the polygons of those faces See Figure 5.30 to view the bridged polygons.

Using this technique, you need to create the headers over the remaining four interior door openings on the ground floor of the villa Once you are done creating the remaining interior headers, deselect all the polygons and close the sub-object mode of the Edit Poly modifier.Using the Edit Poly modifier and the Bridge tool allows you to create a model that is well suited for radiosity or mental ray rendering, or even for sending out for rapid prototyping

Adding Glass

Let’s continue to model the ground floor of the villa Next you need to add the glass:

1. Open the Select from Scene dialog box and select Layer:GLASS

2. Select Extrude from the modifier list; then change the Amount parameter to 9´6˝ and make sure that the Segments value is set to 1

The glass appears in only one or two areas This is because the Glass object is a single spline and not an outline You may recall from Chapter 3 that the normals of a surface will render the surface visible in only one direction To compensate for this limitation, you can turn the Layer:GLASS spline into an outline:

1. In the Command panel, select Editable Spline from the modifier stack The glass pears in the viewport because you are below the Extrude level in the stack

disap-2. Right-click in the viewport, and then click the Spline option in the quad menu to enter that sub-object level for editing

3. Click the Zoom Extents Selected tool to view the entire Layer:GLASS object

4. Select Ctrl+A to select all the spline sub-objects of the Layer:GLASS object

5. Scroll down to the Outline button and input field in the Geometry rollout Enter 0.2˝↵ for the Outline value You won’t see any changes at this viewing distance, but the glass is now a closed outline instead of a single line Deselect the spline by clicking Ctrl+D

Figure 5.30

The bridged

poly-gons form the

header over the

closet opening

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6. Select Editable Spline in the modifier stack to exit the sub-object level

7. Click Extrude in the modifier stack The glass appears in all of the appropriate places (see Figure 5.31) because it now has two surfaces that both have normals that face outward

8. Save this file as Mysavoye-ground-max.max.

You could have left the glass as a single line That would make the glass difficult to see in a shaded viewport, but you could apply a two-sided material to the glass so that it would appear

in a finished rendering Although a two-sided glass material takes a bit longer to render, the single-line glass material is a less-complex geometry This makes the file a bit smaller For this reason, if your model contains lots of curved glass, it may make sense to leave the glass as a

single line Otherwise, you may want to convert all of the glass in your model to outlines As you’ve seen here, that’s fairly easy to do in 3ds Max It takes a bit more work to accomplish the same results in AutoCAD by using the Boundary tool

Also, in the previous exercise, you may have noticed that you gave the glass a full height

of 9´6˝, even though, in many cases, the glass only filled a height of 64˝ or less You can do this because 3ds Max takes care of the small details of object intersections In those places where the glass occurs within a wall, 3ds Max hides most of the glass, and it is displayed only where

it appears in an opening, as shown in Figure 5.32 3ds Max also takes care of the intersection of the vertical and horizontal mullions

Figure 5.31

The Ville Savoye

model after

out-lining the glass

splines

Figure 5.32

The window

show-ing the glass

radiosity requires Better Modeling

The creation methods used in these exercises are fine when using the 3ds Max Standard lights and Scan Line Renderer If you intend to render your project using radiosity, the modeling must be cleaner, with no overlapping of faces, for the renderer to create an accurate radiosity solution Good clean geometry and models are said to be water-tight, meaning the geometry is completely enclosed

If you’re using mental ray, it’s also a good idea for the geometry to be non-overlapping

Creating a Floor with Openings

You’ve seen how the ground floor of the villa can be set up in AutoCAD to make quick work of the extrusions in 3ds Max The second floor and rooftop can be done in the same way, but the floors between the different levels require a slightly different approach

Both the second floor and the roof surface have openings that need some special attention when you are setting up to export to 3ds Max:

1. Go back to AutoCAD and open the savoye-second.dwg file If you don’t have AutoCAD, skip ahead to the “Importing the Second Floor” section later in this chapter

2. Click the Layer Properties icon, and in the Layer Properties Manager dialog box, click the

New Layer button Create a layer named FLOOR-2ND-3ds Right-click the new layer and

select Set Current from the context menu to make it the current layer

3. Use the Rectangle or Polyline tool to outline the second floor, as shown in Figure 5.33

4. Turn off all the layers except FLOOR-2ND-3ds, STAIR, and RAMP; then zoom into the

stair, as shown in Figure 5.34

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5. Outline the stair with a closed polyline, as shown in Figure 5.34 (In this operation, you’re drawing the outline of the stair opening in the floor You will have to toggle between Arc and Line modes while drawing with the Polyline tool in AutoCAD to complete the out-line shown in the figure.)

