Brush Settings Panel

Use this panel to set parameters for the paint objects, including alignment, spacing, and scale. You can also save and load settings from this panel.

Attention: These settings apply to all active strokes; that is, to all objects painted since most recently clicking the Paint button. So you can start to paint objects, and then adjust the spacing, alignment, scale, and so on, with real-time feedback, and then continue to paint using the new settings. After you exit Paint mode, changing the brush settings affects only future strokes.

The brush settings persist during the current session and survive a reset of the software. The default settings are restored when restarting 3ds Max.

Interface

These settings apply to objects painted since the previous use of Commit or Cancel, and objects painted after adjusting the settings. After you click Commit, changing the settings has no effect on the existing paint objects, but it does affect subsequently created paint objects.

Commit

Bakes the current settings into the active paint objects (that is, paint objects created since the previous Commit or Cancel). Does not exit the Paint tool, but does exit the Fill tool. Available only when Paint or Fill mode is active.

After clicking Commit (in Paint mode), further settings changes do not apply to existing painted objects.

Cancel

Removes the active paint objects; that is, those that were created since the previous use of Commit or Cancel, or since starting to paint if you haven’t used Commit or Cancel. Does not exit the Paint tool, but does exit the Fill tool.

Align

From the drop-down list, enable either or both options:

  • Align to Normal When on, aligns the specified axis (see following) of each painted object with the normal of the painted surface. When off, aligns the specified axis of the painted objects with the world Z axis.
  • Follow Stroke When on, aligns the specified axis (see following) of each painted object with the direction of the paint stroke. When off, aligns the specified axis of the painted objects with the world Z axis.
X/Y/Z

Choose the axis of painted objects for alignment; used in conjunction with the Align settings (see preceding).

Flip Axis

When on, reverses the alignment axis.

Spacing

The distance in world units between objects in the stroke. The higher the Spacing value, the lower the number of paint objects.

Scatter

Applies a random offset from the painted stroke for each paint object. Three dimensions of offset are available:

  • U The maximum horizontal distance from the stroke.
  • V The maximum distance along the stroke length.
  • W The maximum vertical distance from the stroke.
Rotate (X/Y/Z)

The rotation about the respective local axis for each paint object.

Each axis label (X/Y/Z) has a Random drop-down checkbox; when on, the rotation about that axis is set to a random value that is not affected by the numeric setting.

Scale

Set scaling options for the paint objects (see following).

Even/Random/Ramp

Choose how scaling is applied to paint objects:

  • Even The same scaling is applied to all paint objects.
  • Random A random scaling value is applied to each paint object. To set the range for the random scaling, use the Random Start/End settings (see following).
  • Ramp The scaling factor for each paint stroke increases or decreases throughout the stroke. To set the range for the ramp scaling, use the Ramp Start/End settings (see following).
Axis Lock (Uniform Scale)

When on, any scaling of painted objects is applied to all three axes equally, so objects maintain their original proportions.

When Axis Lock is on, only the X setting is available, and its value affects all three axes uniformly.

X/Y/Z

The scaling of paint objects on each axis as percentages. When Axis Lock is on (see preceding), only the X setting is available, and its value affects all three axes uniformly. With Scale Lock off, you can set different scaling factors for each axis, resulting in non-uniform scaling.

When Scale is set to Random, two settings are available for each axis: Scale Random Range (Low) and Scale Random Range (High). These set lower and upper limits for the random scaling for each paint object. For example, at the values of 10 and 150, each object can be scaled between 10 % and 150 % of its original size on the respective axis.

When Scale is set to Ramp, two settings are available for each axis: Scale Ramp Range (From) and Scale Ramp Range (To). These set the starting and ending ramp scaling factors for each paint object. For example, at the values of 100 and 200, each stroke starts at full size and ramps up to double size at the end of the stroke. Or at the values of 50 and 25, each stroke starts at half size and ends at a fourth of the original size.

All Brush Settings

Use the buttons to load and save the Brush Settings parameter values:

  • Load Opens a file dialog for choosing a saved Brush Settings file.
  • Save Opens a file dialog for saving the current settings to a file.
  • Set Current Settings as Default Saves the current Brush Settings values in the Default.txt file; these values are restored automatically the next time you start 3ds Max.
Parent topic: Object Paint Tab