8
AutoCAD Geometry in 3ds Max 447
Using the
File Link Manager (page 3–431)
,
3ds Max maintains a live data link to AutoCAD,
Architectural Desktop, or drawings exported from
Revitthatallowsyoutousethelinkedobject
data in your 3d s Max scene. You can perform
various operations on this linked data in 3ds Max
for visualization purposes, but nothing you do
in 3ds Max wi ll change the base data you see in
thesourceapplication.Thedatalinkallowsyou
to periodically refresh your 3ds Max scene with
revised drawing data.
Ifalivedatalinkisnotimportanttoyou,the
DWG/DXF Import fu nctionality processes
draw ings, expor ted from Revit, in the same
intelligent way as the File Link Manager. You just
don’thavethebenefitofthelivedatalink.
See also
Using Layers to Organize a Scene (page 3–704)
File Link Basics (page 3–426)
Interpreting Layer Data from AutoCAD,
Architectural Desktop, or Revit (page 3–430)
AutoCAD Geometr y i n
3ds Max
AutoCAD G eometr y in 3 ds Ma x
The basis of your model in 3ds Max is the geometry
of the objects, blocks, and other entities that are
transferredthroughthefilelinkingfunctionality.
In many cases, these objects behave just like the
editable meshes and splines you create in 3ds Max.
But because the link to the source drawing plays
such a central role in your workflow, 3ds Max
hasspecialrulesandtoolsforhandlinglinked
AutoCAD geometry .
When you are working with linked objects and
blocks from AutoCAD, you will find that these are
composed as groups of related objects in 3ds Max.
These groups are organized hierarchically below a
3ds Max
VIZBlock
object. VIZBlocks ar e special
objectscreatedbythefilelinkingfunctionality
thatareusedtocontainotherfilelinkedobjectsin
agroup.VIZBlocksdon’tcontainanygeometry
directly, so for example it is meaningless to apply
modifiers to them. However, they do reference
the component s below them so that transforms
applied to a VIZBlock will be applied to all the
component objects it con tains.
See also
Styles (page 3–467)
Instanced Objects (page 3–463)
Blocks (page 3–464)
AutoCA D E ntit ies a nd B l ock s i n
3ds Max
AutoCAD blocks in 3ds Max are treated similarly
to AutoCAD objects, though the rules for