6. Pan over to the ramp Then draw an outline of the ramp with a closed polyline (you can use the Rectangle tool), as shown in Figure 5.35

Figure 5.34

Outline the stair

Outline the stair with a closed polyline

Figure 5.35

The outline of the

ramp floor opening

Outline the ramp with a closed polyline or rectangle

You’ve got all of the additional linework you need to export the floor of the second story to 3ds Max, but you still need to take a few more steps to complete the setup for 3ds Max:

1. Freeze all the layers except the FLOOR-2ND-3ds layer

Importing Frozen Layers

Frozen layers are automatically excluded from importing into 3ds Max However, it is possible

to manually select which layers will be included upon import, regardless of their layer state in AutoCAD (but the workflow is less efficient)

2. Use the Zoom Extents tool to view your work so far (see Figure 5.36) You now have the outline of the second floor and the two openings through the floor

3. Choose File (the Application menu in AutoCAD 2009 and newer), and choose Save As to

save your changes to a file named Mysavoye-second-max.dwg.

Basically, you’ve outlined the second floor and its openings with closed polylines In tion, you’ve frozen all the layers except the floor outline and openings This last step lets you automatically limit the objects that 3ds Max imports to only those items you added to the AutoCAD file

addi-imPortinG the Second Floor

The next step is to import your work into 3ds Max:

1. Go back to 3ds Max, click the Application menu, and choose Reset You can go ahead and reset the scene because you’ve already saved your work

2. Click the Application menu and choose Import Then, in the Select File to Import dialog box, locate and open the Mysavoye-second-max.dwg file you just saved from AutoCAD If you don’t have AutoCAD, open the savoye-second-max.dwg file

3. In the AutoCAD DWG/DXF Import Options dialog box, adjust the settings to match those shown in Figure 5.37

4. Click the Layers tab in the AutoCAD DWG/DXF Import Options dialog box Note that the Skip All Frozen Layers radio button is selected by default This setting lets you auto-matically skip importing the layers you froze in AutoCAD

Figure 5.36

The outline of the

second floor

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When you click the Select from List radio button on the Layers tab of the AutoCAD DWG/DXF Import Options dialog box, you are able to manually check which layers are imported by toggling the large check mark along the left edge of the list The layer states shown in the list (on/off, freeze/thaw, lock/unlock) represent the current state of the DWG or DXF file and are not functional; they are for your information only

5. Click OK to import the drawing and close the AutoCAD DWG/DXF Import Options

dialog box

You now see the outline of the second floor that you created in AutoCAD

The final step is fairly easy You only need to extrude the spline, and the openings will

appear automatically:

1. Click the Select Object tool; then click the floor outline

2. Select the Modify tab in the Command panel; then select Extrude from the Modifier List drop-down

3. Set the Amount parameter to 18˝ You now have the floor of the second story, complete with openings as shown in Figure 5.38

4. If you’d like, save this file as mysavoye-secondfloor.max for future reference.

When creating an extrusion, 3ds Max automatically subtracts the nested splines, closed subsplines that are enclosed by other subsplines, of the same spline object On the second floor, ramp and stair openings are automatically subtracted from the second floor perimeter

You were asked to freeze all the layers in AutoCAD except the Max-floor layer This allowed you to automatically limit the objects that were imported from AutoCAD into 3ds Max You can go back to the AutoCAD file; thaw the wall, header, and other layers; and then freeze the Max-floor layer Once you’ve done that, you can import the other second-story elements into a 3ds Max file and then merge the floor and the walls On the other hand, you can choose exactly which layers will be imported on the Layers tab of the updated AutoCAD DWG/DXF Import Options dialog box Of course, you can also thaw all the layers and import the entire AutoCAD drawing at once But importing parts of an AutoCAD file can help simplify your work and keep it manageable.

