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Setting Preferences

The Preference Settings dialog box lets you configure Max so it works in a way that is most comfortable for you. You open it by choosing Customize⇒Preferences. The dialog box includes several panels: General, Files, Viewports, Gamma and LUT, Rendering, Radiosity, Animation, Inverse Kinematics, Gizmos, MAXScript, mental ray, Containers, and Help.

New Feature

The Help panel in the Preference Settings dialog box is new to 3ds Max 2012. •

Tip

The quickest way I've found to open the Preference Settings dialog box is to right-click the Spinner Snap Toggle button on the main toolbar. •

General preferences

The first panel in the Preference Settings dialog box is for General settings, as shown in Figure 4.3. The General panel includes many global settings that affect the entire interface.

FIGURE 4.3

The General panel lets you change many UI settings.

Undo Levels and the Reference Coordinate System

The Scene Undo spinner sets the number of commands that can be kept in a buffer for undoing. A smaller number frees up memory, but does not let you backtrack as far through your work. The default Undo Levels is 20.

Tip

Although it takes up some valuable memory, I've found that increasing the number of Undos is very helpful. When working on a model, it takes almost no time to do 20 commands. •

The Reference Coordinate System setting makes all transform tools use the same coordinate system and transform center when the Constant option is enabled. If disabled, each transform (move, scale, and rotate) uses the coordinate system last selected.

Loading Plug-Ins and Sub-Material settings

The Load Plug-Ins When Used option keeps plug-ins out of memory until they are accessed. This saves valuable memory and still makes the plug-ins accessible.

The Automatic Sub-Material Assignment option, when checked, enables materials to be dragged and dropped directly onto a subobject selection. This applies the Multi/Sub-Object material to the object with the dropped material corresponding with the subobject selection's Material ID. If you regularly use the Multi/Sub-Object material, enabling this option can be a great timesaver, but if you aren't familiar with the Multi/Sub-Object material, this option can lead to confusion, making it difficult to locate applied materials.

Scene Selection settings

The Auto Window/Crossing by Direction option lets you select scene objects using the windowing method (the entire object must be within the selected windowed area to be selected) and the crossing method (which selects objects if their borders are crossed with the mouse) at the same time, depending on the direction that the mouse is dragged. If you select the first option, then the Crossing method is used when the mouse is dragged from right to left, and the Window method is used when the mouse is dragged from left to right.

Tip

I like to keep the Auto Window/Crossing by Direction option disabled. I use the Crossing selection method and find that I don't always start my selection from the same side. •

The Paint Selection Brush Size value sets the default size of the Paint Selection Brush. In the default interface, this size is set to 20. If you find yourself changing the brush size every time you use this tool, then you can alter its default size with this setting.

Spinner, Rollout, and Vertex Normal settings

Spinners are interface controls that enable you to enter values or interactively increase or decrease the value by clicking the arrows on the right. The Preference Settings dialog box includes settings for changing the number of decimals displayed in spinners and the increment or decrement value for clicking an arrow. The Use Spinner Snap option enables the snap mode.

You also can enable the snap mode using the Spinner Snap button on the main toolbar.

Tip

Right-click a spinner to automatically set its value to 0 or its lowest threshold. •

You also can change the values in the spinner by clicking the spinner and dragging up to increase