Autodesk 12812-051462-9011 User Guide 3 - Page 1793

change because their family, Doors, and type, Single-Flush : 32" x 80", are identical. Propagation of materials can be controlled by toggling the Auto Material Propagation Toggle on page 5328. Blocks The concept of blocks originated in AutoCAD. Blocks allow you to combine one or more objects into a single reusable object. As you work in AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture, you can insert blocks repeatedly in the drawing at various locations, orientations, and scales. If you change a block, the changes propagate automatically to all instances of that block throughout the drawing. You then link the DWG file to 3ds Max, where your goal is to beautify the scene in preparation for rendering. Some of those preparations include such procedures as selecting a block instance so you can apply or adjust a material, applying texture mapping coordinates, unifying or flipping normals, and setting rendering properties. These procedures affect all other block instances in the scene. The structure of nested blocks, blocks that are made from multiple sub-blocks, is maintained when you link an AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture drawing to 3ds Max. For example, if the block Desk1 is made using several blocks, Desk, Chair and Return, you will be able to select any of Desk1's sub-blocks to alter their rendering properties or materials. You can only access rendering properties for block components that appear as Linked Geometry on the Modifier panel. Blocks or sub-blocks, that appear as VIZBlocks in the Modify panel, do not have rendering properties because they are not renderable. NOTE A change to the drawing in AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture is reflected in 3ds Max when you reload the linked model. Changes made in 3ds Max do not propagate back to AutoCAD or AutoCAD Architecture. Block and Modifying Linked Geometry Linked objects show up as linked geometry objects in the modifier stack. These objects don't allow access to sub-object levels where minor editing can occur at Vertex or Face levels. You must first add an Edit Mesh modifier to the object in order to access sub-object levels where you can perform operations like welding vertices or deleting faces. If you add a modifier to a block, the modifier is applied to all instances of that block. Likewise, any sub-object level editing to the originally selected block propagates to all other instances. 7048 | Chapter 23 Managing Scenes and Projects