8
Referencing Objects, M aterials, and Scenes 405
Procedure
To save selected objects to a new file:
1.
Select one or more objects.
2. Choose File > Save Selected.
3. EnteranameintheFileNamefield.
4. Click Save.
External References (XRefs)
to Obj ects a nd S cenes
Referencing Objects, Materials,
and Scenes
You can use two kinds of externally referenced
files (XRefs):
XRef Objects (page 3–406)
and
XRef Scenes (page 3–416)
. Using these external
references allows for a team approach to animation,
where the modeling, materials, and animation can
be handled in separate files by different artists. It
can also make large files much easier to deal w ith
through the use of
proxy objects
.
You access XRef Objects and XRef Scenes from the
File menu.
The two types of references have disti nct purposes:
• Referenced scenes bring in a file that cannot
be selected or inadvertently changed. An
animator can bring in the environment or set
as a referenced scene and won’t have to worry
about mistakenly selecting walls and floors
while trying to animate legs and arms.
Thefilerendersaspartoftheanimation,but
will not hinder the workflow. Referenced scenes
canbeboundtoanobjectinthescenesoyou
can scale, rotate, or reposition the scene if
necessary.
• Referenced objects appear in the scene and
can be animated. Depending on the object’s
XRef settings, you might or mig ht not be able
to edit the object’s mo difier stack, as well as
any manipulators applied to the object. You
can add modifiers or transform animation
to the referenced objects, but you cannot
inadver tently change the model’s structure.
Referenced objects allow for the substitution
of a proxy object, so y ou can animate a
low-polygon v ersion of a complex model and
then render th e polygon-intensive version.
In 3ds Max 8, you can also XRef materials.
This is part of the process of referencing objects,
or you can also use the special
XRef material
(page 2–1425)
.
Note: Any atmospherics applied in an XRef
object’s source file will be carried into the scene.
The use of referenced objects and scenes allows
youtocontinuetoworkonmodelsandmaterials
while the animation process is under way. You can
choose to have the models and materials update
automatically, as soon as changes are saved to the
original file, or to update m anually, on demand.
There are a lso tools for easy conversion of scene
objects into referenced objects, and a button to
merge referenced objects back into the scene as
normal objects.