3D Studio Max Lesson 1.4: Animation Tools Overview

Selection Options, Absolute Transformations, Shortcut and Degradation Overrides

• Selection Lock:: Clicking on this button will lock in your current selection. You can drag your mouse anywhere else on the screen without fear of losing your selection or selecting other objects.
• Absolute Mode: Clicking this locks the transformations to the absolute (world, as opposed to relative), while entering values into the appropriate XYZ slots with an object selected and a transform tool activated will change the object according to said tool by the increments entered.
• Keyboard Shortcut Override: This changes the options for which keyboard shortcuts are recognized. 3DSMax has both universal and function-specific shortcuts; when this button is off, the program only recognizes universal shortcuts. When it’s toggled it recognizes all.
• Window Selection/Crossing Selection: This button toggles between selection modes. When toggled, it’s in Window Selection mode; this means that when you draw a selection area you select only objects within that area. When it’s off, your selections will select not only objects wholly inside the selection region, but also those crossed by its outline.
• Degradation Override: Typically, 3DSMax uses adaptive degradation to display the viewports; it adjusts the level of shading displayed on your models and their rendered display based on the performance of your computer. Clicking on the degradation override button will turn off adaptive degradation.

• Animation Tools
• Animation Timeline
• Selection Options, Absolute Transformations, Shortcut and Degradation Overrides
• Snap Options/Tools
• Animation Key Frames and Playback
• Zoom/Display Tools
• View Control Tools