3dsmax snaps help?

[MoP]

Hey people, I'm feeling a bit n00b-ish at the moment because I can't figure something out in Max, and I dunno if it's just me, or if it's because the 3dsmax designers have made a huge oversight (wouldn't be the first time! /images/graemlins/wink.gif )

Basically I have a grid snap in perspective view using 3D snap toggle, but it will only snap the object on the XY plane, I can't get it to move vertically at all.

I've tried only activating that axis, tried toggling the move gizmo, tried every combination of settings in the snaps options that I can think of, but it still won't have it.

Do I need to create a custom grid in the vertical plane to snap along the Z axis in perspective? Or is it just not possible at all?

Any help would be very much appreciated, this has been bugging me for a week or so, and Max's help files shed no light on the subject.

[arshlevon]

might be silly, but have you tried it in an ortho view? i find max dosent like perspective with a number of the tools like the cut tool, works okay sometimes, others its really buggy. i only work in ortho views and use a perspective view just to check out how everything is looking.

[sinistergfx]

Because the grid only exists on the XY plane in the perspective view, that's the only way you can snap.

AFAIK, you'll have to switch to a side ortho view to grid snap on the Z axis.

It'd be nice if the grid was "3D", though.

[MoP]

Yeah, I was afraid that would be the answer. I forgot to mention I can snap fine in ortho views, but I'm used to working nearly entirely in the Perspective view (I must be your nemesis or something arsh /images/graemlins/smile.gif )

Edit: It works fine if you create a custom grid and activate that, but again it's 2D only - you can only snap on 2 axes, which seems really dumb to me.

[Ruz]

One of the level designers at work was having a similar snap problem that he did n't have in max 7, but had in max 8
might be a bug

[MoP]

Nah, this isn't a bug, it's a "feature" - it does exactly the same in max 7 and 8.
Although I do recall hearing people complaining about snapping in 3dsmax8 - haven't come across any problems (other than this) with it yet though.

[rooster]

I thought I'd see what happens if you make a lattice of subdivided planes and use snap to vert but eh.. its horriffic. never mind...

[MoP]

lol rich, that was one of my crackpot schemes too... great minds, eh /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[arshlevon]

[ QUOTE ]
(I must be your nemesis or something arsh /images/graemlins/smile.gif )


[/ QUOTE ]

not just you, i think i am one of the only character artists in the world that dosent work in perspective. doc rob use to give me shit all the time at mythic about working in an ortho view. i just hate the navigation in perspective and getting too close and going through the model. if the navigation was always the same like the orthos i would probably work in perspective more, i just hate how sometimes its super fast, others its super slow or dosent move at all, its just really unresponsive and unperdictable for me. so really the only thing i use it for is to make sure it looks right.

[Ruz]

the thing with perspective view is that its more like the view you get in the game engine re FOV, so ortho is a bit misleading visually with regard to thng like characters noses:)
i find target weld does weird things in perspective also

[gavku]

Arsh I'm with you dude for the same reasons. I pretty much only go into perspective view to render.

[Fuse]

wow how absolutely bizzare ... i almost entirely work in perspective because it gives me instant feedback relative to the natural fov ...

working in orthos boggles me mind /images/graemlins/smile.gif it's fascinating how different people have different approaches..

[rooster]

I find getting a persons likeness in ortho is a total bastard, they look completely different when you put it in perspective. which is why I gripe about zbushs perspective so much

[oXYnary]

You can view a perspective view when dropped to the canvas/non edit mode rooster (sorry to go off topic Mop)

The problem I find with pespective is the view itself.. or more, what lens angle most closely mimicks the human eye? Too many times I make something in maxs perp, than import into ued to see its pesp and angle look totally different. Perp is also useless when working on details because of the increased foreshortening the closer you get.

[thomasp]

user view for character work is what i use all day, too. perspective is just weird for the reasons mentioned already. i usually set up a camera with non-default values for when i need to review the view distortion.

i have to say however, max's perspective distortion is actually decent. anyone ever worked with softimage 3d? that had perspective-from-hell.

never missed it in z either. if it's a feature scheduled for their next release, i just hope it can be toggled.

[rooster]

I know theres a perspective viewing mode, it just a pain to have to guess the details when I'm sculpting them, then see if I got it right in perspective mode.. why can't I just see them as I'm doing it? faces do look quite different in ortho as I complained /images/graemlins/smile.gif

what makes the most sense to me, is finding out the fov of your game and modelling using that. wysiwyg.
thomasp, maxs fov is completely customisable. It seems pretty crap if softimages is fixed though.

[dejawolf]

another perspective-monkey here, although i frequently hotkey to various ortho views.
the weird zooming can be countered with zoom extents selected, it resets the zoom of the view.
and it zooms in on sub-object selections as well, which is nice, when working in details.
i've also changed rotation to arc-rotate selected.
still, yeah the cut tool gets increasingly inaccurate the more you use it, until its completely impossible to cut anything with accuracy. and theres sometimes incidents where you try and select your object, and another object in your way gets selected instead, even though its facing away from you.

[rooster]

usually if you set snap to faces or edges (whatever you're cutting), the cut tool behaves itself in perspective (and at least you can see exactly where you'll cut, so you know if its detecting your mouse on the wrong poly)