Viewport Backgrounds?? well sorta....

[Taoizm]

If you just froze the mesh then you can unfreeze it and delete. (you can't select them until they're unfrozen)

If that's not the case then I'm not really sure what happened.

[Xilica]

How do I unfreeze though?

[LFShade]

Either right-click in the viewport and choose "Unfreeze all", or choose Tools->Display Floater... from the main menu to bring up a floater that will let you unfreeze by name or by hit (mouse-click).

[Xilica]

yep, that did it :thumbsup:

my problem has been solved, thanks a bunch

[Taoizm]

There are a couple of different ways

1) Under the TOOLS option at the top you will find a tool called "Display Floater" This gives you quick access to all your hide and freeze options. (I set up a hotkey for this)

2) You can also click the DISPLAY tab in the command panel. There will be a rollout for freezing/unfreezing objects.

3) Not sure if this is default in the quads or not, but I have the hide and freeze options listed in my main quad menu for yet another easy way to use them.

Hope that helps. :)


***D'oh.... got answered while I was typing all that. ;) ***

[megaflaizer]

but someday i will publish my tutorial on how to use the viewport background feature.

trust me, you'll find this much sharper in image clarity...

mapped planes have many disadvantages

[aor]

megaflaizer - do it! por favor!

glad ur prob got fixed!


:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Projectkmo]

yes, Please..lol...look at this thread

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34708

[fred_bock]

and insted of erasing the frozed objects ... don't forget that exists the : "Hide/show frozen objects" Option. right above the frezze tab. :beer:

[LFShade]

megaflaizer -

Not sure what you mean about getting better quality by using the viewport background feature. I find that it consumes way too much memory, and craps out badly when you zoom in really close. Also, as mentioned in that other thread posted by Projectkmo, there are some scaling issues from one VP to another. The feature is great for composing a scene from sketches, or for matching to video or stills, but for modeling from templates it's total crap IMHO.

[megaflaizer]

in summary...

one of the primary disadvantages in mapped planes is THEY GET IN THE WAY.

as in, they are geo in your scene and sometimes they obscure geo in your scene that you want to see. namely, your model.

also, the bitmapped planes are rather low res, unless you pump up the max resolution settings for displayed textures. if you do this, ALL your bitmap texts will use this resolution setting and your scene will get very slow when displaying in textured mode.

here is the quick and dirty method to do viewport backgrounds:
- reset max [helps but not necessary]
- put the images you want in each viewport background
- now, they prolly wont line up, next, we'll fix that.
- in one viewport [i usually do this in front] make a box that goes from one part of the model to another. i usually do this from the chin line to the middle of the eyes line. now in that viewport, go in an LOCK the scroll/zoom
- in the other viewport, make sure scroll/zoom is NOT locked.
- now zoom that viewport until the same lines in the drawing in that view matches the box... get it? then lock scroll/zoom in that viewport
- ta da!! not +/- .001 accuracy or anything but pretty damn close

now, heres how to leverage the advantages of this technique:
- map a hotkey to display viewport background. it now becomes VERY quick to hide/display the background quickly and easily. this is a per viewport setting
- you can also tell max what max resolution to use to display the bitmap, its somewhere in the preferences or something. i dont have max here, im working from memory. the key is that this is an independent setting from texture display resolution.

pitfalls to avoid:
- the background in front view must be EXACTLY symmetrical in order for it to line up to the center of your grid. by symmetrical, i mean the smae width on each side from the center
- dont unlock the viewports or you'll be screwed and forced to redo it, and usually you cant exactly match it back up.
- in each viewport, front and side, you can switch the view [user, persp, etc] and always just go back to the original view [front, side] and itll match up again
- when you zoom in too close, max will ask you if you want to use that much memory to display it. click no or youll be waiting... as a tangent to this, i usually use the drawings for gross and medium modeling. when youre zooming in that close to do detail work, you shouldn't need the backgrounds...

another technique involves tracing drawings in illustrator or freehand and importing htese in as curves, wher eyou can use the hide shapes command to quickly display/hide the 'background'

someday, il launch a new website with graphical tutorials for this. i always have to show this to my teams and teammates wherever i go [did that sound too self important?]

[megaflaizer]

but, did anyone have any luck with this technique? or even try it?

[E.T]

Havent tried it but i can immediately see the use for the locking thing. i thought the lock was unsensitive to the position of the background.

thanks
/E.T

[Projectkmo]

lol, glad to know now how to set that thing up right...though, after years of useing planes for my images, lol..I'm sorta used to it now...and it's easy. But, I'm going to try this out when I get home later. Thanks a ton for the tips!! :applause:

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