2008

Linking Files with High Numbers of Linear Line Segments
Two-dimensional elements in drawing files, such as lines, polylines, circles,
and arcs, are represented as splines in 3ds Max. These splines carry much more
information at each vertex than typical AutoCAD 2D structures. Since some
drawing files contain large quantities of 2D data, exercise caution when linking
files containing a high number of discrete line segments. There are two ways
these elements can be left out of your 3ds Max scene:
■ by freezing their layers in AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, or Revit before
you start 3ds Max and before each subsequent reloading process.
■ by excluding specific layers during the File Link Attach/Reload process or
Import process so you do not have to freeze layers in the drawing. This is
the preferred workflow.
If you need this type of 2D geometry in your visualization, try to use polylines
instead of connected lines to get cleaner geometry in 3ds Max and to reduce
the final size of your scene.
Linked 3D Solids Objects
3D Solids objects that you link from a drawing file into 3ds Max are tessellated;
that is, turned into mesh objects with faces. The fineness of the tessellation
is controlled by the
Maximum Surface Deviation For 3D Solids setting on
page 6797 on the File Link Settings dialog. A high value results in coarser
tessellation. 3ds Max uses less memory in the scene, but poor approximations
of curved surfaces could result. For acceptable performance, keep this value
as high as possible.
TIP You can change the value of the Surface Deviation For 3D Solids control at
any time by turning on
Show Reload Options on page 6792 on the Files panel of
the File Link Manager dialog, and then adjusting when you reload the file.
Linked Spline Objects
Splines are not rendered in 3ds Max unless they have rendering parameters
applied. Normally, you have to collapse a shape to an editable spline object
in order to apply rendering parameters; however, this is not possible with
spline objects from AutoCAD.
Instead, you can apply a
Renderable Spline modifier on page 1580 to the spline.
This lets you set rendering properties without having to collapse to an editable
spline.
File Link | 6779