Improve your 3ds Max workflow: handling massive scenes

This beautiful chair has 100,000 polygons. If you imagine a full living room of similar detail furniture then you can see how your scene will quickly become un-manageable

This beautiful chair has 100,000 polygons. If you imagine a full living room of similar detail furniture then you can see how your scene will quickly become un-manageable

Paul Hatton presents a helpful guide for handling massive scenes with lots of data in his latest feature for improving your 3ds Max workflow...

Improving your 3ds Max workflow – previous chapters:
1. Top 10 interface secrets
2. Better modeling workflow

With processors and graphics cards and general hardware improving rapidly, 3D modelers are packing in more and more information into their models. Detail to objects is being added into the geometry which wasn't possible a few years back. We take quite a lot of our 3D models straight out of Revit and we therefore regularly deal with models in excess of 15 million polygons! The past few years have helped me develop some techniques which enable me to handle these large scenes and even output them into interactive scenarios on tablets too.

Statistics

When your scene polygon count is out of control and you're trying to cut it down, the first thing I do is find out the statistics of the scene. If you press the shortcut 7 on the keyboard you will notice in the top left-hand corner a set of yellow numbers. This tells you what's in your scene. It can then be customized by going to Customize Viewport and the Statistics tab. Then set it to Total + Selection. Finally, make sure that Show Statistics in Active View is selected.

Statistics will keep you informed about the state of your scene

Statistics will keep you informed about the state of your scene

Pro-optimizer

If I have received a scene from an external supplier, and it's been built in something like Revit or SolidWorks then the first modifier I go to which is an absolute life-safer is the Pro Optimizer modifier. This is a quick and stable way of quickly cutting down the polygon counts of your models. It's as easy as applying the modifier, and adjusting the percentage value to your desired level of detail. You can also tell it to preserve vertices if you want.

This modifier is perfect for those objects which are far away from the camera and don't need so much detail

This modifier is perfect for those objects which are far away from the camera and don't need so much detail

Use asset tracking

As scenes get larger, sometimes it's difficult to keep a track of all the XRef's and materials and external files that are referenced in. 3ds Max have given us an excellent tool called Asset Tracking which lists out all the references. What is also neat is that it allows you to change the locations that those files are referencing. The asset tracking can be opened using the Shift+T shortcut combination.

All of your assets are organized in one handy place. Use the asset tracking to make sure all your assets are correctly linked

All of your assets are organized in one handy place. Use the asset tracking to make sure all your assets are correctly linked

Auto updates of material swatches

If your scene is large than the likelihood is that you'll also have a large array of materials. If those materials are particularly complex then you may find that your computer takes time to auto-update the material swatches. This can be a massive time waster. To get around this you can turn the auto-update off specific materials if you want. Simply right-click on the node and deselect Auto-update.

This is a simple adjustment which can help if you have lots of complex materials in your editor

This is a simple adjustment which can help if you have lots of complex materials in your editor

Remove modifiers from multiple objects

If your modifiers are starting to get out of hand then believe it or not but there is a way to remove modifiers from multiple objects. You can do this by making use of the Schematic View. To open it, go to the Graph Editor file menu and New Schematic View. Then simply select and delete the modifiers that you don't want. Make sure the Modifier Stack is
set to display.

The Schematic view is brilliant for deleting multiple modifiers, either on one object or across multiple objects

The Schematic view is brilliant for deleting multiple modifiers, either on one object or across multiple objects

Point cache modifier

If you have a large scene and you have objects animating with complex rigs then did you know that you can ditch the complex rigs but still maintain the animation. You do this by utilizing the Point cache modifier. By applying this to an object you can record vertex transform data and then remove the underlying rigs. The modifier will store all the vertex locations on a per frame basis enabling you to playback animations incredibly quickly.

Store vertex positions of animations in a point cache file to enable quicker playback

Store vertex positions of animations in a point cache file to enable quicker playback

Use instances, not copies

3ds Max will be able to better handle multiple instances of the same object rather than multiple copies. Keep this in mind when you're duplicating your objects. Instances allow you to have one type of object which all the other instances just reference. Copies are much more memory hungry in that they each require their own little space of memory.

If your object doesn't need to be unique then make sure you copy it as an instance

If your object doesn't need to be unique then make sure you copy it as an instance

Object isolation

Isolating objects is a brilliant feature that I use time and time again. It allows me to focus only on those bits of geometry that I really want to see at that point in time. It is also a great saver on your viewport performance. With your chosen objects selected simply hit Alt+Y and see the rest of your objects disappear!

Work only on those objects which are important to you at any point in time. Object isolation is perfect for making this possible

Work only on those objects which are important to you at any point in time. Object isolation is perfect for making this possible

Minimize the impact of crashes

When you deal with large scenes with complex modifiers, the reality is that your scene is going to crash. Unfortunately this is just the reality. However, what you can do is minimize the impact of a crash. The main way of doing that is to ensure you have your auto-save set to regular intervals. Backups are key, especially as 3ds Max may at times corrupt the current file you're working on.

Make sure your auto-save settings are all set up. There's nothing worse than 3ds Max crashing
and losing all your work since your last save

Get better hardware!

This probably sounds harsh and obvious but often the best thing you can do is to just get better hardware. If you are doing everything you can to optimize your scene then maybe a new processor or graphics card needs to make it onto your birthday or Christmas list.

Sometimes you just need to get better hardware. Maybe it's time to think about getting an upgrade

Sometimes you just need to get better hardware. Maybe it's time to think about getting an upgrade

Top tip : Get the latest 3ds Max version

This might be a little controversial because I know each new version can have new bugs and it can take a while for those to be ironed out. But in general I've found that the improved viewport performance and handling of large scenes to be of great improvement with each new release.

If you have the spare cash, an upgrade to the latest version of 3ds Max will help with scene management

If you have the spare cash, an upgrade to the latest version of 3ds Max will help with scene management

Improving your 3ds Max workflow – previous chapters:
1. Top 10 interface secrets
2. Better modeling workflow

Related links

Check out Paul Hatton's personal site
Are you a 3ds Max user, or looking to start? You could try our collection of 3ds Max eBooks or purchase our books, 3ds Max Projects and Photoshop for 3D Artists

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