3ds max CLONE question

if i clone an object in max, no matter if i say 'copy', 'reference', or 'instance', it seems like its making a pointer (i guess this is a reference or instance) to the thing i'm cloning.

for example if i clone an object, then scale it in max, if i bring it into max and scale it to 100%,100%,100%, it goes to the ORIGINAL object's size. instead of making a new object for me, clone seems to be just pointing to the original object, but applying a new position,rotation, and scale to it.

how do i get it to make unique objects then?

clone is a unique object that looks the same as the one you copied from, if you edit the clone no other objects get changed. instance and reference are not quite the same and do effect other meshes. It's explained in the online manuals in the help menu.

"f i bring it into max and scale it to 100%,100%,100%, it goes to the ORIGINAL object's size. instead of making a new object for me"

Not sure i fully understand the problem, but i have a feeling you need to go into the hierarchy menu and click "reset scale" after you've scaled it. Effectively that 'bakes' the scale parameters into the geometry.

jams thanks i think that's exactly the issue.