8

800 Chapter 21: User Interface
Obj ect Name and W ir efr ame Color
Create panel > Any object category > Name And Color
rollout
Modify, Hierarchy, Motion, D isp lay, or Utilities panel >
Name field and color swatch
Thenameandcolorfieldsappearatthetopof
all comma nd panels other than the Create panel.
On the Create panel, the fields are contained in a
rollout. You can change an object’s name or color
from any of these locations.
Inter face
Name (text f ield)—Displaysthenameofthe
selected object and lets you enter a new name from
the keyboard. Available only when a single object
is selected.
Color (swatch) —Displays the selected object’s
wireframe color and lets you select a new one.
Thewireframecoloristheoneusedtodisplay
the object in viewports. Click the color swatch to
display the
Object Color dialog (page 1–155) .
Cre ate Panel
Cr e a t e P a n e l
Command panels > Create panel
TheCreatepanelprovidesthecontrolsforcreating
objects. This is the first step in building a new
scene in 3ds Max. Most likely, you will continue
to add objects throughout an entire project. For
example, when it is time to render a scene you
might need to add more lights.
TheCreatepanelgroupsthekindsofobjectsyou
create into seven categories. Each category has
its own button. W ithin each category there can
be several different subcategories of objects. A
drop-down list lets you choose among object
subcategories, and each kind of object has its own
button, which you click to begin creation.
These are the categories of objects that the Create
panel provides:
•
Geometry (page 1–149)
Geometry is the renderable geometry of the
scene. There are geometry primitives such
as Box, Sphere, Pyramid, and more advanced
geometry such as Booleans, Lofts, and particle
systems.
•
Shapes (page 1–257)
Shapes are splines or NURBS curves. They have
only one local dimension, although they can
exist in 2D space, such as a Rectangle shape, or
3D space, such as a Helix.
You can give shapes a thickness so they
will render, but primarily you use them for
constructing other objects such as Lofts, or for
motion t rajectories.
•
Lights (page 2–1126)
Lights illuminate the scene and improve its
realism. There are several k inds of lights, each
of w h ich models different types of lighting in
the real world.
•
Cameras (page 2–1210)
Camera objects provide a view of the scene.
The advantages of cameras over the v iews in
the standard viewports are that cameras have
controls similar to real-world cameras, and that
you can animate a camera’s position.
•
Helpers (page 2–2)