Using Building elevations and Wall profiles from autoCaD

In the preceding section, you learned how to convert outlines of a building plan into a floor with openings You can employ the same procedures for converting building elevations from AutoCAD to 3ds Max scenes For example, in AutoCAD you can outline an elevation of the villa using concentric rectangles for the second floor outline and the windows You can then import the outlines to 3ds Max and extrude them, just as you did with the floor That will give you the exterior walls of the building that you can rotate into a vertical position This 3ds Max technique is similar to real-world tilt-up wall framing construction

Using this method, you can even include other details such as the window mullions Once you’ve done this for all four exterior walls, you can join the walls to form the second floor exterior walls, complete with window openings and even window detail

Another great tool for forming building exteriors and interiors is the Loft tool Sometimes a simple vertical extrusion won’t be enough for walls You may be working with a design that uses strong horizontal elements, such as a wide cornice or exaggerated rustication You can make quick work

of such detail by using 3ds Max’s Loft tool Draw the profile of the wall and the building footprint in AutoCAD Be sure each of these items is on a separate layer and is made of polylines You can then import the AutoCAD file into 3ds Max and use the Loft compound object or the Sweep modifier

to loft the wall profile along the building footprint in a way similar to the exercises in Chapter 7,

“Organizing and Editing Objects.” This is especially helpful if the building footprint contains lots

of curves and corners that would otherwise be difficult to model

As an alternative, in AutoCAD, you can convert the closed splines of the stair, ramp, and floor into regions, and then subtract the stair and ramp regions from the floor outline AutoCAD regions are converted into 3ds Max mesh surfaces You then have to extrude the floor with the tools within the polygon level of the Editable Poly, rather than with the Extrude modifier

Figure 5.38

The extruded

second floor

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Exploring the File Link Manager

Earlier in this chapter, you were introduced to the File Link Manager when you imported graphic contour lines from AutoCAD In that example, the File Link Manager allowed you to update the 3ds Max terrain model when a change was made to the AutoCAD DWG file You can also use the File Link Manager with floor plans to help maintain design continuity between AutoCAD and 3ds Max

topo-Try using the File Link Manager with the second floor of the villa in the following exercises:

1. To reset 3ds Max, click the Application menu and choose Reset

2. Click the Application menu and choose References  File Link Manager

3. In the File Link Manager dialog box, select the Attach tab and then click the File button

4. Locate and open savoye-second-link.dwg.

Now let’s take a closer look at some of the options in the File Link Manager:

1. In the File Link Manager dialog box, click the Presets tab (see Figure 5.39)

The Autodesk FBX (Revit) presets contain the settings most commonly used when ing to FBX files saved from Autodesk’s Revit family of BIM programs The AutoCAD drawing presets provide defaults for linking DWG files from various Autodesk applica-tions We will create a new preset based on one of the AutoCAD profiles

link-2. Select the DWG File Saved from AutoCAD preset and notice that the New button (visible when no presets are selected) changes to Copy Click the Copy button to bring up the New Settings Preset dialog box

3. In the New Name field enter My_DWG_fromAutoCAD and click OK to close the dialog box.

4. Select the preset you just created and click the Modify button The File Link Settings: DWG Files dialog box appears and defaults to the Advanced tab, as shown in Figure 5.40

5. In the Derive AutoCAD Primitives By drop-down list, notice that the Layer, Blocks as Node Hierarchy, Split by Material option is selected and the Create Helper at Drawing Origin option is checked

Figure 5.39

The Presets tab of

the File Link

Man-ager dialog box

6. Click the Basic tab and check Orient Normals of Adjacent Faces Consistently.

7. Click Save Then, in the File Link Manager dialog box, select the Attach tab and select My_DWG_from_AutoCAD from the Preset drop-down menu

8. Click the Attach this File button The plan displays in the viewports

A good tip to know is that by double-clicking the Helper object, you will select all the objects linked from the source file

9. Close the File Link Manager dialog box

10. Click the Manage Layers tool in the Main Toolbar The AutoCAD layers are re-created in 3ds Max in the Layer dialog box

With the file link settings, you can control layers as you would in AutoCAD, using the AutoCAD layer names preserved in 3ds Max You can also create your own settings for special conditions by using the File Link Manager’s Presets tab and adjusting your custom presets as you need them

To confirm that you have full control over the linked drawing, try the following steps:

1. Open the Select from Scene dialog box; then select the Layer:WALL-3ds-INT and Layer:WALL-3ds-EXT objects

2. Click the Modify tab in the Command panel; then choose Extrude from the Modifier List drop-down

3. Set the Amount parameter to 9´6˝ or 114˝ The interior and exterior walls are extruded in the scene

As you can see, the method for extruding the walls in the linked file is exactly the same for the imported AutoCAD file You can now select and extrude objects as you did for the savoye-ground.dwg file that you imported earlier The difference with the linked file is that changes made in the AutoCAD file can be reloaded in 3ds Max, much like the way XRefs work

in both AutoCAD and 3ds Max

Figure 5.40

The Advanced tab

of the File Link

Set-tings: DWG Files

dialog box

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Editing Linked AutoCAD Files

Now let’s take a look at one of the key advantages of using the File Link Manager instead of the simpler DWG file import

