3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [86]
FIGURE 6.10
The See-Through display property can make objects transparent in the viewports.
Many of these display properties can speed up or slow down the viewport refresh rates. For example, Display as Box increases the viewport update rate dramatically for complex scenes, but at the expense of any detail. This setting can be useful to see how the objects generally fit in comparison to one another. This option also can be accessed from the Viewport Configuration dialog box or from the Viewport name right-click pop-up menu, but the Object Properties dialog box lets you set this option for a single object instead of for the entire viewport.
When the Backface Cull option is enabled, it causes the faces on the backside of the object to not be displayed. Max considers the direction that each normal is pointing and doesn't display a face if its normal points away from the view. A normal is a vector that extends perpendicular to the face and is used to determine the orientation of individual faces. This option produces the same result of the Force 2-Sided option in the Viewport Configuration dialog box, except that it can be applied to a single object and not the entire viewport. This display option works only in wireframe viewports.
The Edges Only option displays only the edges of each object when the viewport is set to Wireframe mode. When Edges Only is not selected, a dashed line indicates the junction of individual faces.
When the Vertex subobject mode is selected for an object, all vertices for the selected object appear as blue + signs. The Vertex Ticks option displays all object vertices in this same way without requiring the Vertex subobject mode. Figure 6.11 shows the lion toy mesh with this option enabled. The Trajectory option displays the animation path that the object follows. You also can make the trajectory of the selected object appear without enabling the Trajectory option by selecting the Trajectories button in the Motion panel.
FIGURE 6.11
The Vertex Ticks option displays all vertices as small, blue tick marks.
The Trajectory option displays any animated motions as a spline path.
Cross-Reference
To learn more about using animated motion paths, see Chapter 21, “Understanding Animation and Keyframes.” •
The Ignore Extents option causes an object to be ignored when you are using the Zoom Extents button in the Viewport Navigation controls. For example, if you have a camera or light positioned at a distance from the objects in the scene, then anytime you use the Zoom Extents All button, the center objects are so small that you cannot see them because the Zoom Extents needs to include the distance light. If you set the Ignore Extent option for the camera or light, then the Zoom Extents All button zooms in on just the geometry objects.
When objects are frozen, they appear dark gray, but if the Show Frozen in Gray option is disabled, then the object appears as it normally does in the viewport. The Never Degrade option causes the object to be removed from the Adaptive Degradation settings used to maintain a given frame rate to get the animation timing right.
The Vertex Channel Display option displays the colors of any object vertices that have been assigned colors. You can select to use Vertex Color, Vertex Illumination, Vertex Alpha, Map Channel Color, or Soft Selection Color. The Shaded button causes the meshes to be shaded by the vertex colors. If the Shaded button is disabled, the object is unshaded. You can assign vertex colors only to editable meshes, editable polys, and editable patches. If the Map Channel Color option is selected, you can specify the Map Channel.
Cross-Reference
For more information about vertex colors, check out Chapter 34, “Creating Baked Textures and Normal Maps.” •
Setting rendering controls
In the Object Properties dialog box, the Rendering Controls section includes options that affect how an object is rendered.
The Visibility spinner defines a value for how opaque (nontransparent) an object is. A