Align lets you align the current selection to a target selection. After selecting an object to align, you click Align, available on the Align flyout, and then select another object to align the first object to. This opens the Align dialog with the name of the target object on its title bar. When performing sub-object alignment, the title bar of the Align dialog reads "Align Sub-Object Selection."
Aligning objects along an axis
Left: X position, center
Upper right: Y position, minimum
Lower right: Y position, maximum
You can align the position and orientation of the bounding box of the source object to the bounding box of a target object.
You can use the Align tool with any selection that can be transformed. If an axis tripod is displayed, you can align the tripod (and the geometry it represents) to any other object in the scene. You can use this to align an object’s pivot point.
You can use objects within an XRef scene as references with all alignment tools on the Align flyout, except Align to View.
When performing sub-object alignment, the Current Object options and the Match Scale boxes are disabled. If you plan to align orientation for sub-objects, first switch to Local transform mode on the main toolbar so that the axis tripod is properly aligned with your sub-object selection.
Other alignment tools on the Align flyout are Quick Align , Normal Align, Place Highlight, Align to Camera, and Align to View.
To align objects by position:
To align an object with a point object:
3ds Max displays the Align cursor. It is attached to a pair of cross hairs.
3ds Max opens the Align Selection dialog. If necessary, move the dialog out of the way so you can see the active viewport.
The selected source object shifts to align with the X axis of the point object.
The source object moves so its center is at the point object.
To align objects by position and orientation:
3ds Max displays the Align cursor. When it is over an eligible target object, the cursor also shows crosshairs.
The Align Selection dialog appears. By default, all options in the dialog are turned off.
These settings establish the points on each object that become the alignment centers.
The source object moves in relation to the target object, along the axes of the reference coordinate system. Setting all three moves the objects as close as possible, given the Current Object and Target Object settings.
The source object realigns accordingly. If the objects already share an orientation, turning on that axis has no effect. Once two axes are aligned in orientation, the third is automatic.
To align a gizmo to another object:
To align a sub-object selection of geometry to another object:
Current Object/Target Object groups
Specify the points on the objects' bounding boxes to use for the alignment. You can choose different points for the current object and the target object. For example, you can align the current object's pivot point with the center of the target object.
Align Orientation (Local) group
These settings let you match the orientation of the local coordinate systems between the two objects on any combination of axes.
This option is independent of the position alignment settings. You can leave the Position settings alone and use the Orientation check boxes to rotate the current object to match the orientation of the target object.
Position alignment uses world coordinates, while orientation alignment uses local coordinates.
Use the X Axis, Y Axis, and Z Axis options to match the scale axis values between the two selected objects. This matches only the scale values you'd see in the Transform Type-In. It does not necessarily cause two objects to be the same size. There will be no change in size if neither of the objects has previously been scaled.