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Additional Notes About 3ds max® 7

This file contains the latest information regarding 3ds max 7. For continuously updated
information on all Discreet® products, visit our website at:

http://www.discreet.com/

Installing, registering and activating 3ds max 7


• 3ds max 7 displays the Register Today wizard upon startup. Choose “Activate the
product” and the wizard guides you through the brief registration and activation process.
If you choose Run the Product, you will have 30 days to enter a valid activation code
before the software disables itself on that machine.

• Before a user with Restricted Privileges can run 3ds max 7 under the Windows®
operating system, an Administrator must start the program at least once. This generates
registry information, which completes the install.

• When you uninstall 3ds max 7, your configuration files will remain in the \3dsmax7 folder.
These include your custom UI and plugin.ini file, which can contain 3rd-party plugin
authorization information. You can reinstall 3ds max 7 to this folder at a later date, and
your settings will persist. If you do not want your settings to persist, install into a different
folder.

• After installing backburner to a new folder using the stand alone installer, the old
backburner 2 folder will not be removed. The folder can be safely removed manually.

• The Repair feature only supports files that have internal file versioning that it can use to
track the files. There are certain file types and partner programs in 3ds max 7 that do not
provide this information. If the Repair function does not successfully resolve the issues
you are experiencing, try uninstalling and then re-installing the feature or partner
program.

• Parking the license on another system in order to rebuild the main system will not work
as described in the Installation Guide. In order to successfully retain the license, you
should do the following:

1. Shut down 3ds max 7 and do not run it again until the end of this process.
2. Copy the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application
Data\Macrovision\SafeCast\Product Licenses folder to another system or to a floppy
disk. It is recommended that if you use a floppy disk, you make two copies. If for any
reason you need to run 3ds max 7 after this point, you will need to restart the
process from Step 1.
3. Proceed with system rebuild.
4. Once the rebuild has completed, reinstall 3ds max 7 and any needed updates.
Note: Don’t run 3ds max after having installed.
5. Restore the copy of the license folder to the C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\Macrovision\SafeCast\Product Licenses\ folder.
6. Reboot the system.

You should now be able to run 3ds max 7 with no loss of license. If the license should
break, try simply re-registering via the web connection. In many cases this will repair the
license.
Network License Versions
• Network licensing enables 3ds max (v4.3 and later) software to obtain authorization from
a network license server. Before activating the network license server, you must upgrade
to or purchase the network-enabled version of 3ds max.

For license manager details, please refer to the Network Licensing Guide which is
available by selecting the Documentation panel or the Network Deployment panel from
the product installation menu (setup.exe in the root of your Product CD).

• The 3ds max 7 installation program no longer creates a license file in the application root
directory. The installer has been improved to merge license server information directly
into the registry. Should you still desire to manually direct 3ds max 7 to a different license
server using the license file method, you can create a licpath.lic file using Notepad,
containing the following two lines:

SERVER hostname hostid


USE_SERVER

where hostname and hostid are the machine name and physical address of the license
server, respectively. This information can be obtained from your system administrator.

• The license borrowing utility for 3ds max 7 is found only in the Help menu.
Documentation states that it is available from the Tools pull down and command line.
Notes About 3ds max 7 Features
ACTIVESHADE
• Using Raytrace materials can cause the ActiveShade window to lose focus, activating the
main UI keyboard shortcuts. Click the ActiveShade window to reactivate ActiveShade
keyboard shortcuts.

ASSET BROWSER
• Scene XRef drag and drop of files with scripts that depend on explicit scene object
references can cause unpredictable results or program failure.

BONES
• Bones creation behavior can be unpredictable when using Snap Override. When you use
SHIFT+right-click to invoke Snap Override, the Bones system interprets this as a left-click
and places a bone in the scene.

• The Macro Recorder does not support Bones creation. However, you can manipulate the
bones with the Macro Recorder after creating them.

• When Reassign Root is used, it deletes and recreates new bones. Any animated
parameters, controller setups and custom bone settings are lost, including IK chain
assignments. You should use this tool before making any adjustments or IK assignments
to your bones.

• Negatively scaled bones can be set to unity with the Reset Scale button in Object
Properties rollout of the Bone Adjustment Tools dialog. In tandem with the Reset Stretch
and Realign buttons, it is now easy to create symmetrical bone chains free of scaling and
stretch problems.

• The Stretch Factor for the selected bone is now displayed in the Object Properties rollout
of the Bone Adjustment Tools dialog.

BOOLEANS
• Edges created during a Boolean operation involving compound (nested) Booleans might
be visible when they should be invisible. This affects only viewport display modes that
display visible edges, such as Wireframe, Lit Wireframes and Edged Faces. These edges
can be made invisible through mesh editing.

CAMERA MAP TEXTURE


• Per Pixel Camera Map should only allow lights or cameras to be selected but does not
correctly filter the available selection. Please use only lights or cameras.

CAMERAS
• Changing a Camera Corrected view to a User or Perspective view causes the view to
display distorted geometry. Changing to any other axonometric view will correct this.

CHARACTERS
• Use of the Unlink Selection tool on objects that are contained in Characters can produce
unexpected results. Instead, use the specific tools provided for adding and removing
objects from Characters.

• Objects with animated TCB Rotation controllers can shift position when a containing
character is destroyed. To avoid this, use Euler rotation controllers instead.
• Pick Object must be used to add characters to groups. Adding groups to a character by
selecting from the viewport is not supported.

• In some instances, the Character Error dialog can appear with no nodes listed. If this
occurs, try reselecting or selecting part of your hierarchy and then using Add Member to
add more objects to your character.

• Before entering the Skin Pose mode for a character or group, it is advised to first set keys
for all the members. The easiest way to do this is to click Set Key Pose.

CLONE AND ALIGN


• In 3ds max, some tools flip the sign of the scale of the objects they operate on. This is
not always apparent to the user. If you use Clone and Align to align an object to another
whose scale has been flipped, you might get unexpected positioning and orientation.
Choose to also Match Scale to correct the discrepancy. (Example: the Mirror tool applies
a negative scale to at least one axis of the object it is used on. In Clone and Align, select
Match Scale to achieve the desired results with such objects.)

COMBUSTION MAPS
• combustion needs to be installed on your system in order to view CWS files. It should
also be installed on all network-rendering servers if you are going to net-render a scene
that contains CWS files. combustion does not need to be authorized to process CWS
files used within 3ds max net-rendering servers, but does need to be present.

• CWS files that were created as “rub-throughs” won’t display unless combustion is
installed on your computer.

• In the Combustion Parameters rollout when Track Time or Custom Resolution > Enable
is turned on, viewport selections are not highlighted.

• If you are using a Combustion map with a Displace modifier or as a projector light map,
the scene will not render correctly while a live link exists between 3ds max and
combustion. To render correctly, save the loaded workspace file, and then turn off the
Edit button to terminate the link between 3ds max and combustion.

• Using the Combustion map (within 3ds max 7) with combustion and attempting to
change the UV Coordinates while Unwrap is selected and the Unwrap operation is visible
in combustion, you might experience a disconnection error in 3ds max. To correct this,
verify that all your UV settings are in place before you attempt to edit your map within
combustion. The disconnection alert only appears when you have an object selected in
your scene, so if you deselect your object and change the Unwrap UV channels, no
disconnection alert should appear.

• The UV Offset values in the Coordinates rollout of the combustion map are not honored
when painting directly on the object in 3ds max 7. To offset the UVW Coordinates of the
combustion map, apply a UVW Map modifier and a UVW XForm modifier.

• You will have to save the workspace in combustion for every render in 3ds max. Save
the combustion workspace and load it using the Project button.

• The latest changes in combustion are getting displayed in the sample slots of the
material editor but not in 3ds max renderings. You will have to save the workspace in
combustion and render again in 3ds max.
• In the Combustion Parameters rollout, when the Edit button is Enabled, combustion
launches and prompts to create a new workspace. You must close this dialog, or 3ds
max will not respond.

COMPOUND OBJECTS
• When the Use Soft Selection check box is turned on in the Blobmesh compound object,
objects that do not have their own Use Soft Selection turned on will not generate a
blobmesh surface. To correct this, enter the object’s sub-object mode, turn on the Use
Soft Selection check box, and then exit the sub-object mode. A similar effect can be
achieved using a Select modifier or by adding a Turn To modifier and turning on Invert in
the Subobjects Selection group.

CONTROLLERS
• SHIFT+cloning path-constrained objects might not position copies properly. Creating
clones of a path-constrained object using the SHIFT+Move technique will not evenly
space each clone from its previous sibling.

• There is currently no action item for the Gimbal coordinate system.

• If an older scene containing a Local Euler controller is loaded into 3ds max 7, it will be
changed to an Euler XYZ. The animation data and resulting animation will be precisely
the same.

• NURBS Point controllers should be individually reassigned from the Surface sub-object
level rather than at the Master Controller level in Track View in order to see their effect.

• Master Point controllers are compound controllers and depend on sub-controllers and
their structure; therefore, you cannot cut and paste Master Point controllers.

• Setting a motion track's input type to None after it was assigned to another type, such as
Mouse or Keyboard, and then using Undo can cause program failure.

CUSTOM ATTRIBUTES
• Loading into 3ds max 7 a 3ds max 5.x file with missing plugins (stand-ins) that had
stored custom attribute information can lead to program instability. Loading into 3ds max
7 a 3ds max 5.x file that contains custom attributes can lead to instability if missing
plugin stand-ins are created upon load. It is recommended that you save the file in 3ds
max 5.x without the missing plugins, open it in 3ds max 7 and then save it before
proceeding.

DAYLIGHT (IES SUN & SKY)


• The positioning controller of the Daylight system does not exactly correspond to the one
described by the “IES RP-21 Calculation of Daylight Availability” standard, thus resulting
in slight intensity variations at certain times and locations.

DEPTH OF FIELD
• The use of atmospheric effects with the Depth Of Field rendering effect is currently not
supported.

DOPE SHEET EDITOR


• Performance can degrade when moving or coping keys for objects requiring intensive re-
calculations based on previous keys (for example HD IK.).

DISPLAY
• Using max in D3D mode disables the Use Dual Planes check box for OpenGL and
Software display modes. To re-enable Dual Planes support, go to Customize >
Preferences > Viewports Tab > Viewport Parameters section and choose Use Dual
Planes. The default value for OpenGL and SZB is to Use Dual Planes.

