Setting Interface preferences

The Interface category of the Max Preferences window lets you set a number of preferences that affect how you work with Max.

All Windows Active (Windows systems only)

By default, only Max objects in the frontmost window can respond to mouse clicks, and any other windows must be clicked on to bring them to the foreground. When the All Windows Active checkbox in the Interface pane is checked, Max objects in background windows will respond to the mouse, but you'll need to either click on the title bar or choose the window's name from the Max Console menu to bring it to the foreground.
You can only type numbers into one of the Max number box objects if the window in which the number box is located is in the foreground. However, keystrokes on your computer keyboard will be sent out the outlets of any key, keyup, or modifiers object in any loaded patch or subpatch regardless of the All Windows Active setting.

Project folder preferences

When working with Max projects, It is important that the Max application knows where the Project folders for regular projects and the projects you create when working with Max for Live are found. You can use the Preferences Windows to set default locations for these folders.

Setting default folders for Max Project files

Click the Choose... button in the Values column for the Default Folder for Max for Live Device Projects or the Default Folder for Projects settings and select a folder from the file dialog. The pathname of the folder will appear in the Path column and the folder will be added to your search path.

You can also add a path name manually by double-clicking in the value column of an entry you've added.

Setting image resolution preferences

Several Max objects (jit.qt.grab, jit.dx.grab, jit.qt.movie) allow you to save loaded image files or individual frames of a Jitter matrix. You can set a preference for the default resolution for any image files you save.

Setting a default image resolution

Choose Preferences from the Max menu (Macintosh) or the Options menu (Windows) to show the Preferences Window. Locate the Interface category and click in the Values column for the Export Image Resolution setting and choose a resolution from the pop-up menu (the options are 72, 96, 150, or 300 DPI).

Patch Cord Wiggle Time

You can set a patch cord wiggle time between 0 and 10000ms. The default is 350ms.

Recover Edits After Crash

There are three option available from the drop down menu, default is Ask, the other two options are Never and Always.

Restore Windows on Launch

Restore Window allows you to toggle on or off if the windows you have opened when closing Max, re-open or Max simply re-opens blank.

Displaying floating-point numbers

The way floating-point numbers are stored on your computer means that not all numbers can be represented. This means that you will often see values such as 2.3 displayed as 2.29999. Clicking in the Float Display Correction checkbox will make the Max application round numbers and truncates them at what it guesses is the least significant digit.