8

What’s New in 3ds max 8 xvii
pressing SHIFT as you change t he sub-object
level.
Scene and Project Management
• Project-management functionality is
implemented via the new
asset tracking system
(page 3–492)
. Asset tr ack ing works with a
variety of source-control tools, but optimal
support is provided for Au todesk Vault,
included free with 3ds Max.
• A number of improvements have been made to
external references. The
XRef Objects dialog
(page 3–408)
and rollouts have been redesigned
to ma ke them easier to use. You can now XRef
materialsaswellasobjects,eitherwhenyou
XRef objects in general, or by using the new
XRef material (p age 2–1425) .
For XRef Scenes, the new
Overlay feature (page
3–417)
letsyoucreatemorecomplexXRefing
while avoiding circular XRefs.
XRefs to cameras are now correctly saved with
the scene, so you can use them with network
rendering.
The performance of XRefs has also been
improved.
•TheMaterialEditor>Utilitiesmenuincludes
several new functions for managing materials.
For example, you can remove all materials not
used in the scene from the editor, and condense
the remaining materials. See
Material Editor
Menu Bar (page 2–1272)
.
•
Repathing and retargeting (page 3–495) of
assetsandtheirlocationsallowsforcontrol
over many dependencies that rely on the path
of an asset.
•Youcancollect
Path configuration files (page
3–852)
in a project-specific manner for all
assets. This file c an be loaded, saved, etc. and
transferred with the scene file. This eases
management of projects by providing a text
(ASCII) fi le that lets users define paths for asset
locations.
Design V isualization Functionality
• New adaptive subdivision options enable
higher-quality, more accurate, and more
efficient radiosity processing. See
Radiosity
MeshingParametersRollout(page3–66)
.
•Supportfor
real-world measurements (page
2–1429)
lets you apply physically scaled
materials to objects in the scene more easily
and a ccurately.
•Thenew
Sweep modifier (page 1–839) lets you
“loft” a shape or profile along lines or polylines
imported from AutoCAD or linework created
in3dsMax,evenapplyingpresetshapesto
simple linework. This modifier is useful for
creat ing str uc tura l steel details, m olding details,
or in any situation where you need to extrude a
section along a spline.
• Capture object, layer, material, camera, and
light information as a
scene state (page 3–519)
thatcanbesavedandrestoredatwill.
• Autodesk Revit® 7 interoperabilit y: Autodesk
Revit users can now create hig h-quality images
of their models with 3ds Max by importing or
linking a Revit model via the DWG format, and
having the scene objects correspond directly
to individual Revit objects. See
Working w ith
Draw ing Files (page 3–425)
.
•
A utodesk Inventor® interoperability (page
3–553)
: Access the Inventor file option directly
within the Import function.
•
DWF export (page 3–556) : Convey ideas and
share designs by exporting 3D models from
3ds Max for viewing with Autodesk DWF
Viewer and Autodesk DWF Composer.