9

Measuring Distances 13
Angle (deg)—
A global setting, in degrees, that
determines the angle of rotation for a number of
features in the program, including the standard
Rota te transform. As you rotate an object (or
group of objects), the object moves around a given
axis in the increment you set. Angle snap a lso
affects the following:
• Pan/Orbit camera controls
• FOV and Roll camera settings
• Hotspot and Falloff light angles
For more information, see Angle Snap (page 2–37).
Percent—Sets a percentage increment during a
scaling operation.
For more information, see Percent Snap (page
2–38).
Rotating an d Scaling with Sn aps
The effect of rotating and scal ing with snaps
depends on whether Auto Key (page 3–717) is on
or off:
•WithAutoKeyon, snap toggles are disabled,
while Angle and Percent snaps remain active.
Rotation and scaling o ccur around the pivot
point of the object.
•WithAutoKeyoff, rotations and scales occur
around the snap point. For example, using
Vertex snap, you can rotate a box about an y of
its corners.
Translati on O ptio ns
By default, the Use Axis Constraints (page 1–437)
option is off. The current setting on the Axis
Constraints toolbar (XY, for example) has no
effect. Turning on this option lets you u se snaps in
conjunction with axis constraints.
The Translation group also lets you toggle display
ofarubberbandlinebetweenthestartandend
points during a snap operation.
Settings for Spinner Snap
You set the spinner snap on the General panel
(page 3–815) of the Preferences dialog. Right-click
the Spinner Snap button on the main toolbar to
display this panel.
Spinner snap—Sets a numerical increment
for spinner fields. If you’re using gene ric units of
1 inch, a setting of 12 would let you resize objects
by one foot with every click, or add 12 segments
to a sphere.
The same setting applies to all spinner fields. Since
spinner snap is a toggle, you can easily turn it on
when needed and u se the default at other times.
Spinner snap has no effect on dragging a spinner,
only on single clicks.
For more information, see Spinner Snap (page
2–38).
Measuring Distances
3ds Max provides several options for measuring
various aspects of your scene. The tape, protractor
and compass helpers measure distance, a ng les and
direction respectively. The Measure utilit y has a
floatertodisplayvariousmeasurementsofany
selected object.
You can quickly measure the distance between two
points with the Measure D istance tool (page 2–15).
Helper Objects for Mea surement
Tape Helper
Yo u c a n c r e a t e a Tape helper (page 2–24) by
dragging between any two points in 3D space,
much like using a physical tape measure. You then
read the length on the Parameters rollout.
IfyouturnonSpecifyLength,thelengthfield
lets you enter a v alue in current units. This is like