Few quick and easy questions from beginner

[comical_wenger]

hey guys, im just starting out and just have a few basic questions.

1. When I draw lines (spline-line) if i draw one line and then stop, then I want to start a new line from the end of the original line (like you do all the time in autocad) how do you get the start of the new line to snap to the end of the old line?

2. When I import a autocad file (Im just using import button) it doesnt really come in at the right scale, the autocad file doubles in size

3. If I have already created a floor plan in autocad, can I just import it and select the lines then extrude? or do I have to use snaps and trace over all the lines?

thanks in advance, sam.

[loydg]

Great questions! I think we all had ti face these at some point and others may have different solutions that I preent. I'll be interested in seeing those as well.

1) Couple things on creating splines that I find useful: as you are clicking in vertexes and run out of viewport space, use the "i" key to recenter and continue. By unchecking the "Start New Shape" button, you can keep going with the same object. Using the snap tool will help, but you may also make sure that the "Automatic Welding' is activated too.

2) In the import dialog box that appears after you select the file, there is an option at the top to adjust the incoming scale to match the Units that you have set up in Max. Be sure you know how Max is set up and what units the AutoCAD files was created in. The dialog box can rescale the incoming file pretty seamlessly, the other issue may be it's location in the coordinate space, but that's an entire subject in itself.

3) My rule of thumb is to check the splines that were imported. Depending on the skills and experience of the Cad person who created it, it may be fine to work with directly or you may have to rebuild it in Max. Look for unwelded vertexes, overlapping segments or splines. All can cause headaches when going into extrusions. Sometimes it's faster to build it from scratch (using snaps) than to fix the imported shapes.

Hope that helps!

[stusic]

Just to follow up a bit with Loyd's comment on #3: I've found as long as you make sure you have a closed polyline for each extrusion while you're in Autocad, it works pretty well. Of course, as Loyd said, depending on the cad operator, YMMV.

[comical_wenger]

great thanks for that guys, yeah the cad operator.... me.... ive found that I get lazy sometimes with my trimming.

[comical_wenger]

When I render, how can I change the pixel size that it renders at. I have gone through common- output size, but no matter what I change it to, it renders in a small little box that only takes up half the screen.

[loydg]

That's very strange indeed. The Output Size should set the pixel dimensions for your rendering. Any one of the presets or what you enter in the tyoe in field will produce an image of that pixel dimensions. Could you post an image of what you are getting for output? That would help us figure out the issue...

[comical_wenger]

Ok, so image 1 shows when I open up the render setup and place in 3000x3000 as my desired resolution

2. shows the final render
3. shows me saving the file to the desktop by clicking in the top right of image 2 (the save button)
4. shows the default resolution when I open in photoshop....

hope that helps!!

[stusic]

I think the 3000x3000 is the size of your whole frame, not just the cropped region. See how the safe frame is a perfect square? And if you look at the dimensions and its relative size compared to the cropped region, you'll see the width is around a thousand pixels and the cropped region is about a third of the safe frame.

Aside from rendering the whole frame by selecting View under Area To Render in the render setup dialog, I'm not sure how you can render the cropped region at a specific output size...

HTH!

[loydg]

Bingo, Phillip! Region render can sneak up on you when you least expect it.

[stusic]

Thanks; I was a little stumped until I saw the screenshots.