9

Instanced Objects 457
• Architectural Desktop style-based objects are
complex objects like Do ors and Windows
whose componen ts rely on style definitions
to control how they appear in the scene. For
example, style definitions for a door set the
type of door, the door thickness, the materials
assigned to the various components, and so
forth. Altering the sty le definitions changes the
appearance of the object i n the scene.
See also
Object Properties (page 1–117)
Instanced Objects
Instanced objects are AutoCAD, Revit or
Architectural Desktop objects or blocks that you
can drag and drop into 3ds Max.
Modifiers and materials that are applied and
assigned to an instanced object propagate
throughout all instances of the object. For
example, if all the doors in a scene have glass p anes
and you change the glass material of one door, all
thedoorsofthesamestylewilladoptthatmaterial.
Propagation of materials can be controlled by
toggling Propagate Materials To Instances (page
2–1432).
Once you link a model to 3ds Max, instanced
objects c an be transformed (moved, rotated, or
scaled). If you don’t like the way an object is
transformed, you can use the Undo command
or Reset Transform button (page 3–442) on the
Modify panel.
Fa mil y E lements
When modifiers and materials are assigned to
family elements that are imported or linked to
3ds Max, they propagate throughout all instances
of the element if their family and t ype match
exactly. For instance, one particular part of your
model shows a room with three doors. Two of the
doors are Doors <Single-Flush : 32” x 80”> and
the third is a Doors <Single-Flush : 36” x 80”>.If
youchangethepanelmaterialofoneoftheDoors
<Single-Flush : 32” x 80”> doors, the panel of the
other Doors <Single-Flush : 32” x 80”> door will
also change because their family, Doors,andtype,
Single-Flush : 32” x 80”,areidentical.
Propagationofmaterialscanbecontrolledby
toggling the Au to Material Propagation Toggle
(page 2–1432).
Blocks
The concept of blocks orig inated in AutoCAD.
Blocks allow you to combine one or more objects
into a single reusable object. Blocks can be
repeatedly inser ted in the draw ing at various
locations, orientations, and scales. Changes made
to a block propagate automatically to a l l instances
of that block throughout the drawing. Like
all drawing construction, inserting or deleting
blocks occurs while you work in AutoCAD or
Architectural Desktop.
You then link the DWG file to 3ds Max, where
your goal is to beautify the scene in preparation
for rendering. Some of those preparations include
such procedures as select ing a block instance
so you can apply or adjust a material, apply ing
texture mapping coordinates, unifying or flipping
normals, and setting rendering properties. These
procedures affect all other block instances in the
scene.
The str ucture of nested blocks,blocksthatare
made from multiple sub-blocks, is maintained
when you link an AutoCAD drawing to 3ds Max.
For example, if the block Desk1 is made using
several blocks, Desk, Chair and Return,youwill
be able to select any of Desk1’s sub-blocks to
alter their rendering properties or materials. You
can only access rendering properties for block