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450 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
Not all modifiers are topology-dependent. When
you attempt to use a topology-dependent m odifier
on lin ked AutoCAD geometry, a warning dialog
is displayed that gives you an opportunity to
continue or abort the operation.
When you use modifiers on li nked AutoCAD
objects and bloc ks, remembe r that the VIZBlock
object you see in 3ds Max does not contain
anygeometrydirectly;applyingmodifiersto
VIZBlocks will never have any visible effect.
Instead, apply modifiers to the component
objectsbelowtheVIZBlockinthe3dsMaxobject
hierarchy.
Copying Actively Link ed Objects
Yo u c a n copy act ively linked objects in 3ds Max;
the copies are automatically converted to editable
mesh objects. If your selection cont ains several
objects t hat instance another objec t, the result ing
copies also instance the same object.
However, it is recommended that you do not
instance or reference actively linked objects, as this
can introduce instability to the scene.
See also
Using Modifiers (page 1–479)
Select Objects Dialog (page 1–78)
Architectural Desktop Files
in 3ds Max
Architectural Desk top Files
DWG files from Autodesk Architectural Desktop
often contain additional information, such as
special A D T objects, material definitions, and
styles. 3ds Max is thoroughly compatible with
ADT, and it recognizes all of these specialized
objectsanddefinitionsduringthefilelinkprocess.
Ar chitectur a l D eskt op Objects i n
3ds Max
Each instance of an Architectural Desktop object
is represented by multiple objects in 3ds Max.
Whenever the file link process detects a useful
distinction between elements of an Architectural
Desktop object, it a utomatically separates, names,
and groups the elements in 3ds Max to make them
easier to work with. The new objects created in
3ds Max through file linking are grouped together
hierarchically below a special object called a
VIZBlock , allow ing you to deal with individual
objects in the hierarchy or with all of them as
a g roup. You can view this hierarchy, but you
cannot change it in 3ds Max. You can only change
the hierarchy indirectly by editing the objects in
Architectural Desktop, and then reloading them
into3dsMaxusingthe
File Link Manager (page
3–431)
.
Note: 3ds Max does not display linked
Architectural D esktop light objects. The best way
to link lights from your Architectural D esktop
design to 3ds Max is to define them as blocks in
Architectural Desktop, and then use the
Substitute
modifier (page 1–830)
to replace them with
3ds Max lights with
photometric (page 3–1087)
parameters. Thisallowsyoutouse3dsMax
radiosity functions (page 3–50) to simulate the
behavior of real lights in your scene.
Cri teri a for Subdi vi ding Ar chitectur al
Desktop Objects
TheFileLinkManagerdividesanArchitectural
Desktop object into multiple objects in 3ds Max
if it detects distinctions based on the following
features:
•Componentname