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412 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
could not be loaded. Either the file is corrupted,
or the path is not pointing to the correct directory
or file name.
XR ef Fil e path f ield —Lets you change the path or
file pointed to by a selected XRef scene. To use,
chooseoneoftheXRefscenesinthelist,andthen
change the information in the field. You can either
directlyenteranewfilenameorpath,oryoucan
click the Browse button to the right of the field, and
then choose a new file from the Open File dialog.
The new XRef scene that you choose replaces the
one currently highlighted in the list.
Add—Displays the Open File dialog from which
you can choose a M A X scene fi le to be loaded into
thecurrentsceneasanXRef.Theselectedscene
appears in the list at left, and the geometry appears
in the viewports.
You can also add a scene by dragging a MAX file
from the Windows Explorer into the list, or by
drag ging a MAX file into a 3ds Max viewport,
whereupon you’re presented with a menu with the
following options: Open File, Merge File, XRef
File, and Cancel.
Conver t S elected—Lets you take any selected
objects in your scene and crea te XRefs from them.
Basically, this does a Save S elected for the objects,
which are automatically cut from the MAX file and
pasted into a new file. A file dialog lets you name
the new file. They remain in the current scene but
are now scene XRefs.
Remove—Removes t he XRef scene currently
chosen in the list, and removes it from t he current
scene. To use, choose one or more XRef scenes in
the list, and then click the Remove button.
Select buttons
These standard buttons change the pattern of
selection in the list.
All—Selectsallitemsinthelist.
None—Deselectsallitemsinthelist.
Inver t—Inverts the current selection pattern in the
list.
XRef File group
Enabled—Tur n this off to disable the high lig hted
XRef. When an XRef is disabled, it’s listed in g r ay
in the list, and it’s not loaded into memory.
Overlay—When on, treats the referenced source
scene as an overlay (page 3–408).Default=off.
Overlays allo w multiple scene references without
the risk of creating circular dependencies. The
scene XRef marked as overlay is loaded only into
the master scene that references it, and is not
visible in other scenes that might XRef the master
file that u ses the overlay. See Overlays (page 3–408)
for more information.
Wa rn in g : If you t urn off the Overlay flag for an existing
XRef scene, you can cause circular XRefs to occur, that
aren’t detected until you or another user tries to open
one of the scenes in the project.
Merge—
Click this to merge selected XRefs into
the scene as real geometry. A prompt appears so
you can confirm the action. Since a merged XRef
becomes part of the scene and is no longer an
XRef, its name is removed from the list.
Update File group
Determines how and when the XRef scenes are
updated. These options are applied to the selected
XRefs; for example, one XRef can have automatic
updating, whi le another can have manual updating
(using the Update Now button).
Wa rn in g : IfyouupdateanXRefinascenewithradiosity
(page 3–51), you will likely invalidate the radiosity
solution. After you update the XRef, reset the radiosity
solution and then recalcu late it.