• DX Display of Standard Material is supported only when running max in DirectX 9 mode.

• The Direct3D Metal Bump viewport shader only supports DDS files as cube maps.

• The Wave, Ripple, Bomb, Drag, and UDynaFlect space warps will display with incorrect
coloring under Direct3D.

• Some video cards might display only half the lines on wireframe objects. To fix this, turn
off the toggle Use Wireframe Faces (Custom Driver Extension) on the Configure OpenGL
dialog, located under Customize > Preferences > Viewports panel.

• Running 3ds max 7 under Direct3D with Microsoft NetMeeting® can cause display
problems or product instability.

• Direct3D does not support two-sided display for materials.

• “Best” and “Simple” viewport transparency modes are the same for all D3D display
drivers.

• DirectX viewports might become unresponsive after Windows standby, running a screen
saver, fast-user switching or locking the system.

• Changing the DirectX Manager’s shader drop-down will cause the viewport to temporarily
display the first frame on an animated scene.

• Users of the nVidia Quadro4 XGL display cards might see window flashing as the
TrackView window opens. If this occurs, disable the nView Desktop Manager using the
NVIDIA Media Center. Choose nView Desktop Manager > Disable.

• Switching between vertex color, alpha, and illumination using Properties in Editable Poly
when the display mode is Direct3D can cause the colors to garble or not change. In this
instance, refreshing the viewport or entering or exiting the Editable Poly's sub-object
mode should force a refresh.

• Direct3D viewports can become unresponsive after minimizing and maximizing when a
viewport background is displayed. If this occurs, please save your file and restart 3ds
max.

• Starting Windows XP with the /3GB option reduces the amount of kernel address space
to 1GB. Sometimes the kernel might need more space for DirectX or system drivers,
resulting in cached mesh corruption or sluggish DirectX performance. See Microsoft
support for tuning information. If you are using the /3GB switch and have this problem,
use "/USERVA=2800" (or 2700 etc.) (MB for this argument) to limit the USER Virtual
Address space to less than 3GB. This allows more space for the operating system kernel
if it is needed. This option is placed in the boot.ini file just after the "/3GB" option.

• DirectX Shaders are displayed incorrectly for objects that have been mirrored on one axis
with the Mirror tool. This does not occur for objects mirrored with the Mirror or Symmetry
modifiers.
• The DirectX viewport shader sample, colortest.fx, does not display correctly.

• The Metal Bump DirectX plugin will overwrite the currently assigned Metal Bump
Cubemap when using 'Pick object and create' to create a new cubemap.

DIRECTX DISPLAY OF STANDARD MATERIAL


• DirectX Display of Standard Material does not work with Skylights.

• DirectX Display of Standard Material does not ignore lights that are turned off in a scene.
Because DirectX shader complexity increases with each scene light and to avoid running
out of video memory or exceeding shader length, we recommend minimizing the number
of scene lights when viewing DirectX Display of Standard Material.

• DirectX Display of Standard Material will not show screen-mapped NormalBump maps in
the viewport.

• Canceling the creation of some light types when viewing DirectX Display of Standard
Material can cause a crash.

DIRECTX 9 SHADER MATERIAL


• DirectX 9 Shader materials can be inverted when applied to mirrored objects.

• In a multi/sub-object material, the color swatches for a DirectX 9 Shader material cannot
be set from the top level. To change the color, go into the DX9 Shader material and
adjust the Shaded color in the Software Render Style rollout.

• Multi/Sub-object materials can display incorrectly in the viewport when a DirectX 9


Shader material occupies the first slot.

DYNAMICS UTILITY
• The Dynamics utility is included within 3ds max 7 for legacy files only. For superior
results, use reactor™ for any dynamics simulations. The Dynamics utility will not be
supported in future versions of 3ds max.

EDITABLE MESH
• 3ds max 3.x files having a stack where an Edit Mesh modifier containing sub-object
collapses is above a MeshSmooth modifier, might load into 3ds max 7 with missing faces
and distorted geometry. To correct this, load the scene in 3ds max 3.1 and collapse the
object to the highest MeshSmooth level in the stack (that's under the Edit Mesh modifier
with sub-object collapses), save that file and then re-open it in 3ds max 7.

• Do not try to set Weights on vertices in an Editable Mesh. If you need to do so on a mesh
object, use an Edit Mesh modifier.

EDITABLE POLY & POLYMESH OBJECT


• If an Editable Mesh has face normals flipped in a nonuniform manner, converting it to an
Editable Poly can cause problems. The conversion process attempts to divide the object
into elements to keep a legal condition. The division method might be unpredictable and
will probably be based on how many vertices are shared between flipped and non-flipped
faces. Unifying the normals before conversion is recommended. Or, you can detach the
flipped faces as elements before conversion, and the elements will be respected by the
Editable Poly conversion. This ensures a more orderly and predictable conversion.

• Interior patch edges that are not displayed will always appear as visible edges after
converting to a polymesh.
• When in an edit mode such as Attach or Edit Triangulation, undoing a Stackview Convert
To Editable Poly while the Modify Panel is displayed and must be scrolled can result in
program failure.

EDIT POLY MODIFIER


• Named Selections are not currently saved with the Edit Poly modifier.

• Drag and drop of materials from the Material Editor to sub-objects in the Edit Poly
modifier to create multi sub-object materials is not currently supported.

• Using Paint Soft Selection or Paint Deform while the animation is playing is not supported
and can lead to instability.

• Use of the Repeat Last command with Paint Deform can cause instability and is not
recommended.

• Modifying the underlying topology of an Edit Poly modifier, and then attempting to Paint
Deform a model can lead to an application error. It is highly suggested that you apply
topology changes above the Edit Poly modifier or Editable Poly object, and then apply a
new Edit Poly before attempting to Paint Deform the model.

• Using the shift+x shortcut to enter the Edge constraint mode of the Edit Poly modifier will
activate the mode properly, but the change will not be reflected in the Constraint drop-
down list.

• The Edit Poly modifier stores a history of operations made within the modifier which can
in some instances result in very large file sizes. It is recommended that you collapse your
stack on occasion to reduce file size, or check the Compress On Save check box in the
Preference Settings dialog, Files panel.

FILE I/O
• 3DS files created by the Rhino product (from Robert McNeel & Associates) can cause
instability when imported into 3ds max. If an assert error dialog is encountered, using
Retry might result in a successful import, but this might cause your session to destabilize.

• 3ds max 7 can import the text-based (ASCII) Wavefront formats OBJ and MTL. An OBJ
file contains geometry descriptions. A MTL file is also text based, and contains material
descriptions that supplement the OBJ file.

FILE MENU
• 3ds max 7 files are not backward-compatible with previous versions of 3ds max and will
not load in earlier versions.

FLEX
• Flex single-frame rendering can take a substantial amount of time. When a scene
containing Flex is rendered at a point in time far away from the Flex reference frame, the
modifier must calculate the solution for all flexed points from the reference frame to the
current frame. During single-frame tests or net rendering, this could contribute to a
significant delay in overall rendering time. To correct this, add a Point Cache modifier
above Flex and record the flexed point data to disk. Then, disable all modifiers below
Flex before you render.

GROUPS
• Grouped objects that have animated TCB Rotation controllers can shift position when the
object is removed from the group. To avoid this effect, use Euler rotation controllers
instead.

• Use of the Unlink Selection tool on objects that are contained in Groups can produce
unexpected results. Instead use the specific tools provided for Attaching and Detaching
objects from Groups.

HELP: REFERENCE & TUTORIALS


•In the topic “Reaction Manager Dialog”, the procedure is revised as follows:

Move the first part of step 23 to the start of step 22. Step 22 should read:

22. In the Reactions (upper) list, click the Box01 / X Position entry to highlight it, and
then move the box about −50 units on the X axis, to about X=−100.

Also, the button image from the start of step 22 belongs in step 23. Step 23 should read:

23. [Create State button image] Click Create State.

Finally, the first part of step 29 is unnecessary. Step 29 should read:

29. Click Create State.

• License Borrowing Utility: The 3ds max 7 license borrowing utility was originally built
for AutoCAD and is described in terms of that product in the help system. 3ds max 7
users should replace AutoCAD references with the 3ds max equivalent as needed. For
example, if the help system refers to AutoCAD 2005 program folders, you should use the
3ds max 7 folder.

• Information on the Water Surface Shadow shader was not included in the lume help
content (lume_shaders.chm). Below is some information that may help describe its use:

Water Surface Shadow: The lume Water Surface Shadow shader can be used to get a
more realistic shadow for water scenes, as it does not require expensive caustic
computations. Nevertheless, the strength of the shadow depends on the waves of a
water surface.

The parameters of Water Surface Shadow are identical to those for Water Surface. For
more information, see the lume documentation for Water Surface.

A typical use is to assign Water Surface to the Surface slot of a material, and then Water
Surface Shadow to the Shadow slot of the same material. To get good and fast
results, use a constant color for the Surface Material of the Water Surface Shadow
shader.
• There is an undocumented Pose To Pose check box on the Rotation List Controller
rollout. When a Rotation List Controller is assigned to an object, the Average
Weights control is replaced with a Pose To Pose toggle.
If Pose To Pose is off, the list controller weights each rotation individually and adds up
the weighted rotations for the final effect. You animate by stacking layers on top of layers,
and then weighting their effect in and out. This is the default behavior.

If Pose To Pose is turned on, then each pose is blended with the results from the
previous items in the list. This method is not additive, but instead is true pose-to-pose
blending. Adjusting the weight of an item in the list blends to and from that pose (that
controller in the list). If the last weight is 1.0, then adjusting the weights of previous poses
in the list won't have any effect, because the last pose has full effect. This is a stack-
based approach that is best used for nonlinear effects. Motion clips or even single-frame
poses can be pasted onto new layers, and the weights can be used to blend the poses
together.

• The topic "3ds max Materials in mental ray Renderings" says that the Shell material is not
supported by the mental ray renderer. As of 3ds max 7, mental ray does support the
Shell material and Render To Texture.

• The topic "Caustics and Global Illumination Rollout (mental ray Renderer)" states that the
default value for the Global Energy Multiplier is 1000.0. In 3ds max 7, the default value
has changed to 1.0.

