XRef Scenes Dialog

The XRef Scenes dialog lets you add and remove XRef scenes. It also gives you tools to control the display of the XRef scene, options to ignore various components of the scene, and the ability to bind to a parent object so you can scale, rotate, or move the XRef scene.

File menu > References > XRef Scene > XRef Scenes dialog

XRef Files list: Displays all XRef scenes in the current scene, and lets you select them for operations. XRefs that have been disabled (by turning off Enabled) are listed in gray rather than black. If an XRef is listed in red, that means its file could not be loaded. Either the file is corrupted, or the path is not pointing to the correct directory or file name.

Select buttons

These standard buttons change the pattern of selection in the list.

All: Selects all items in the list.
None: Deselects all items in the list.
Invert: Inverts the current selection pattern in the list.

Match Layers by Name and Parent

When on, objects are placed on layers that have the same name and the same hierarchy of parent layers as in the source scene. When off, objects are placed on layers of the same name, but the names of parent layers are disregarded. Default=on.

When this checkbox is on and a layer name matches but its parents do not, 3ds Max creates a new, parentless layer that has the same name followed by a sequence number.

For example, suppose the source file has this arrangement:

Layer: Men
   Layer: Soldiers
      Soldier character objects

... and the local file has this arrangement:

Layer: Women
   Layer: Soldiers
      Soldier character objects

With Match Layers By Name And Parent off, the XRef'd characters are placed on the Women Soldiers layer. With Match Layers By Name And Parent on, the XRef'd characters are placed on a new layer, with no parent, named Soldiers.001.

XRef File path field

Lets you change the path or file pointed to by a selected XRef scene. To use, choose one of the XRef scenes in the list, and then change the information in the field. You can either directly enter a new file name or path, or you can click

(Browse) to the right of the field, and then choose a new file from the Open File dialog. The new XRef scene that you choose replaces the one currently highlighted in the list.

Add

Displays the Open File dialog from which you can choose a MAX scene file to be loaded into the current scene as an XRef. The selected scene appears in the list at left, and the geometry appears in the viewports.

You can also add a scene by dragging a MAX file from the Windows Explorer into the list, or by dragging a MAX file into a 3ds Max viewport, whereupon you're presented with a menu with the following options: Open File, Merge File, XRef File, and Cancel.

Convert Selected

Lets you take any selected objects in your scene and create XRefs from them. Basically, this does a Save Selected for the objects, which are automatically cut from the MAX file and pasted into a new file. A file dialog lets you name the new file. They remain in the current scene but are now scene XRefs.

Remove

Removes the XRef scene currently chosen in the list, and removes it from the current scene. To use, choose one or more XRef scenes in the list, and then click the Remove button.

XRef File group

Enabled: Turn this off to disable the highlighted XRef. When an XRef is disabled, it’s listed in gray in the list, and it’s not loaded into memory.
Overlay: When on, treats the referenced source scene as an Overlays. Default=off.
Overlays allow multiple scene references without the risk of creating circular dependencies. The scene XRef marked as overlay is loaded only into the main scene that references it, and is not visible in other scenes that might XRef the main file that uses the overlay.

Warning: If you turn off the Overlay flag for an existing XRef scene, you can cause circular XRefs to occur, that aren’t detected until you or another user tries to open one of the scenes in the project.
Merge: Click this to merge selected XRefs into the scene as real geometry. A prompt appears so you can confirm the action. Since a merged XRef becomes part of the scene and is no longer an XRef, its name is removed from the list.

Update File group

Determines how and when the XRef scenes are updated. These options are applied to the selected XRefs; for example, one XRef can have automatic updating, while another can have manual updating (using the Update Now button).

Warning: If you update an XRef in a scene with radiosity, you will likely invalidate the radiosity solution. After you update the XRef, reset the radiosity solution and then recalculate it.

Automatic: When this checkbox is turned on, the selected XRef scene is automatically updated when its source scene is saved.
Update Now: Click this to update a selected XRef scene when you’re not using Automatic (or when several XRef scenes are selected and some of them are not set to Automatic). When you click Update Now, the XRef is updated to match the latest saved version of the source scene.

Display Options group

These options let you specify how the selected XRefs are displayed in viewports. These options have no effect on the rendered scene.

Visible: Turn on or off to display or hide the selected XRefs. This affects the visibility of the XRef in the viewports only (not in renderings). Note, also, that this behavior is different from the “Enabled” checkbox. Turning off Visible does not remove the XRef from memory.
Box: Turn this on to display the selected XRefs as bounding boxes. Turn off to display the full geometry.

Ignore group

Lets you specify categories that you do not want included with the XRef scene. For example, if you turn on Lights, the lights in the XRef source scene are not included in the current, target scene. You can switch these categories on and off at any time, but if you Merge an XRef scene while a category is turned off, that category of objects will not be merged into the scene.

When you ignore Animation, all animation in the scene is disabled and the scene appears ast it would at frame 0 of the source scene.

Warning: Children of an ignored object are also ignored. For example, if you have mesh objects linked as children to a dummy object and ignore Helpers, then the mesh objects are ignored as well.

Parent group

Lets you position and animate XRef scenes within the current scene by binding the XRef scene to a parent object.

Parent name field

Displays the name of the parent for the currently selected XRef.

Bind

Click this, and then pick an object in the current scene to become the parent of the highlighted XRefs. Once an XRef is bound to a parent object, the transforms of the parent are inherited by the XRef. Thus, you can animate the XRef by animating the transforms of the parent.

Unbind

Click to unbind the highlighted XRefs from whichever parent they’d been bound to.

Binding XRefs to objects is similar to linking objects, as performed with the Link/Unlink buttons on the toolbar.

If you Merge a linked XRef scene, converting it to objects in the current scene, the objects in the XRef scene become linked children of the binding parent. At this point, you could Unlink them (using the toolbar command), and they’ll maintain their offset position to the parent.