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Chapter 2: Controlling and Configuring the Viewports

FIGURE 2.26
The Safe Frames panel lets you specify areas to render.

For each type of safe frame, you can set the percent reduction by entering values in the Horizontal, Vertical,
or Both fields. The 12-Field Grid option offers 4×3 and 12×9 aspect ratios.
The Show Safe Frames in Active View option displays the Safe Frame borders in the active viewport. You
can quickly enable or disable Safe Frames by right-clicking the viewport Point-of-View label and choosing
Show Safe Frame in the pop-up menu (or you can use the Shift+F keyboard shortcut).
Figure 2.27 shows an elongated Perspective viewport with all the safe frame guides enabled. The Safe
Frames show that the top and bottom of my dinosaur will be cut off when rendered.
Understanding Adaptive Degradation

When you are previewing a complex scene with hundreds of objects in a viewport, updating the viewport
can slow to a crawl. This can make viewing your work difficult and slow. The feature in Max that addresses
this issue is called Adaptive Degradation, and although it sounds like a weapon that some alien might use to
disarm you, it enables you to force a viewport to display at a prespecified number of frames per second. If
the display update takes too long to maintain the goal frames per second rate, then it automatically
degrades the rendering level in order to maintain the frame rate. This option is very helpful, because when
you’re testing an animation you are not as concerned about the model details or textures.
The Adaptive Degradation panel is available in the Viewport Configuration dialog box, as shown in
Figure 2.28.
You can enable Adaptive Degradation by using the Views ➪ Adaptive Degradation menu command (or by
pressing the O key). You also can turn Adaptive Degradation on and off with a button located at the bottom
of the interface between the Prompt Bar and the Add Time Tag. The Adaptive Degradation button looks like
a simple cube. Adaptive Degradation, when enabled, is used when needed to keep the display updates fast.
When the Adaptive Degradation button is enabled, it is highlighted yellow. When the viewport is being
degraded, the button turns cyan.

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