• In the text of the topics Lights & Cameras > Lights > Rollouts for Specific Shadow Types
> "Advanced Ray-Traced Parameters Rollout" and "Area Shadows Rollout," text that
refers to "Pass 1 Quality" should read "Shadow Integrity," and text that refers to "Pass 2
Quality" should read "Shadow Quality."

HOTKEYS
• If Flash v5 or lower is installed on your computer, the text in the Hot Key Map will not
display properly. Just go to www.macromedia.com and download/install the latest free
version of the Flash player (v7).

• Prior to loading a KBD file from a previous version of 3ds max, manually remove the E
from the Edit Keys Mode action entry (under Track View group).

HSDS
• Using HSDS on a mapped object breaks vertices and can distort the texture. This is a
limitation, as there is no provision for more than one texture vertex per vertex. To work
around the problem, texture the output of HSDS instead of the input.

INI FILES
• Before editing 3dsmax.ini, or any other INI file, it is advised that you save a copy for
backup. You can restore your 3dsmax.ini to factory defaults by removing it from the root \
3dsmax7 folder and starting 3ds max.

INVERSE KINEMATICS
• There can be instances where no warning will be displayed for an invalid IK dependency
loop. It is possible to create such a loop (with hierarchy links, controllers, or parameter
wiring) that creates an unpredictable IK solution. The incorrect results are generally
immediately evident and usually undoable.

• Setting rotational joint limits on HI IK start joints might lead to unintuitive IK behavior. To
correct this, free up as many degrees (axes) of rotational freedom as possible. It can also
help to adjust the preferred angles of the start joint.

• Conflicts can occur when you have an HI IK chain and use Assign Vertex Colors on the
bones that make up that chain. This conflict can cause subsequent file load problems. To
correct, either collapse the stack after using the Assign Vertex Colors utility, or add a
VertexPaint or STL Check modifier to the top of the stack.

• For HI IK, no MAXScript or parameter wiring is available for the Enabled state. This is as
designed, as the Enabled state is controlled by the new Boolean controller, which can be
copied and instanced.

JSR-184
• The exporter complies with the JSR-184 Specification, and many 3ds max 7 features
such as particles, procedural tools, procedural textures, and others are not supported.

• Biped and other character studio features are not supported.

• IK is not supported. Bones for export should use FK.

• Render To Texture (RTT) is not supported.

• All animation controllers should be collapsed before exporting.

• An Active Camera must be defined to view exported M3G files in the JSR-184 player.

• There are currently issues with alpha channel support.

LAYERS
• When a layer’s Shaded Viewport Display is used, it will be set to Facet if the viewport
itself is displayed in non-Smooth mode. Once the viewport is set to Smooth + Highlights
by right-clicking the viewport label, this will change the layer’s default Facet display to
Smooth.

LENS EFFECTS
• A glow of small size doesn't appear to work when rendering to fields. To correct this,
increase the size of the glow before rendering.

• Glow, on an Environment map, using Effects ID, will not work if Antialiasing is on.

• Resetting 3ds max while the Video Post Lens Effects Setup dialog is displayed is not
recommended.

MACRO RECORDER
• Not all features are macro-recordable.

MANIPULATORS
• Changing V Tiling coordinates of a UMV Map to a negative value when Manipulator is
enabled can cause program instability (nVidia card using Software-Z Buffer).

MAP CHANNEL
• When using the Map Channel Utility with patch objects, pasting channels can result in
channel names being lost, so name your channels after you've completed your copying
and pasting.

MATERIAL EDITOR
• When a Noise map has been added to a material, the first launch of the Material Editor,
in a 3ds max 7 session, may be delayed. Subsequent launches of the Material Editor in
the same session will not be delayed.

• Blur and Blur Offset controls are enabled for all 3D maps, but can be used only with
antialiased 3D maps such as Noise.

• When working on a material at the level of an instanced map, the Make Unique button
can unexpectedly delete the current material. Be sure to have the material assigned to
an object in the scene before using Make Unique on the map so that you can later Get
Material to get the material from the scene. Alternately, you can drag and drop the
original map again into the current map as a copy rather than an instance.

• Installing Microsoft® Access after installing 3ds max 7 results in the MAT file type being
reassigned as an Access table file and not a 3ds max materials library file. To correct,
use Windows Explorer > View > File Types to reference the file type back to 3ds max 7.

• Use of recursive IFL files is not supported.

• The startup default material library file has been moved to the \3dsmax7\defaults\max
directory. You will need to save it there in order for it to be used on startup.

• Depending on how duplicate texture maps were created in the scene, there can be
instability associated with running the Instance Duplicate Map utility when Show Map In
Viewport is on for those maps. If this instability is encountered, deactivate all maps before
running the utility using the toggle in the Views menu. The maps can then be safely
activated again with the same toggle.

• Right-clicking a material slot and selecting Cut or Clear will not properly clear the material
sample slot. Cut will correctly allow pasting to another slot, but it does not correctly
remove the original as would be expected in a Cut operation.

MENTAL RAY: GENERAL


• Subsurface Scattering (SSS) Materials are not supported when used as a sub-material;
for example, as a sub-material in Multi/Sub-Object, Blend, or Composite in this release.

• Raytracing 2-sided shadows is not currently supported by mental ray.

• The "Render Atmospherics inside Raytraced Objects" flag within the Raytrace material is
currently unsupported.

• When scenes require more than 300 MB to render, it is suggested you use "place
holders". This enables "data flushing" of everything that can be recreated later on,
thereby maximizing disk space usage. For example, the "large BSP" can be partially
flushed and recreated as other areas of the scene get rendered.

Here's some information that should be considered when ray-tracing large files:

instancing flushing
grid yes no
large BSP no yes
BSP no no

• When creating large files for rendering with mental ray, especially ones using Final
Gather, save your work before rendering. Canceling such a render could create a long
wait time.

• mental ray does not support antialiasing specified in the Material Editor.

• The Reflect/Refract, Thin Wall Refraction, and Flat Mirror maps cause standard
raytracing to be performed with mental ray. Therefore, these maps aren’t fully supported
in this release.
• Materials generated by 3rd-party plug-ins are not supported in mental ray and can cause
instability.

• It is advised not to use Material To Shader in the 3ds max environment slot. This shader
usually needs to be placed on geometry in order to be evaluated.

• mental ray does not support the Render Map feature in the Material Editor.

• Sample spheres in the Material Editor are off center and not fully visible in when using
6x4 Sample Windows.

• Very large displacement settings can cause 3ds max to become unstable. To avoid this
instability, reduce large factor values or change the displacement settings in the render
dialog.

• Scripting mental ray parameters is not supported in this release.

• Gizmos with atmospherics assigned should have a positive height value in order to
render correctly with mental ray.

• Scaling a gizmo being used for an atmospheric effect will, in turn scale the density of that
effect when rendering with the scanline renderer. mental ray does not perform this
scaling. For the renderers to match after scaling such a gizmo, the density of the
atmospheric effect (Fire, Volume Fog, and so on) must be subsequently increased or
decreased.

• Show Preview with mental ray Depth Of Field is not supported in this release.

• Rendering objects with coincident faces is not supported in mental ray. Depth Of Field
will not work correctly when rendering objects with coincident faces using the mental ray
renderer.

• Instability can result from using a camera target as a focal node with Depth Of Field and
the mental ray renderer. Instead use the scanline renderer for such situations.

• Pausing a rendering is not supported in this release.

• Rendering outside the Safe Frame area with mental ray can cause instability when using
Render Types (blowup, crop, and so on). To avoid this, render within the Safe Frame
area or turn off Safe Frame.

• Rendering XRefed Atmospherics is not supported by mental ray.

• Multi-Layer G-Buffers and RPF channels are not fully supported in this release.
Specifically, mental ray does not support the background, mask, weight, or transparency
channels. Also, mental ray will output only a single layer (the top one) of information for
all other channels.

• The Receive Shadows check box in Object Properties is not supported in this release of
mental ray.

• The Alpha render element is unsupported when rendering atmospherics with mental ray.
To work around this problem, render to an image type that contains its own alpha
channel.

• The Blend render element is unsupported when rendering atmospherics with mental ray.

• The Pseudo Color exposure control can render incorrectly with mental ray when used in
conjunction with atmospheric effects.

• The Visible To Camera check box in Object Properties is not supported.

• In some cases, very high-poly objects can cause instability during rendering due to
memory fragmentation. Workarounds include:

o Split large objects into smaller ones. Aim for minimal overlapping with the bounding
box of the new objects. A good general rule is 10K−100K triangles per object.

o Render using the Conserve Memory option.

o Render using mental ray from the command line.

• Video Post is not fully supported in this release, as it requires specific rendering modes
and options, not all of which are currently available in mental ray.

• Render Passes in mental ray ignores the Skip Existing Images toggle.

• Objects with a Look at Controller that are mapped with a Facade shader will not render
correctly.

• The Panorama Exporter utility uses only the default scanline renderer. However, the
Panorama Viewer can display panoramas created by the WrapAround lens filter.

• The mental ray Shadow Map shadow type does not support object Shadow Casting
exclusion.

• mental ray does not support every case of include/exclude lists for reflection and
refraction.

• mental ray can produce banding and unwanted shadows with Volume Light when the
Auto check box is turned on. Turning off the Auto check box and increasing the Sample
Volume % spinner value can correct this.

• Multiple overlapping light atmospheric effects can expose the edges of the volumes.
Using the same instance of the effect on all the lights should make them blend better.

• When rendering a series of pass files in mental ray for use in an animation sequence, file
names must end with a letter, not a number.

• When the Ink n Paint material is set to use displacement, smoothing group lines should
be disabled to avoid unexpected results.

• Motion blur with the mental ray renderer does not always follow curving trajectories.
Increasing the value of Motion Segments can help, but this works better for rotary motion
than for traveling motion.
• Rendering Archvision RPC objects is not supported with mental ray. All objects will
render gray.

• mental ray field-rendered Lens Effects will be not be in the correct location.

• Rendering with Bucket Widths less than 5 can cause system instability.

MENTAL RAY: DISTRIBUTED BUCKET RENDERING


• Subsurface Scattering (SSS) Materials are not supported with Distributed Bucket
Rendering (DBR) in this release.

• When adding a new host to a Distributed Bucket Rendering, close and re-start 3ds max
7 in order for the new host to be recognized.

• Using Remote Hosts Only with Distributed Bucket Rendering (DBR) is not supported in
this release.

