• Setting up 3Ds Max

    You’ll be up and running in no time!

Customizing the user interface

Follow these steps to set up your preferences, workspace and modifier set, then save them out for use in the future.
MAX SETUP

Install 3Ds Max as per installation instructions
Once Max & Vray are installed:
Customize > custom UI & defaults switcher >
initial settings for tool options: Max.vray
UI Scheme:ame-dark.Restart Max. VERY IMPORTANT!

MAX SETUP

Install 3Ds Max as per installation instructions
Once Max & Vray are installed:
Customize > custom UI & defaults switcher >
initial settings for tool options: Max.vray
UI Scheme:ame-dark.Restart Max. VERY IMPORTANT!

SET SYSTEM UNITS

Customise > Units set up / System Unit setup: Meters.
Display Unit Scale: Metric. Meters, or mm if you like, Avoid using mm as your system unit, it can cause rounding and display errors. cm is probably the best compromise. Furniture models are commonly modeled in cm.

SET SYSTEM UNITS

Customise > Units set up / System Unit setup: Meters.
Display Unit Scale: Meters, or mm if you like, Avoid using mm as your system unit, it can cause rounding and display errors. cm is probably the best compromise. Furniture models are commonly modeled in cm.

PREFERENCES

Customise > Preferences
General
Leave ‘Scene Undo’ at 20, a good compromise. (Too many can lead to Max crashing)
‘Scene Selection’, tick Auto Window crossing: Right>Left
Files:
Number of Autobak files: 10
Backup Interval (minutes): 20-25 mins
To save hard drive space you can choose compress on save.

GAMMA AND LUT

Tick Enable Gamma/LUT correction
Gamma: 2.2
Materials and Colors:
Don’t tick Affect Colour Selector.
Tick Affect Material Editor.
Input Gamma: 2.2
Output Gamma: 2.2 (this does not exist any more)
MAXScript:
Memory
Initial heap allocation (MBytes): 1000 (Helps FBX import from Revit)

PREFERENCES

Customise > Preferences
General
Leave ‘Scene Undo’ at 20, a good compromise. (Too many can lead to Max crashing)
‘Scene Selection’, tick Auto Window crossing: Right>Left
Files:
Number of Autobak files: 10
Backup Interval (minutes): 20-25 mins
To save hard drive space you can choose compress on save.

GAMMA AND LUT

Tick Enable Gamma/LUT correction
Gamma: 2.2
Materials and Colors:
Don’t tick Affect Colour Selector.
Tick Affect Material Editor.
Input Gamma: 2.2
Output Gamma: 2.2 (this does not exist any more)
MAXScript:
Memory
Initial heap allocation (MBytes): 1000 (Helps FBX import from Revit)

CONFIGURE MODIFIER SETS

Customise > Preferences
Click on Modifiers tab (blue arch)
Configure modifier sets (icon on bottom right of window):
Tick Show Buttons
Click ‘Configure modifier sets’ at top of list
You can then drag and drop any modifier from the list – A quick way of applying your most commonly used modifiers.

My favourites:
Edit mesh
Edit poly
Edit spline
UVW map
Sweep
Extrude
Shell
Push
Vray displacement
Slice
Symmetry
Quad Chamfer
Smooth
CONFIGURE MODIFIER SETS

Customise > Preferences
Click on Modifiers tab (blue arch)
Configure modifier sets (icon on bottom right of window):
Tick Show Buttons
Click ‘Configure modifier sets’ at top of list
You can then drag and drop any modifier from the list – A quick way of applying your most commonly used modifiers.

My favourites:
Edit mesh
Edit poly
Edit spline
UVW map
Sweep
Extrude
Shell
Push
Vray displacement mod
Slice
Symmetry
Quad Chamfer
Smooth
SAVE CUSTOM UI

Customize > Save UI > Create a folder on your server called ‘Custom UI’. Add your name and max version to the file name, ie Tim_Max 2014.UI

SAVE CUSTOM UI

Customize > Save UI > Create a folder on your server called ‘Custom UI’. Add your name and max version to the file name, ie Tim_Max 2014.UI

Scripts

Scripts are utilities and tools people have written to make tasks faster and easier. For instance, ‘Object dropper’ will drop your objects to a ground plane, ‘Relink bitmaps’ will greatly speed up the monotonous task of pathing missing assets.
INSTALLING SCRIPTS

Close Max if it’s open.
Create a ‘Scripts’ folder in your 3D drive.
Go to neilblevins.com
Download Soulburnscripts by Neil Blevins.
Unzip. You should have a few folders:
MacroScripts, scripts, UI_In.
Copy the folders, then paste into your max ‘root’ directory.
c:\program files\autodesk\3dsmax2014\
Windows will ask if you want to merge folders, say yes.

My favourites:
Scripts lister UI
Transform randomiser UI
Bitmap Collector UI
Find Instances UI
Make Objects Unique UI
Material ID Randomizer UI
Object Detacher UI
Object Dropper UI
Object Painter UI
Object Replacer UI
Put Pivot UI
INSTALLING SCRIPTS

Close Max if it’s open.
Create a ‘Scripts’ folder in your 3D drive.
Go to neilblevins.com
Download Soulburnscripts by Neil Blevins.
Unzip. You should have a few folders:
MacroScripts, scripts, UI_In.
Copy the folders, then paste into your max ‘root’ directory.
c:\program files\autodesk\3dsmax2014\
Windows will ask if you want to merge folders, say yes.

My favourites:
Scripts lister UI
Transform randomiser UI
Bitmap Collector UI
Find Instances UI
Make Objects Unique UI
Material ID Randomizer UI
Object Detacher UI
Object Dropper UI
Object Painter UI
Object Replacer UI
Put Pivot UI

SAVE TOOLBAR

Customize > Customise user interface
Toolbars Tab
Select your toolbar from the drop down list
save as .cuix
This is actually included in the save custom UI, but there is no option to save or load independently. Sometimes it is helpful just to load a toolbar, so it won’t affect your other UI set up.

SAVE TOOLBAR

Customize > Customise user interface
Toolbars Tab
Select your toolbar from the drop down list
save as .cuix
This is actually included in the save custom UI, but there is no option to save or load independently. Sometimes it is helpful just to load a toolbar, so it won’t affect your other UI set up.

  • Vray

    Quick setup render settings

    Settings to use for both draft and high quality renders. What to change and why.

    FIND OUT HOW

  • Vray & 3Ds Max

    Troubleshooting

    No matter how experienced you are in the world of 3D, sometimes things just go wrong… This oughta help though!

    FIND OUT HOW