Max: when using Connect, how to control direction of the "Slide" setting?

pablohotsauce

When using the Connect command, for any given selected edges(s), how can you predict which direction the "Slide" setting will move the connecting edge? Is this some arbitrary thing Max chooses based on the selected edges and their relationship to one another, or is there some inherent property of the edges that can be set to control this?

Example below shows the initial edge selection highlighted in yellow, and the wonky connecting edges created by Connect in red, w/ the Slide spinner stepped up to 64.

edit: facepalm, just realized what the behavior is, dur. Still would be good to be able to flip a given edge's Slide direction.

passerby

Really having to micromanage the slide direction sounds like a pain on the ass, if parts are sliding in the wrong direction just grab them after the fact and slide them by hand.

Eric Chadwick

Yeah, this is a pain. You could use zero Slide, then scale with an Edge Constraint.

stevston89

I generally make it 2 loops and use pinch to control the placement of one of the loops. Once I have what I like I just delete the second loop.

Eric Chadwick

Ooh that's even better.

If you have UVs, Connect will generally keep them intact while you're sliding or pinching, but scaling or moving won't.

pablohotsauce

Sure, there's workarounds to get the desired results (Paint Connect, inset, etc). I was really only posing the question to see if there was something about Connect/Slide that I didn't know.

I can get still get Slide to act weird by using it on ngons and flipped faces. I have no idea WTF the logic is here:

Quack!

It's a 3dsmax tool, there is no logic. It's just the BS you have to work around with an Autodesk product, just like the workarounds everyone mentioned.