Modify XREF inside Max main scene

[Morne]

Hi all

Lately with a particular job, I find I have to keep modifying my foilage as in move trees around etc. The foilage file is huge so I made it an XREF not to kill my main scene. But now isnt there a way I can move stuff in the XREF, from the main scene?

I keep on switching between my main scene and my xrefed scene, which is a pain!

[alexyork]

Nope - that would somewhat negate the point of an xref, but that's not the real issue.

What you need to do is simply run 2 instances of MAX - one with your master open and one with your xref open, and keep reloading from within the master when you need to. Clumsy, but it works, and that's the flipside of using xrefs in the first place.

You could look into Containers too.

[Morne]

What you need to do is simply run 2 instances of MAX - one with your master open and one with your xref open, and keep reloading from within the master when you need to. Clumsy, but it works, and that's the flipside of using xrefs in the first place.

Yes this is what I've been doing also, but thought I'd check to see if there isnt an easier way...

[dlparisi]

Additionally, if you mark the foliage file in your master file as "Overlay" in the xref dialog, you can then xref your master scene into the foliage file so you can move the foliage around to correspond to the master scene. Be sure to mark this master scene xref as "Overlay" as well or you'll get dependency loops and it won't work. Of course you may want to leave this master xref scene unloaded most of the time since your trying to make editing a little zippier but this way it's always there for you to work from if needed.

[tricky]

XREF objects opens up some functionality, but we've never got our heads around it.

XREF scenes, while painful in some respects, are a life saver when it comes to very large projects.

[Neilg]

If you have forest pro you could do all your foliage in custom edit mode with scattering turned off. It's an amazing workflow.

I wouldn't recommend using containers - i've had no good experiences with them. If you don't have forest the way you're already doing it is probably the best.

[danb4026]

Cubicle, can you better explain your workflow using forest in edit mode rather than scatter? Do you start with in edit mode from the get go? Using it just to plop individual foliage models around? I have always used edit mode once I have already scattered plants and want I make individual adjustments.

Thx

[Donald2B]

There are some great suggestions.

There are some XRef files that can't be open with a second instance of Max without creating Max instability.

In those situations, I create point helpers to identify where objects need to be moved to. Then when I open the XRef scene, merge in the point helpers and then move the appropriate objects. It is definitely NOT the best way, but has been the only way on a couple of VERY large projects.

[Neilg]

Using it just to plop individual foliage models around?

Yeah - it's faster to place than moving proxies round and has much better options for viewport display.

I think I overuse forest a bit tbh... scene i'm working on now has 25 unique forest objects, haha.