Creates an avi-file preview of the animation in the current viewport.
When the preview is complete, 3D Studio MAX starts the Media Player with the preview _scene.avi file ready to play. (If you don't want the Media Player to start, choose File/Preferences/General and clear the Autoplay Preview File box.)
Specifies the frames to be included in the preview, either the active time segment or a custom range of frames.
Specifies the playback frame rate in frames per second. Use Every Nth Frame to preview a regular sampling of the animation. For example, a value of 8 includes only every eighth frame in the preview.
Sets the resolution of your preview as a percentage of the current output resolution. The output resolution is set in the Render Scene dialog. For example, if the rendering output resolution is 640x480, and you set the Percent of Output spinner to 50, the preview resolution is 320x240.
Specifies the types of objects to include in the preview. Frame numbers prints a frame number in the upper-left corner of each frame of the AVI file. Background includes the assigned viewport background in the preview.
Specifies the type of viewport rendering for the preview.
Specifies the preview output format.
AVI: When chosen, the preview is output as an AVI file. The button to the right displays the current AVI codec. Click it to adjust the assigned codec, or choose a different codec. The quality of your output AVI file depends on the type of codec you use and the codec settings, which vary. For the highest visual quality, choose the highest compression quality. The higher the compression quality, the lower the compression, and the larger the resultant file.
Custom File Type: Outputs the preview to the file type you specify. When this option is chosen, and you click the Create button, a file selector appears, where you can name your file and specify the output file type. For example, you can output the preview as a flic by specifying a filename with a .flc extension. If you specify a single-image format, such as .tga, the preview is output as a series of sequentially numbered files.
Use Device: Lets you output the preview to an external device, such as a digital recorder. The button at right displays the name of the currently assigned device. Click it to either change the settings of the device, or assign a different device.
The Make Preview dialog appears.
3D Studio MAX renders the preview and saves it in a file called _scene.avi. Immediately after it renders the preview, it invokes the Media Player for this animation.
If you dismiss the Media Player but want to view the preview again, choose Rendering/View Preview. This re-invokes the Media Player with _scene.avi.
You can save the preview under a different name, so it won't be overwritten the next time you make a preview. To do so, use Rendering/Rename Preview.