Working with the Course Explorer

Simple courses in DART MAX may have a single target. Others may have dozens of characters, props, and assorted objects. The Course Explorer helps you keep track of all objects in a course and includes several options for making course creation easier.

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Object Tree

The Course Explorer in the image above shows the object tree for a multi-stage course. The top entry is the course. Underneath the course is an entry for the first stage. Underneath it are entries for each object in the stage separated by type. For example, reactive targets are shown under the reactive target heading, lights are shown under the lights heading, and so on.

Each stage and category can be expanded or collapsed by clicking the minus or plus icon to the left of the name. In the example above, the Props section is the first stage is collapsed.

Each stage, category, and object has an eye icon to the left. This will turn the selected object or group of objects invisible or visible. Turning an object invisible does not delete it from your scene, but it can be useful if you want to focus on other objects or if you want to see the effect an object has on a scene.

Selecting an object in the Course Explorer will select it in the viewport as well. This is a great way to select objects that may be out of your immediate view or obscured by other objects in the scene.

The Search Bar

One of the quickest ways to find an object is by using the search bar at the top of the course explorer. If you want to find all objects with the word “left” in the name, you can type out the name in the search bar. As you type, the course explorer instantly finds objects with matching names. To clear the search, click the X icon on the right side of the bar.

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Object Type Filter

Another way to find objects is with the object type filter at the bottom of the Course Explorer. Clicking the filter shows all base object types and an All option. Selecting Reactive Target will show all reactive targets in a course regardless of their name or stage. Selecting All will remove any filter and show all course objects.

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The Pop-up Menu

In addition to being able to view and select objects in your course, the Course Explorer provides options for working with objects and saving objects to the library. These tools can be accessed by right-clicking an object’s name.

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Create Groups and Ungroup

You may find it useful to combine several objects into a single group. As a group, multiple objects can be moved, rotated, and scaled as one. In this example, 36 props have been joined together into a single group.

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To create a group, select two or more objects by holding the CTRL key down and left-clicking on objects in the data tree. The objects do not need to be the same type. For example, you can combine props and lights or flat targets and TruTargets in one group. Once you have selected multiple objects, right-click on one of the selected objects and choose Create Group from the menu.

You can dissolve a group by right-clicking on the group name and selecting Ungroup. This will return all objects to the non-grouped status. Any behaviors assigned to the group will be lost.

Save to Library

One of the most powerful features in MAX is the ability to save objects that you have changed in some way back to the library. Not only is the object saved, but all movement, settings, and behaviors for the object are saved as well.

To save an object, or grouped object, select the object and choose Save To Library. The program will default to the Groups folder for saving, but you may save it in any folder.

Copy, Cut, Paste, and Delete

These commands work just as you might expect.

Selecting an object and choosing Copy will copy the selected object to memory. You then use the Paste option to place any number of the copied object into the scene. This is handy for building things with repetitive features like long hallways. In this case, you might add a wall prop to the scene, copy it, and past multiple versions of the wall to build a hallway. When you paste an object it will appear in the exact position as the original object, so it may appear that the operation did not work. Both objects are occupying the same space, so select one and move it.

Cut is similar to Copy except that it removes the copied object from the scene.

Delete will remove the selected object from the scene but will not place the deleted object in memory.

Replace

Replace is similar to paste except that it will paste portions of a copied object or group and delete the selected object at the same time. When replace is used, the pasted object assumes the transform settings as the object it is replacing.

Replace allows you to replace an object, an object’s behaviors, motion, or a combination of object and motion, object and behaviors, or motion and behaviors.

In the example below, the object Replace command is used to replace a wall panel with a window panel. To begin, the window prop is copied to memory using the Copy command. The wall prop is then selected and Replace>Object is chosen. This replaces the wall panel with the window panel in memory. In this case, the new window inherits all of the positional information, behaviors, and motions (if any) of the object being replaced.

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Rename

By default, objects are given names based on their base name and the number of identical objects already in a scene. For example, if multiple versions of a wall prop were added to a scene, they may be given the names Wall 01, Wall 02, Wall 03, etc.

The Rename option allows you to rename any object or grouped object in your scene. Select an object and choose Rename from the object menu. The object name will be highlighted, and you may type a new name.

Isolate On/Off

Isolate turns on/off all objects and groups except the selected object or group. This is a great way to focus on just a single object in the scene.

Zoom to Object

Zoom to Object to move the Overview so that the selected object fills the viewport. This is particularly useful when using large environments in which objects are large distances apart.