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170 Chapter 5: Creating Geometry
Inter face
The Keyboard Entry rollout contains a common
set of position fields, labeled X, Y, and Z. The
numbers you enter are offsets along the axes of the
active construction plane; either the home g rid or
a grid object. Plus and minus values correspond
to positive and negative directions for these axes.
Defaults=0,0,0; the center of the ac tive grid.
The location set by X,Y is equivalent to the first
mouse-downpositioninthestandardmethodof
creating objects.
Each standard primitive has the following
parameters on its Keyboard Entry rollout.
Primi tive
Parameters
XYZ point
Box
Length, Width,
Height
Center of base
Cone
Radius 1, Radius 2,
Height
Center of base
Sphere Radius
Center
GeoSphere R adius
Center
Cylinder Radius, Height Center of base
Tube Radius 1, R adiu s 2,
Height
Center of base
Torus
Radius 1, Radius 2
Center
Pyramid Width, Depth,
Height
Center of base
Teapot
Radius Center of base
Plane Length, Width
Center
Standard Primitives
Geometric primitives are familiar as objects in
the real world such as beach balls, pipes, boxes,
doughnuts, and ice cream cones. In 3ds Max,
you can mo del many such objects using a single
primitive. You can also combine primitives into
more complex objects, and further refine them
with modifiers.
A collection of standard primitive objects
3ds Max includes a set of 10 basic primitives. You
can easily create the primitives with the mouse in
the viewport, and most can be generated from the
keyboard as well.
These primitives are listed in the Object Type
rollout and on the Create menu:
Box Primitive (page 1–171)
Cone Pr imitive (page 1–172)