These commands are for creating, opening, and saving scenes; importing and exporting other 3D file formats; exiting 3ds Max; and other operations.
The main file-handling commands are in the File menu.
Note: File dialogs (such as Open, Save, Save As) uniformly remember the previous path you used, and default to that location.
Topics in this section
New
New clears the contents of the current scene without changing system settings (viewport configuration, snap settings, Material Editor, background image, and so on).
Reset
Reset clears all data and resets 3ds Max settings (viewport configuration, snap settings, Material Editor, background image, and so on). Resetting restores the startup defaults, saved in the file maxstart.max, and removes any customization you might have done during the current session.
Open
Open a scene file (MAX file), character file (CHR file), or VIZ Render file (DRF File) from an Open File dialog. You can also choose a previously opened file and use command-line options.
Save
Save updates the scene file by overwriting the previously saved version of the scene. If no scene was previously saved, this command works like Save As.
Save As
Save As lets you save the current scene file in MAX or CHR format under a different file name.
Archive
Archive creates a compressed archive file that contains the current scene file and any other files referenced by it, such as textures, containers, XRef objects, XRef scenes, and so on.
Merge
Inserts objects from external 3ds Max files into the current scene.
Replace
Replaces objects in the current 3ds Max scene with objects from an external file.
References
Commands on the References submenu manage data stored in other files, either in a container, as external references, or as a linked file.
Project
The project folder provides a simple way of keeping all of your files organized for a particular project.
Properties
Commands on the Properties submenu show or set properties of the current 3ds Max scene.
Exit
Exit closes 3ds Max. If you have unsaved work, you are asked if you want to save it.
Missing External Files and Missing Map Files Dialogs
One of these dialogs appears when you attempt to open or render a scene with bitmaps or photometric files (IES, CIBSE, LTLI) whose paths are no longer current. This can happen if the bitmaps have been moved or deleted, or if the scene has been placed on a system with a different drive mapping than the system on which it was created.