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400 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
Open
File menu > Open
Keyboard > CT RL+O
Open loads a scene file (MAX file), character
file (CHR file), or VIZ Render file (
DRF File
(page 3–528)
)fromanOpenFiledialog. You
can also choose a previously opened file and use
command-line options (page 3–719) .
TheMAXfiletypeisacompletescenefile.
A CHR file is a character fi le saved with Character
menu > Save Character. For more information
on the CHR file format, see
Character Assembly
(page 2–681)
and Save Charac ter (page 2–686) .
A DRF file is a scene file from VIZ Render,
a rendering tool included with Autodesk
Architectural Desktop 2005. The DRF file type is
very similar to MAX files from previous versions
of Autodesk VIZ.
Ifthefileyou’reloadingwascreatedusingplug-ins
that are not installed, a dialog lists them. You
can still load the file, but any entities in the scene
that were created by the missing plug-ins are
replaced with stand-ins; non-rendering boxes or
placeholder modifiers. You can safely delete these
fromthescene,unlessyouaresharingthescene
with a user who has the plug-ins installed.
Ifthefileyouareloadingcontainsbitmapsthat
cannot be located, a
Missing External Files dialog
(page 3–504)
appears. This dialog lets you browse
for the missing maps, or continue opening the file
without loading them.
Automatic Unit Conversion
WhenRespectSystemUnitsInFilesisturnedon
in the System Unit Scale group of the
System Unit
Setup dialog (page 3–891)
,loadedfilesthathavea
different scene unit scale display a
File Load: U nits
Mismatch dialog (page 3–895)
.Thisdialoglets
you rescale the lo aded scene to the current scene
unit scale, or change the current scene unit scale to
match the one in the loaded file. No conversion is
done when loading fi les created in 3ds Max 1.x.
• If you choose to match the units in the loaded
file, the System Unit Scale setting in the System
UnitSetupdialogischangedtothesettingin
the scene file.
This is the recommended cho ice, and it is the
default in 3ds Max.
Forexample,ifthecurrentsystemunitscaleis
set to 1 unit = 1 inch, and the incoming file was
set to 1 unit = 1 foot, a sphere with a radius of
100 feet remains 100 feet.
• If you rescale the file objects, the objects are
scaled as if they had been created using the
current scene unit scale.
Forexample,ifthecurrentsystemunitscale
is set to 1 unit = 1 inch, and the incoming file
was set to 1 unit = 1 foot, a sphere with a radius
of 100 feet becomes 1200 inches in radius
(assuming the unit display is set to gener ic
units).
IfRespectSystemUnitsInFilesisoff(whichis
not recommended), 3ds Max disregards the units
chosen in the loaded scene file.
For example, a 100-unit radius sphere that was
created in a 1 unit = 1 foot scene becomes a
100-inch sphere in a 1 unit = 1 inch scene.
Procedures
To r eopen a previ ously opened fi le:
• From the bottom of the File menu, choose the
file name.
You set the number of files listed by changing
the
Recent Files In File Menu (page 3–870)
field on the Files panel of the Customize >
Preferences dialog.