i was wondering how you would change the layering like you could in fireworks and photoshop and stuff. becauase i wanna make some objects on top of the other, is there a ‘layers’ panel or somethin similar? thx
*Originally posted by blah-de-blah *
i wanna make some objects on top of the other
what…? stacking objects…??
sorry i’m not sure what you mean, but i basically jsut want to be able to change which objects cover which, like the on in fireworks…
I’ve never seen layers in 3ds…
although you can (when rendering stills), save both the render, and then the alpha mask.
then just hide the objects u dont want rendered, and then render, and save alpha channel as well, then hide the ones u just rendered, and render the ones that was hiding before, again with the alpha channel.
then import the lot to photoshop, the 2 renders, and then use the alpha channels to make to top layer transparent, then place it on top of the other one 
that’s also a way of keeping the stuff u want on top…
how exactly do you ‘hide’? :q:
right-click your object, and press “hide selection”…
if you want it back, just right-click anywhere in the veiwport, and press “unhide all”.
Or press “H” and do it from there
hmm, i was looking for more of a layer type instead of it all dissapearing…
wait, when you said alppha mask, what did you mean…? maybe that will make the difference sorry i know these are newbie questions heh C:-)
I can’t remember right now… sorry 
been a tough day…
■■■■, ah well its alrite i understand…
just hope someone who knows howta figure out my problem will read this post
Are you referring to stcking materials or actual objects? I know you can stack materials to make different effects never heard of stcking objects. What exactly are you trying to do?
ok, basically, i’m uising this tutorial:
www.3dtotal.com and if you go to freestuff>tutorials>and then the robot, thats the one i’m doing.
and its basically made of basic shapes (likes circles and stuff). so i just want to be able to control which circles go on top of which (basically thinking of something like working with layers in fireworks or something). i hope that is clear. thx
Well… 3D Studio Max is 3D! If an object is behind another then… the object is behind the other!
ahh yeaa, good point abouit it being 3d. so i guess i just have to reduce the sizes of my shapes to make them look like they’re on top of one another and stuff…
lemme try that, thx i never woulda thought of that
You can move an object back (y-axis) and it will be behind the other stuff.
