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Of all the panels in the Command Panel, only the Create panel—shown in Figure 5.1—includes both categories and subcategories. After you click the Create tab, seven category icons are displayed. From left to right, they are Geometry, Shapes, Lights, Cameras, Helpers, Space Warps, and Systems.

The Create panel is the place you go to create objects for the scene. These objects could be geometric objects such as spheres, cones, and boxes or other objects such as lights, cameras, or Space Warps. The Create panel contains a huge variety of objects. To create an object, you simply need to find the button for the object that you want to create, click it, click in one of the viewports, and voilà—instant object.

After you select the Geometry category icon (which has an icon of a sphere on it), a drop-down list with several subcategories appears directly below the category icons. The first available subcategory is Standard Primitives. After you select this subcategory, several text buttons appear that enable you to create some simple primitive objects.

Note

The second subcategory is called Extended Primitives. It also includes primitive objects. The Extended Primitives are more specialized and aren't used as often. •

FIGURE 5.1

The Create panel includes categories and subcategories.

As an example, click the button labeled Sphere (not to be confused with the Geometry category, which has a sphere icon). Several rollouts appear at the bottom of the Command Panel: These rollouts for the Sphere primitive object include Name and Color, Creation Method, Keyboard Entry, and Parameters. The rollouts for each primitive are slightly different, as well as the parameters within each rollout.

If you want to ignore these rollouts and just create a sphere, simply click and drag within one of the viewports, and a sphere object appears. The size of the sphere is determined by how far you drag the mouse before releasing the mouse button. Figure 5.2 shows the new sphere and its parameters.

FIGURE 5.2

You can create primitive spheres easily by dragging in a viewport.

When an object button, such as the Sphere button, is selected, it turns dark gray. This color change reminds you that you are in creation mode. Clicking and dragging within any viewport creates an additional sphere. While in creation mode, you can create many spheres by clicking and dragging several times in one of the viewports. To get out of creation mode, right-click in the active viewport, or click the Select Object button or one of the transform buttons on the main toolbar.

After you select a primitive button, several additional rollouts magically appear. These new rollouts hold the parameters for the selected object and are displayed in the Create panel below the Name and Color rollout. Altering these parameters changes the most recently created object.

Naming and renaming objects

Every object in the scene can have both a name and a color assigned to it. Each object is given a default name and random color when first created. The default name is the type of object followed by a number. For example, when you create a sphere object, Max labels it “Sphere01.” These default names aren't very exciting and can be confusing if you have many objects. You can change the object's name at any time by modifying the Name field in the Name and Color rollout of the Command Panel.

Note

Max gives each newly created object a unique name. Max is smart enough to give each new object a different name by adding a sequential number to the end of the name. •

Caution

Be aware that Max allows you to give two different objects the same name. •

Cross-Reference

Names and colors are useful for locating and selecting objects, as you find out in Chapter 6, “Selecting Objects and Setting Object Properties.” •

The Tools⇒Rename Objects menu command opens a dialog box that lets you change the object name of several objects at once. The Rename Objects dialog box, shown in Figure 5.3, lets you set the Base Name along with a Prefix,