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100 Chapter 3: Selecting Objects
panel > Make Unique command does not make
the controllers unique. You can make them
unique by doing the following: Open Track
View, select the Transform track for object
whose controller you want to make unique, and
click the Mak e Unique button in the Track View
toolbar.
Dissolving Assemblies
You can permanently dissolve assemblies by
either
disassembling or exploding them. B oth
commands dissolve assemblies, but to different
levels.
•
Disassemble (p age 1–107) :Goesonelevel
deep in the assembly hierarchy. It separates the
current assembly into its component objects (or
assemblies/groups), and deletes the a ssembly
head object.
•
Explode (page 1–107) : Similar to Disassemble,
but dissolves all nested assemblies and groups
as well, leav ing independent objects.
When you disassemble or explode an assembly,
any t r a nsform anim ation applied to the assembly is
lost,andobjectsremainastheywereintheframe
at w hich the dissolution is per formed. However,
objects retain any individual anim ation.
To transform or modify the objects within an
assembly, you must first remove them from the
assembly, either temporarily or permanently. The
Open command lets you do t his.
Compar ing As semblies wit h O ther
Selection Methods
Compared to the other metho ds you can use to
combine objects in 3ds Max, assembling is more
permanent than selec tion sets, but less permanent
than attaching objects.
•
Selection sets (page 1–64) : Form a temporary
collection of objects to which you apply the
current commands. As soon as you select
another object, the s election set is gone.
•
Named selection sets (page 1–85) :Letyou
reselectthesamepatternofobjects,butthe
positional relationship b etween those objects
(their transforms) might be different each t ime
you recall the named set.
• Assembled and
grouped (page 1–95) objects:
Maintain their positional relationships unless
you open the assembly and rearrange them. A n
assembly also keeps its identity as an individual
object.
Each object in an assembly retains its modifier
stack, including its base parameters. At any
time,youcanopentheassemblytoeditan
object, and then close the assembly to restore
the assembly identity.
• Attached objects (see
Editable Mesh (Object)
(page 1–989)
): Attached objects form a
single object. The modifier stacks of the
original objects are lost, including their base
parameters. Youcanregaintheformofthe
original objects by detaching them, but they
become plain meshes.
See also
Lights (page 2–1126)
Procedures
To insert and place an existing a ssembly:
1.
Tur n on AutoGrid (page 2–7) .
2. Drag the assembly from a Web page (if it’s an
i-drop object (page 3–524) )orfromyourlocal
disk and drop it into your scene, placing it on
any existing surface.
3. On the main toolbar, click Use Pivot
Point Center (page 1–426)
.
4. Position the assembly as you would any other
objecttoaimitinaspecificdirection.