DesignToolBox feature list

List of available tools and utilities

Transform tools

Reference Rotation

4-point rotation (Base Point > Reference Point > Axis Point > Dest. Point)
The action is performed in the object's local coordinate system.

Position point
Rotation axis point
Reference direction
Rotated direction

Hold SHIFT while tracking angle to restrict angle measure.

Local Rotation

Local reference rotation performs a 3-Point rotation (Base point > Reference point > Dest. point) using the object's local coordinate system.

Position point
Reference rotation point. Default rotation axis: Z. To change rotation axis: Hold SHIFT while tracking the reference point to change the rotation axis.
New rotation point

Hold SHIFT while picking the reference point for X axis, press CTRL for Y axis.
Hold SHIFT while tracking angle to restrict angle measure.

Reference Scale

Transform Scale by matching reference vectors.

Pick 2 points for reference dimension.
Pick 2 points for new dimension and transformation direction.

Press SHIFT on tool start to keep proportions.
This tool has some alternate modes:
- Reference Scale - Xform: adds a Xform Modifier instead of directly changing the object scale.
- Reference Scale - current coordinate system mode.

Offset

Performs a Translation from a reference point and a direction path.

Pick Base point
Pick Direction point
Adjust new position in the floater dialog

reDimension

Scale object by dimensional value.

Pick base point
Pick second point for reference distance and direction.
Set new dimension in floater dialog.

Hold SHIFT while tracking second point for orthogonal mode, then press CTRL for axis-lock.

Move & Align (1D Align)

Move the object to a new position and align it by two-points.

Reference point
New location Point
alignment vector, reference point.
Alignment vector, destination point.

Continue repeating (3) and (4), or press Right-Click or Escape to end the tool.

3-Points Align

Relocate a node from three pairs of points, from an origin position to a target position.

Select a node to Align
Pick three pairs of matching points, from origin to target:
A1-A2 | B1-B2 | C1-C2
Where "A" is the base point for the transformation
The plane delimited by the three origin points will be matched to the plane defined by the three target points.
After setting the matching pairs of points:
- Press Right-Click to confirm the operation
- Press Left-Click to change object orientation

Mirror - interactive

Advanced mirror tool that uses a 3-plane viewport gizmo to guide the mirror operation.

Position the 3-plane gizmo picking a center point for the mirror operation.
Orient the gizmo with points for direction, yaw, Pitch, Roll and offset angle.
Select the objects and use the options in the dialog.

Reference move

CAD-like Move tool that uses two (origin and destination) reference points.

Select the objects you want to move.
Start the tool; Pick an origin ref. point (be sure to enable snaps)
Pick a destination point to displace the origin point to.

Swap transform

Select a collection of objects and cycle their transform from one to the next.

The cycle will follow the selection pick order

Random swap transform

Randomly swap position, rotation and scale between the selected objects.

Drop objects

Drop objects on below surfaces.

Press SHIFT when activating the tool to align the objects to the surface shape.

Arrange objects (start-end objects)

Distribute objects (equally spaced) on a linear direction. Direction and length of the distribution determined by the position of two objects.

Select the START OBJECT
Select the END OBJECT
Select the objects to distribute between them.

Start the tool pressing SHIFT to conform and align the objects to the underlying surfaces.

Arrange objects (real-time)

Distribute objects (equally spaced) on a linear direction.This variant of the tool tracks the objects new position's in real time. It could be slow with complex geometry.

Select the object set to rearrange.
Pick the direction line START POINT
Track the end of the line. Before picking the END POINT to finish the operation, use these options:
- Press SHIFT to conform to the underlying surfaces.
- Press CONTROL to orient to the underlying surfaces.

Arrange objects (interactive)

Distribute objects (equally spaced) on a linear direction. his variant of the tool tracks the objects new position's with marks in the viewport.

Select the object set to rearrange.
Pick the direction line START POINT
Track the end of the line. Before picking the END POINT to finish the operation, use these options:

Press SHIFT to conform to the underlying surfaces.
Press CONTROL to orient to the underlying surfaces.

