8
8 Chapter 10: Precision and Drawing Aids
4.
Move your cursor over the object to which you
want to orient the box you are about to create.
The cursor includes an X,Y,Z tripod to help you
orient the position of the new object. As you
move over the object, the c ursor aligns the Z
axis to the surface norm a l.
5. When the orientation is as you want it, click
andusethestandarddrag-release-move-click
method to create the box. The box will be
created on the designated surface.
When y ou click, a temporary, automatic grid is
created, and the newly created object is aligned
to that grid.
Inter face
Object Type rollout
AutoGr id—AutoGrid is available only after you
select an object button (such as Box). When you
turn AutoGrid on, the cursor includes an axis
tripod to help you orient the grid. Before clicking
and as you position the cursor over a visible mesh
object, the cursor jumps to the nearest point on
that surface. The tripod’s X and Y axes form
a plane tangent to the object surface (forming
an implied construction grid), and the Z axis is
perpendicular to the plane.
After c reating the object, 3ds Max places it on
the temporar y construction gr id. When c reating
an object, if the cursor isn’t over another object,
3ds Max places the object on the current active
grid.
Tip: Whenyoucreateanobjectthatrequires
multiple clicks, AutoGrid applies only to the first
click. So, for instance, if y ou want to create a
Line
spline (page 1–265)
thatsnapstothefacesofa
sphere, turn on
Snaps (page 2–35)
(press the S
key), and then open the
Grid And Snap Settings
dialog (page 2–38)
andturnonFace.
Note: To make the grid permanent, hold down the
ALT key before you click. The grid becomes active
and 3ds Max turns AutoGrid off.
Ali gning Obj ects
Aligning objects by the center, bottom, o r top of their
bounding boxes
You can alig n a selection consisting of one or more
objects, called the
source
,witha
target
object.
There are many uses for this feature. For precision,
an important use is grid alignment. You can create
a new grid object and align it to an existi ng object,
either manually after creation or automatically
during creation using the
AutoGrid (page 2–7)
feature. Conversely, you can move an object onto a
grid anywhere in your scene.