9
Pivot Point 995
Note:
For NURBS and FFDs, physique deforms the
control points (control vertices), which, in turn
deform the model.
Pivot Point
Pivot point sets hand to the center of the clock face.
The transform center, or pivot point, is the spot
about w hich a rotation ta kes place, or to and from
which a scale occurs.
All objects have a pivot p oint. You can t hin k of the
pivot point as representing an object’s local cen ter
and local coordinate system.
Thepivotpointofanobjectisusedforanumber
of purposes:
• As the center for rotation and scaling when the
Pivot Point tr ansform center is selected.
• As the default location of a modifier center.
• As the transform origin for linked children.
•AsthejointlocationforIK.
You can display and adjust the position and
orientation of an object’s pivot point at any
time using the Pivot fu nctions in the Hierarchy
commandpanel.Adjustinganobject’spivothas
no effect on any children linked to that object.
Pixel
Apixel(shortforPicture El ement) is a single point
in a gr aphic image. Graphics monitors display
pictures by dividing the screen into thousands (or
millions) of pixels, arranged in rows and columns.
Plant
In footstep animation (page 3–943), the state of t he
bipedfootwhenitisflatonafootstep.
Plug-Ins
A plug-in is a feature or functionality supplied
by an independent program or component.
Plug-ins can be supplied by third-party vendors or
independent s oftware developers.
For example, several Video Post filter and layering
plug-ins ship with 3ds Max.
The open architecture provides an API
(application programming interface) designed to
make it easy for other companies to write plug-ins
that extend the core f unctionality of 3ds Max.
PMAP File
APMAP(.pmap) file is a mental ray photon-map
(page 3–994) file. This is a binary file that the
mental ray renderer (page 3–78) uses to generate
the effects of caustics (page 3–92) and global
illumination (page 3–93).Youspecifyanameand
location for the PMAP file on the Render Scene
dialog > Indirect Illuminat ion panel > Caustics
And Global Illumination rollout (page 3–106).
Poi nt
A point in three-space, created when you use
NURBS modeling to create a Point Curve or Point