Measure tools

Measure Distance

Draw temporary dimension lines in the viewport.

Measurement start point
Measurement end point
Repeat, or right-click to finish.

Hold SHIFT while tracking second point for orthogonal mode, then press CTRL for axis-lock.
Results are copied to the clipboard.

Distance - continued

Draw contiguous dimension lines

Measurement start point
Measurement next points
Finish the tool with right-click

Hold SHIFT while tracking second point for orthogonal mode, then press CTRL for axis-lock.
Measurements are copied to the clipboard and traced to the listener.

Measure Angle

Take an angular measurement and copy the result to the clipboard.

Measure angle by picking 3 points.

Base point
Reference base direction point
Angle measure point

The measurement result is copied to the clipboard.

Measure Area

Measures a 2D polygonal area by picking vertex points.

Hold SHIFT while tracking second point for orthogonal mode, then press CTRL for axis-lock.
Measurements are copied to the clipboard and traced to the listener.

Measure Volume

Cubic volume measurement

Pick a bottom minimum point
Pick an opposed top maximum point
The result is traced to the listener

Angle between faces

Angle2Faces for short, measures the angle between two polygons

Pick one point on each face to get the angle between them.
The result is displayed in the viewport and traced to the listener.

Angle between two edges

Angle2Edges for short, measures the angle between two selected edges.

Needs an Editable Poly or Editable Mesh object selected.
Select two edges to get the angle between them.
The result is displayed in the viewport and traced to the listener.

Measure history

Distance measure history.
Create renderable dimension objects.

The Distance measure history dialog keeps track of performed measures, allowing to re-display them and customize appearance.
It will also Create renderable dimension lines with measure annotation. Standard Spline and text shapes will be created to draw the dimension line.
Please note that, the text will be oriented left -> right, based on the current view. Expect unpredicted result on orthogonal views.

Divide distance

Divide a distance in equal segments and adds a helper mark at each division point.

Pick distance start point.
pick distance end point.
Move mouse to set division points amount.

Hold SHIFT while tracking second point for orthogonal mode, then press CTRL for axis-lock.
Marks can be either a standard point helper or the custom refGuides point. Change this setting in the configuration dialog

Divide dist. - type mode

Divide a distance in equal segments and adds a helper mark at each division point. This alternative mode of the tool uses a numeric input instead.

Pick distance start point.
pick distance end point.
Type segments amount and press ENTER.

Hold SHIFT while tracking second point for orthogonal mode, then press CTRL for axis-lock.

Grid Scale

Draws a gizmo for the active grid (at the origin), indicating grid lines spacing and axes.

Object spatial info

Displays information about an object's dimension and transformation

Object Z-position

Displays a guide that indicates an object's elevation.

Settings #1

Configuration

DesignToolBox general settings, like viewport elements color and style, tools behavior and more.

Set Units

Units configuration values for the transform tools

refGuides

Line guide - Free position

Linear, segments marked construction guide. Free space mode allows to position the guide freely using two position points. (Note: Also referred in the toolset as refLine)

in addition, when positioning line guides, intersection marks (created as refPoints) can be created between the reference guides in the scene.

Pick a base reference point.
Pick a second reference point determining the direction of the guide.

Hold SHIFT at tool start for continued mode.
Hold SHIFT during creation for orthogonal track.
Hold ALT while tracking position to override intersection points toggle.

Line guide - Orthogonal position

Linear construction guide. Orthogonal positioning mode. (Note: Also referred in the toolset as refLine)

in addition, when positioning line guides, intersection marks (created as refPoints) can be created between the reference guides in the scene.

Pick a reference point, it will act as a center of the orthogonal space.
Move the mouse around to change the direction or snap to a point. Hold CTRL during axis selection to lock the position of the XY plane.

Press SHIFT on button for continued mode.
Hold ALT while tracking position to override intersection points toggle.
Hold CTRL during axis selection to lock the position of the XY plane.

