9

System Unit Setup Dialog 851
Inter face
Unit and M easur ement fields—Change the scale of
the 3 ds Max unit. The system unit is the standard
measurement throughout 3ds Max. You should
only change the system unit value before importing
or crea ting geometry.
Respect System Units in Files—When on, if you
open, merge, XRef, or drag and drop geometry
from file that has different system unit settings,
a File Load: Units Mismatch dialog (page 3–852)
is displayed. This dialog gives you the choice
of rescaling the geometry to match the cur rent
system units, or adopting the units used in the file.
When off, the dialog is not displayed, and the file
is assumed to have the same units as the cu rrent
3ds Max session. Default=on.
Origin Slider, Dist ance from Origin, Accuracy
These controls provide a system unit calculator to
help you determine the unit sc ale for your project.
The resolution of measurement diminishes as
thedistancetotheoriginofspaceincreases,so
you need to consider space granularity when you
choose a scale for your project. If you’re modeling
an island, for example, this calculator can help you
determine the smallest object you should mo del
on the island. In other words, don’t use a unit scale
of millimeters if you plan on modeling an island
that’s m any miles across.
Whenyouusethesliderorthetextfieldtoentera
distancefromtheorigin,theResultingAccuracy
changes to show what the round-off error will be
at that distance.
These controls don’t change the unit settings in
3ds Max. They don’t reflect the extents of the
curren t scene, either.
Origin Slider—Move the slider for interactive
feedback of distance and accuracy. Right-click the
scale to reset the slider to 0. Dragging the slider
displays the last slider position as a small square
on the scale markings.
The slider covers distances from 0 to the maximum
distance that’s accura te to one system unit.
Distance from Origin—Enter the maximum distance
you want to use in your project to determine the
maximum accuracy, which is displayed in the
Accuracy field. Values consider current settings
for system scale and unit.
Note: When you typ e a distance, you must press
ENTER to update the Resulting Accuracy field.
Pressing TAB simply moves focus to Resulting
Accuracy, without doing the calculation.
Resulting Accuracy—Enter the minimum resolution
you will use to determine the maximum size or
distance that is most practica l. Values consider
current settings for system scale and unit.
For example, if units are in feet and decimal
inches in Customize menu > Units Setup, and you
type (1’, 1foot)intheAccuracyfield,avalueof
22369620’0.0" is displayed in the Distance From
Origin field. If you move an object that’s one foot
across, at this distance away from the orig in of
space, a round-off error will occur, and the shape
of the object will be compromised.