1. In AutoCAD, open the savoye-second-link.dwg file

2. Turn on and thaw all the layers, and use the Stretch command to stretch the walls as

shown in Figure 5.41

3. Choose File  Save to save the changes

4. In 3ds Max, click the Application menu and choose References  File Link Manager

5. In the File Link Manager dialog box, click the Files tab and then select link.dwg in the Linked Files list box

savoye-second-6. Click the Reload button The File Link Settings dialog box displays

7. In the File Link Settings dialog box, click OK Then close the File Link Manager dialog box.The 3ds Max scene is updated according to the changes made in the AutoCAD file

Continuing the exercise Without autoCaD

If you don’t have AutoCAD, rename the existing link.dwg file to

savoye-second-link-bak.dwg and then use Windows Explorer to save a copy of the savoye-second-link-mod

.dwg file as savoye-second-link.dwg to replace the existing file The savoye-second-max-mod.dwg

file contains the modifications described in the preceding steps; however, linking to a different drawing will cause the Extrude modifiers to be deleted from the scene

You’ve seen how you can update 3ds Max scenes when changes occur in a linked AutoCAD object If you add objects in AutoCAD, those objects are also added to the 3ds Max scene If the new object is added to a layer that already exists, and the objects associated with that layer are attached to a modifier, the new object is also controlled by the modifier For example, if you add a rectangle to the AutoCAD drawing on the WALL-3ds-EXT layer, the new rectangle will

be extruded to the 114˝ height, just like all the other objects on the WALL-3ds-EXT layer New objects on that layer that have a thickness or that are extruded within AutoCAD will be ignored

by 3ds Max unless they are placed on a newly created layer

Understanding the Block Node Hierarchy

Previous to 3ds Max 6, AutoCAD blocks translated into Maxblocks, which were collections of

entities treated as a single object (which worked like a compound object)

encountering Maxblocks

You can still encounter Maxblocks in 3ds Max 2011 if you choose to derive AutoCAD primitives by Layer, Entity, Color, or One Object only

Beginning with 3ds Max 8, blocks are linked in a node hierarchy when you choose to derive

AutoCAD primitives by Layer, Blocks as Node Hierarchy or Entity, or Blocks as Node Hierarchy

To understand how this works, let’s do a short exercise:

1. Click the Application menu, choose Reset, and do not save the changes you made to the scene earlier

2. Click the Application menu, choose References  File Link Manager, and click the Attach tab

3. Click the File button and select the Blocks.dwg file; then click Open

4. Click the Presets tab and without selecting any Named Preset, click New Give the new

preset the name Entity Blocks, select AutoCAD Drawings from the Format drop-down,

and click OK

5. Select Entity Blocks in the Named Presets list and click Modify

6. Click the Advanced tab in the File Link Settings: DWG Files dialog box Click the Derive AutoCAD Primitive By drop-down list and select Entity, Blocks as Node Hierarchy In this example, it makes sense to also combine by entity (rather than layer) because there are only a few simple objects

7. Click Save to close the File Link Settings: DWG Files dialog box

8. Click the Attach tab of the File Link Manager dialog box and select Entity Blocks from the Preset drop-down list if it is not already selected Finally, click Attach This File and close the dialog box The drawing appears in the viewport as shown in Figure 5.42

The Blocks.dwg file contains two simple blocks called BlockA and BlockB BlockA tains a circle and a rectangular polyline There are three instances of BlockA in the scene BlockB has only one instance and contains a triangular polyline and BlockA nested within it

con-exPlorInG the FIle lInK ManaGer | 295

9. Select the circle of BlockA, as shown in Figure 5.43

10. Click the Select and Move tool and move the circle you selected a short distance in the XY-plane

Notice that all the child circle nodes move relative to their block headers (like the tion point of AutoCAD blocks) In AutoCAD lingo, entities in the block definition are moving relative to the insertion points in their block instances

inser-11. Select Ctrl+Z to undo the transform you did in step 10

12. Open the Select from Scene dialog box and notice which node is selected—the circle in the third instance of Block:BlockA (see Figure 5.44) Select Block:BlockA, which is the block header node The block header node contains all the nested objects but doesn’t rep-resent an object itself

13. Using the Select and Move tool, drag the selected block header a short distance in the XY-plane Notice that this time the entire block moves, and only the third instance of BlockA moves

Figure 5.42

The block node

hierarchy

Click here to select a child node

of this instance of BlockA

Figure 5.43

Moving one

por-tion of the BlockA

object

14. Click the Modify tab of the Command panel Notice that the block header shows up as Block/Style Parent in the stack Click the Reset Position button in the Linked Geometry rollout to return the block instance to the original position it had in the linked DWG file.

