8
XRef Scenes Dialog 421
XR ef File path fiel d—
Lets you change the path or
file pointed to by a selected XRef scene. To use,
chooseoneoftheXRefscenesinthelist,andthen
change the information in the field. You can either
directlyenteranewfilenameorpath,oryoucan
click the Bro wse button to the right of the field,
and then choose a new file from the resulting
file dialog. The new XRef scene that you choose
replaces the one currently highlig hted in the list.
Add—Displays a file dialog from w hich you can
choose a
.max
scenefiletobeloadedintothe
current scene as an XRef. The selected scene
appears in the list at left, and the geometry appears
in the viewports.
Yo u c a n a l s o a d d a s c e n e b y d r a g g i n g a
.max
file
from the Windows Explorer into the list.
Conver t S elected—Lets you take any selected
objects in your scene and create XRefs from them.
Basically, this does a Save Selected for the objects,
which are automatically cut from the
.max
file and
pasted into a new file. A file dialog lets you name
thenewfile.Theyremainintheviewportbutare
now XRefs.
Remove—Removes the XRef scene currently
chosen in the list, and removes it from the current
scene. To use, choose one or more XRef scenes in
the list, and then click the Remove button.
Select buttons
These standard buttons change the pattern of
selection in the list.
All—Selectsallitemsinthelist.
None—Deselects all items in the list.
Inver t—Inverts the current selection pattern in the
list.
XRef File group
Enabled—Turn this off to disable the highlighted
XRef. When an XRef is disabled, it’s listed in gray
in the list, and it’s not loaded into memory.
Overlay—When on, treats the referenced
source scene as an
overlay (page 3–417)
.
Default=off.
Overlays allow multiple scene r eferences without
the risk of circular dependencies. The overlay is
loaded only into the target scene that references it,
and is not visible in other sce ne s that might X Ref
thetargetfilethatusestheoverlay. See
Overlays
(page 3–417)
for more information.
Wa rn in g: If you turn off the Overlay flag for an existing
XRef scene, you can cause circular XRefs to occur, that
aren’t detected until you or another user tries to open
one of the scenes in the project.
Merge—
Click this to merge selected XRefs into
the scene as real geometry. A prompt appears so
you can confirm the action. Since a merged XRef
becomes part of the scene and is no longer an
XRef, its name is removed from the list.
Update File group
Determines how and when the XRef scenes are
updated. These options are applied to the selected
XRefs; for example, one XRef can have automatic
updating, w hi le another can have manual updating
(using the Up date Now button).
Wa rn in g: IfyouupdateanXRefinascenewith
radiosity
(page 3–50)
, you will likely i nvalidate th e radiosity
solution. After you update the XRef, reset the radiosity
solution and then recalculate it.
Automatic—
When this check box is turned on, the
selected XRef scene is automatically updated when
its source scene is sav ed.
Update Now—Click this to update a selected XRef
scenewhenyou’renotusingAutomatic(orwhen
several XRef scenes are selec ted and some of them