From the course: 3ds Max: Substance to Arnold

A word on gamma and units

From the course: 3ds Max: Substance to Arnold

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A word on gamma and units

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- [Narrator] If you have your copy of 3ds Max set up in a non-default way, it is possible that you could encounter the gamma mismatch warning that we see here as you work with the provided scene files for this course. The dialogue is simply 3ds Max's way of telling us that the gamma settings saved in the file are different from those currently at work inside the application itself. To make certain that what you see in 3ds Max as you work with these scenes matches the visual presentation found in the videos, which have all been created using 3ds Max's default gamma options, all you need to do, each time you encounter the dialogue, is select the Adopt the File's Gamma and LUT Settings option, and all will be well. If you should, by mistake, select the wrong option, no need to panic, as switching gamma options inside 3ds Max is a simple and straightforward process. All we need to do is come to the customize menu, select the preferences option, and then in the gamma and LUT tab of the dialogue, set gamma to be enabled. Make sure the gamma volume is set at 2.2, and ensure that both boxes in the materials and colors section are checked. Another warning dialogue that you could run into is one connected to our system and display unit setup. As a general rule, we typically model all of our to scale using the metric system. Specifically, in the case of this course, centimeters. If you have 3ds Max set up to use its unit defaults then you will run into this particular error. Thankfully the fix, again, is simple, as all we need do is choose the Adopt the File's Unit Scale option. Now, unlike the gamma choices that we have already looked at, the consequences of making the wrong choice here can be a bit more significant given that choosing the rescale objects option can often times lead to some fairly serious scene anomalies. To reiterate, then, the option that we will always want to choose whilst working with the scene files for this course will be Adopt the File's Unit Scale. Once we have done that, we will need to remember that when working on projects of our own, assuming we don't want to work in the metric system, that we will need to open up the unit settings dialogue, go into the system unit setting, and switch that back to 3ds Max's default of inches. Also setting the display unit to whatever option we're most comfortable working with. Again, if we follow through on these instructions, then everything from the exercise files download should work just fine for us.

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