15. Save your work as MyBlocks.max.

As you can see from this exercise, selecting a block node on the screen selects a child in the block hierarchy Transforming a child node actually transforms all instances of that child rela-tive to their block headers

On the other hand, when you select the top node in the hierarchy, called the block header, moving the block header allows you to transform a unique block instance independently of all other block instances When you transform a parent node, the relative positions of its children

do not change AutoCAD blocks are now handled essentially as kinematic chains in 3ds Max

Blocks in 3ds Max Differ from Blocks in autoCaD

The block node hierarchy works much as it does in AutoCAD, with the exception that you do not have to explicitly redefine a block each time you make a change to the constituent geometry of the block definition In 3ds Max it is easy to change the relationship between what is inside a block definition (by moving the child nodes) and the block instance (by moving the block header) No block redefinition is required in 3ds Max because it all happens automatically, depending on which node you select in the block hierarchy The entire block node hierarchy brings block behavior much more in line with how AutoCAD handles blocks as compared with the more limited functionality

of Maxblocks

Understanding the File Link Manager Options

In the preceding exercises, you were able to try out a few of the File Link Manager options The File Link Manager, like so many other 3ds Max features, offers numerous options to tailor your workflow to the particular needs of your project Given the limited space of this book, an

Figure 5.44

Selecting an object

with the Select from

Scene dialog box

exPlorInG the FIle lInK ManaGer | 297

example of every option available won’t be shown, but you can get started with this feature after reviewing the exercises Here’s a summary of the File Link Manager’s options, organized by tabs

the attach tab

As you’ve already seen, this tab lets you locate a file using the File button The File drop-down list shows a history of previously attached files from which you can select The Preset drop-

down list lets you select from a collection of presets that you’ve saved earlier

The Select Layers to Include button opens the Select Layers dialog box, which allows you to select or deselect specific layers that you may want to include or exclude from the link

The Attach This File button lets you attach an AutoCAD DWG, DXF, or Revit FBX file to

the current 3ds Max scene Files can be attached from versions 12 through 2011 of AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Mechanical, and the Revit family of products If you’re using

a CAD program other than AutoCAD, you can use the DXF file format instead of the DWG mat, although many CAD programs today support the DWG file format directly

for-Using Object enablers

Many Autodesk products, including AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD Mechanical, and AutoCAD Civil 3D, require that Object Enablers be installed to properly import certain objects To find the proper Object Enabler to install, go to www.autodesk.com and search for “Object Enabler.” An absent Object Enabler results in the appearance of a Proxy Object Detected dialog box when you attempt to import or link to the offending DWG files You can still use the drawings without the enablers present; however, the associated geometry may not properly come into 3ds Max

the FileS tab

The Files tab allows you to control how a file is linked to the current 3ds Max file

As you’ve seen in previous exercises, the Reload option lets you manually reload a linked file The File Link Settings dialog box displays when you click this button if you have the Show Reload Options check box selected

Detach removes a linked file from the current 3ds Max scene Use this option with caution, as

it deletes all of the linked objects in the scene even if they have been modified in 3ds Max

The Bind option removes any links to the source AutoCAD file while maintaining the objects

in the current 3ds Max scene The 3ds Max scene then becomes an independent scene file and can no longer be affected by the source AutoCAD file

Binding Linked Files eliminates Interoperability

Binding a former link will increase your file size as the data is migrated from CAD into 3ds Max when the link between them is broken Do this with caution as changes made in the CAD file will

no longer affect the 3ds Max scene

Finally, the Files tab displays a list of DWG, DXF, or FBX files that are currently linked to the 3ds Max scene file An icon next to the filename indicates the status of the linked file:

A paper clip indicates that the source file has not changed and that there are no errors in

•u the link

A question mark indicates that the file cannot be found

•u

A red flag indicates that the file has changed since import and that it must be reloaded

•u using the Reload button

A grayed-out page indicates that a different file has been selected through another path

Understanding File Link Settings

When you import a linked AutoCAD file, you have the option of controlling the way that file is imported through the File Link Settings dialog box This dialog box appears by default when you’ve selected a file for linking, but you can set 3ds Max to avoid this dialog box by deselecting the Show Reload Options check box in the Files tab of the File Link Manager dialog box

