8

Links 1057
is used to negate and basic move, rotate or scale
transforms.
Link s
Links are the segments of t he Physique
deformation spline (page 3–1021)
.Linksfollow
thehierarchyoftheskeleton,suchasabiped,that
has been attached to the
mesh (page 3–1066) .
Link parameters in Physique allow you to bend,
twist, change sliding behavior, an d radially sca le
the mesh.
Listener Window
In MAXScript, the Listener Window is a
command-line window that lets you type in and
execute MAX Script commands interactively. In
other words, y ou run the script as you go along,
rather than running a pre-saved text file.
You open the listener window using the MAXScript
Listener command on the MAXScript menu or
from the Ut i lities > MAXScr ipt > MAXScript
rollout > Open Listener command.
Local Coor dinate Sy stem
A book in objec t space rests on a table in world space. The
book has its own local coordinate system.
The lo ca l coordinate system is the coordinate
system t hat relates specifically to the selected
object.
Each object has its own local center and coordinate
system as defined by the location and or ientation
of the object’s pivot point. The local center and
coordinate system of an object combine to define
its object space.
Thedirectionoftheobject’sX,Y,andZaxes
depend on the current transforms of the object.
Contrast with the world coordinate system.
You can see the difference between the two
coordinate systems when you unintentionally
rotate an object, such as a wheel on a car model,
around the world axis instead of the object’s local
axis. The w heel immediately flies off in a large arc
because the center of the rotation is at the origin of
the world coordinates.
To rotate the wheel correctly, first change the
coordinate system to Local, using the pop-up list
on the toolbar. The wheel then rotates around
its own hub, which is the origin of its local
coordinates.
Local Ev ent
Particle Flow uses two types of events (page
3–1029)
: global (page 3–1043) and local. All
events in a
flow (page 3–1036) except the first
are called local events, because the
actions (page
3–997)
they contain take effect only while p articles
are in that event. The
birth event (page 3–1010)
is a special type of local event that always comes
immediately after a global event.