3D Studio Max Lesson 1.3: Main Tools Overview

"Hierarchy" Panel

3DSMax

• Pivot: Adjust the pivot points of objects, including how the move/rotate/scale tools affect them (such as setting them to affect only the pivot points affect the object only, or affect the entire hierarchy), which will change the results of using those tools; you can also set the alignment in relation to each other and the “world”, or change whether or not changes made to a “parent” object affect that object’s linked “children”. This is key to “forward kinematics” (a method of animation where you move things in a straightforward fashion, one pivot-point at a time).
• IK: Here you can control your IK (inverse kinematics) settings. IK is an animation method that can control the behavior of an entire chain of objects at once, as though they truly were attached and affected by each others’ forces (for example: if you pull on a human wrist, the wrist alone will not move; it will pull the forearm with it, which will in turn draw the upper arm, then shoulder, then body behind). We’ll talk about this in more detail in a separate lesson on IK.
• Link Info: This subset is very simple; it lets you either lock or unlock movement, rotation, or scaling on an axis, and determine on which axes motion, rotation, or scaling is inherited.

• Main Tools and the "Create" Panel
• "Create" Panel Continued
• "Modify" Panel
• "Hierarchy" Panel
• "Motion" Panel
• "Display" Panel
• "Utilities" Panel