3ds Max Tricks

Okay, so here I am, trying to model something and then I hear something about my method taking too long (meshing, I call it). The person tells me that in max, poly is much better than mesh.

Before I never was able to tell the difference and so I learn that the main difference between the two is hot-key placement. Then that person tells me to create a plane, convert to poly, select faces, move tool, and shift + drag that face. It never occurred to me that I could do that!

Are there any other tricks in 3ds that you have learned which took you ages to learn and then when you learned them like the shift + drag for me you went "whoa wish I knew that 4 weeks ago!" ?

I am not an expert by any means in 3DS Max, but I believe that some people like editable poly more than editable mesh (which I presume is what you are converting it to) because of the number of tools available to you in editable poly.

Correct me if I am wrong, but one of the drawbacks of using E.P. is that UVW mapping gets reset if you edit the geometry (exception: using the move/scale gizmos [and again, maybe more; I am not completely fluent in Max]). This is avoided through using E.M.

There is a preserve UV's button. I've never had my UVW's to reset regardless of using EM, or EP.

Uvmapping does not reset when editing geometry.
Poly is a newer way of editing. Mesh still has some uses but they are few.
The hot-keys are different. And, it's also not possible to assign the functions that are common between them to the same key. So insert vertex in EM must use a different key than insert vertex in EP. Because really, noone likes consistency.

There really are hundreds of little time saving things in max. often 3 or 4 different things that perform the same function.

Just keep messing with it, playing with things, watching random tutorials, clicking random buttons, and you'll figure it out.

Do you know about edge loops and rings in editable poly?
If not, look here.

The main thing I use it weld and drag edges out whilst holding down shift.

I have all of my common actions bound to key combos of my own choice. That way I can spend most of my time in expert mode, knowing which keys to press because I decided which keys would do what. That's the most useful part of 3DS's interface that I have found: the ability to customize it however you like (a common ability these days).

Use the xyz coords at the bottom of your max window, best thing ever made.

Pressing (I believe) shift-x will lock vertices and edges to another edge (so you can just drag it down the edge you want to have it aligned to and it will be perfect. Hell, you can even input x, y, z coordinates and it will align based off of those (if they work of course).

If you bought a legal copy of max it should come with a little hotkey booklet thing, although that may have just been a Max 8 thing.

I use splines to model a top-down 2d framework, then fill it in with polys, attach and weld verts, and then use either a derived measurement or z-coordinates to give my object height. From there, any detailing can be done either in 3d space or as a new framework using the old one as a reference. I find thathide and freeze tools are quite helpful in conjunction with the group-selection capability (shapes, geometry, etc). I know I work quite differently than everyone else, but I enjoy it, it lets me get to know what I am modelling a bit better, and it also means that if I want something modeled, I have to be able to 'draw' it before just going in with random tools that I think might work.

Also, Sever's reference to hid and freeze reminded me of the layers thingy.
it's right next to the materials button on the toolbar.
it's really useful to seperate out groups of objects so you can work in sections with an unobstructed view. you can also freeze whole layers