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Setting Origin in System Unit Setup (3DSMax)

  • Thread starter Deleted member 12505
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Deleted member 12505

Guest
Here is the setting I'm refering to in 3DSMax 2019:

uc


I'm working with "airport" distances, so I would expect that I would need to adjust the Origin values to help reduce flickering as a result of inaccuracy in distances. If so, what values are good for each type of project (i.e. Airport vs. Aircraft)?

SIDE NOTE: I was never able to find where in the SDK it specifies using 1 unit = 1 meter but just made the assumption based on other suggestions here and other "ether knowledge" ... maybe it's in the SDK somewhere but the search features of a CHM are horrible. My CHM/PDF tool can no longer read the CHM file as some sections are too large and exceed the tools capacity to load.

Cheers, Rob.
 
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Deleted member 12505

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Found it in the SDK under Autogen?? Go figure ...

uc


But still no mention of Origin values per project type.

Cheers, Rob.
 

Christian Bahr

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Hi Rob.

I'm vaguely reminded that documented in an old Gmax tutorial is that you always have to take the metric system as a reference and set the unit to 1 meter. In my projects invariably the metric system is used and the unit is always 1 meter. The same applies of course to the P3D avatars. For aircraft projects, however, I can not give any information, because I lack the knowledge to do so.

However, in the current P3Dv4.5 SDK is in the section "New Aircraft Procedures" mentioned this information:

Setting Units of measurement
On the Customize menu, click Units Setup.
In the Units Setup dialog box, click Metric, select Meters from the Metric box, and then click OK.
On the Customize menu, click Preferences. On the General tab under System Unit Scale, verify that it reads 1 Unit = 1.0 Meters, and then click OK.
 
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newzealand
Yes, 1 = 1m
I’ve never changed the origin slider in max.
Haven’t seen any side effects from it.
 
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us-california
Gmax user here, but I think it's the same.
Origin slider is just a calculator to show you the measurement resolution at the set system unit scale and a given distance from origin. Moving the slider doesn't affect anything, it's just informational.
The SDK mandates 1m unit scale, presumably because the exporter is outputting from internal representation and it assumes 1m system units
You can work in any Units you like, as long as system unit scale is 1m.
 

hairyspin

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We always use System Unit as 1 metre. Some have built Cessnas with quarter-mile wingspans by ignoring that. Or terminal buildings too small to spot on final approach.
 

n4gix

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Tom, my very first attempt at modeling H U G E because I'd set 1 unit = 1 foot...
 

tgibson

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Bill, I think all of us did that at first. I know I did. :)

As I remember Inches was the GMAX default?
 
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Deleted member 12505

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Thanks for the responses everyone. I'll leave Origin alone. 3DSMax defaults to inches out of the box ... so I've created a startmax.max for P3D work 1 unit = 1 meter.

Cheers, Rob.
 

n4gix

Resource contributor
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SIDE NOTE: I was never able to find where in the SDK it specifies using 1 unit = 1 meter but just made the assumption based on other suggestions here and other "ether knowledge" ... maybe it's in the SDK somewhere but the search features of a CHM are horrible. My CHM/PDF tool can no longer read the CHM file as some sections are too large and exceed the tools capacity to load.
I wish L-M had not continued the ACES 'tradition' of making the SDK available to be read from a computer with P3D installed. I don't have P3D installed on my development computer at all! I can now only read the SDK via the website, which is inconvenient at best... :tapedshut
 
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393
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newzealand
I wish L-M had not continued the ACES 'tradition' of making the SDK available to be read from a computer with P3D installed. I don't have P3D installed on my development computer at all! I can now only read the SDK via the website, which is inconvenient at best... :tapedshut
Copy the 'Learning Center.chm' file from the P3D install directory to another computer.
 

n4gix

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You don't need P3D installed, you can download the SDK here: http://www.prepar3d.com/support/sdk/ ... so I guess you're opting out of doing any PBR?
Rob, I have the current SDK installed on my dev machine. I could not do any work without it. I am referring only the the written SDK in .htm format. It is not searchable, nor accessible to read on my dev machine.

I don't deal with the artwork at all (aside from creating the materials and ensuring that the bitmaps are in the correct places), as we have another team for that. So PBR yes; my headache no... :rotfl:

I will try the suggestion of copy/pasting the entire 'Learning Center.chm' file to my dev machine.
 
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