Line guide - Polar

Linear construction guide. Polar positioning mode. (Note: Also referred in the toolset as refLine)

in addition, when positioning line guides, intersection marks (created as refPoints) can be created between the reference guides in the scene.

Pick base point.
Pick Z axis gizmo rotation reference point.
X or Y axis rotation points.
- Hold SHIFT to change direction
- Hold CTRL to change axis.
- Hold ALT tracking any gizmo rotation to snap angle values.
Guide rotation angle about polar gizmo.

ALT during (4) to override intersection points toggle.

Protractor - Free

Tool for displaying and snapping angular values. Free space mode allows to position the guide freely using two position points. (Note: Also referred in the toolset as refProtractor)

Pick a base reference point.
Pick a second reference point determining the direction of the guide.

Hold SHIFT at tool start for continued mode.
Hold SHIFT during creation for orthogonal track.
Hold ALT while tracking position to override intersection points toggle.

Protractor - Orthogonal

Tool for displaying and snapping angular values. Orthogonal positioning mode. (Note: Also referred in the toolset as refProtractor)

Pick a reference point, it will act as a center of the orthogonal space.
Move the mouse around to change the direction or snap to a point. Hold CTRL during axis selection to lock the position of the XY plane.

Press SHIFT on button for continued mode.
Hold ALT while tracking position to override intersection points toggle.
Hold CTRL during axis selection to lock the position of the XY plane.

Protractor - Polar

Tool for displaying and snapping angular values. Polar positioning mode. (Note: Also referred in the toolset as refProtractor)

Protractor Polar mode.

Pick base point.
Pick Z axis gizmo rotation reference point.
X or Y axis rotation points.
- Hold SHIFT to change direction
- Hold CTRL to change axis.
- Hold ALT tracking any gizmo rotation to snap angle values.
Guide rotation angle about polar gizmo.

ALT during (4) to override intersection points toggle.

Reference Points

Trace temporary reference lines and place points at intersections. (Note: Also referred in the toolset as refPoint)

Unlike the Standard helper points, this custom objects works with vertex snap.

When picking first point of line:
- Hold SHIFT: Orthogonal placing mode
- Hold ALT: Polar placing mode
Hold SHIFT in standard free space mode for ORTHOGONAL override.

Display units (liveInfo)

Displays line guides units scale and protractor angles on the viewport.

Tool modes:

Selection: displays the units for the selected guide objects.
Dull: displays the units for all the guide objects in the scene.

Additional refGuides tools

Delete guides

Delete all refGuides

Delete all guides (lines, protractor and intersection points) on scene.

Guides: Enable intersections

Intersection points toggle

Enable or disable the auto creation of intersection points when placing reference guidelines

Guides: Set protractor

Protractor toggle

When the option is enabled, a protractor will be created when placing reference guides.

Guides: Lock Guides

Turn on to lock the guides after creation

Guides: Polar Grid

Polar grid toggle: keep the temporal grid active after polar mode guides creation.

When enabled, the reference grid used to define polar coordinates in guidelines placement will remain active.

Guides: Intersection mode

Toggle to change the guidelines intersection behavior

Intersect against all guides in scene or only the guides in the current placement.

Settings #2

Configuration

refGuides preferences dialog.

Set units

Units configuration for the reference objects creation and placement.

Replicator and Eyedropper

Replicator

Tool for replacing objects Interactively.

Pick a source node
Pick the objects you want to replace.

Press CTRL when selecting the tool to replace current selection with a source node.
Press ALT when starting the tool to create copies instead of instances.
Press SHIFT when selecting the tool to create references instead of instances.

Replicator: Options

Toggles that changes the behavior of the tool

Multi Target toggle: continuos target picking..
Transform copy toggle: copy reference object transformation.
Replace instances of target nodes: replace all instances of the target. Does not work with groups.
Handling groups:
- Source node group mode: When enabled, the entire group that contains the source object will be selected. When disabled, only the picked object will be used.
- Target node group mode: When enabled, the entire target group will be replaced with an instance of the source. If this checkbox is disabled, only the picked member of the target group will be replaced. Specially useful to quickly replace parts of a group.

