Overview

The term scene in VIZ refers to your all of your models, materials, effects, and externally referenced files contained within a single MAX file. In this chapter, you ll look at ways that you can access and utilize your scenes while developing your renderings and animations. VIZ offers a variety of ways that can help you improve your workflow. You can divide a file into smaller pieces and recombine them while keeping those pieces unique. This can help you manage large scenes that require the work of several artists. Other tools let you quickly update objects in your scene or perform what-if scenarios to try out different options.

In this chapter, you ll experiment with different ways of bringing in some additional furniture from the companion CD. In the process, you ll lean about the different ways that you can combine and access your scenes.

• Gaining Access to Materials and Objects from Other Files

• Arranging Furniture with XRefs and the Asset Browser

• Replacing Objects with Objects from an External File

• Arranging Furniture with XRef Scenes

• Using Rendered Frame Windows

• Using the Asset Browser on the Internet

• Tracking and Locating Scene s Assets

Gaining Access to Materials and Objects from Other Files

In this section, you ll be working with groups as you did in Chapter 2. You ll also use a feature called an XRef to transfer the modified fabric material from the Mybigchair.max file to the MyCouch.max file.

XRefs are a way to include...