Adapt Object Display by Priority group

Turn on check boxes to indicate the rendering modes to step through during necessary degradation. As the viewport redraw demands increase, the amount of degradation increases through the active options from highest to lowest. Objects with higher priority (based on the Prioritize Scene Objects settings) will use the higher, more faithful display settings, while lower-priority objects, typically smaller and/or farther from the point of view, will use the lower display settings.

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Maintain Frames Per Second

Lets you set the frame rate in frames per second that adaptive display will attempt to maintain. If the frame rate drops below this, 3ds Max will increase the amount of degradation based on the other settings on this panel.

Draw Backfaces during Degrade

When on, forces 3ds Max to draw polygons facing away from the point of view during degradation. Applies only to wireframe views. When off, can improve performance by culling backfaces during degradation.

Never Degrade Selected

When on, selected objects are not subject to degradation.

TipYou can use the Never Degrade object property to specify that 3ds Max should not subject an object to degradation, regardless of its selection status.

Degrade to Default Lighting

When on, improves performance by turning off all viewport lights and enabling default lighting during degradation.

Never Redraw After Degrade

When off, viewport display will restore as frame rate improves, redrawing all degraded objects. If this takes too long, turn it on. When on, objects will degrade but never redraw on mouse up, always displaying at the most recent level of degradation.

Note As viewport degradation occurs, the Adaptive Degradation button on the status bar turns aqua, as shown here. Normally, when the degradation stops, the color returns to gold, but when Never Redraw After Degrade is on, the background remains aqua, even when active degradation is not happening. To resolve this, either turn off Adaptive Degradation or turn off Never Redraw After Degrade. Then, to redraw the screen, press ~.

Improve Quality Progressively

When on, viewport quality is improved incrementally. This option is similar to the way the Quicksilver hardware renderer improves quality through successive iterations. Default=on.

Prioritize Scene Objects group

Distance from Camera/Screen Size

Use this slider to specify whether 3ds Max gives higher priority to objects based on their distance from the camera or their screen size, regardless of distance from the camera. The two criteria, represented by either end of the scale, are defined as follows:

• Distance from CameraThis sets the priority for each object based on its distance from the camera or screen. The farther the object, the lower its priority and the faster it will degrade. Higher values display closer objects regardless of their size.
• Screen SizeThe size of the bounding box in pixels. The smaller the object, the lower its priority and the faster it will degrade. Higher values degrade smaller objects regardless of their distance.

If you move the slider all the way to either end of the scale, 3ds Max sets priorities based exclusively on that criterion. However, because it’s a sliding scale, you can use both criteria on a weighted basis. For example, if you set one end to 0.66, the other is set to 0.34, meaning that 3ds Max takes both criteria into account in determining priorities, but gives the criterion set to 0.66 about twice as much weight as the other.

To return this parameter to its default setting (0.10 to 0.9), indicated by the tick mark on the scale, right-click the slider.

Force objects displayed smaller than ... pixels to the lowest priority

Objects smaller than the specified size on the screen, in pixels, always use the lowest available priority setting (in the Adapt Object Display By Priority group) during degradation.

Viewport Images And Texture Quality group

Procedural Maps Display Resolution

Procedural maps display in viewports as "baked" bitmaps. This value sets the resolution, in pixels, used to display procedural maps.

As the note in the dialog indicates, by default regular 2D bitmaps display in viewports at their highest resolution: If you want to improve performance by reducing this resolution, you can use the Asset Tracker's bitmap proxy settings.

Bitmap Management for Nitrous Viewports

By default, Nitrous viewports load texture bitmaps at their full size. You can set a limit to the size that is loaded into memory. Enter one of the following MAXScript calls in the MAXScript Mini Listener:

• NitrousGraphicsManager.SetTextureSizeLimit 512 true

  Limits bitmap size to 512 x 512 pixels.

• NitrousGraphicsManager.SetTextureSizeLimit 1024 true

  Limits bitmap size to 1024 x 1024 pixels.

You can also set these limits in the 3dsmax.ini file. In the section headed "[Nitrous]", add one of these pairs of lines:

ViewportTextureSizeLimitEnabled=1
ViewportTextureSizeLimit=512

or

ViewportTextureSizeLimitEnabled=1
ViewportTextureSizeLimit=1024

Limiting the bitmap size overrides the bitmap proxy settings.

To remove an active size limit, set the option to false (MAXScript) or 0 (INI file). Or in the INI file, just remove the lines of code.

Whether you use MAXScript to change this setting or you edit the 3dsmax.ini file, you must exit 3ds Max and then restart it for the change to take effect