From the course: Learning 3ds Max 2020

Activating the Modeling Ribbon tools - 3ds Max Tutorial

From the course: Learning 3ds Max 2020

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Activating the Modeling Ribbon tools

- [Instructor] The ribbon is an interface element that hosts a collection of tools primarily for modeling. In the case of this editable poly object from the previous movie, we can use the ribbon to extrude polygons to create a branching structure for the propellor struts of our toy drone. Many of the tools on the modeling ribbon are also found in the Modify panel of an editable poly object. But some are not, and are only accessible from the ribbon. In a previous movie I hid the ribbon so let's re-enable it from its button on the main toolbar, Show ribbon. And we can also show the full ribbon by clicking on the button to expand it. And when I select an editable poly object I can access the tools on the modeling tab of the ribbon. However, it will depend upon what level of the modifier stack I'm currently in. The modeling ribbon is actually built on top of the modifier stack. We need to actually be in the modifier stack for this modeling ribbon to actually work. And we can access the modifier stack by clicking on Modify mode over here. And now the Command panel displays the Modify panel. We can see there that we have two modifiers, Symmetry Y and Symmetry X. And currently Symmetry Y is selected. And we can see that up here we used to have a button labeled Modify mode, but now the current selected modifier is displayed over here. We need to be at the level of an editable poly primitive or at the level of an Edit Poly modifier in order for any of these tools up here to work. And there's one more major gotcha with this, which is if I simply go into a sub object mode then 3ds Max will dump an Edit Poly modifier above the current level of the stack. So to demonstrate, if I for example go over to Polygon Face mode and click on that, now I get all my tools. But I'm not actually editing below the symmetry, which is what I want to do. I want to be able to perform a modeling operation and have that ripple through the other three quadrants of the chassis, according to the symmetry modifiers I previously applied. So just innocently clicking on a sub object mode creates a problem for me. The Edit Poly modifier at the top of the stack is, of course, above any symmetry. So I'm not able to manipulate, and make changes, and preserve my symmetry any longer. Okay, so we don't want that Edit Poly at the top of the stack. Let's delete that. Just select it in the Modify panel proper and remove it from the stack. What we need to do is select the Editable Poly and the bottom of the stack so that our changes will be symmetrical. And of course we could do that by just clicking here. And once we do that, now the tools are restored. There's another way to do it which is from the ribbon itself. So if we're in Modify mode, which means that the Modify panel is displayed, or activated. Then we can use the buttons here to move up and down the stack. We have Next Modifier to go up the stack and we have Previous Modifier to go down the stack. So I can click that a couple of times until I'm down at the bottom of the stack at the Editable Poly. If I want, I can display the end result by clicking Show End Result here. Or not. But however you do it, you need to be at the level of the Editable Poly. Otherwise you're going to be spuriously adding an Edit Poly modifier at the top of the stack. Once you're at the bottom of the stack the way you need to be, then you can go into the appropriate sub object mode and start making your changes. And if you want, you can display the end result or not. But if I display it, as you see here, I'm getting an overlay of a before and after picture. And that's not really helpful to me. So I'm not going to activate Show End Result. So I'm going to leave that off. Okay, so that's a little bit complex. You need to be able to wrangle this correctly in order to use the ribbon because of its kind of strange relationship to the Modify panel.

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