As you saw in previous exercises, the options selected in the File Link Settings dialog box can make a huge difference in the way the resulting 3ds Max file is organized Because AutoCAD and 3ds Max use entirely different ways of organizing data, this dialog box is necessary to make some sense of the way AutoCAD DWG files are converted to 3ds Max files To help in the translation process, 3ds Max uses a type of node called Linked Geometry All linked AutoCAD objects are converted to Linked Geometry or 3ds Max blocks, which occurs only when you choose to derive AutoCAD primitives by Layer, Entity, Color, or One Object

For example, objects in an AutoCAD file that reside on layer 0 are collected into a single 3ds Max block The name of the 3ds Max block will depend on the settings you choose in the File Link Settings dialog box In an earlier exercise, you chose the Layer option in the File Link Settings dialog box’s Derive AutoCAD Primitives By drop-down list You can further refine the way 3ds Max combines objects through a combination of layer, thickness, and color, or you can have 3ds Max import each AutoCAD object as a single object in 3ds Max

Most of the time, you will probably choose to derive your AutoCAD primitives using one of the Blocks as Node Hierarchy options in the File Link Settings dialog box, due to the improved way that you can work with blocks using these options Therefore, the objects that appear in 3ds Max will most often be Linked Geometry nodes

Linked Geometry nodes have only one parameter on the Modify tab of the Command panel: the Reset Position button Click Reset Position when you want to restore the node to the location

it has in the linked DWG or DXF file Any transforms you apply to Linked Geometry nodes are stored in 3ds Max alone and there is no chance that 3ds Max will ever overwrite your AutoCAD files

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avoiding System Instability

You’ll want to avoid several things when working with Linked Geometry due to its connection to

a foreign file format System instability may occur if you include Linked Geometry in groups or assemblies, attach them to an Editable Mesh or Editable Poly, change animation controllers, cre-ate hierarchical links, or make instance clones of Linked Geometry However, you can confidently make copy clones and apply transforms, modifiers, and materials to Linked Geometry without any problems

the baSic tab

The options in the Basic tab, shown in Figure 5.45, give you control over the way imported

objects are converted into 3ds Max objects These options are similar to those found in the

Geometry Options group of the AutoCAD DWG/DXF Import Options dialog box that you

see when you import a DWG or DXF file using the Application menu’s Import option

Weld Nearby Vertices This option determines whether coincident vertices of imported

objects are joined, or welded, together to form a contiguous object When Weld is turned on,

the Weld Threshold setting is used to determine how close together objects need to be before they are welded

Auto-Smooth Adjacent Faces This option determines whether to apply smoothing to tiguous surfaces in imported objects When Auto-Smooth is turned on, the Smooth-angle setting is used to determine the minimum angle to which smoothing should be applied

con-Orient Normals of Adjacent Faces Consistently This option attempts to align all the mals of an object so that they point outward from the center of the object

nor-Cap Closed Splines This option causes 3ds Max to apply an Extrude modifier to closed objects such as closed polylines or rectangles

Figure 5.45

The Basic tab of the

File Link Settings

dialog box

Texture Mapping The options in this drop-down list determine whether 3ds Max ates mapping coordinates for imported mesh objects The Generate Coordinates for All Objects option creates mapping coordinates for all mesh objects, which may take a while with a complex 3D AutoCAD file This option should always be used when importing AutoCAD Architecture files that already have mapping coordinates assigned to their objects The Generate Coordinates On-Demand option causes 3ds Max to automatically assign map-ping coordinates to Linked Geometry when a mapped material is assigned to it.

gener-Curve Steps This option gives you control over the way curves are converted A low Curve Steps value causes curves to appear as straight segments, and higher values generate a more accurate curve

Maximum Surface Deviation for 3D Solids This option controls tessellation in 3ds Max on objects that are converted from AutoCAD 3DSOLID entities Small numbers produce accu-rate surfaces with a greater number of faces, whereas larger numbers use less memory but produce less accurate surfaces with fewer faces

Include group This group of options has a number of check boxes that can be toggled

to indicate which categories of objects you want to link into 3ds Max The choices include External References (these are XRefs from AutoCAD, not 3ds Max), Hatches, Points, Lights from AutoCAD, Sun and Sky objects, Views and Cameras, and UCSs (Grids) (UCS stands for User Coordinate System)

Linked hatches Increase File Size

It is generally not a good idea to include Hatch patterns in a file link 3ds Max cannot store the ties making up the pattern in as efficient a way as AutoCAD, and the result usually consumes far too much memory, results in too large a file size, and requires too much translation time

enti-the adVanced tab

The options on the Advanced tab, shown in Figure 5.46, give you control over the way AutoCAD primitives are derived, as well as several important settings and the possibility of selectively reloading only a portion of the linked file

