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572 Chapter 20: Managing Scenes and Projects
or entire groups with their corresponding check
boxes.
Three types of civ i l engineering data stored in
LandXML files are supported:
•
Surf aces—3D TIN ground and finished surface
model. Terrain surface data is imported to
3ds Max as an editable mesh.
•
Alignments—2D road centerlines. Alignment
data is imported to 3ds Max as a Shape object.
Note: DEM and DDF files do not contain
Alignment data.
•
Par cels—2Dlegalparcelorlotboundaries.
Parcel data is imported to 3ds Max as a Shape
object.
Note: DEM and DDF files do not contain Parcel
data.
Note: 2D Alignment and Parcel shapes are created
on top of the highest terrain surface.
File Data group
TheFileDatagroupdisplaysinformationabout
thefiletobeimported,includingdateofcreation,
author, the application used to create the file, and
the units.
Object Creation Options group
The Object Creation Options group lets you set
the import properties for selected objects.
Co lor—The color of the object when it is imported
into 3ds Max. To change this setting, click the
color swat c h and select a new color from the Color
Selector.
Smooth S urf ace—Applies smoothing to the
geometry, based on the Smoothing Angle setting .
Edgesbetweenfacesthathaveananglebetween
them that is greater than the specified sm oothing
angle will appear faceted in the scene. Edges
between faces that are b elow or equal to the
specified angle are smoothed.
Note: This option is only available for terrain
surface objects.
Smoothing Angl e—Determinesthesizeofthe
smoothing angle.
Note: This option is only available for terrain
surface objects.
Model Creation Options group
Set Scene Units fr om file—Changes the 3ds Max
Scene Unit to match the units of the incoming file.
Note: This setting is only available when the
3dsMaxsceneisempty. Ifthereisgeometryin
your scene, this sett ing is not available.
The units setting of the incoming file is displayed
in the drop-down list.
Vertical Ex aggeration Scale—Artificially
exaggerates the terrain surface to enhance subtle
detailsbyapplyingascalefactorstothevertical
dimensions.
Tip: Thiscanbeusefulforveryflatsurfacemodels.
Lightscape Files
You can export your 3ds Max scenes to Lig htscape.
Lightscape is a visualization application that uses
radiosity and ray tracing to create accurate lighting
for 3D models.
Note: This feature is being retired. For more
detailed information about Lightscape export and
import, you can refer to the 3ds Max 8 reference.
You can download the v8 reference from the
Autodesk Web site: go to www.autodesk.com,
choose Support, pick the product Autodesk 3ds
Max, and then choose Documentation.
You can export several Lightscape file formats
from 3ds Max. The Lightscape Preparation (*.lp)
file is the main format Lightscape uses. Other