Customize Scene Defaults in 3DS MAX and Autodesk VIZ (3D Studio)

3D Studio MAX and Autodesk VIZ allow for the creation of a default template file named "maxstart.max" or "vizstart.max" depending on what product you are using. This defines the default settings used for new files created either when the application starts or when a new scene is begun using File > Reset.

From the help file for 3ds max:

maxstart.max − At startup and when you reset, 3ds max looks for this file in the Scenes directory specified in Configure Paths, and if found, loads it. This allows you to specify the default state of the workspace whenever you start or reset the program.

Note: In the above paragraph, the default template file should be called "vizstart.max" if you are using Autodesk VIZ.

Personally, I customize this file so that I have a 4-view layout but with the views defined orthographically. With this configuration, the upper-left view is "TOP", lower-left is "FRONT", lower-right is "RIGHT" and upper-right is "PERSPECTIVE" as indicated by the image.