1. Launch MAX, or reset it using File | Reset.
2. In the status bar area near the bottom right of the screen, click the 3D Snap icon to activate it.
When you move the mouse in the viewports, the cursor should now be a blue box with a cross in it. The cross now snaps to Grid Points, allowing you to create and move objects more precisely. (If your cursor doesn't snap to Grid Points, right-click the 3D Snap icon and make sure Grid Points is the only box with a check mark.)
3. Go to the Create panel and select Box. In the Creation Method rollout, select the button labeled Cube. Create a cube in the Top viewport: place the cursor at coordinates (-50, 0, 0), then click-drag to the right, stopping when you reach the origin at (0, 0, 0). You now have a cube which is 100 units in all dimensions.
4. With the cube selected, click the Select and Move icon from the Main Toolbar. Then right-click the same Select and Move icon to activate the Transform Type-In dialog box. Enter _50 units in the Absolute: World Z axis. The cube is now at coordinates (-50, 0, -50).
5. In the Top viewport, create a Sphere centered on the origin, with a radius of 40 units. Right-click to exit Sphere creation mode. The sphere is now halfway buried in the cube. Change the number of Segments in the sphere to 16.
6. Open the Material Editor by pressing the M key. Drag a blue material to the Box object, and a red material to the Sphere. Close the Material Editor.
7. Turn off 3D Snaps by clicking the 3D Snaps icon. Turn off the display of the Home Grid by pressing the G key. Maximize the Perspective viewport and click Zoom Extents. Your screen now looks like this:
8. Select the Box, then go to the Tab Panel and select the Compounds tab. Click the Boolean Compound Object button. The Create panel changes to the Boolean creation parameters. The box is now Operand A of the new Boolean object.
9. In the Create Panel, look in the Pick Boolean rollout. Make sure the button labeled Move is selected. Then click Pick Operand B _ it turns green. Now pass the mouse over the red sphere; your cursor turns to a cross. Click the sphere to select it as Operand B in the new Boolean object. A dialog called Material Attach Options comes up. Select Match Material IDs to Material and click OK to exit the dialog. The sphere disappears.
10. With the new Boolean object selected, go to the Modify panel. At the top of the Panel,
rename the object "Boolean01." Under the
Parameters rollout, look for the Operation section,
and make sure Subtraction (A-B) is selected. Then rotate the Perspective view with Arc Rotate
to look on the right side of the box. You should see a red hemispherical hole in the box:
11. Under the Display / Update rollout of the Modify panel, select Display Result + Hidden Ops. You now see a wireframe of the sphere.
12. Click Min/Max Toggle to go back to the four viewport layout. In the Top view, clone the Boolean object: shift-click and drag the Transform Gizmo in the View's X axis. Make sure to drag the Gizmo well to the right of the current Boolean object, so that the new clone doesn't overlap the original. Make it an X offset value of about 200 units. When the Clone Options dialog comes up, make sure the object type is Copy, then enter the number 3 in the Number of Copies field. Click OK to generate three new copies of the Boolean.
13. Maximize the Perspective viewport again. Click Zoom Extents, then Zoom in a little. With Boolean01 selected, convert it to a Union operation by clicking the button marked Union in the Modify panel. Select Boolean02 and change it to an Intersection. Select Boolean04 and change it to Subtraction (B-A). Your screen looks like this:
14. Now you should experiment to get an intuitive grasp of what these operations are really doing. Arc Rotate around the scene, and look at the objects from different angles.
15. Find out what happens when you move the Operands. Select Boolean02, then click Sub-Object (Operands) in the Modify panel. Under the Parameters rollout is a section entitled Operands. Click Sphere01 to highlight it.
16. Zoom in to get a closer look at Boolean02. Click Select and Move from the Main Toolbar. Using the Transform Gizmo, move the sphere's wireframe back and forth in the X axis. The shaded Boolean result changes shape to reflect the changing Intersection of the two Operands. Undo the move, restoring the sphere operand to its orginal position. Then try moving the sphere in the other two axes.
17. Repeat this process for the other Boolean objects. Also try turning the wireframes off by selecting Result from the Display section of the Modify panel. You should get a clear picture of how Intersections and Subtractions are determined by the position of the Operands.
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