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CHAPTER 1 GettinG to Know 3ds Max desiGn 2010
Consider a Dual-Screen System
In 3ds Max and many other graphics programs, screen space is always at a premium. You can use
a two-monitor system to help unclutter your screen. Simply move items such as floating toolbars,
the Material Editor, Curve Editor, Rendered Frame Window, and so forth to the second monitor,
freeing up as much screen real estate as possible.
Layers are like overlays that help you organize the objects in your model. If you are an
AutoCAD or Adobe Photoshop user, you should have an idea of how layers work. You’ll learn
more about layers in Chapter 6, “Organizing and Editing Objects.”
Render shortcuts contain predefined render settings, such as resolution and output file type,
that are used to create content from your 3ds Max scenes. The Render Shortcuts toolbar is where
you will find the tools for saving and storing your preset values. You’ll learn about rendering in
Chapters 9 through 13.
Snaps are features that control where the cursor jumps to, adding a degree of precision to
your scene, when the cursor is near a characteristic in the scene. Using snaps, you can eas-
ily move the corner of one object to the midpoint of another or nearly any other characteristic
combination.
Objects are frequently transformed (moved, rotated, or scaled) along a particular axis, or
direction, relative to the object or the scene. This functionality is usually utilized through the
Transform gizmo, an onscreen tool used to facilitate the transforms. The Axis Constraints tool-
bar also contains these tools.
The Extras toolbar contains tools that don’t fit cleanly into other categories. With the
AutoGrid button, you can turn on a creation grid relative to the surface of any object in the
scene. You can also create an array (numerous, precisely placed clones) of objects in matrices,
along a path or at equal intervals.
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