• Contour shaders aren't supported with Distributed Bucket Rendering in this release.

• When rendering contours using Distributed Bucket Rendering or the command-line


renderer, the shader declaration will need to be edited manually in order for contours to
render correctly. This correction is needed if contours are enabled in the rendering
options. Below is an example of the edits that would be required; the actual shaders or
parameter values that are used depend on how they are set up in the scene.

contour store "contour_store_function" ()

contour contrast "contour_contrast_function_levels" (


"zdelta" 1000,
"ndelta" 20,
"diff_mat" on,
"diff_label" off,
"diff_index" off,
"contrast" off,
"min_level" 0,
"max_level" 1)

• Distributed Bucket Rendering does not support a shader assigned to the Dielectric (base)
shader's Absorption component. Rendering can cause 3ds max 7 to hang. If you assign
a shader to the Absorption component, render locally. (The Dielectric (base) shader is in
the mental images base shader library.)

MERGE ANIMATION
• Merge Animation no longer supports character studio Biped animation. character
studio features support the merging of Biped animation.

• When using Merge Animation at the sub-object level, the target object will first need to
have sub-object animation controllers assigned to its vertices. Merge Animation does not
automatically assign sub-controllers to vertices, CVs or control points. For example, when
merging FFD lattices, you must click Animate All before merging lattice control points.

• It is wise to make sure that the target object has a Vertex controller (Bezier Point 3 or
similar) assigned to every vertex in its mesh. There must be a one-to-one
correspondence between the animated vertices of the source nodes and the target nodes
in the scene to achieve predictable results.
• There is a known issue with Groups, which can cause Merge Animation to fail. This
sometimes occurs with objects that were once part of a Group but are no longer, leaving
a flag for Group membership incorrectly set on the object. One way to clear this flag is to
make these objects part of a character (then destroy the character, if desired).
Alternatively, in MAXScript this will clear the flag for selected objects:

for n in selection do ( setGroupMember n false )

• Merging MAX files that contain an XRef into the current scene is not advised.

• Merge Animation errors can be avoided by exiting and reopening the Merge Animation
dialog, between merges.

• The Save Mapping and Load Mapping functions will operate as expected only if the
object IDs in the scene and the source file are not changed in any way from session to
session. There is no guarantee that object ID to object name correspondence will be
preserved between Merge Animation sessions.

MESHSMOOTH
• Some meshsmoothed files using creasing might load into 3ds max 7 with faces that
appear to collapse to a point when smoothed. This can happen when some of the edge
creases have become slightly corrupt, which causes a problem in 3ds max 7 but not in
3ds max 5. To correct this, run this script in either 3ds max 5 or 3ds max 7 with the file
causing the error loaded.

mapped function FixEPolyCreaseErrors theNode =


(
local theObj = theNode.baseObject
if classof theObj == Editable_Poly do
(
if (polyOp.getEDataChannelSupport theObj 2) do -- crease data
(
format "processing node: %\n" theNode.name
local isNAN
local version = maxVersion()
if version[1] < 6000 then
Fn isNAN val = (classof val == float and val == 0 and val == 1)
else
Fn isNAN val = (classof val == float and val*0 != 0)
local nEdges = polyOp.getNumEdges theObj
local getEDataValue = polyOp.getEDataValue -- cache function value
local setEDataValue = polyOp.setEDataValue -- cache function value
local modified_edges = undefined
for i = 1 to nEdges do
(
local crease = getEDataValue theObj 2 i
if (isNAN crease) do
(
setEDataValue theObj 2 i 0.
if modified_edges == undefined do
modified_edges = #()
append modified_edges i
)
)
if modified_edges != undefined do
format "\tupdated edges: %\n" modified_edges

)
)
)
• When using Smoothness on a mesh that has had control-level editing, Smoothness will
smooth down to the highest level that has had control-level editing applied to it, or to the
currently active control level, whichever is higher.

• At this time, control-level editing in MeshSmooth should be considered a modeling tool


only. Having an animated deformer placed before a MeshSmoothed object that has had
control-level editing can result in the MeshSmoothed object becoming distorted. It's
recommended that deforming modifiers be placed after the MeshSmooth modifier in the
stack if you're using the deformers for animation. For best results, using a deforming
modifier before the MeshSmooth modifier in the stack, you'll need to limit your control-
level edits to moving vertices in their local Z axis.

• Using MeshSmooth with values of more than 10 iterations is not supported.

• When MeshSmooth is set to 0 iterations, a polygon conversion of the MeshSmoothed


object still occurs, and viewport performance is impacted. For optimal playback, set the
MeshSmooth modifier to be off in viewports, rather then setting iterations to 0.

MODIFIERS
• Using Path Deform and Stretch can leave remnants in the viewport. Press ` (reverse
accent) to refresh the display.

• A Helix object with Display Render Mesh on that uses an FFD modifier will no longer
appear in the viewport if an Edit Mesh modifier is added to the stack. To correct, convert
the Helix to an Editable Spline by either collapsing or adding an Edit Spline modifier
somewhere before Edit Mesh.

• The data resulting from the use of the Assign Vertex Colors utility is not baked into the
mesh, but into the Vertex Paint modifier itself. Thus, the data in the Vertex Paint modifier
can later be retargeted to a different channel. The results will be baked into the mesh
only when you collapse the stack.

• If a spline is chosen for beveling the edges of a shelled object, and the Bevel Edges
check box is checked, the edges of the shelled object will not update. Turning Bevel
Edges off and then on again will force an update.

• If the interpolation steps of a spline used for Bevel Edges is changed, the shelled object
will not update until a vertex is moved or until Bevel Edges is turned off and back on.

• In some instances, adding the Vertex Paint modifier to an editable mesh (or some other
poly conversion) will result in some shifting of vertex colors. This is usually a result of
having edited the vertex colors at the Face level instead of the Poly level. If this occurs,
try adding a Turn To Patch modifier between the Vertex Paint modifier and the editable
mesh. If that fails, enter the edge mode of the editable mesh and make all edges visible.

• Adding the Vertex Paint modifier to an empty object (one with no faces or vertices) or
deleting all the geometry below a Vertex Paint modifier can lead to program instability. At
least one face is needed for Vertex Paint to work.

• Collapsing the stack of a poly object or converting an object to an editable poly object will
not preserve normal information. All normal information is lost on collapse. Avoid
collapsing the stack if normals are needed for export or additional modification in the
stack. Because of this, the second Usage Note in the “Edit Normals Modifier” help topic is
no longer valid.

MORPHER
• Assigning a Morpher material will reset frame zero Morph Channel values to zero. To
avoid this, use Set Key to set nonzero Channel values at frame zero. The frame zero
value will appear to be reset, in this case, but scrubbing the time slider will then update
the frame zero value, as set previously.

• Windows98 or Windows ME can lose system resources (UI elements might no longer
display) when scrolling the Morpher Channel List, repeated interaction with Morpher
scene elements, or simultaneous use of 3ds max 7 with other applications that require
large amounts of resources. To resolve the problem save your file, exit, and restart 3ds
max 7, or close the other resource-intensive applications. If possible, avoid excessively
scrolling the Morpher UI when using these operating systems.

• When adding new targets to a progressive morph, target percents will be renormalized. If
target percents have been customized, it is recommended that you make a note of
current target percents before adding new targets.

MORPHER MATERIAL
• Copying a Morpher material to different Material Editor slots can cause unexpected
results, particularly if using Undo and Redo.

• The Morpher material requires associated geometry to work correctly with Set Key.

MOTION PANEL
• When a trajectory of an object is derived from a spline using the Convert From feature,
the Previous Key and Next Key buttons on the Key Info (Basic) rollout do not work unless
Time Display (in the Time Configuration dialog) is set to FRAMES:TICKS. This is
because the keys are created between frames.

MULTIRES
• Instanced MultiRes modifiers will display their Vertex Percentage values, and will hide
their Vertex Counts, when more than one object is selected.

• When using Set Key, remember that the MultiRes modifier detects any keys that are set
on object parameters as changes in the underlying object's mesh, and this can require
the MultiRes mesh to be regenerated.

NETWORK RENDERING & BACKBURNER


• Image Motion Blur will not yield correct results when using strip rendering.

• Split Scan Lines does not stitch the G-buffer information back into the file. As such, G-
buffer information is not output when using Split Scan Lines. This means that using Split
Scan Lines will not store RPF/ RLA data.

• Render servers can timeout loading the application after one minute if the manager
machine does not load the 3ds max 7 renderer plugin. This can occur for 3ds max 5, 5.1
and 6. It is recommended that you install 3ds max 7 on the manager machine. You can
also just copy the max.task file from the \3dsmax7 folder on another system into your
backburner folder. When the manager starts you should see: “loading 3ds max 7
renderer plugin.”

• Net-rendering scenes with DDS textures or with output to DDS files is not recommended
on heterogeneous render farms. This is due to DDS being a hardware-accelerated
format. As such, results will differ between video card model and driver combinations,
resulting in inconsistent renderings across frames.

• In the monitor, the task summary for an active job will not automatically update as frames
complete. This is designed to prevent performance problems with the monitor when many
frames are completed simultaneously. To refresh the task summary for a job, click the
Refresh button in the monitor.

• Using Render Effects on a Split Rendering can give unexpected results in the final image.
Specifically, the Lens Effect might be in the wrong place when using Render Region crop.
To correct this, set the render type to "View," and render again.

• If you are installing 3ds max 7 on a system that currently has 3ds max 5.x or 3ds max 6
installed (with Backburner 2.1 or 2.2), the 3ds max 7 installation program will silently
install Backburner 2.3 over your copy of Backburner 2.1/2.2. This is intended behavior
so that Backburner 2.3 can be used to control your network jobs for 3ds max 5.x, 3ds
max 6 and 3ds max 7(and combustion as well), along with providing support for
command-line rendering in 3ds max 7.

NORMAL MAPPING
• When using material id matching and mental ray, overlapping objects that have different
material IDs and share coplanar polygons can cause ray-miss errors where the polygons
overlap.

• For best results with Normal Mapping in Tangent space mode, you should have a well-
laid-out UV mapping for the low-res object. Avoid an excessive number of mapping
seams. If multiple faces overlap within the mapping (as with texture mirroring), this can
cause problems if one texture is rendered for both faces.

• Outputting the height map into the alpha of the normal map is currently not supported in
mental ray.

