3D Studio Max Lesson 1.2: Tool Tabs Overview

Helpers Tab

Helpers Tab

• Dummy: A cube whose only purpose is to act as an additional pivot point.
• Point: Anchors a point in 3D space, to mark a position. It is invisible, but some effects can be "attached" to it, or directed to appear in the area that the point marks.
• Protractor: Like a real protractor, it measures the angles between two objects in the scene.
• Grid: A grid visible only in the user space, for assistance in positioning/placing as a visual reference.
• Tape Measure: Provides a virtual tape measure to measure on-screen distances and lengths.
• Compass: Part of a sunlight system, aligning with the virtual world's N, S, E, and W and giving directional indicators.
• Box Gizmo: Gizmos give shapes to attach atmospheric effects (volume fog, etc.) to, and can be like invisible volumetric containers for the effects: think of pouring fog into a glass cube, and being able to adjust the density of the cube to allow the fog to seep out at varying rates.
• Cylinder Gizmo: Cylinder-shaped gizmo.
• Sphere Gizmo: Sphere-shaped gizmo.
• Camera Point: This is used if you've applied a photo background to your scene; you can set a camera point to attach your camera to so that it mimics the position of the real-life camera that took the original photo.

• Objects Tab
• Shapes Tab
• Compounds Tab
• Lights & Cameras Tab
• Particles Tab
• Helpers Tab
• Space Warps Tab
• Modifiers Tab
• Modeling Tab
• Rendering Tab