Unit setup in 3ds Max

Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.

Setting up units in 3ds Max - Exercise

  1. Start 3ds Max.

    Before starting any work in 3ds Max, we should set up our Units to ensure that all assets we will work with on the project are of the correct scale.

    We do this by going into Customize and then Units Setup. We have 2 values we can change, the Display and the System unit.

    It's important to understand the difference between the two as described in point 2 and 3.

    From the Customize drop down menu, click Units Setup.

    Units Setup
  2. Click System Unit Setup and choose Centimeters and click OK. The System Unit Scale sets internally what 3ds Max uses for unit measure. Changing System Unit will affect the contents of the entire scene, so it's not advisable to change this unless the scene is empty or if you intend to scale your scene contents to a different size.

    System Unit Setup
  3. Set the Display Unit Scale to Metric and from the drop-down option choose Meters and click OK. Display Unit Scale affects what unit of measure is used in the UI based of the System Units. Changing this value will not change the scale of the scene. Only convert the displayed.

    Units Setup