PARAMETER COLLECTOR
• Rollouts added to collections after the collection has been named but before it is
duplicated are lost when the duplicated collection is saved. To avoid this problem, follow
the specific sequence of steps: save the collection, duplicate it, name it, and then add
new rollouts and parameters. (Do not save a collection, add new rollouts and
parameters, duplicate it, and then name it.)

PARAMETER WIRING
• Wiring a parameter to values outside the constrained range of that parameter can cause
unpredictable results.

• Turning on Display Render Mesh after wiring a NURBS point curve can cause instability.
The workaround is to assign a Bezier float controller to the curve's Sides track and insert
a key. Values can then be changed, and Display Render Mesh can be used without
problems.

PARTICLE FLOW & PARTICLE SYSTEMS


• Using PArray with an Object-Based Emitter and Object Fragments where the emitter
object has no vertices on the Emit Start frame will cause instability, leading to an
application failure.

• When the source particle system of a Mesher compound object is set to Mesh Viewport
Display, it will not update properly in viewports. Use the Dots or Ticks Viewport Display
options with a Mesher compound object.

• SDynaFlect space warps do not solve properly in Dynamics simulations.

• All Seed settings in Particle Flow use the same default value: 12345. This means that, if
the default is not changed, the same randomization sequence will be applied to all
randomized values. For example, if scale and speed are both randomized using the
same seed value, then it's likely that all smaller particles will also be slower ones. For
fully random results, make sure all Seed values are different from each other.

• In situations where a scene has a particle system that references geometry objects (as
for collision detection), and those reference objects are also rendered, the scene might
not be able to render properly with the scanline renderer. Rendering these same objects
with mental ray doesn’t pose any problem. To work around the problem, hide all the
objects that a particle system references (directly or indirectly) before using the scanline
rendering. That includes all deflector geometries, objects used as emitters, and so on.

• The use of large fonts on your desktop and in 3ds max 7 can affect the precision of
Particle View operations. To prevent this, use a smaller or more standard font size.

PATCH OBJECTS
• SubComp copy/pasting is not supported in patches.

PERFORMANCE
• 3ds max 7 now includes a performance flag that when turned on can enhance the overall
performance of interactive manipulation of referenced objects (link, IK, ...). The flag
(DontRepeatRefMsg) can be found in the [Performance] section of the
CurrentDefaults.ini file. It defaults to on (1) for the 3ds max market defaults and to off (0)
for the Design Visualization defaults. Note: The performance enhancement can produce
instability when working with objects such as AEC Extended/Walls (VIZWalls). If you
encounter any problems turn off the flag in the CurrentDefaults.ini file
(DontRepeatRefMsg=0) and re-launch 3ds max 7.

PLUG-IN MANAGER
• Under Win98 and WinME, plug-ins that are currently loaded are marked as "Unloaded"
instead.

• The Load option for selected or tagged plug-ins loads a plug-in for the current 3ds max 7
session, but doesn't load for subsequent sessions.

• Plug-ins loaded using the script function "loadDllsFromDir" do not appear in the Plug-in
Manager.

POLY SELECT
• If you have multiple Poly Select modifiers in the stack, don't use Paint Soft selection in a
Poly Select modifier beneath another in the stack, as this can cause instability.

PROJECTION MODIFIER
• Do not add empty geometry (for example, objects with no polygons) to the Projection
modifier, as this can lead to instability.

• It is recommended that if you use Project Mapping with patches, you turn on the Create
New Holder check box to avoid potential instability.

• Project Mapping using patch objects as projection sources is not supported.


QUAD PATCH
• Performance is slow when creating Quad Patches with 100x100 segments.

RADIOSITY
• After processing radiosity, some maps might display incorrect colors in the viewport. To
fix this, make sure you turn on Show Map In Viewport for the parent material, not for the
map.

• Radiosity does not support light Include/Exclude lists.

• Coincident faces can cause artifacts with radiosity calculations. Splines using an Extrude
modifier with an Extrude Height of 0 and both Cap Start and Cap End turned on usually
produce coincidental faces. To correct this, turn one of the Cap options off, or make the
Extrude Height > 0.

• Objects excluded from radiosity will render black when using Re-Use Direct Illumination
From Radiosity Solution. If you want to avoid rendering Direct Illumination, you can Store
Direct Illumination for all lights and add lights that are excluded from radiosity.

• Opening previous 3ds max 4 scenes sets Compute Radiosity When Required to on by
default.

• Radiosity does not support Wireframe materials. Use the Lattice modifier or an Opacity
map to get the desired effect.

• In 3ds max 7, radiosity is computed based on the ambient color. If you have old files
where the ambient color is different or darker than the diffuse color, your scenes might
render unexpectedly. For predictable results, either lock the ambient and diffuse color or
at least to make them very similar. Autodesk® VIZ 4 uses the Diffuse color to compute
radiosity, so results from it may be dissimilar to those in 3ds max 7. You can correct this
using the Fix Ambient utility.

• When using XRef Scenes, and the XRef Scene has been changed, the radiosity solution
will not be automatically invalidated. You need to click Reset All and restart, so the
radiosity solution can be updated.

• Files that contain radiosity solutions are usually very large. If you turn on Compress On
Save in Customize > Preferences, files will reduce significantly in size.

• If you use Standard Lights with negative multipliers in your scene, it is suggested that you
exclude these from the radiosity solution. Using Standard Lights with negative multipliers
can lead to unpredictable results.

RAYTRACE
• Using the Raytrace material on double-sided materials is currently not supported.

• It is almost always better to use supersampling, rather then antialiasing, at the material
level. The only time you might want to use Raytrace antialiasing is to blur or defocus
reflections or refractions. If you do use Raytrace antialiasing, the default blur value, 0.0, is
usually too small. Try using 0.5 or 0.6 and set all of your materials that use the Raytrace
map to Adaptive Halton supersampling to improve image quality.

• Some 3ds max 4.2 files using Raytrace maps as the refraction map of a standard
material can render more slowly in 3ds max 7. To improve performance, go to the
Raytrace maps in your scene, open the Refractive Material Extensions rollout, and turn
off the Treat Refractions As Glass (Fresnel Effect) check box.

• 3ds max 4.2 .MAX files using Raytrace maps as the refraction map of a standard
material will render differently in 3ds max 7, due to improvements made in refraction
map.

REACTOR
• The Reactor controller from earlier versions of 3ds max has been renamed the Reaction
controller to prevent confusion with reactor dynamics.

• reactor 2.0 is included with 3ds max 7. No additional authorization is required. To start
reactor, click the “reactor button” on the Utilities panel.

• The interactive reactor preview uses its own graphics display. Some older graphics
accelerators that only do full-screen acceleration will run slowly in software windowed
mode. To use 3D hardware acceleration on these cards, turn on the full screen option
before previewing the scene. If you experience problems that include the above-
mentioned render problems or issues that prevent the preview window from running
(blank, black screen, or the window hanging), please contact Discreet Product Support
with information about your card: chipset, manufacturer, driver revision, and operating
system information (including service pack version) so we can work to correct it.
• In the case of a scene not completing a Solve, there are various ways of simulating the
same scene:

o Take your original scene and increase the substeps/keyframe value (Animation &
Export rollout).

o Increase the collision tolerance for your scene so that it’s approximately 1/10th of
World Scale (Advanced rollout). If this increase causes too large a gap between
objects, scale the objects up and scale gravity up by an equal percentage.

o For keyframed and deformable objects, increase the updates/keyframe value.

• The addition of body or collection types to a scene can change the scene’s simulation.
Adding types of objects will not usually have a noticeable effect on the scene’s simulation
but it is advisable to create scenes as nearly complete as possible, before tweaking the
parameters for a desired result.

• The reactor plugin can cause a 3ds max network render job to hang with a dialog stating
that the reactor plugin will not load. Should that be the case, you should install DirectX
version 8 or higher.

REGATHER
• Rendered images can look inconsistent when rendering with a number of rays per
sample smaller than 40 on systems with two or more processors. Differences will also be
noticed between Autodesk VIZ 4 and 3ds max 7, because 3ds max 7 supports multi-
threading for Regather while Autodesk VIZ 4 does not.

RENDER ELEMENTS
• Adding Render Elements to a newly opened file does not mark the scene as modified. To
correct, save the scene before opening a new scene or closing 3ds max 7.

• Scenes from 3ds max 4 with Z Depth render elements load incorrectly when filtering is
enabled. To correct, disable filtering for these elements within 3ds max 4 prior to loading
in 3ds max 7.

• The Diffuse and Shadow elements might have unexpected results when rendering with
the Light Tracer.

• Using Render Effects on a Split Rendering can give unexpected results in the final image.
Specifically the Lens Effect might be in the wrong place when using Render Region crop.
To correct this set the render type dropdown to "View" and render again.

RENDER EFFECTS
• The File Output render effect does not support network rendering.

RENDERING
• Image Motion Blur is a memory-intensive operation requiring a large amount of RAM. It
scales linearly with the number of pixels in the rendered image. You may not have
sufficient memory to allocate the image motion blur buffer if you are also using high-
resolution background maps. To correct this, composite the blurred image against the
background image in postproduction, rather then rendering when Image Motion Blur is
calculated.

• Rendering Fields with Image Motion Blur and Work With Transparency turned on can
result in the final images containing artifacts.

• Bitmap Formats: The MOV file format codec Cinepak can cause instability when using
QuickTime to playback (XP only).

• If your map does not advance beyond frame one or fails to render when using older AVI
files (with older CODECs) and Sync to Particle Age, try re-rendering the AVI file with a
newer Codec through Video Post.

RENDER TO TEXTURE
• A warning will be displayed when you use Render To Texture on a patch object. Results
might be less than satisfactory if you choose to continue. For best results, add either a
Turn To Mesh or UVW Unwrap modifier to patch objects before using Render To Texture.
• Render to texture can give you ray miss errors if the scene size is extreme. Distant
camera positioning can contribute to this. Moving the camera close to the subject, and
moving the subject close to the origin, can help fix the problem.

RESOURCE COLLECTOR
• The Resource Collector does not collect Environment, Displacement, or Projector maps.

• The Resource Collector does not collect the image files used by IFL files, only the IFL file
itself.

• The Resource Collector does not collect the objects or scenes referenced by XRef
Objects or XRef Scenes.

SCHEMATIC VIEW
• Compound objects cannot be renamed.

