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20 Chapter 10: Precision and Drawing Aids
These are available by a cascading Grid menu that
providesLeft,Right,Front,Back,Top,Bottom,
and D isplay Planes. Each of the orthographic
directions is local to the grid object, regardless of
its orientation in the scene.
When you choose a specific orthog raphic grid
viewport (as opposed to the D isplay Planes
viewport), the construc tion of objects in t hat
viewport is on the plane specified in the view por t
title regardless of the displayed plane of the grid
object.
You can create more than one v iewpor t based on
the same g rid object, with each using a different
plane. For example, you can h ave a Grid (Front)
viewport and a Grid (Top) viewport, as well as a
Grid (Display Planes) viewport.
When you deactivate a grid object, its remaining
v iewp orts show the assigned orthographic view.
Thus, a Grid (Front) viewport becomes a Front
viewport, for example. A Grid (Display Planes)
viewport always reverts to a Top view, regardless
of the currently displayed plane.
Scaling Not Advised
As a rule, don’t use scaling to resize a grid object.
Scaling enlarges or reduces the apparent size of the
grid object but has no effect on grid spacing. A
sphere20unitsinradiuscreatedonagridobject
appears sma ller than another 20-unit sphere
created on a scaled-up version of the same grid.
If you want to change t he actual size of the grid
object,selectitandgototheModifypanel>
Parameters rollout > Grid Size group, and change
the Leng th and Width settings.
Locati ng G r id Tools
Grid tools are spread throughout the 3ds Max
interface.
• In the Views menu, under Grids, are the
commandstoactivatehomeandusergrids.
The same tools are available with a ri g ht-click
anywhere in the viewport when a grid helper
is selected.
• Choose Customize menu > Grid and Snap
Settings to display the
Grid and Snap Setting s
dialog (page 2–38)
. Two tabs are devoted to
Grid tools, one for home, another for user
grids. You c an change p arameters of any act ive
grid using the Modify panel.
See also
View ing Grid Objects (page 2–6)
Procedures
To create a gr id obj ect:
1.
Click Create panel > Helpers > Standard
>ObjectTyperollout>Grid.
A Parameters rollout appears on the Create
panel.
2. Inaviewport,dragarectangleandrelease
the mouse button. This creates and selects a
grid object, which appears in w hite wireframe,
divided into four quadrants with coordinate
axes at the center.
While the newly created grid object is still selected,
you can change its settings on the Parameters
rollout.
You can also create a grid object dur ing objec t
creat ion. Turn on AutoGrid, then press ALT
during object creation. A grid is created at the
same time as the object and remains displayed
and active. See
AutoGrid (page 2–7) for more
information.
To a ctivate a gri d object:
A grid object requires act ivation before use.
Standard selection doesn’t activate it unless you
turnontheoptiontodoso(see
User Grids (page
2–48)
).