Selecting in 3DS MAX

[glorybound]

I had this problem before and it is painful. Selecting everything, from the Scene Explorer, takes 4-5 minutes. I am using 3DS MAX 2015. Typically, I select all and turn the layers off, then I turn back on what I want to work on. I do this hundreds of times, so obviously 4-5 minutes is a project killer.

[super gnu]

its not a solution i know, but surely, using isolate is quicker? and if we are talking a 5 minute delay, just opening the layer browser and turning off the unwanted layers one by one would also be quicker :P

[glorybound]

I usually have a couple dozen layers, so one-by-one would be crazy.

its not a solution i know, but surely, using isolate is quicker? and if we are talking a 5 minute delay, just opening the layer browser and turning off the unwanted layers one by one would also be quicker :P

[glorybound]

It's not just the Explorer, selecting in the viewport does the same thing.

[super gnu]

is this another "10,000 individual objects in the scene" issue? your workflow should always include collapsing stuff down to a few dozen meshes, or, if things must be kept separate, spitting them out to xrefs.

[glorybound]

Not nearly as large, however, I do have a lot of polyselects in with my kitchen cabinets.

[Morne]

In what mode is your viewport when you're doing this? Realistic, shaded, shaded with edges, or wireframe?

[glorybound]

Usually shaded. I just attached all my walls together, which seems to have solved the problem.

[Alan Iglesias]

I just attached all my walls together, which seems to have solved the problem.

Yes, since much of a 3DS Max file is essentially a list of (sometimes very long) databases, simplifying them by reducing multiple entities to single objects can sometimes improve overall UI interactivity. On the other hand, you often don't want large complex objects if you are going to be extensively editing them or animating them later.

As I find Max's layer system comprehensive if a bit on the bloated side to work with (more data bases!), if possible I will group things using the Selection Set toolbar feature and "turn on and off" groups of objects I need to work on in the viewports in this manner. This is a simpler approach and is often faster than the layer system. Of course, I've seen Selection Sets get over bearing and slow as well when they get too big.

Balancing your project in the scene is an art - back in the day large files were always broken up and rendered and comped later. These days, with much faster machines and big RAM amounts, I find I can usually keep everything together during a project. But in the beginning I always take the time to go through my file and try to classify objects for later work flow and optimize the scene for UI interactivity using Selection Sets and the like.

Hope this helps a little,

-Alan

[glorybound]

Yes, since much of a 3DS Max file is essentially a list of (sometimes very long) databases, simplifying them by reducing multiple entities to single objects can sometimes improve overall UI interactivity. On the other hand, you often don't want large complex objects if you are going to be extensively editing them or animating them later. As I find Max's layer system comprehensive if a bit on the bloated side to work with (more data bases!), if possible I will group things using the Selection Set toolbar feature and "turn on and off" groups of objects I need to work on in the viewports in this manner. This is a simpler approach and is often faster than the layer system. Of course, I've seen Selection Sets get over bearing and slow as well when they get too big. Balancing your project in the scene is an art - back in the day large files were always broken up and rendered and comped later. These days, with much faster machines and big RAM amounts, I find I can usually keep everything together during a project. But in the beginning I always take the time to go through my file and try to classify objects for later work flow and optimize the scene for UI interactivity using Selection Sets and the like. Hope this helps a little, -Alan

yes, thanks for the clarification. I guess I get confused when the software gets in the way.

[Alan Iglesias]

yes, thanks for the clarification. I guess I get confused when the software gets in the way.

Don't we all...

-Alan