Eyedropper

Eyedropper Tool can copy several characteristics (properties and modifiers) form one node to another, or to a group of nodes

Pick a source node
Pick the objects you want to apply the properties or modifiers.

Copy several characteristics form one node to another node or group of nodes.
Set options for properties, material or modifiers to copy form the filters dialog.
Press CTRL when selecting the tool to apply to the current selection picking a source node.

Eyedropper: transform

Copy selected node transform to another node or group of nodes.

Eyedropper: Material

Copy selected node material to another node or group of nodes.

Eyedropper: Modifiers

Copy selected node modifiers to another node or group of nodes. (Works only with non topology dependant modifiers for now)

Eyedropper: Mapping

Copy selected node UVW modifiers to another node or group of nodes. (Works only with non topology dependent modifiers for now)

Eyedropper: Visual Appearance

Copy selected node display options to another node or group of nodes.

Eyedropper: Options

Toggles that changes the behavior of the tool

Multi Target toggle: Enable eyedropper multi target mode.
Filters dialog: Set filters for multi-eyedropper. This enables or disables the different range of properties that the Eyedropper can pick.

Geometry modification

Merge Nodes

Combine geometry and splines into one object.

Select the objects to merge, run the tool, select or dismiss the prompt for keeping the original nodes, done.

Explode Nodes

Explode geometry elements and spline shapes

Select the objects to explode, run the tool, select or dismiss the prompt for keeping the original nodes, done.

Align vertices

Align a selection of vertices in a straight line.

Select the vertices you want to align. alternatively, select a edge loop or some consecutive edges.
Start the tool. Choose a base point to begin drawing a line that will be used to align the vertices.
Choose an endpoint to determine the direction of the line. The vertices will be repositioned over the line, to the closest point to the original position.

Edge Length

Change the length of selected edges. (Works only with Editable Poly objects)

Note that the objects must be geometry that can be converted to Editable Poly and, the tool will collapse the modifier stack.

Options: Max, minimum, and average length, custom value.

Select the Editable Poly object and start the tool.
Select a set of edges you want to modify and select a reference vertex for each edge, it will be used as a base point to set the direction of the operation. If no vertex is selected the tool will use the first one that finds.

Mesh Stamp

Use an object to Interactively stamp its shape or cut holes in a mesh.

Note that the objects must be geometry that can be converted to Editable Poly and, the tool will collapse the modifier stack.

In the UI, pick a base node to operate on and choose the operation
Select a tool object in the scene, and press the start button.
The tool object will be positioned in the base object surface, following the mouse; use right-click to stamp the object shape or left-click to finish.
Hold SHIFT and move the mouse to displace the tool towards-away the target surface.
Hold CTRL and move the mouse towards-away from the tool object to rotate it.
Hold CTRL+SHIFT and move the mouse to change the scale of the tool object.

Object Utilities

1D array

Clone object between 2 points

Pick distance start point.
Pick distance end point.
Move mouse to set division points amount.
Pick node to clone.

Press SHIFT when activating the tool to place the clones at segments midpoint
Press SHIFT while tracking second point for orthogonal track, then press CTRL for axis-lock.
Hold SHIFT while tracking second point for orthogonal track, then press CTRL for axis-lock.

Array 2D - Interactive

Quick and visual tool for cloning objects in a 2D grid.

Select Object to replicate
Define a rectangular area by three points:
1. Start: Base point
2. Second point will determine the height and alignment of the rectangle
3. Third and last point sets the width.
- Press SHIFT to invert the up-direction.
Move the mouse & click to set rows and columns.

Array - Pattern

Create complex Rule / Pattern based arrays

Select a base object
Array General Dimension: Set total rows, columns, origin and gap between rows and columns.
Pattern rules: Change current row/column spinners to add a new rule. Each cell can have a different node, transformation and can be turned on/off.
Preview o generate the array.

Polar array

Clone and orient an object around a center.

