Ok, here''s something that kind of drives me nuts: When I export a 3DS Max Model to X-file format and load it up in a DirectX application, often it is absolutely friggin'' huge. Now, I change the "scale" in 3DS Max, but none of that really gets exported. It''s always the same size when I load the x-file. This size is so large that I can only view a corner of it on the screen at one time. I can also change the "scale" on the imported X-file in my software application (using Direct3D) and make it just the right size, but these models are still massive when loaded into 3rd party programs that I haven''t developed myself (i.e., Shader Studio). So, my question is: Is there a way in 3DS Max to actually change the physical dimensions of a model? "Scale" seems to be an entirely relative concept and pretty much seems to be ignored by all exporters.

Some exporters do ignore rotations and scaling in max. The way to get around this is:
-Make sure scaling is at 100/100/100.
-Turn the model into an editable mesh/poly.
-Select all of the verticies (or faces, doesn''t matter)
-Apply whatever scaling you need to the selected verts/faces.

When you''re done, you should find that the model is smaller while the scaling value is still at 100/100/100.

I recently figured this out when working with ASE files. It could handle rotation just fine until I started exporting normals, which didn''t take into account rotation.

I think that when you scale a model, 3dsmax doesn''t modify the actual dimensions (like the distance between vertices).

Just make a box (10x10x10), colapse it, select all vertices and try to weld them. You will see that only when you set the weld threshold at 10 3dsmax will weld them.
If you scale up the collapsed box, even though it''s much bigger, the same thing will happen - as if the distance between vertices were still 10!

Now here''s what you need to do: go to the Utility panel> Reset XForm. Select your box, press Reset Selected. Collapse your box and try the welding thing again. As you see the distances are now recorded corectly.

All you have to do is to scale down your huge models and then use the Reset XForm Utility.

Bye now. Must go and listen to some heavy metal.

Thanks, guys.

Both methods work!