SET KEY
• Set Key requires a controller to be present to create a key. While all objects have default
controllers for their transforms, object parameters do not. Controllers must be assigned to
these entities before Set Key can create keys for them.

• Leaving Set Key on during material creation can lead to unexpected results. It is
recommended that you turn Set Key off while setting up materials and maps.

• Set Key action items will only work with XYZ controllers. For all other controllers, use
Keyframe Tools action items. Note that 3ds max 7 defaults to XYZ controllers.

• Set Key does not respect the changes made in the active material, unless you have
enabled the Set Key Material Filter.

• Block controllers do not work with Set-Key-only animation. If the Block contains an object
animated with Auto Key, then all objects animate correctly. The Auto Key object can be a
simple dummy, and it can be deleted after the block is created.

• The Follow/Bank utility does not support Set Key animation.

• Set Key does not support NURBS objects.

• Object creation on frames other than 0 while in Set Key mode is not recommended and
can have unexpected results. Note that in some cases Set Key mode does not always
automatically disable during object creation. Because of this, it is recommended that you
disable Set Key mode manually before creating new objects.
SKIN

• When Merging a mesh containing a Skin modifier referencing a Biped skeleton, be sure
to select the mesh and the Biped. Selecting and merging the skin mesh alone might
result in a crash.

• There is an additional feature called Skin Utilities for transferring vertex weights from one
Skin object in a scene to another. It can be found in the Utilities panel.

SPLINE IK
• The default sub-controller for the first bone of the Spline IK bone chain is now Path
controller. The first bone can be animated interactively, just as with any object with Path
controller and the other bones in the chain will follow.

• Bones that continue past the end of a spline will maintain current orientation to their
parent bones rather than snapping to a 0,0,0 rotation as they did in 3ds max 5.0. This
allows bone chains to be predictably path-animated off of the end of the spline.

• Spline IK now allows for the inclusion of the spline, spline helpers, IK handle, and bone
chain in the same hierarchy.

• Spline IK will now preserve the arbitrary X-rotation of the bones in a chain after Spline IK
is assigned.

• The preferred angles for each bone under Spline IK control are accessible in MAXScript,
although not exposed in the user interface as with HI IK. Generally, only the X axis
should be manipulated, as with Twist, since the Y and Z axes are always used by Spline
IK to fix the bones to the spline. This value can be accessed with
“$.controller.prefXAngle”.

• It is possible that some Spline IK chains, created in 3ds max 5.0 might load into 3ds max
7 with bones arbitrarily rotated about their X axes. This can occur if the bone chain was
created in 3ds max 5.0 with arbitrary X-rotations before Spline IK was assigned (after the
assignment Spline IK would have automatically aligned the bones X-axes). If such a
scene is loaded into 3ds max 7, the bones can “revert” to their creation orientations. If it
is necessary to realign the bones, the bone chain can be reoriented using MAXScript. For
example, select all the Spline IK bones (if the first bone in the chain is already properly
oriented, deselect it) and run:

for n in selection do ( n.controller.prefXAngle = 0.0 )

• It is possible that some Spline IK chains, created in 3ds max 5.0, might load into 3ds
max 7 with bone chains entirely flipped about their local X axis. If this occurs, the bone
chain can often be reoriented by adjusting the Spline IK Twist Start Angle.

• Spline IK will only work when referencing a shape or spline object, meaning the
referenced object’s stack must end as a spline (a Shape). Modifiers can be used on the
referenced spline so long as they do not convert it to another geometry type.

SUBDIVIDE MODIFIER
• The Subdivide modifier cannot be applied to NURBS Curves, even if they’re renderable
curves. Instead, use the Subdivision Properties to adjust the curve's mesh density.
• Very low Size values can exhaust system memory and cause session instability because
Subdivide will create extremely large quantities of faces. Be sure to use reasonable Size
values. If subdivide is taking a long time to calculate, use the ESC key to abort the
subdivision, then set the Update method to Manual so you can change the Size value to
something more appropriate.

TEXTURE COORDINATES
• If you open a file that has its Unit Scale set differently than the System Unit Scale of your
local 3ds3ds max 7 installation, you will get a File Load: Units Mismatch message. There
are a number of reasons your System Unit Scale might be different than the file you are
opening. Whatever the reason, if you choose to Adopt the File’s Unit Scale you might
lose the display of some of your texture mapping if the objects are using Unwrap UVW
modifier. If you do try to open a file and the mapping looks wrong, open the same file
again and choose the option Rescale the File Objects to the System Unit Scale rather
than adopt the scale.

Choosing Adopt the File’s Unit Scale will add two setting to your 3dsmax.ini file
(UnitType= and UnitScale=). To get back the default System Unit Scale you can edit your
3dsmax.ini file and remove those settings; Or go to Customize > Unit Setup > System
Unit Setup and change the units back to default scale: Inches.

TRACKVIEW
• The Trackview hotkeys will not work if the application focus is in subordinate windows,
such as floating Toolbars and Soft Selection settings. To use Trackview hotkeys, click the
Function Curve or Dope Sheet editor title bar to replace the focus there.

• Deleting the trackview.ini file can cause icons to disappear. To resolve this, try loading
the trackview.ini file from the 3ds max 7 CD. This action will bring your TrackView
settings back to their default values.

TRANSFORM TOOLS
• Transform tools will not update while dragging at a sub-object level.

• The Transform gizmo can disappear when snaps are enabled at the sub-object level.
Passing the cursor over the missing gizmo will cause it to reappear.

TRANSFORM TYPE-IN
• The Transform Type-In controls on the status bar don't re-enable properly after you've
been in a sub-object mode. To correct this, deselect and then reselect the object.

TURBOSMOOTH
• On rare occasions, Turbosmooth may create a garbled mesh. Should this occur, try
adding a Turn To Mesh or Turn To Poly modifier underneath Turbosmooth in the stack.

UNWRAP UVW
• Unfold mapping with Selected Faces can give unexpected results and is not
recommended.

• In certain patch models, the Stitch operation can cause tangent handles to be welded
when Align Clusters is turned on. Turning off Align Clusters should solve the problem.

• When there is a sub-object selection below Unwrap UVW in the stack, the Unwrap
modifier uses those faces and disables its own Select Face sub-object mode. Closing the
sub-object selection below the Unwrap will allow you to enter the Select Face sub-object
mode in Unwrap by clicking the title bar, then the sub-object plus symbol in the stack will
refresh after changing to another panel and back.

• The Sketch Vertices feature should be used with the interactive feature on, as having it
off can lead to situations where Undo will not work.

• In certain circumstances, the Brightness of the Edit Dialog background will be set to 0,
which will result in the bitmap not being visible in the Edit Dialog. To fix this, click the
Show Options button in the lower toolbar and increase the Brightness spinner value (0.5
is the default), or open the Options>Advanced Options floater and increase the Tile
Brightness or uncheck the Affect Center Tile check box. You can then choose
Options>Save Current Settings As Default, and you should not run into this problem
again.

• When using the Pick Texture dropdown in the Edit UVWs dialog of the Unwrap UVW
modifier, do not click on None in the Material/Map browser. Click Cancel if you don't want
to add a map, or use the Show Map toggle if you want to disable the background display.

USER INTERFACE / CUI


• CUI files created in versions of 3ds max prior to 3ds max 6.0 are not forward-
compatible. These files need to be re-created for use in 3ds max 7. 3ds max 6.x CUI
files are compatible with 3ds max 7, but may be missing certain new UI items. Items in
the Align flyout will not match the icons and Clone & Align will be missing.

• CUI files should not be removed from the UI folder. If 3ds max 7 looks for a CUI file that
is not in the UI folder upon startup, the application can fail. This can be a problem if
multiple users are using the same configuration settings, but don’t have the correct CUI
files associated with that configuration.

• The proper highlighting of UI elements (mainly check boxes and radio button settings)
might not appear in the command panel during keyboard tabbing when running 3ds max
7 under Windows 2000. To force the highlighting to display properly, undock the
command panel. Then the highlighting will display and properly show where UI focus is.
Once you have tabbed while the command panel is floating, you can redock the
command panel, and highlighting will operate properly.

• Large fonts are not supported in 3ds max 7, and can produce unpredictable display
results.

• The grid draw options drop-down list in Advanced Options is not supported.

• When working with memory-intensive files and processes, you might notice that the tools
below the track bar disappear. Simply click the Maximize/Restore button at the upper-
right corner of the application’s window. This will cause the missing tools to redraw at the
bottom.

• When 3ds max 7 is started the first time, the toolbar button for the Keyboard Shortcut
Override toggle will appear to be off even though the function is active. Click the button
once to turn this function off. The button will stay in a non-active state. Click it again, and
the desired functionality will follow.

• If you want your system to default to your keyboard shortcuts from 3ds max 4 or 5.x,
copy your keyboard shortcuts over as maxkeys.kbd. into the 3ds max 7 \ui folder.

• Closing the Customize User Interface dialog without saving will automatically save the
KBD file.

• When docking the Layers Toolbar either left or right the Layers drop-down list will be
displayed as a thin strip at the top of the docked toolbar. Although it is still operational, it
is harder to click on because of its size. If the Layers Toolbar is docked on the right flush
with the edge of the screen, the Layers drop-down list will display off the screen. To
resolve this, do not dock the Layers Toolbar left or right. Instead dock it on the top or
allow it to float. This will force the toolbar to display horizontally.

• Open Mini Curve Editor Button: In the lower left corner of the workspace there is a button
that will open the Mini Curve Editor docked directly above the Timeline. When loading a
custom UI scheme that changes the current icons (for example discreet-dark.ui or
discreet-light.ui) this button’s icon will temporarily disappear. The button will still function
even without an icon. Restarting 3ds max 7 will restore the icon.

• The use of menu files (MNU) from previous releases of 3ds max in 3ds max 7 can have
unpredictable results in the UI. Some of these issues can be resolved by resetting 3ds
max 7 and either loading a 3ds max 7 MNU file or by using Customize User Interface >
Menus tab > Restore.

UVW MAP
• UVW maps assigned below a Disp Approx (displacement approximation) modifier might
block changes made at the Displace Level. Setting the UVW modifier to Off in the
viewport solves the updating problem.

VERTEX COLOR MAP


• The Channel Name dialog may get out of sync with the Map and Sub Channels display in
the Vertex Color modifier. If this happens, the Map Channel and Sub Channel will be the
entries that show the correct result.

