Today I finally got around to learning about the "Named Selection Set" feature of Max/GMax...

OMG! I sure wish I'd taken the time to learn this years ago, since it very neatly solves any number of management issues in one fell swoop...  

Briefly, the concept of a "Named Selection Set" is that we can organize our project's objects quickly and efficiently by giving objects that have things in common -such as a shared Material for example- a unique name.

Selecting any such "collection of objects" then is as simple as using the drop-down list on the upper toolbar to display a list of all "Named Selection Sets" and then clicking on whichever one we desire.

Voila! All objects in that named set are instantly selected, and if they happen to be "Hidden" or "Frozen" we are asked if we wish to have them "Unhidden" or "Unfrozen." If we say "no," the objects are still selected but won't be seen in the viewport.

"Named Selection Sets" may also be used to organize vertex, edge, face, or polygon "sets" within a single object, but cannot be mixed. In other words, a set may include vertices or edges or faces or polygons.

What are some "practical examples" of using this feature? Here's a quick list of some of what seem most obvious:

1. Many modelers use the "node system" to organize their project's objects, such as "exterior" and "interior" nodes, with all objects linked to their respective nodes.  While this is convenient, there remains the problem of quickly choosing which of the two node's objects to hide or freeze. By selecting all objects in each node, and giving them a "Name" we can now instantly select either node's "Named Selection Set" and hide/unhide, freeze/unfreeze at will...  

2. Using Hiroshi's Maxscript we can now select a single object, and quickly select all other objects in a scene that are assigned the same Material.  Now while this is very nice and useful, I really don't want to do this over and over again! Now, once we've made our selection with Hiroshi's script, we can give that collection of objects a name!  

3. Many times I subselect groups of polygons for UVW Mapping. While I could give each such group of polygons a unique MaterialID number, this isn't always the best way to organize such groups. Now, instead I can give each such group of polygons a unique "Named Selection Set" name, and quickly use the pick list to re-select any such group instantly.

Using the Edit/Edit Named Selections menu, we can quickly and easily Rename, Combine, Delete, Subtract (A-B), Subtract (B-A) or create an Intersection of multiple Named Selection Sets.

By the way, any object can be a "member" of multiple "Named Selection Sets," which can be a very handy thing to keep in mind!

I encourage everyone to explore the potential applications of this powerful tool! I know I will be!