Autodesk 12812-051462-9011 User Guide 3 - Page 1728

NOTE The disadvantage of welding is that it can be time-consuming when you attach and reload the linked file. The time penalty is much greater when 3ds Max is creating objects that have very large numbers of individual faces. Linking Files with High Numbers of Linear Line Segments Two-dimensional elements in drawing files, such as lines, polylines, circles, and arcs, are represented as splines in 3ds Max. These splines carry much more information at each vertex than typical AutoCAD 2D structures. Since some drawing files contain large quantities of 2D data, exercise caution when linking files containing a high number of discrete line segments. There are two ways these elements can be left out of your 3ds Max scene: ■ by freezing their layers in AutoCAD, AutoCAD Architecture, or Revit before you start 3ds Max and before each subsequent reloading process. ■ by excluding specific layers during the File Link Attach/Reload process or Import process so you do not have to freeze layers in the drawing. This is the preferred workflow. If you need this type of 2D geometry in your visualization, try to use polylines instead of connected lines to get cleaner geometry in 3ds Max and to reduce the final size of your scene. Linked 3D Solids Objects 3D Solids objects that you link from a drawing file into 3ds Max are tessellated; that is, turned into mesh objects with faces. The fineness of the tessellation is controlled by the Maximum Surface Deviation For 3D Solids setting on page 7001on the File Link Settings dialog. A high value results in coarser tessellation. 3ds Max uses less memory in the scene, but poor approximations of curved surfaces could result. For acceptable performance, keep this value as high as possible. TIP You can change the value of the Surface Deviation For 3D Solids control at any time by turning on Show Reload Options on page 6996on the Files panel of the File Link Manager dialog, and then adjusting when you reload the file. Linked Spline Objects Splines are not rendered in 3ds Max unless they have rendering parameters applied. Normally, you have to collapse a shape to an editable spline object File Link | 6983