VERTEX PAINT
• When adding modifiers above Vertex Paint, or when switching between Vertex Paint and
other modifiers, be certain to exit the sub-object mode in Vertex Paint or cancel the
painting mode you're in.

VIDEO POST
• Close the Video Post Lens Effects setup dialog before you choose File > Reset.

• Lens Effects Focus does not affect overlapping portions of objects.

• Video Post does not support Multipass Depth Of Field and Multipass Motion Blur.

VIEWING FILES
• The Autodesk FLC image file setup depends on the AVI settings for Windows Media™
Player. Since Media Player can be replaced when installing other applications, viewing
FLC files can fail at times. To work around this, install QuickTime5, which is provided
with 3ds max, and use it to view these types of files. QuickTime 5 can convert FLI™ and
FLC files, but not CEL files.

WALK THROUGH
• When the Walk Through button is active, its actions can't be undone. To Undo a Walk
Through action the user must exit the mode first, and then undo.
• Using the Walk Through scene navigation mode in a camera viewport that has a
camera with "Manual Clip Planes" enabled can result in an application exit if another
viewport is selected. To avoid this, use the Walk Through mode in a maximized view with
these cameras only, or switch to Perspective views before enabling Walk Through.

WALLS
• Break vertex sometimes leaves corner geometry. Saving and reloading the file will
correct this condition

• At times it can be difficult moving points vertically (up and down) on World Z axis when
working with Walls in a Grid (Top) view. Turning on Grid Snap and turning off Use Axis
Constraints can help.

• A Window object that is aligned to the bottom of a Wall object can corrupt the automatic
booleans of attached Doors and Windows. To correct this condition, move the Window
away from the bottom of the Wall.

• When trying to break a wall segment that has a bottom offset can result in incorrect
display in the Perspective viewport. This operation should be performed in the Plan view.

XREF
• Manipulators can fail to function, once the file is saved using the Merge Manipulator
option. If this occurs, then the XRef should be removed and redone.

• Deleting a Fog Atmospheric effect that has been object xrefed will result in an application
failure, upon using Update Now in the XRef dialog.

• Use Proxy on an XRef Camera Object is not recommended. This can lead to an
application failure.

• Adding an Object XRef of an object, which is itself an Object XRef in the target scene, is
not recommended.

• XRef Automatic Update has more restrictive functionality under Windows 98. XRef
objects and scenes can be set to update automatically whenever a file change is
detected. Under Windows 2000, this occurs each time the source file is saved. Due to
different system notifications in Windows 98, the automatic update occurs only when the
source file is closed by exiting 3ds max 7 or by loading another file. Manual Update
works as expected.

• When clicking to unbind the highlighted XRef(s) from whichever parent they've been
bound to, the XRef scene does not return to its origin, typically the 0,0,0 world origin of
the MAX file scene it came from.

• Drag and drop when running under Windows 98 requires the Local Intranet security level
to be set to Low in IE. This setting can be found in the Internet Options dialog, accessed
from the Tools menu.

• When using object XRef and Fire Effect Atmospherics, the fire effect information does not
always update with the Update Now function. It is recommended that Fire Effect
Atmospherics be Merged rather than XRef’d.

Notes About MAXSCRIPT and the 3ds max 7 SDK


MAXSCRIPT (Scripter)
• The option in the MAXScript panel of the Preferences dialog
o Auto Open Listener On Output

opens the Listener if a script sends output to a WindowStream value with no associated
window. This would require a MAXScript extension.

• When the Maxcript Listener is displayed in a viewport, max may not restore from being
minimized correctly. To restore max, right click on the 3ds max application button in the
Windows taskbar and select 'Restore' or 'Maximize'.

MAXScript known problems and workarounds:


Not all properties’ aliases as shown by showProperties are supported for the following
objects:
o Free camera
o Target camera
o Spray particle system
o Snow particle system

• SubObject move transform is currently supported only for Editable_Mesh, Editable_Poly,


and NURBS.

• SubObject rotate and scale transforms are not supported with: Editable_Mesh,
Editable_Poly, Editable_Patch, NURBS, MeshSmooth, and HSDS modifiers.

If the MAXScript Initial Heap Allocation, as specified in the MAXScript tab of the Preference
Settings dialog, is very large, 3ds max will fail to start if that amount of contiguous
memory is not available. It is recommended that the Initial Heap Allocation not exceed
100MB.

• Loading presets that contain node associations displays a dialog requiring user
interaction. To bypass the dialog using MAXScript, you can use the following syntax:

<boolean>renderPresets.Load <integer>which <filename>file <bitArray>categories


[loadNodes:<enum: {#Yes|#No|#Cancel|#Prompt}>]

Load the indexed preset from the specified file, using the categories described by the
bitArray. Returns true on success. Specifying LoadNodes with #Yes, #No or #Cancel will
not display the Prompt window and will perform the same actions as pressing the
respective buttons in the prompt. Specifying #Prompt will display the dialog and require
user input. If you do not specify LoadNodes and the file contains nodes associated, the
prompt window will be displayed.

• Some of the Sample Scripts have been moved to a new directory structure on CD #3 and
any that contain hard-coded paths may generate errors.

If you are using a script that applies a (Havok) reactor modifier to an object you should be
aware that certain syntax can cause the subsequent rendering to fail. To properly assign
a reactor controller to an object using a script use one of the following syntax:

addmodifier (reactor_Cloth ())


or
addmodifer (reactor_SoftBody ())
or
addmodifier (reactor_Rope ())
SDK
• 3ds max 7 plug-ins are compatible with 3ds max 6 version. No recompiling is required.

To make a plug-in for version 7 only, the API number has to be changed:

//#define MAX_API_NUM 13 //R6


#define MAX_API_NUM 15 // R7

The recommended compiler for development of 3ds max plug-ins is Microsoft® Visual
Studio® 7.0, but plug-ins may also be compiled using VC7.1, given some extra
considerations. For an overview of the compatibility issues, please see the tech note
available in the TechDocs section of the Sparks® Knowledge Base:

http://sparks.discreet.com/search/

• The SDK documentation for 3ds max 7 will be made available for download at

http://sparks.discreet.com/

• The SDK AppWizard is designed for the VC6 development environment. However, an
updated version for VC7 will be made available for download at

http://sparks.discreet.com/

• \samples\gup\comsrv\maxclient\maxclient.vcproj
To compile, include statements in the project must be changed:
from:
#import "..\..\..\..\..\exe\stdplugs\comsrv.gup"
to:
#import "..\..\..\..\..\stdplugs\comsrv.gup"

• \samples\modifiers\bonesdef\bonesdef.vcproj
Requires that you build the MAXComponents project first before compiling.

• Creating vertical toolbars is not supported at this time, the standard Windows API could
be used instead.

• In order to compile the SDK samples for network rendering (JobAssign and ListJobs), the
following must be added to the project: #define DF_MGRPORT 3234.

• Class IKMasterControl: Several types of controllers return a non-NULL pointer when


GetInterface(I_MASTER) is called on them. To get an interface to this class, use the
following code:

ReferenceTarget* ref = NULL;


IKMasterControl* themaster = NULL
if (controller) ref = (ReferenceTarget*)controller->GetInterface(I_MASTER)
if (ref && ref->ClassID() == IKMASTER_CLASSID)
themaster = (IKMasterControl*)ref;

• It is recommended that to prevent naming conflicts in MAXScript, the ClassName and


InternalName returned by a plug-in class should be different from names already used in
3ds max. This will prevent a potential renaming of existing plug-in classes as exposed by
MAXScript. For each plug-in class, MAXScript attempts to create a global variable with
the name returned by ClassName (and one for the name returned by InternalName if it is
different) to represent the class. If a global variable with that name already exists, the
superclass name is appended to the class name. Thus, if you create a modifier plug-in
class whose name is "Dent" while Dent texture already exists, your modifier plug-in class
will be assigned the global variable name DentModifier in MAXScript To verify that there
is no MAXScript name conflict, you can run the following in MAXScript Listener:

apropos <class name string> implicitWild:false

If the result is just 'OK', no naming conflict exists.


Additional Notes About character studio
INSTALLATION AND AUTHORIZATION
• character studio is installed from within the 3ds max 7.0 setup program.

COMPATIBILITY
• character studio requires 3ds max 7.0. It is not supported with earlier versions of 3ds
max. All character studio 2.x, 3.x, and 4.x data files remain forward compatible to
character studio.

• Backward-compatibility between 3ds max 7.0 and all previous versions of character
studio is not supported. Thus, files saved with 3ds max 7.0 cannot be used by earlier
versions of character studio (e.g. 3.4, 4.0, 4.1).

Notes About character studio Features


BIPED
• Files created in previous versions of character studio must be resaved in 3ds max 7.0
before using them.

• Two new .ini flags have been added that affect which 3ds max objects are automatically
put into the max object list in the .bip save dialog: SaveOutBipsParent and
SaveOutBipsParentChildren.

Usage: {1/0}

o If SaveOutBipsParent=0, then the biped’s parents aren't automatically put into


the save list.

o If SaveOutBipsParentChildren=0, then saving out the biped’s parents will not


save the other parent’s children also.

• Using native 3ds max trajectories is not recommended for use in any version of
character studio and will result in unpredictable animations. Use the Biped trajectories
instead.

• 3ds max Track View Utilities are not supported on Bipeds.

• Old MAX and BIP footstep motions are automatically converted to the Biped new pivot-
based system when loaded. In Biped, more control over the IK pivoting is possible.

• The conversion to character studio can introduce "sliding" footsteps that allow the IK
key to move anywhere in the coordinate space of the footstep, rather than being forced
onto the footstep. A sliding footstep is created whenever an IK key is allowed to be free
by not being joined to the previous IK key. This does not necessarily mean that sliding is
introduced; it only means that sliding is allowed.

• When feet are linked to dummy objects (IK Blend =1), entering and exiting Figure mode
can cause the feet to rotate. To return the feet to their correct position, enter and exit
Figure mode twice more. It is recommended that you try to do as much of your Figure
mode work before using IK Blend with dummy objects. It is not recommended using IK
blending in Layers Planted or Sliding Keys. The limbs will snap to a different position than
expected. Free keys work fine.

