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The License Borrowing option lets you borrow and return the current Max license for use on another computer; and the About 3ds Max command opens the About dialog box, which displays the serial number and current display driver.

Summary

You should now be familiar with the interface elements for Max. Understanding the interface is one of the keys to success in using 3ds Max. Max includes a variety of different interface elements. Among the menus, toolbars, and keyboard shortcuts, several ways to perform the same command exist. Discover the method that works best for you.

This chapter covered the following topics:

• Learning the interface elements

• Viewing and using the pull-down menus

• Working with toolbars

• Accessing the Command Panel

• Learning the lower interface controls

• Interacting with the Max interface

• Getting additional help

In this chapter, I've skirted about the viewports covering all the other interface elements, but in the next chapter, you're going to hit the viewports head-on.

Chapter 2: Controlling and Configuring the Viewports

IN THIS CHAPTER

Understanding 3D space

Using the ViewCube and the SteeringWheels

Using the Viewport Navigation Control buttons

Controlling the viewport settings with the Viewport Configuration dialog box

Loading a viewport background image

Although Max consists of many different interface elements, such as panels, dialog boxes, and menus, the viewports are the main areas that will catch your attention. The four main viewports make up the bulk of the interface. You can think of the viewports as looking at the television screen instead of the remote. Learning to control and use the viewports can make a huge difference in your comfort level with Max. Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to rotate, pan, and zoom the view.

The viewports have numerous settings and controls that you can use to provide thousands of different ways to look at your scene, and beginners can feel frustrated at not being able to control what they see. Max includes several handy little gizmos that make navigating the viewports much easier. This chapter includes all the details you need to make the viewports reveal their secrets.

Understanding 3D Space

It seems silly to be talking about 3D space because we live and move in 3D space. If we stop and think about it, 3D space is natural to us. For example, consider trying to locate your kids at the swimming pool. If you're standing poolside, the kids could be to your left or right, in front of you or behind you, or in the water below you or on the high dive above you. Each of these sets of directions represents a dimension in 3D space.

Now imagine that you're drawing a map that pinpoints the kid's location at the swimming pool. Using the drawing (which is 2D), you can describe the kid's position on the map as left, right, top, or bottom, but the descriptions of above and below have been lost. By moving from a 3D reference to a 2D one, the number of dimensions has decreased.

The conundrum that 3D computer artists face is, how do you represent 3D objects on a 2D device such as a computer screen? The answer that 3ds Max provides is to present several views, called viewports, of the scene. A viewport is a small window that displays the scene from one perspective. These viewports are the windows into Max's 3D world. Each viewport has numerous settings and viewing options.

Learning Axonometric versus Perspective

When it comes to views in the 3D world, two different types exist—Axonometric and Perspective. Axonometric views are common in the CAD world where the viewer is set at an infinite distance from the object such that all parallel lines remain parallel. A Perspective view simulates how our eyes actually work and converges all points to a single location off in the distance.

You can see the difference between these two types of views clearly if you look at a long line of objects. For example, if you were to look down a long row of trees lining