Also Autodesk has a YouTube channel that is called "3ds Max Learning Channel" it has some great stuff for people who are just starting out. http://www.youtube.com/user/3dsMaxHowTos
Yea, they changed that in 2011, it's annoying. There were a few tweaks to the 3dsmax.ini file that you can make, but they only effect new objects not cloned objects. http://www.the-area.com/forum/autodesk-3ds-max/autodesk-3ds-max--3ds-max-design-2011/odd-new-renaming-feature-the-extra-zero/page-last/
3dsmax2009 has a creative extensions available, they included polycruncher from moo-tools. It does a pretty decent job at preserving UV's and crunching tris. It can make a mess and I mostly use it to optimize props like rocks and trees but it might work well for this also. If you're not on subscription or not on 2009 yet…
I don't have the same issues that I once had. It used to be as bad as you have it but that was 2-3 years ago and since then I've upgrade desktops at work and at home, I'm running 64bit win7 and there have been several updates to max. It seems like the buggiest it ever got was on 32bit XP with low ram 4mb and 3dsmax2010, it…
As far as I know I haven't done anything to make them wider. The only thing I normally do is expand the command panel to a two column layout. So I can fit as much of CS as possible on-screen. The edit poly doesn't have varying roll-out widths. It fills the whole space of the command panel. I did try re-installing, killing…
I'm not sure its gimbal lock... but it could be. 3 things to try. 1) Rotate it with the gizmo set to local. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1306131/3dsmaxLocalWorldPivot.jpg Sometimes when you rotate with it set to world or view you get something that looks a lot like gimbal lock. 2) Turn off angle snap and rotate it slightly less…
Yea there is a discussion about 3dsmax2012 in the general but I am having this too, especially with the unwrap modifier when closing... seems to be a big issue these new updates, hope they create a hotfix/service pack a.s.a.p.
perhaps any max related issues that are fairly simple you should just read up in the max help file, people will probably be more interested in helping you with specific 3d issues. But TBH the view cube is shit and not many folks use it The triangle thingy is just a gizmo so you can move stuff in x,y,z, where is the…