Additional options:

Pick a node to act as a center to clone around.
Objects can be just repositioned or rotated to align to the center.
Apply a Look-at constraint to keep the copies looking at the center if you move it. This is useful to create an out-of-centre alignment.

Paneling

Simple Paneling tool. Creates panels on planar areas.

Define a rectangular area by three points:
1. Start: Base point
2. Second point will determine the height and alignment of the rectangle
3. Third and last point sets the width.
- Press SHIFT to invert the up-direction.
Move the mouse & click to set rows and columns.
Set H/V divisions, gap between panels and other parameters in the floater dialog.

Additionally, Use the detailer tool to position detail objects on selected panel's surface.

Paneling Detailer

Position features over a collection of objects.

Select objects to be detailed.
Pick feature object
Set transformation, align & orientation options. Some complex mirror/symmetry rules can be set.
Apply operation

Mirror list syntax example: 1, 3-6, 8: the first object in the list, from the third to the sixth object in the list, and the eighth object in the list will be mirrored.

UVW tools

UVW Modifier tools. Fit, center, and reset the gizmo. Delete all UVW modifiers on the object's stack.

Open the tool UI and select the options.

Use the combined floater UI to access all UVW tools at once.

UVW Bulk add

UVW modifier Bulk apply. Save time with preset settings before adding a UVW map to the object.

Apply individual uvwMaps to multiple objects.
Apply mapping by Edit Poly elements or by faces.
Adjust the most common used parameters of the modifier from the docking UI.

UVW transform

Apply random, rule-based or constant transforms to mapping modifiers.

Use tis utility in a non-destructive way adding a UVW Xform modifier for the transform

Pivot: Quick position

Several options to quickly reposition the pivot.

Bottom, center, top.
Corners and centers of the object's bounding box.
To point: pick a point in the scene
Position and orient by three points. Also, for Working Pivot.
Position and orient by selected Editable Poly faces. Also, for Working Pivot.
Reset pivot and reset Xform shortcuts.

Note: Press Right-Click on any action to close the dialog after.

Pivot: Snap to point

Quickly move an object's pivot to a snapping point.

Works with any snap type.
If no object is selected, the tool will reposition the pivot of the object where the snap is displayed (if any)

Modifiers presets

Tool for storing presets for modifiers

Start the tool
Select an object with some modifiers applied, and click "Add presets"
Pick an object if nothing is selected.
Select a modifier from the list, Edit the name, and Add the preset.
Use "Edit list" to reset, remove, or rearrange the preset list.
Select the object or objects to apply the modifiers to, and click the desired preset.

Align Assets

Organize the models you will use in the scene, arranging them in line.

Select the nodes you want to arrange
Run the tool. Use the UI to set the separation between objects
Select the direction to form the line (X or Y axis)
Click Apply, and Pick a base point in the viewport

Random transform

Tool with several options to randomize transforms.

Can be used to directly transform the node, add an XForm modifier, or transform applied modifiers gizmo's.
Set constant, by range or a scripted list of values to apply the transform.
Apply the transform in Grid, Local, or Reference coordinate system. To use the later mode, pick a reference node first.
Use the Clone option to a clone of the object at a random position.

Random Select

Select random nodes

make a selection of objects. The list of objects follows the selection order.
Select the algorithm:
- Percent: Keep a random percentage of the total quantity of nodes in the current selection.
- Set: Group the selection in sets of (N) items, and randomly deselect some of these sets.
- Subtract: Randomly reduce the selection by the given percentage.
- Pattern: Reduction pattern determined by the "Keep" and "Quit" values that sets how much objects will be skipped or flagged for deselect.
Each iteration works over the original selection. Use the "re-select objects" to update it.

General Utilities

Color Clipboard

Dockable color clipboard.

Left-click on "+" button to fill swatches with random colors.
Right-click on "+" button to fill unused swatches with random colors.
Press SHIFT while clicking "+" button to fill swatches with grayscale values.
Right-click on color swatch to copy. Drag&Drop supported.

Snap sate sets

Save States for Snap settings.

You can click and drag around the compact interface.
Press the "OK" button to expand the UI and add states.

