Reference Planes VS. Viewport Backgrounds

In my previous post I mentioned setting up reference material to draw splines over. There are several ways to go about this. Some find it easier to create the spline in an external program first, such as Adobe Illustrator, then import it for use into Max. However, when working on a large project, it's handy to have some form of reference image inside of Max to work with.

There are (as far as I know) two ways to do this: Reference planes and Viewport Backgrounds. Lets start with the latter.

Viewport Backgrounds are quick and easy to set up, providing you already have an image to work with. You can access the dialogue box either via the "Views" menu, inside the viewport itself, or using the shortcut Alt+B. Once the menu is open, you can choose an image to display in the selected viewport only by hitting the Files... button. There are further settings you can configure to set it up how you want, the most notable being Match Bitmap under the Aspect Ratio box (this sets the size of the background to the same size as the image you select) and Lock Zoom/Pan (prevents the image from being moved when you zoom or pan).

Pros

• Quick and easy to set up
• Can be applied to individual or multiple viewports
• Aren't affected by settings such as Wireframe mode, allowing easier modelling
• Easily turned off or on

Cons

• Do not align properly with multiple images
• Incredibly fiddly to try and get alignment to work
• Can produce inaccurate results

Reference Planes are more widely used, due to the precision that can be acquired when using multiple images. The idea is to create a Plane object, Clone, Rotate and Move a second into position, and then apply a material consisting of the reference image to each (typically a front image and a side image).

The planes would usually be frozen, so that the modeller would not accidentally move or disrupt them. The setting Show Frozen in Grey would have to be un-checked inside the objects properties.

Pros

• Customisable, allowing for superior accuracy. Can change any number of settings in relation to materials, positioning and size

Cons

• Takes a little longer to set up than Backgrounds
• Awkward for a new user
• Are affected by Wireframe mode etc

Although it has more cons than pros, Reference Planes are more popular because the inaccuracy from using the alternative is too much of a price to pay when modelling. However, if you are modelling an object that requires only one reference (a front view such as the chess pieces for example) then Viewport Backgrounds are the way to go.

Windows 7 Users:

If you are having texture trouble when using Reference Planes (the materials are pixelated, or not as detailed as they should be) make sure you are opening 3DS Max in Administrator Mode.