billboard objects attached with seperate pivots?

I have seen them in tracks for sure. I have billboards working just fine. once I attach any the pivot becomes one?

any help?

 

Thanks very much.

when interpreting the info below it leads me to believe there is a method in max to attach these yet have separate pivot points. Can I ask if there is something I am missing?

• However, when you merge multiple objects together for optimization, then the usefulness of an accurate pivot point reduces, as these objects will often have multiple different orientations.

 

There are two kinds of billboards method. it's mentioned in the old ISI official guide.

One is the old rf1 way, which each billboards object must has own pivot points with correct initial face orientation and must not be merged with any other object. And have to set billboards tag in SCN file for each billboards objects (for example if there are 1000 trees, then it will have 1000 billboards objects and SCN instance entries.

The second method is covered in the current 397 dev guide. All billboards objects no longer needs to have specific face orientation, and no longer need center pivot point, and no longer add extra entries in SCN, but requires a different approach. They must be quad mesh, and must be assigned with 99% vertex alpha and special material shader setting (for new IBL shader, just enable billboards option in material editor after you have assigned 99% vertex alpha). And all billboards objects can be merged together. For example, you can merge 1000 quad mesh tree into one object (pivot point should be 0, orientation doesn't matter), then assign 99% vertex alpha and select one of the billboards rotation settings (can only be done in MAX or gJED) and export, then select a IBL shader and enable billboards option in material editor, that's it.

 

Thanks so much for the response Svictor. There was something off with my material setup.

Thanks again Coutie for the PM help.