The Track View user interface is fully customizable. There are many ways you can change the UI to suit your needs.
You can hide or display UI elements as you need to use them. Customization tools are available from the Track View menu bar or from several Track View toolbars. You can float or dock the toolbars to the top, bottom, left, or right of the application window, for example, floating a toolbar so it is closer to where you are working.
To customize the Track View UI, right-click the menu bar or the blank space to the right of the Track View toolbars. A right-click menu is displayed, with commands for the tools you need to perform your customization.
You can use commands on the toolbar right-click menu to perform most Track View UI customization tasks. Move your cursor over the blank space to the right of the Track View toolbars and right-click to display this menu.
Toggles on and off the display of Track View user interface elements. For example, you can hide or show the menu bar, scroll bars, the controller and keys windows, and the time ruler.
The menu bar gives access to most of the tools also found on the toolbars. The menu bar can be displayed or hidden in the Curve Editor, Dope Sheet, or track bar. The menu bar is context-sensitive, so it changes its display depending on which Track View mode is active.
Standard Windows scroll bars can be displayed or hidden for the Track View window. These are useful for navigating complex or lengthy windows.
Use the Pan hand button to scroll when these are not visible. The middle mouse button can also be used to activate the pan
hand to scroll this window.
There are two side-by-side display areas in Track View. They are the Controller window and the Key window. The Controller window contains the Hierarchy list with labeled tracks. The Key window displays the keys either as curves in the Curve Editor, or as boxes or ranges on a grid in Dope Sheet mode. Use Show UI Elements, available from the toolbar right-click menu, to hide either window.
A movable time ruler is provided. To measure time, you can move the time ruler close to the keys or curves when working zoomed in. Default=on.
You can display Curve Editor toolbars for quick access to tools.
The Curve Editor toolbars that you can display or hide, dock or float, from the right-click menu include the following:
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Name toolbar—Enter a name in this field to create a named Track View window. You can recall the saved Track View window by choosing Graph
Editors menu > Saved Track View submenu. This option is also available in Dope Sheet mode.
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Navigation toolbar—Use these tools to pan and zoom the Key window, or zoom to the extents of the time or the values. This option is available in both Track View modes.
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Key Stats toolbar—Track View provides tools for the display and type-in transform of key values. This option is also available in Dope Sheet mode.
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Key Tangents toolbar—Track View gives you quick access to different tangency types of keys. This toolbar is most useful when floating near the curves. This option is also available in Dope Sheet mode.
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Controllers—Track View has tools to copy, paste, assign, delete, and make controllers unique. This option is also available in Dope Sheet mode.
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Track Selection—Track View gives you tools to select tracks by typing in the name of an object. This option is also available in Dope Sheet mode.
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Keys—Track View provides the tools to move, scale, and slide keys, scale values, add keys, draw curves, and reduce keys. This toolbar also has the Filter button, which lets you limit the display in the Controller window. A similar option is available in Dope Sheet mode with different and fewer controls.
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Curves—Track View provides tools to select and lock keys and curve handles, as well as to make tracks keyable, and to apply parameter curve out-of-range types.
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Tools—Track View gives you tools to create or remove Note and visibility tracks, snap frames, lock selection, properties, and Track
View utilities. This toolbar is hidden by default.
There are 11 toolbars that can be displayed when in Dope Sheet mode. In addition to the ones listed above for the Curve Editor, you can also choose to display the following:
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Keys—Dope Sheet displays the tools to move, add, and scale keys, the Filters button, and the buttons that let you choose between Edit Keys and Edit Ranges options for Dope Sheet.
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Time—Track View provides tools to select and work with time. Time can be selected, inserted, cut, copied, pasted, scaled, reversed, or removed. This toolbar works only in Dope Sheet
mode.
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Ranges—Here are the tools to edit, position, and recouple ranges.
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Display—Dope Sheet holds tools to modify subtree and modify child keys, lock selection, snap frames, and display keyable icons.
Both the Curve Editor and Dope Sheet Edit Keys mode take advantage of soft selection of keys. If you choose Keys menu > Use
Soft Select, then choose Soft Selection Settings, the Soft Selection Settings toolbar is displayed. This toolbar is accessible only from the Keys menu, not from the right-click
menu. If you want this menu to stay visible, save a Track View layout.
You can dock the Track View windows below the time slider and track bar by choosing Dock > Bottom from the toolbar right-click menu. You can dock multiple Track View windows using this technique.
You can also display a Track View window below the viewports by clicking the Open Mini-Curve Editor button at the upper left
corner of the track bar. Using this method, the time slider and track bar are replaced with the Track View window. As with
Dope Sheet and Curve Editor modes, you use the toolbar right-click menu to display or hide all Track View UI elements.
To save a Track View window:
You can save a particular Track View window, displaying to a particular set of tracks, by using the Name: Track View toolbar.
To restore the default Track View user interface:
If you have customized your Track View user interface and want to return to the original installed version, do the following:
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In the \Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 9\ui\ folder, locate the file trackview.bak.
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In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click and choose Properties. Make sure the Attributes is not set to Read-only.
Tip: You can also right-click the Track View title bar and choose Load Layout > Default to return to the default layout. This works only if you have not saved over the default.
To add a new menu bar name to a custom Track View layout:
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On the Menus panel, click New to create a new menu. Enter the name of the menu in the New Menu field and click OK.
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Using Notepad, open ui/trackview.ini, and navigate to the layout section. To affect the Curve Editor toolbar, choose the section named [default], or to affect the Dope Sheet toolbar, choose the section called [Dope Sheet layout].
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Change the value of the "Menu Name" entry to the name of the menu you created in step 2.
Save the layout after you are done and the changes will be persistent.
Tip: You can also make the Dope Sheet Editor point at a renamed menu bar by using MAXScript:
Tip: In the MAXScript Listener, typetrackviews.current.ui.menubar = "Dope Sheet - Menu Bar", substituting your menu bar name, and then press the Enter key.
Note: There is also a script that lets you choose menus from a list. Choose Customize menu > Customize User Interface, then on the Menus panel, set Group to Main UI and Category to Track View, and choose Load Menu Bar from the Action list. Select the Track View menu bar you want to customize from the drop-down list on the right. Drag the action to the right window and the menu bar will be customized.