9

460 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
behavior of modifiers during a File Link Reload
before and after dynamic block editing.
The Block
Insert ...
... has unique
parameter
values before it
was edited.
... has unique
parameter
values after
it was edited.
... shows this modifier
behavior upon Reload.
Yes Yes
Modifiers are preserved.
Yes No
Applied modifiers may
be lost, and it may
inherit modifiers from
the instance(s) it now
matches.
No Yes
Applied modifiers are
lost.
No No
Applied modifiers may
be lost, and it may
inherit modifiers from
the instance(s) it now
matches.
Block s and Interactive Selection and
Nav iga tion
Once blocks and block components are linked
to 3ds Max, you can beg in adjusting their
materialsandproperties.Inadrawingforasmall
apartment, blocks are pretty easy to locate because
the dr awing is not very congested. You can simply
select a block or one of its components in the
viewport and alter it.
When drawings get very complex, finding the
block or block instance you want can pose a
problem. For example, a common block you might
addtoadrawingisatable. Ifyou’redesigninga
corporate headquarters that makes use of several
different types of tables, finding the one you
want to change becomes more difficult. There
are several ways for you to find and select a block
more precisely in 3ds Max.
• One way is by means of the block’s name. When
you link a drawing to 3ds Max, file linking
creates a name such as Block: ConferenceTable.
The first part of the name identifies the object’s
type, Block.Thesecondpartofthename
indicates the block name, ConferenceTable.
With this sort of naming breakdown, you ca n
easily find a block using the Select Objects
dialog.
• Another selection method uses the Layer
or Color setting you made for your block
when you created it in Architectural Desktop.
Because layer and color data is also linked to
3ds Max, you can select entire g roupings of
blocks using Select By Color or Select By Layer.
• Finally, you can select blocks by the type of
material that’s applied to them. Take care w hen
selectingblocksthiswaybecausethematerial
assigned to the block may also be assigned to
other objects in the scene.
Once a block or set of block instances is
selected, you can isolate them from the
remainder of the model to work on them more
efficiently.
To s elect block by color:
1.
Choose E dit menu > Select By > Color.
2. Select a block in the scene.
All blocks that share that color are selected.
To select blocks by name:
1.
Choose Edit menu > Select By > Name, or press
the
H key to open the Select Objects dialog
(page 1–78).
Alternately, you could use the Selection Floater,
accessed from the Tools men u. While similar to
the S elect Objects dialog, the Selection Floater
is modeless and can remain on-screen while
you’re working.
2. While holding down the Ct rl key , select
blocks with common names.
You can a ls o enter the block name in the name
field at the top of the dialog.