Wirecolor adjust

Adjust the wire colors for the current selection: brightness, saturation, and hue.

Scene Organization

Local Isolation

Isolate the selected object and set an active work grid in its local coordinates

Works in Object level or with the selected faces in an Editable Poly.
If more than one object is selected, Local isolate will use the first object in the selection to set the grid

Incremental isolation

Multi-level isolation tool, use it to incrementally re-isolate within the current selection

The tool will open a floater dialog with three buttons..

Select some nodes and press LEVEL UP to isolate them.

Press LEVEL DOWN to restore the previous isolated nodes, or exit isolation mode if no previous level is registered.

Use "CLOSE" to end the tool and exit the isolation.

unHide selection

Unhide object selection

Unhide objects by selection

unFreeze selection

unFreeze object selection

unfreeze objects by selection

Isolate - layer

Isolate/Un-isolate selected object/s layer/s. If nothing is selected, you can pick an object in viewport and isolate the respective layer.

Isolate/Un-isolate selected object/s layer/s.

If nothing is selected, you can pick an object in viewport and isolate the respective layer.

Layer Lock

Locks the layer of the picked/selected node. Press SHIFT when selecting the tool to pick a frozen node/layer.

Locks the layer of the picked/selected node.

Press SHIFT when selecting the tool to unlock a frozen layer.

Layer Off

Turn off the layer of the selected/picked node.

Press SHIFT when selecting the tool to pick a frozen node/layer.

Layer BoxMode

Set Box mode status for selected/picked node layer.

Press SHIFT when selecting the tool to pick a frozen node/layer.

Layer BackFaceCull

Set BackFaceCull status for selected/picked node layer.

Press SHIFT when selecting the tool to pick a frozen node/layer.

Rendering

Camera manager

Review cameras, assign per-camera resolution, create batch render views, and add state sets.

Per-Camera resolution
When you change the resolution and aspect ratio it will be stored in the camera, and the tool will automatically change the render output accordingly when cycling throw the cameras.
Note that the tool will change the render output and will keep the last setting if you exit the tool.
Reviewing cameras
Use "Refresh" update the list if the scene changes.
Use the "Select" to select the active camera.
Per-camera output preview
Activate it to use the render output set for the camera when changing the camera with the 3ds Max dialog (CTRL+C).
Batch render rollout
After setting the output path one time, the tool will auto format the file name and output path for the next views.

Viewport composition guides

This tool is intended to be of aid when composing shots. Easily draw photographic grids, reference lines, and vanishing lines to help compose the perfect shot.

Quadrants (2x2)
Rule of thirds (3x3)
Golden proportions
Golden ratio rectangles & spiral
Position a guide in the viewport with the mouse. Possible positions: Vertical, horizontal, cross, from two-points.

Replace scene materials

Replace each scene material with an alternative one.

Select (or multi-select) the materials name on the list. next, double click on the selection and a scene explorer will open to select a replacement.
You can save and load the material replacements list.

Remove materials from selection

Single-click action for removing the material of the selected objects.

Select objects without material

For the current selection, filter out the nodes without an applied material.

Select objects with same material

Quick shortcut. For the current selection, select the scene nodes sharing the same material.

Quick material ID Set

Dialog UI for select and set material IDs without the need to dive in the command panel.

Works with editable poly only
You can also select all the faces that has the same ID as the current selected one.
An additional option allows to randomly set IDs for the selected polygons.

Extras

Bitmap multi-loader

Load multiple bitmapTextures to the slate material editor

Map name from file

Change the names of Bitmap Textures to the name of the loaded files.

Missing textures

Texture maps filename search and replace utility for relocating missing files.

Lock flags

Lock/Unlock the object transforms.

Lock/Unlock all object transformations: Position, rotation and scale

Other tools

ID from camera: Set objects ID for current camera view
Set Bump value to 100: Easy way to adjust materials for a modern PBR workflow.
Normal map gamma correct: Change the gamma value to 1.0 for normal maps textures.
Replace selected node with Xref Record.