9

1010 Chapter 9: Surface Modeling
Sur face Proper tie s rollout
These controls let you work with face normals,
material IDs, smo othing groups and vertex colors.
Normals group
Flip—Reverses the direction of the surface normals
of the selected faces.
Unif y—Flips the normals of an object so t hat they
all point in the same direction, usually outward.
This is useful for restoring an object’s faces to
their original orientations. Sometimes normals of
objectsthathavecomeinto3dsMaxaspartofa
DXF file are irregular, depending on the methods
used to create the objects. Use this function to
correct them.
Flip Normal Mode—Flips the normal of any face you
click. To exit, click th is button again or right-click
anywhere in the program interface.
Tip: ThebestwaytouseFlipNormalmode
is to set up your viewport to display with
Smooth+Highlig ht and Edged Faces on. If you use
Flip Normal mo de w ith default settings, you’ll b e
able to flip a face away from you, but you won’t be
able to flip it back. For best results, turn off Ignore
Backfacing in the Selection rollout. This lets you
click any face and flip the direction of its normal,
regardless of its current direction.
Material group
Set ID—Lets you assign a par ticular material ID
(page 3–969) number to selected sub-objects for
use with mult i/sub-object materials (page 2–1594)
and other applications. Use the spinner or enter
the number from the keyboard. The total number
of available IDs is 65,535.
Select ID—Selectssub-objectscorrespondingto
the Material ID specified in the adjacent ID field.
Type or use t he spinner to specify an ID, then click
the Select ID button.
[S elect B y N ame]—This drop-down list shows
the names of sub-materials if an object has a
M ulti/Sub-Object material assigned to it. Click
the drop arrow and choose a sub-material f rom
the list. The sub-objects that are assigned that
material are selected. If an object does not have
aMulti/Sub-Objectmaterialassigned,thename
list is unavailable. Likewise, if multiple objects
areselectedthathaveanEditPatch,EditSpline,
or Edit Mesh modifier applied, the name list is
inactive.
Note: Sub-material names are those specified in the
Name column on the material’s Multi/Sub-Object
Basic Parameters rollout; these are not created by