Figure 5.46

The Advanced tab

of the File Link

Set-tings dialog box

exPlorInG the FIle lInK ManaGer | 301

Derive AutoCAD Primitives By This option lets you determine how entities from AutoCAD are treated in 3ds Max Perhaps the simplest choice from this drop-down list is Layer, Blocks

as Node Hierarchy, which converts AutoCAD layers to Linked Geometry and blocks into a node hierarchy The similar Layer, Blocks as Node Hierarchy, Split by Material option con-verts AutoCAD layers to Linked Geometry and then further subdivides the AutoCAD objects

on each layer by the materials assigned to them Blocks using this option are assigned a node hierarchy The next option is Entity, Blocks as Node Hierarchy, which converts AutoCAD entities to Linked Geometry and blocks into a node hierarchy

You may also choose Layer, Entity, or Color, which groups AutoCAD objects by their layer, entities, or color and then converts them to Maxblocks The Entity option creates an object for each entity in the AutoCAD file The One Object option turns the entire AutoCAD drawing into a single Maxblock

The Derive AutoCAD Primitives By drop-down option is available only when modifying a preset

Select Layers To Include Click this button to open the Select Layers dialog box (see

Figure 5.47), where you can choose the option Skip All Frozen Layers (default) or Select from List The Select Layers to Include button is grayed out unless you are reloading a linked file Layers that are checked are linked, regardless of their layer state in AutoCAD Note that the layer state data shown in the dialog box is for your information only—it is not functional and does not update in AutoCAD This button is also available on the Attach tab

Create Helper at Drawing Origin This option will include an Origin Point helper object with the linked file This helper is placed at the origin of the linked file to help identify its origin and to facilitate alignment of other files

Use Extrude Modifier To Represent Thickness When checked, this setting will apply an Extrude modifier, matching the height of any entities that have a thickness value Note that thickness is a very old concept (prior to AutoCAD release 12) from the early days of 3D mod-eling in AutoCAD and is not in wide use today Most contemporary 3D modeling is done with surfaces or solids in AutoCAD

Create One Scene Object for Each AutoCAD Architecture One When this option is

checked, AutoCAD Architecture-specific objects, such as doors and windows, are imported

as single objects rather than each component being imported separately

Use Scene Material Definitions This option matches material names coming from an

AutoCAD file with material names in 3ds Max When there is a match, the material names

in 3ds Max are used when checked When unchecked, the material names are always taken from the DWG file Note that DXF files do not support materials

Figure 5.47

The Select Layers

dialog box

Use Scene Material Assignments on Reload This important option allows you to maintain the materials you have assigned in 3ds Max after you reload a DWG file When unchecked, the materials from AutoCAD will overwrite materials made in 3ds Max when the linked file is reloaded.

Selective Reload Check Selective Reload when you want to reload only a subset of all the objects in the linked file You may want to do this if you do not want subsequent changes made in the CAD file to be linked into 3ds Max Selective Reload can also be used in complex scenes to minimize the time spent loading the entire linked database

When Selective Reload is on, either you can select the objects to reload in the scene manually,

or you can select them from the Select Linked Objects dialog box (see Figure 5.48) by clicking the Linked Objects button This option is available only when reloading a linked file

autodesk products throughout the production pipeline

A major jewelry store chain was redesigning its free-standing stores complete with a customer lounge, jewelry design rooms, and a child care area A Cleveland-based architectural firm was tasked with defining the store design and creating the construction documents (CDs) for the new store template Part of the design process included creating renderings for approval by the client The firm’s pipeline for larger projects used Autodesk products at each phase

Revit (see “Importing Revit Files into 3ds Max” later in this chapter) was first used to design the building and create the construction documents Walls, doors, windows, partitions, and so on were all modeled in Revit AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture was then used to model the interior components such as the display cases, point-of-sale features, fixtures, and signage The AutoCAD drawings were imported into Revit, and then elevations, sections, views, and notes were all defined and assembled into a complete set of drawing sheets

To create the renderings, the structural components from Revit and the interior components from AutoCAD were then linked to a 3ds Max scene Materials, lighting, and animation were completed

in 3ds Max and sent electronically to the client for review Required changes were made in Revit or AutoCAD, and were reflected in the 3ds Max scene or in 3ds Max itself, and then revised renderings

or animations were made

Through the interoperability of several Autodesk products, the architectural firm was able to increase productivity and quickly address the client’s needs