• Before importing motion-capture files (BVH or CSM), please consult the reference, or the
bvh.rtf and csm.rtf documents in the cstudio\docs directory. The .CSM files in the
HouseOfMoves directory all start with a calibration pose because Biped uses the first
frame to determine figure size and calibration of hip and feet angles in the absence of a
Talent Definition FIG file. However, this is only for convenience of quick viewing.

• For best results, we strongly recommend that you always follow the guidelines in the
csm.rtf document:

o Create "Talent Definition" files (CAL and FIG) for a given performer from a
specifically recorded "calibration pose motion."

o Create BIP motions from the talent's CSM motions using the same “Talent
Definition” files from step 1.

• Furthermore, using the “Talent Definition” files allows you to skip over the first frame so
that it does not influence key-reduced motions.

• Smoothing parameters in the biped.ini file are now set to zero, which produces better
results. The biped.ini file can specify multiple path names for locating animation files for
the Motion Flow Graphs.

• When using the Motion Flow Graph, there must be a key set for the horizontal COM;
otherwise your results can be unpredictable.

• If a Motion Flow Graph to do a looping motion results in accumulated turning, then you
might need to adjust the Angle in the Edit Transition dialog. This is because the program
matches the orientation of the COM at the start of the transition. If this orientation is
different from the direction of the motion, some compensation is necessary.

• Biped is not designed to work with the 3ds max Set Key feature.

• Deleting keys after using subanimation manipulators results in a transform key at the
current frame.

• 3ds max objects and subanims don't support saving segments. If you save out a
segment, reload it and play it, the segment end indicator is disregarded.

• Saving files with 3ds max objects that have script controllers is not supported in this
release.

• Files from Biped (BIP) with IK objects do not retain links with those objects. To correct
this, relink to the IK objects after the BIP file is loaded.

• Using layers to animate legs with IK will not display accurate results until the layer is
collapsed. To check the results, collapse the layer, undo, change the animation, repeat.

• Copying and pasting poses/postures/tracks will not work between the base layer and
higher layers because Keys in higher layers are relative to previous layers, but are
absolute on the first layer.

• Use of the 3ds max 7 Timeslider's Create Key feature is not supported within Biped
layers.

• Accessing a biped after choosing File > New > Keep Objects and Hierarchy can lead to
unexpected results and therefore, is not recommended.

• Saving BIP files with "Save position and Rotation" when using footsteps will cause
footsteps to move to their initial creation point. It is recommended you first convert to
freeform or move footsteps as needed after using this feature. This also applies to using
the hotkey (default is ALT-M) to "bake" the Move-All transforms.

• Motion Flow transitions that are of 0 or 1 frame length will now accumulate Z
transformation instead of repeating it. For instance, a Biped ladder-climbing clip that
transitions to itself in character studio 4.1 will show the Biped repeating the same rungs
of the ladder over and over. The same clip in character studio, given a 0 or 1 frame
transition, will show the Biped continuing up the ladder as the Motion Flow script
progresses. Because of this fix, existing Motion Flow files will have to have their scripts
reinitialized; this can be accomplished by changing any parameter of the script, i.e.:
change the start frame from 0 to 1 to 0.

• When using Create Multiple Footsteps for generating 5 or more steps, the tension setting
for “in-the-air” keys on the feet will default to 25 for only the first four steps, after which it
will default to 50. To reset all those keys to a tension of 25, select them and edit their
tension en masse using the Transform key dialog.

• Using MAXScript to make Figure mode false on a biped that isn't in Figure mode is
unadvisable as it will introduce and offset in the transform.
• The transition focus parameter in the transition editing dialogue box (in both the mixer
and moflow systems) now creates more visually precise transitions based on relative toe
position. Legacy max motion flow files will look the same as before when loaded, but may be
easily improved to reflect this bug fix by either editing a transition or script parameter(such as
tweaking back and forth the script start frame or start position) to force an updated motion
flow computation. Legacy mixer files will be updated automatically upon loading. The updated
motion in the transition, while not dramatically different, should appear to be much more
natural and seamless. As before, some slight sliding of feet may still occur depending on the
motion clips that are being used, but only to accommodate the tradeoff with the continuity of
speed in the figure's center-of-mass.

• Program failure or file corruption can occur when loading BIP files when Restructure
biped to match file is turned on and the number of toes and/or toe links of the current
figure (in the viewport) is greater than the number of toes and/or toe links of the figure
stored in the file. To correct this create a biped with one toe, one toe link, zero or one
fingers, one finger link and reload the BIP file. Or load a FIG file that matches the figure
stored in the file.

CROWD
• In Motion Clip, when saving Global Clip ANT files, it's best to clear the scene of all
Delegates and Master Clip objects. Otherwise, a defect results that causes some of that
data to be present upon reloading of the ANT file.

• Biped crowds solve faster, with less backtracking, if the biped Motion Flow Graphs
contain motion clips with many alternative choices in direction of motion.
• When using the Surface Arrive behavior, if you change the BIP files after a solve the Z
data is lost.

• Biped Crowd scenes must be solved starting from frame 0.

• Loading a Crowd file without the Behavior plugin can cause program failure.

• In Scatter using negative XY with XY Plane values can cause program failure when using
Generate Locations.

• Solve & Scatter Solve are not redrawing viewports correctly in OpenGL mode. Click
Redraw to correct the display.

MAXSCRIPT
• It is not recommended to use the Copy command on a Biped structure.

For example, the following can result in an out-of-memory error and program failure:
bp = biped.CreateNew 100 -90 [0,0,0]
bp_obj = $Bip01*
bp_obj1 = copy bp_obj

• Many of the features of character studio do not support the Macro Recorder.
.

MOTION
• Anchor Key settings are not saved in MAX files.

MOTION CAPTURE
• File corruption can occur when loading a mocap file (CSM or BVH) starting with a figure
(in the viewport) with two or more toes with two or more toe links. The corruption can be
detected after entering and exiting Figure Mode. To workaround this:

o Create a biped with one toe, one toe link, zero or one fingers, one finger link.

o Reload the mocap file.

Or try just reloading the mocap file. In general if the current biped has fewer toe and
finger links than the figure in the loaded file, the file will always load correctly.

MOTION MIXER
• The Motion Mixer does not support animation that depends on 3ds max objects. When
Bipeds use 3ds max objects for IK blending, those clips will not import accurately to the
Mixer. To “bake” the IK object animation for use in the Mixer, use Save Segment with a
key per frame.

PHYSIQUE
• Physique® functionality can be assigned to any object type; however, if you assign it to
non-Biped or non-Bones hierarchies such as lights, cameras, or helper objects, and then
initialize, the program can fail.

• If you merge a Physique mesh from a MAX file to a biped, the program can fail. The
workaround is to merge the mesh and the biped, remove the Physique modifier from the
mesh, and then delete the biped file.
• Physique is assigned to links, not nodes. To assign either floating bones or hierarchy
bones, you need to have a link; this means a node is required at both ends of the link. In
most cases, you will need a dummy node at the end of the last link.

• Before applying Physique to 3ds max Bones, check to make sure that there are no
circular references in your Bones structure. If there are circular references, the results are
unpredictable.

• Any objects that have scaled Biped images or bone structures that were scaled with any
versions of Physique prior to v3.11 should be manually re-initialized in 3ds max 7.0.

NETWORK RENDERING
• To render character studio animations using network rendering, each computer on your
rendering network must have the same version of character studio. A result of not
having the same version on all machines is floating feet or incomplete renders.

• When using Motion Flow Graphs, use UNC path names. For example, if your BIP file in
your Motion Flow Graph is named:

c:\3dsmax7\cstudio\motions\bip\runner.bip

change the name of the file in the Motion Flow Graph by right-clicking the clip and
changing the name in the Clip Name text box to:

\\mypc5\3dsmax7\cstudio\motions\bip\runner.bip

where mypc5 is the network identification of the computer that has the BIP file.

PHYSIQUE SDK MODIFICATIONS


• Physique exports the data based on the link to which the vertex is assigned. The node
returned is the first (parent) node of the link. If there is branching in the hierarchy,
Physique reports the vertex assigned to the same node twice. This is correct since the
vertex is assigned to two links, each with the same root node.

TUTORIALS
• character studio tutorial files can be found on the Partner Resources CD.

• When working on the Motion Flow tutorial, you will encounter some missing steps in
the "Looping Animation In Motion Flow Mode", "Using A Shared Motion Flow" and
"Creating Random Motion" lessons. The following additional information will allow you to
complete the tutorial.

o Looping Animation in Motion Flow Mode


In the section titled "Create a Script" at step 2, you are asked to click the walk2loop
clip five times. After performing that step, right-click in the Motion Flow graph to turn
off scripting mode.

o Using A Shared Motion Flow


In the section titled "Create a Shared Motion Flow Script" at step 9, you are instructed
to click the Create button on the Create Random Motion dialog. Doing this will display
the Unify Options dialog. This dialog appears for each biped in the scene that will
share the motion script. Since this tutorial has six bipeds, the dialog appears six
times. Click OK to accept the default settings each time the Unify Options dialog
appears.

o Creating Random Motion


In the section titled "Set and Optimize Transitions" at step 12, you are told to enter a
Minimum Animation Length of 2000 and click Create. The Unify Options dialog will
appear where you can accept the default settings and click OK. If the biped shifts
position and float above the grid, change the Start Position Z value to zero on the
Motion Flow rollout. This will position the entire animation back on the ground plane.

UI
• The default Left/Right FootStep keyboard shortcut conflicts with the native 3ds max
hotkey. To use the Left/Right Biped footsteps keyboard shortcut remove the 3ds max
"Smart Select" keyboard shortcut under Customize User Interface.

• Collapse Move All Mode: This action will now collapse and "bake" the current Move-All
transforms into the selected Biped. Default key is ALT-M

• Reset all limb keys: This action will "clean up" all the IK limb keys (by simply resetting all
the keyframes) to fix IK keyframe motion discontinuities for "corrupted" files that might
have been created in character studio 4.0 or character studio 4.1 using either 1)
motions with scaling bone subanims or 2) trackbar sliding key edits that alter IK limb
keyframe positions. Default key is ALT-K

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Physique, reactor, sparks, and Volo are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc./Autodesk Canada Inc., in
the U.S.A. and/or other countries. mental ray is a registered trademark of mental images GmbH & Co. KG
licensed for use by Autodesk, Inc. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their
respective holders. © 2004 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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