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424 Chapter 6: Transforms: Moving, Rotating, and Scaling Objec ts

Axis Tripod and World Axis

Two visual aids in 3ds Max give you in formation

about your current orientation in the workspace.

Axis Tripod

If no tr ansform tool is active, an axis tripod

appears in the v iew por ts whenever you select one

or more objects, to assist you visually in your

transforms. When a transform tool is active, the

transform g izmo (page 1–426) appears instead,

unless you’ve turned it off.

The axis tripod appears when the transform gizm o is inactive.

The axis t ripod consists of three lines, labeled X, Y,

and Z , and shows you three things:

• The orientation of the tripod reveals the

orientation of the current reference coordinate

system.

• The location of the junction of the three axis

lines shows you where your transform center is.

• The highlighted red axis lines show you the axis

or axes to which the transform is constrained.

For example, if only the X axis line is red, you

can move objects only along the X axis.

Wo rld Axis

In the lower-left corner of each viewport you

can find the world axis, which shows the current

orientation of the viewport with respect to world

coordinate system. The world axis colors are red

for X, green for Y, and blue for Z. You can toggle

the display of the world axis in all viewports by

turning off Display World Axis, on the Viewports

panel (page 3–821) of the Preference Settings

dialog.

The w orld axis shows the current viewport orientation.