# Ep.2 — Adding & Removing References (Add / Remove and Traffic-Light Status Check)

https://youtu.be/-j6lYvfwz8U?si=3xzlrhYGPfVZPImV

> **Summary**: Never copy-paste rig files into your scene. Use Fast-Ref **Add** to link cleanly, and **Remove** to detach without polluting scene data. The rig file's status is refreshed every 5 minutes via **green/yellow/X** traffic-light colours.

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## 1. Managing References Like Maya

Fast-Ref's core concept is to perfectly replicate Maya's intuitive reference mechanism in 3ds Max — without any complex setup.
It creates only a **'link relationship'** to the external file while keeping the scene file extremely lightweight, and lets you control all state changes within the scene through a dedicated table view.

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## 2. Add — Registering a Reference

Open the Fast-Ref UI, select the `.max` master file inside the original rig folder (e.g. `master_mable.max`), and press the **Add** button to register it in the table.

### 📊 Control Buttons Activated Immediately on Slot Registration
- 🟢 **Green mark**: The file path on disk is valid and the scene you have open is referencing the **latest, perfect rig state**.
- 👁️ **Visibility (on/off)**: Hides or shows the reference on screen. Useful when the viewport becomes heavy with 3–4 or more characters in a single scene.
- ❄️ **Freeze**: One-click lock mode to prevent accidentally dragging and moving a character in the viewport with the mouse.
- 🎯 **Selection helper**: Selects all of the complex rig bone structures belonging to that reference with a single click.

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## 3. When the Rigger Updates the Rig (Yellow Warning Light)

While working on a network drive, what happens if the rigger fixes part of the rig's skin or mesh and distributes the updated master file?
The animator never needs to manually ask the rigger "Did you make changes?" — the mark in the Fast-Ref table immediately turns **🟡 yellow**.
> This is a helpful warning: **"The timestamp of the file on disk has been recently modified. Animator, this scene is based on an older version!"**

At that point you have two choices:
1. **Reload**: Keeps the file path identical but safely refreshes only the rig structure inside the scene with the latest file content that was overwritten on disk.
2. **Replace**: If the rigger created a brand-new file at a completely different path, point to the new path and swap the skeleton.

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## 4. Remove — Detaching a Reference

When you need to exclude a character from the scene or no longer need it, press the **Remove** button.
In standard 3ds Max, deleting an XRef or similar object often leaves entangled nodes or empty dummy nodes behind, gradually polluting the scene — a notorious chronic problem.
Fast-Ref, however, **leaves no residual nodes or skinning data corruption — it restores the scene to a clean state, as if the reference was never there.**

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## 5. Real-Time Traffic-Light Status Check System (5-Minute Scan Interval)

One of Fast-Ref's smartest features is its background detection cycle.
- **The moment the tool launches**, it checks the disk file timestamps and path status of every slot and updates their state.
- Even during work, it **quietly polls in the background approximately every 5 minutes** for any changes to the master rig files.

This means that even in a high-pressure environment where multiple team members are collaborating simultaneously, you can always reliably monitor whether the scene you are working on is referencing the correct path and has up-to-date data.

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## 🚫 Important Notes & Summary
- Trying to forcibly **Add** a file that is already loaded as a Fast-Ref reference, or leaving tangled connection states unaddressed, risks conflicts — always check the plugin's helpful pop-up warnings that pre-filter errors.
- Every animation session starts with confirming the **🟢 green light** at the top of the table.