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AutoCAD Geometry in 3ds Max 441
Architecture, or drawings exported f rom Revit
that allows you to use the linked object data in
your 3ds Max scene. You can perform various
operations on this linked data in 3ds Max for
v isualization purposes, but nothing you do in
3ds Max will change the base data you see in
thesourceapplication.Thedatalinkallowsyou
to periodically refresh your 3ds Max scene with
revised drawing data.
Ifalivedatalinkisnotimportanttoyou,the
DWG/DXF Import functionality processes
drawings, exported f rom Revit, in the same
intelligent way as the File Link Manager. You just
don’thavethebenefitofthelivedatalink.
See also
Using Layers to Organize a Scene (page 3–655)
File Link (page 3–416)
Interpreting Layer Data from AutoCAD, A utoCAD
Architecture, or Revit (page 3–421)
AutoCA D Geometr y in
3ds Max
The basis of your model in 3ds Max is the geometry
of the objects, blocks, and other entities that are
transferredthroughthefilelinkingfunctionality.
In many cases, these objects behave just like t he
editable meshes and splines you create in 3ds Max.
But because the link to the source drawing pla ys
such a central role in your workflow, 3ds Max
has special rules and tools for handling linked
AutoCAD geometry .
When you are working with linked objects and
blocks from AutoCAD, you will find that these are
composed as groups of related objects in 3ds Max.
These groups are organized hierarchically below a
3ds Max VIZBlock object. V IZBlocks are special
objectscreatedbythefilelinkingfunctionality
thatareusedtocontainotherfilelinkedobjectsin
agroup.VIZBlocksdon’tcontainanygeometry
directly, so for example it is meaningless to apply
modifiers to them. However, they do reference
the components below them so that transforms
applied to a VIZBlock will be applied to all the
component objects it contains.
See also
Styles (page 3–461)
In stanced Objects (page 3–457)
Blocks (page 3–457)
AutoCA D E ntit ies and Block s i n
3ds Max
AutoCAD blocks in 3ds Max are treated similarly
to A utoCAD objects, though the rules for
propagation of transforms are slightly different to
mirror the behavior of blocks in AutoCAD.
As with AutoCAD objects, linked AutoCAD
blocks,ofanytype,andexternallyreferenced
drawings appear in 3ds Max as objects
hierarchically g rouped below a VIZBlock to reflect
the structure of the block or xref in AutoCAD.
When non-nested blocks, of any type, are
linked to a scene, the naming for the incoming
block instances are based on the original block
definition in the form of Block: block_name
where block_name istheactualnameoftheblock
definition. For example, if you link a drawing
containingaseriesofblocksnamedoffice chair,
their name will show as Block: office chair in
3ds Max.
Nested blocks in AutoCAD will be analogously
nested in 3ds Max under nes ted VIZBlocks. The
grouping and naming follows the parent-child