Modifying the Clone Default Behaviour in 3DS Max Design

One of the differences between 3DS Max and 3DS Max Design is that Design uses 'instance' rather than 'copy' as the default behaviour when cloning.

This property can’t be adjusted in the preferences, configuration or UI settings. In order to change the default behaviour for cloning in 3DS Max Design you need to modify the MaxScript in the currentdefaults.ini configuration file.

To get access to this file you’ll first need to show the hidden files and folders in the Windows control panel. It can be found in C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMaxDesign\2012 – 64bit\enu\defaults\currentdefaults.ini

Before making any changes to this file save out a separate copy of the original just in case anything goes wrong.

Press Ctrl+F to search for the word ‘clone’. This will take you to the section of the Maxscript that deals with cloning. You should see:

; Transform Tool defaults
;  ObjectCloneType
;    0 = Copy
;    1 = Instance
;    2 = Reference
[TransformTool]
; Instance
ObjectCloneType=1

Change the portion:
; Instance
ObjectCloneType=1

to:
; Copy
ObjectCloneType=0

Save the file, close and re-open Max. You should now be able to clone with copy as the default cloning behaviour. If you’re having trouble saving the currentdefaults.ini file you may need to adjust the file security settings under properties by right-clicking on the file.

Don’t forget to re-hide hidden files and folders in control panel in order to prevent important system files from being accidentally moved or deleted.


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