Figure 5.48

The Select Linked

Objects dialog box

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the SPline renderinG tab

The options in the Spline Rendering tab, shown in Figure 5.49, give you control over the way AutoCAD splines and polylines are imported into 3ds Max Renderability, appearance, smooth-ing, and mapping coordinates are controlled through this tab

Enable in Renderer When this option is checked, imported shapes are rendered as 3D

geometry using the settings in the Viewport/Renderer section See the Viewport/Renderer description later in this list for a description of these settings

Enable in Viewport This option determines whether the shape is displayed in the ports using the Viewport/Renderer settings When Enable in Viewport is on, the Use

view-Viewport Settings option becomes available Use view-Viewport Settings toggles on the view-Viewport option in the Viewport/Rendering group

Generate Mapping Coords When checked, mapping coordinates are applied to the shapes, thereby allowing control over the appearance of mapped materials The default U mapping direction consists of a single loop around the shape, and the V mapping direction follows the length of the shape

Real-World Map Size This option determines whether a map’s scaling is controlled by the material’s Use Real-World Scale settings

Auto-smooth This option controls the smoothing of the splines based on the Threshold parameter When this option is checked, adjacent segments are smoothed when their angular difference is less than the Threshold value

Viewport/Renderer Turn on these options to set the rendering appearance of splines in the viewports and in rendered scenes The Radial option creates a rounded cross section while the Rectangular option consists of straight sides It is common to have different Viewport and Renderer settings with less dense geometry created in the viewports and more dense geometry in rendered views The Viewport option is available only when Enable in Viewport

is checked

Linking files into 3ds Max allows you to maintain a single design database that begins in

AutoCAD and continues seamlessly into 3ds Max File linking makes a good alternative to simply importing an AutoCAD file directly by clicking the Application menu and choosing the Import

Figure 5.49

The Spline Rendering

tab of the File Link

Set-tings dialog box

option because of the connection that carries into the future between the AutoCAD and 3ds Max databases You can always use the Bind option to sever the link and make the imported data a stand-alone 3ds Max file, but be aware that you lose the benefits that accrue to those who use both AutoCAD and 3ds Max together in a continuing relationship throughout the design workflow.

Using the Substitute Modifier with Linked Geometry

You can substitute a complex piece of furniture modeled in 3ds Max for a simple outline drawn

in AutoCAD Designers often do space planning in AutoCAD with simple 2D blocks that are drawn to scale You can link a space planning drawing into 3ds Max and then proceed to sub-stitute a complex 3D version of a piece of furniture for a simple 2D block After seeing the more realistic depiction of the scene in 3ds Max, a designer may want to revise the space plan in AutoCAD The AutoCAD DWG file can then be reloaded in 3ds Max, and the changes automati-cally affect the complex 3D models in the scene Let’s try out this idea:

1. Open the MyBlocks.max file you saved earlier, or open Blocks.max

2. Select the rectangular polyline in the foreground Note that it appears as Linked Geometry in the modifier stack

3. Apply the Substitute modifier to the object

4. Click the Select XRef Object button in the Parameters rollout, as shown in Figure 5.50 Note that you also have the option to pick an object that is already in the scene for the substitution

5. Select the Worktop.max file and click Open This is a free 3D model of a desk worktop from ScottOnstott.com

6. The XRef Merge dialog box appears, listing the objects that are in Worktop.max Select Worktop01 and click OK

7. Answer Yes to the Substitution Question dialog box that asks, “Do you want to assign the substitute object’s material to this object?” The 3D model appears in the viewport, now substituting for the rectangular polylines that were there before (see Figure 5.51)

8. Select the circle in the foreground and apply the Substitute modifier to this Linked Geometry

9. Click the Select XRef Object button again and select the Chair.max file (this is part of the collection of free designer furniture models at the same website) Click Open

Figure 5.50

The Substitute

modifier’s

Param-eters rollout

exPlorInG the FIle lInK ManaGer | 305

10. Select the object Chair01 from the XRef Merge dialog box and click OK

11. Answer Yes again at the Substitution Question dialog box that appears

12. Rotate the chair and observe that it behaves exactly as the circle did within the linked block node hierarchy All the block instances of the chair rotate accordingly, as shown in Figure 5.52

13. Save your file as MyBlocks_Sub.max.

rendering Linked Splines

You can make linked splines render by applying the Renderable Spline modifier

You have now seen how easy it is to link a 2D space plan drawn in AutoCAD into 3ds Max, and then substitute more complex geometry in 3ds Max for the simple blocks from CAD The benefits of such an approach are that you are using each application for what it does best:

AutoCAD for drafting and 3ds Max for visualizing 3D models Not only are you focusing on