3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [85]
To select an object in the viewport, find its rectangular representation in the Schematic View and simply click it. To select multiple objects in the Schematic View, you need to enable Sync Selection mode with the Select⇒Sync Selection command in the Schematic View menu and then drag an outline over all the rectangular nodes that you want to select.
The Schematic View also includes the Select by Name text field, just like the Curve Editor, for selecting an object by typing its name.
Cross-Reference
The Material Editor is covered in detail in Chapter 15, “Using the Slate Material Editor”; the Track View is covered in Chapter 36, “Working with the F-Curve Editor in the Track View”; and the Schematic View interface is covered in Chapter 25, “Building Complex Scenes with Containers, XRefs, and the Schematic View.” •
Setting Object Properties
After you select an object or multiple objects, you can view their object properties by choosing Edit⇒Object Properties. Alternatively, you can right-click the object and select Properties from the pop-up menu. Figure 6.9 shows the Object Properties dialog box. This dialog box includes four panels—General, Advanced Lighting, mental ray, and User Defined.
Viewing object information
For a single object, the General panel of the Object Properties dialog box lists details about the object in the Object Information section. These details include the object's name; color; extent distances from the origin along the X-, Y-, and Z-axes; number of vertices and faces; the object's parent; the object's Material Name; the number of children attached to the object; the object's group name if it's part of a group; and the layer on which the object can be found. All this information (except for its name and color) is for display only and cannot be changed.
FIGURE 6.9
The Object Properties dialog box displays valuable information about a selected object.
Note
The two fields under the Vertices and Faces are used only when the properties for a Shape are being displayed. These fields show the number of Shape Vertices and Shape Curves. •
If the properties for multiple objects are to be displayed, the Object Properties dialog box places the text “Multiple Selected” in the Name field. The properties that are in common between all these objects are displayed. With multiple objects selected, you can set their display and rendering properties all at once.
The Object Properties dialog box can be displayed for all geometric objects and shapes, as well as for lights, cameras, helpers, and Space Warps. Not all properties are available for all objects.
Cross-Reference
The Hide and Freeze options included in the Interactivity section are covered later in this chapter in the “Hiding and Freezing Objects” section. •
Setting display properties
Display properties don't affect how an object is rendered, only how it is displayed in the viewports. In this section, along with the Rendering Control and Motion Blur sections, are three By Object/By Layer toggle buttons. If the By Object button is displayed, then options can be set for the selected object, but if the By Layer option is enabled, then all options become disabled and the object gets its display properties from the layer settings found in the Layer Manager.
Note
You also can find and set the same Display Properties that are listed in the Object Properties dialog box in the Display Properties rollout of the Display panel in the Command Panel and in the Display Floater. •
The See-Through option causes shaded objects to appear transparent. This option is similar to the Visibility setting in the Rendering Control section, except that it doesn't affect the rendered image. It is only for displaying objects in the viewports. This option really doesn't help in wireframe viewports. Figure 6.10 shows the lion toy model