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842 Chapter 8: Modifiers
Substitute Assignment group
Pi ck Scene Obj ect—Lets you choose an object from
thecurrentscenetobeinstancedasasubstitutefor
the selected object. Click Pick Scene Object, and
then select the object from a viewport to use as a
substitute.IfInViewportisonandRetainCurrent
Posit ion is off (the default settings), an instance
(page 3–957) of the substitute object appears in the
place of the original object.
The mouse cursor changes to a plus sign (+) when
over an object that can be used as a substitute.
You cannot use an object to which the Substitute
modifier is applied as a substitute object.
Use the button labeled "..." to the r ight of Pick
Scene Object to select a substitute object using the
Select Objects dialog (page 1–78), which in this case
is titled Select Substitute Object. From the dialog’s
list window, click the object to use as a subst itute,
and then click Select.
S el e ct XRef O bject —Lets you specif y an object to
be instanced from an external scene file as the
substitute. Click Select XRef Object, and then, in
theOpenFiledialog,openthefilecontainingthe
substitute object. On the XRef Merge dialog (page
3–406), select the substitute object and then click
OK. Objects to which the Substitute mo difier is
applied don’t appear in the list.
Note: B ecause the object used as a substitute is
referenced from an external file, any changes
totheobjectinthatfileapplytothesubstitute
after reloading. For example, if you apply a Bend
modifiertothesubstituteobjectintheexternal
file, then the next time you load the file containing
the object with the Substitute modifier, it appears
bent.
Retain Local Rotation/Scale—When on, rotates or
scalesthenewobjectinstanceinthesameplaceas
the substitute object you select. In this case, the
two objects coincide in space, and you must move
one to see both. When off, 3ds Max positions the
instanced substitute object in the same place as the
objectcontainingtheSubstitutemodifier.
Yo u m u s t s p e c i f y t h e R e t a i n L o c a l R o t a t i o n / S c a l e
settingbeforedesignatingthesubstituteobject.
Changing this setting afterward has no effect.
Sur f ace M odifier
Selec t a sp line object. > Mo d ify panel > Modifier List >
Object-Space Modifiers > Sur face
Select a spline object. > Modifiers menu > Patch/Spline
Editing > Surface
Procedures (page 1–846) Inter face (page 1–847)
The Surface modifier generates a patch surface
based on the contours of a spline network. A patch
is created w herever the seg ments of the interwoven
splines form a three- or four-sided polygon.
The Surface modifier and the CrossSection
modifier, taken together, are refer red to as Surface
Tools. They allow you to create complex or
organic surfaces, like the fuselage of a plane, or a
three-dimensional character.
Applying the S urface m odifier to create a patch surface.
The CrossSection modifier (page 1–623) can be
applied before the Surface modifier to connect
splines representing cross-sections. Once the basic
spline network is created and the Surface modifier
is applied, the model can be adjusted by editing