Snaps in Max
I'm currently moving from Maya to Max due to reasons with a school I'm going to be attending.
In Maya, simple things like snapping to the grid and vertices can be achieved with the x and v keys... is there a way like that in Max to snap? I tried using the normal snap toggles, and they don't want to work at all for me.
I'm using Max 2010 w/ Win7 64 bit computer with an Radeon 4600 card
In Maya, simple things like snapping to the grid and vertices can be achieved with the x and v keys... is there a way like that in Max to snap? I tried using the normal snap toggles, and they don't want to work at all for me.
I'm using Max 2010 w/ Win7 64 bit computer with an Radeon 4600 card
Replies
In a similar vein ... is there a way to snap the current selection (verts or whole objects) to the nearest grid?
In the Main Toolbar there is a Button with a Magnet, where you can toggle Snaps (similar to pressing 'S'), chose between 2D, 2.5D and 3D Snap (I only use 3D) and, if you rightclick it, you open a new window where you can choose what to snap and, for example, to use the Gizmo's Axis Constraint when snapping (I using this to snap only 2D even though I am using 3D snap...)
Example: If you want to snap a Vertex to a Gridpoint, you need to activate Gridpoints and Vertex.
You can also right click a blank spot on the main toolbar and turn on the snaps toolbar which has quick buttons to edge, vert, grid pivot, all the pivot options. I'm constantly turning on and off angle snap and using the pivots so I just leave it out. You can dock the toolbar to the top or one of the sides by dragging it there.
I'd still like to be able to move with the gizmo, but I guess I'll just get used to this way.
Thanks for the help guys!
Check what Vig said, this is a solution to the problem, if you move the cursor close you are still going to be off on the selection snapping.
As far as putting the cursor close to the vert, it actually turns into a separate little move tool with the pointer turning into the four arrow icon and it does move the vert/verts consistently dead-on to the grid points like it's supposed to be.
If the cursor is aligned to a snap point, then no matter what the cursor is doing, is destination is snapped.
If I zoom in enough where I can highlight the gizmo without having my cursor within range of snapping, then there is no problem and it does exactly what I want it to do. But if that cursor is in range of a snap point when I first click and start to drag, then my cursor destination is getting snapped, not the vert or whatever else is selected.
So now, is there a way to keep my cursor from getting snapped? I've tried with the marker on and off.
I also noticed something strange in that the verts don't always actually snap to 100% in our engine so I had to write a script at work, that may have been a limitation in the precision of the file format or importing though. I'd love an actual replacement for hte snaps in max though. Never been a fan
I think the scale of the object in the scene also effects the snap tool and its accuracy, which is another crazy aspect I'm don't like, especially when it's reported to work in screen pixels and be scale independent... wee... Maybe its the scale of the object and resetting it helps (hierarchy tab > Reset > Scale)? When it happens I end up seeing red and trying a bunch of stuff to get the job done.
When you have trouble with the snap tool grabbing onto something it shouldn't, you can compensate for this by adjusting the snap preview/snap radius. I haven't found a quick way to do this on the fly (could possibly be scripted) other than through the right click snaps button menu.
It's great when you can't get it to actually snap to the object you want because now the snap preview is too low... Since there is no way to adjust it on the fly, so I turn the snap preview/radius back up, move the vert way off somewhere, and then snap it.
If I'm lucky and its grabbing onto the grid, I use the same method FunkyBunnies described and toggle the grid off (g), start moving the vert and then turn it back on if I need to snap it grid.
Honestly all of these little annoying work arounds should never happen...
In my experience, I always get the snap in Max to feel better when I turn it on after I start moving my element. It's also nice to have a shortcut to toggle the axis constraint on/off, once again this is done better in Maya, in the sense that if you want axis constraint, you select thoses axes from your gizmo, and if you don't want any constraitns, you can just middle-click drag.
scroll down on my 3d section under tutorials
www.custom-airbrush.com
Has anyone found a script or plug-in that enforces grid-alignment? Similar to how you can't build outside of the grid in some game engines. If you want tighter detail, you have to increase the grid density (smaller units).
I've been scouring the web off and on for months but haven't found anything like this.
hi pior...isn´t this plugin doing this...
http://draster.com/component/page,shop.product_details/category_id,7/flypage,software-flypage/product_id,18/option,com_virtuemart/
I have no clue why I didn't post this info earlier, I've posted it in the past when snapping issues pop up, better late then never I guess. This isn't to say its perfect or even ideal, but more or less how I've come to understand these features and work with them.
2D snap
Snaps exclusively to the active grid object. The most precise method to snap a point to a grid. Works in whatever viewport. Shouldn't be used to snap verts to other verts, it will move the selection to the grid.
Its easy to think this is broken when you're using it in perspective view, if it doesn't have a grid behind the cursor it flies off into the distance.
2.5D Snap
Uses the active grid but ignores depth. Commonly used in ortho views, left right, top bottom, forward back to align two thing side by side but leave one in front of the other. It works in perspective too but works just like 2D but less accurate.
3D Snap is typically used to snap objects to each other such as verts to verts. It can be used to snap to the active grid but suffers from the same imprecision issues as 2.5D.
Example of 2.5D and 3D snaps
Problem of 2.5D and 3D Snap
For precise snapping to a grid, use 2D.
For precise snapping in 3D you're pretty much up shit creek without a paddle, 2.5 and 3D are just as bad at snapping to verts and edges as they are to the grid.
*shrug* Meh its close enough right?... um no...
Tips:
- It can be helpful to toggle the transform gizmo off (x) when snapping, especially verts.
- You can create custom grid objects (user grids) and position and rotate them in the scene. Using them indepenatanly of the home (world) grid.
- It can help when repositioning them to set the transform gizmo to local.
- You create user grids by going > Create tab (little sun/starburst) > Helpers (tape measure icon) > Grid. You can only have one grid object active at time.
- To activate a grid object select it and right click > upper left quad menu "active grid". Use the same method to switch it back to the home grid or activate another grid object.
Possible script idea:
Toggling Each of these features has a separate hotkey. It wouldn't be too hard to script a toggle combining them into one keystroke. If there is enough interest I'll look into it if someone hasn't already beaten me to the punch.
- Also know that with the custom grid object selected, in the command panel you can adjust the spacing and flip it XY, YZ, ZX. Generally
Please do MoP -- that would be fantastic!
Thanks for all the other comments everyone. This is extremely helpful! I'm going to step through Vig's post and check out Spatz' link.