9

8 Chapter 10: Precision and Drawing Aids
2.
OntheCreatepanel>Standard
Primitives > Object Type rollout, click Box.
3. Turn on Au to Gri d.
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 cursor a ligns the Z
axis to the surface normal.
5. When the orientation is as you want it, click
andusethestandarddrag-release-move-click
method to create the box. The bo x will be
created on the designated surface.
When you 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 c ursor 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 creating the object, 3ds Max places it on
the temporary construction grid. When creating
an objec t, if the cursor isn’t over a nother 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 you want to crea te a Line
spline (page 1–270) that snaps to the faces of a
sphere, turn on Snaps (page 2–35) (press the
S
key), and then open the Grid And Snap Settings
dialog (page 2–41) andturnonFace.
Note: To make the g r id per manent, hold down the
Alt key before you click. The grid becomes active
and 3ds Max turns AutoGrid off.
Ali gning Objects
You can align a selection consisting of one or more
objects, called the source,withatarget object.
There are many uses for this feature. For precision,
an important use is grid alignment. You c an create
a new g rid object and align it to an existing 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.