mitthrawnuruodo Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I am a bit confused with the unit system in max. I am watching a tutorial and the guy says to set "System Units Setup" to "Feet" and "Display Unit Scale" to Meters. Why not use Feet or Meters for both? Using his way when he says to make a plane 100m by 100m it really in max is 328 Feet by 328 Feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitthrawnuruodo Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 Alright so no one knows why, how do you all work then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Schroeder Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 (edited) I think you need to watch a new tutorial as that guy seems like he doesn't know anything. Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean that it's confirmed to be the right way. I'll that you ponder that notion as you read the rest of this post...... Generally you work in the same display units and your system units so you don't have to always do strange math. If you always work in metric, I could see using meters as your system unit and centimeters as your display, say if you had a big file that really need to be in meters but you prefer working in centimeters, as that conversion is pretty easy. But to mix metric with US units, that's just dumb. Edited March 28, 2014 by VelvetElvis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitthrawnuruodo Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 (edited) Well you'd think that this guy should know what he is doing as he works for Autodesk and the tutorial is from their YouTube learning channel , this is where he sets the scene up. I agree with you that it does not make any sense to set different units and this is the reason to ask you guys here as surely someone here must know what is the reason he's done that. Edited March 28, 2014 by mitthrawnuruodo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Negrete Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/15/ENU/3ds-Max-Help/files/GUID-69E92759-6CD9-4663-B993-635D081853D2.htm System vs. Display Units It is important to note the distinction between System and Display units. Display units only affect how geometry is displayed in the viewports. System units determine the actual scale of geometry. For example, if you import a DXF file (unitless) containing a 1 x 1 x 1 Box, 3ds Max could import the box’s dimensions in inches or miles, depending on the System unit. This can have a significant impact on your scene, which is why you should always set up the system unit before you import or create geometry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Negrete Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 The guy in the video says he prefers to see his units in meters but the system units are what matter in terms of his scene scale and interoperability with imported revit files which he mentions he'll do later in the video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitthrawnuruodo Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 I know he said it is better for Revit to use feet, but then if he uses system units as feet and display units as meters, this means that whatever he does "thinking in meters" is wrong. Lets say he makes a house 10m x 13m, so max will make it as 3.04m x 3.96m. So whole scene is much smaller than it should be isn't this going to cause other problems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Negrete Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 max is doing the conversion. the important thing is the system units which he set to feet. setting display units to meters just makes him happy. so if he types 10m x 3m the scene is being modeled to the equivalent in feet. 10mx3m = 32.8084'x9.84252' (3dsmax is doing this "behind the scenes") *i saw you wrote 10x13, not 10x3... example still works though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Negrete Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 - http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/15/ENU/3ds-Max-Help/files/GUID-69E92759-6CD9-4663-B993-635D081853D2.htm Display units only affect how geometry is displayed in the viewports. System units determine the actual scale of geometry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Schroeder Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Well you'd think that this guy should know what he is doing as he works for Autodesk and the tutorial is from their YouTube learning channel , this is where he sets the scene up. I agree with you that it does not make any sense to set different units and this is the reason to ask you guys here as surely someone here must know what is the reason he's done that. Autodesk knowing what they are doing? hahahahahahahahahahah. That's the best laugh I've had all day. Though now that you posted the link to the tutorial, it does make a little more sense to why they are doing that. Since you can't rescale a revit link like you can via a direct FBX import. To me, him saying that is just a personal preference and shouldn't be in an autodesk "official" tutorial. They should keep people in the same units so they don't confuse anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Negrete Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 To me, him saying that is just a personal preference and shouldn't be in an autodesk "official" tutorial. They should keep people in the same units so they don't confuse anyone. agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitthrawnuruodo Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 max is doing the conversion. the important thing is the system units which he set to feet. setting display units to meters just makes him happy. so if he types 10m x 3m the scene is being modeled to the equivalent in feet. 10mx3m = 32.8084'x9.84252' (3dsmax is doing this "behind the scenes") *i saw you wrote 10x13, not 10x3... example still works though This is really confusing, so when when I type in "10" as width for example, Max converts this value from meters (my display unit) to feet (my internal system unit) is this right? This would mean that display unit is not only used for viewport displaying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Negrete Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/15/ENU/3ds-Max-Help/files/GUID-69E92759-6CD9-4663-B993-635D081853D2.htm System units determine the actual scale of geometry. use same units for display/system as VelvetElvis suggested to avoid confusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitthrawnuruodo Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 I always use the same ones, just wanted to understand the logic here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jose Negrete Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 ...so when when I type in "10" as width for example, Max converts this value from meters (my display unit) to feet (my internal system unit) is this right? yes. your object parameters will read 10 meters (display units) as width but as far as the system unit scale is concerned it will be the equivalent in feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marius e Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Just forget about the video you saw, its confusing you. Work in what system your country work in. I think every country except the US now work in Metric system. Metric system in architecture and science refer to mm in general. So all dimension are done in mm. 1000mm in 1meter. Your units should reflect similar. So for the reason above your SYSTEM units should be set to mm. And set your display units to mm, cm or m depending on the size of your scene. Your display units will be what you will be seeing in max, for visual and purposes of ease. If you are working with architectural scenes work with anything above mm for the display units, otherwise you will have to sit and type all day long if objects measure eg. 13340mm and your display is also in mm. You would then have to type the same numbers in max, not just in the object size, but affects materials, noise etc.... Woking in a dispay unit of cm or m rather will then read - 13334cm or 13.34m. Autodesk also recommend the same, just imagine working on a very large urban project, you dispay cannot be mm, it will drive you nuts. You then can work in meters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitthrawnuruodo Posted March 29, 2014 Author Share Posted March 29, 2014 Thanks Marius, I always set the both units to the same metric system either cm or m most of the time. I like to watch this basic tutorials, there is always something simple and fundamental I realize I didn't know or forgot about, this units setup he used just baffled me so much I couldn't get my head around why he did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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