Max for all presents
3ds max from scratch series at http://maxtutrs.blogspot.com/
As we learned how to select an object let’s know how to manipulate and transform the object.
All what we have to do is ether select and move, select and rotate or select and scale.
These three actions are located just beside the selecting tools on the tool menu.
First of all let’s know how to move an object.
Click on the select and move tool 
or press the hotkey W and then click on the chair, and once we highlighted the chair notice that we have a three colored axis called Gizmo that allows us to move the object along a various directions.
the three axis are the (X), (Y) and (Z) and the color of every one of them changes to yellow once the mouse come over it.
If you click on the (X) and drag the chair will move on (X).
If you click on the (Z) and drag the chair will move up and down.
If you click on the (Z) and drag the chair will move back and forward.
You can move the object on two axis at the same time if you click on the square between the two axis.
Now let’s know how to rotate an object.
Choose the rotate tool
or press the hotkey E and then select the chair and it brings another type of gizmo which is a three circles.
the three circles are the (X), (Y) and (Z) and the color of every one of them changes to yellow once the mouse come over it.
As the move tool the rotate tool allows you to rotate the object on the three axis.
Now let’s know how to scale an object.
Choose the scale tool
or press the hotkey R and then select the chair.
Scaling is very similar to both moving and rotating.
Scaling tool allows us to scale the object in any axis so you can scale it on (X), (Y) or (Z), and you can scale it in both axis at once by highlighting and selecting the yellow space between the two axis.
and you can scale the object on all three axis by clicking the very middle area.
If you click and hold on the scale tool you’ll see three types of scaling tool.
the first and default one is select and uniform scale
which we explained before.
The second one is select and non-uniform scale
this one allows us to scale on any axis but doesn’t allow us to scale on two axis and if you try it scales for all axis together.
The last one is select and squash
with this one if you scale up at one axis the object will scale down at other both axis so it’s squash so it’s useful in animating a cartoon.
another way to scale is to use the three numeric boxes at the bottom of the screen.
as you see I scale the chair to a very different values, so to bring the object to it’s original scale I’ll type 100 in the three boxes and it brings the object back.
these three boxes enable you to move or rotate the object in a specific numbers you want.
So if you choose the move tool and type in the X box 100 the chair will move on the X axis to the specific location.
let’s stop for a while to answer the question you want to ask.
The question is : what are these numbers I type? And what are these refers to?
as you see in the pic the place of the axis on the grid is 0 for X, 0 for Y and 0 for Z.
So simply when you drag the X for the right way the X number goes positive and when goes for the left gives negative numbers.
The same for the Y and Z axis
And the same for scaling and rotating.
Now let’s explore what these numbers refers to.
3ds max has it’s default unit scale which is
1 unit = 1 Inch
but also 3ds max gives you the ability to choose any unit scale you want to use.
To do that go to customize menu and choose unit setup.
As you see we can choose the metric measure, and under it you can choose if it millimeters, centimeters, meters or kilometers.
Notice : The architectures should choose the unit scale they want to work with before start working on their projects.
Tips :
Important hotkeys
Q : select tool
H : select by name
W : move tool
E : rotate tool
R : scale tool
You can maximize the size of your gizmo by pressing ( + ) and minimize it by pressing ( - ).
You can also hide and show it by pressing ( x ).
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