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Part II: Working with Objects

Caution
The Edit menu doesn’t include the common Windows cut, copy, and paste commands because many objects and
subobjects cannot be easily pasted into a different place. However, you will find a Clone (Ctrl+V) command,
which can duplicate a selected object. n

FIGURE 8.1
The Clone Options dialog box defines the new object as a Copy, Instance, or Reference.

Cross-Ref
The difference between Copy, Instance, and Reference is discussed in the “Understanding Cloning Options” sec-
tion in this chapter. n
When a clone is created with the Clone menu, it is positioned directly on top of the original, which makes
distinguishing it from the original difficult. To verify that a clone has been created, open the Select by Name
dialog box by pressing H and look for the cloned object (it has the same name, but an incremented number
has been added). To see both objects, click the Select and Move button on the main toolbar and move one
of the objects away from the other.

Using the Shift-clone method
An easier way to create clones is with the Shift key. You can use the Shift key when objects are transformed
using the Select and Move, Select and Rotate, and Select and Scale commands. Holding down the Shift key
while you use any of these commands on an object clones the object and opens the Clone Options dialog
box. This Clone Options dialog box is identical to the dialog box previously shown, except it includes a
spinner to specify the number of copies.
Performing a transformation with the Shift key held down defines an offset that is applied repeatedly to
each copy. For example, holding down the Shift key while moving an object five units to the left (with the
Number of Copies set to 5) places the first cloned object five units away from the original, the second
cloned object ten units away from the original object, and so on.

Tutorial: Cloning dinosaurs
The story behind Jurassic Park is pretty exciting, but in Max you can clone dinosaurs without their DNA.
To investigate cloning objects, follow these steps:
1. Open the Cloning dinosaurs.max file found in the Chap 08 directory of the DVD.
2. Select the dinosaur object by clicking it in one of the viewports.

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