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492 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
5.
Click the Save button.
Asset Tracking
Asset Tr ack ing Dialog
File menu > Asset Track ing
The Asset Tracking fea ture provides direct access
w ithin 3ds Max to asset tracking systems (ATS),
also known as providers. You use asset tracking
systemstosharefilessuchasscenefilesand
bitmaps used in materials w ith other members of
your development team. With the Asset Tracking
dialog,youcancheckfilesinandout,addfilesto
the ATS, get different versions of files, etc., all from
3dsMaxwithouttheneedtouseseparateclient
software.
Asset tracking provides full support for the
Autodesk Vault data-management solution, and
basic version-control support for other providers,
such as Perforce and Microsoft SourceSafe. In
general, asset tracking supports version-control
providers that are capable of integr ating into
Microsoft Visual Studio, s ometimes referred to
as MSSCC support. This topic assumes usage of
Autodesk Vault.
Note: When you have Vault installed, you can open
files directly from the Vault database with the File
menu command
Open f rom Vault (page 3–401) .
This command mimics the fi le open dialog, but
browses the vault instead of the file s ystem. In
addition to opening the scene file, it downloads or
updates any dependent scene files, such as bitmaps
and XRefs.
Another important function of the Asset Tracking
dialog is for
repathing ; locating missing files.
For example, if you move bitmap files used by
materials in y our scene to the same folder as the
scene fi le, the bitmaps w i ll be loaded when you
openthescenefile,butthematerialswillstilluse
the original, no-longer-valid path for the bitmap
files, and the Asset Tracking dialog wi ll show the
files as missing. To resolve the incorrect paths, you
can use the tools available from the Paths menu.
Note: The Asset Tracking dialog provides the
principal functionality for working with the Vault
data-management solution from within 3ds Max,
but you can also work directly with Vault using the
Vault Explorer client software, which is included
with 3ds Max. To run Vault Explorer, go to
Windows Start menu > Autodesk > Autodesk Data
Management and choose Autodesk Vault Explorer.
To learn more about using Vault Explorer , open the
Autodesk Vault Explorer Help menu and choose
Autodesk Vault Help Topics, or simply press F1
while the Vault Explorer w indow is active.
See also
Open f rom Vault (page 3–401)
Prompts Dialog (page 3–499)
Asset Tracking Dialog Icons (page 3–499)
Procedure
To coordinate local files with Vault files:
For optimal coordination between your local files
and those in the Vault, maintain a one-to-one
correspondence between the folder structure
inthedatabaseandthestructureonyourlocal
drive (the
working folder and its subdirectories),
and keep a ll files that you’ll be checking in and
out in the local version of the structure. Create a
local folder structure for Vault files and then use
Optionstomapthetopofthelocalstructuretothe
top of the Vault structure (i.e.,
Vau l t ( $ ) ).
1. Createaworkingfolderonalocaldriveto
contain all files to be coordinated with other