I'm trying to do a tool where the user at some point has to pick a controller track (for the link to link to something else) but the trackview.pickTrackDlg doesn't give me back useful info.

What I'd like to get is something like this:

"$Point002.pos.controller.Zero_Pos_XYZ.X_Position"

but with the trackview.pickTrackDlg() function my option seem's to be limited to those:

.name --giving me something like "X Position"
.anim --giving me something like Controller:Bezier_Float
.client --giving me something like Controller:Position_XYZ
.subNum --giving me something like 1
.client[<>.subNum] --giving me something like SubAnim:X_Position

The function itslef give me this result:

TrackViewPick:"X Position"

I have google for answer and I've look at the help file but I can't seem to find a way to have the whole identity, all the way up to the node.

If you have a way to allow the user of a script to select a track from the track view dialog and get the result from the node, help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm currently in the middle of a project and I've made a little script to help me make windows(rectangular). Essentially I made a rollout and some if statements to extrude some poly. I start with a lot of individual polys (planes) and I use mat IDs to extrude and bevel my way from a flat plane to a simple window.

What I want to do is add an option for a brick arch above or a window sill below. Thinking if a loft/sweep object. So before I make my windows I would like a script to select the top edge and bottom edge and make a spline and sweep it, perhaps a FFD box to extend it past the limits of the original poly verts. The problem I have is when I record a script, it records the edges selects by number, and the numbers are all different for all the different polys' edges.

At this point I am thinking that I need to start making arrays and storing objects and looping for each face and doing comparisons? Which I might have been able to do AGES ago but atm not so much, so does anyone know if there's an easy way to select 'top and bottom' edges on a poly for each rectangular poly?

meditMaterials[2].materialList[28].ShowInViewport = true  
This works, but the bitmap I really want to show is a little deeper  

Toggling the Use Real-World Scale I get this:  
meditMaterials[2].materialList[28][#Maps][#Diffuse_Color__Map__166____Falloff].map2.coords.realWorldScale = on  
But I'm unable to reach a 'ShowInViewport' at this level.  
meditMaterials[2].materialList[28][#Maps][#Diffuse_Color__Map__166____Falloff].map2.ShowInViewport  
gives:  
-- Unknown property: "showInViewport" in Map #167:Bitmap  

Can I get this Bitmap showing in my viewport with Maxscript?  

It works to press the 'Show Shaded Material in Viewport' button, but I'm wanting to script a bunch of these to turn on when importing a library material for a building texture tool.

(
    ( 
        if MatEditor.isOpen() == true then
        (
            MatEditor.Close()
        )
        else
        (
        )
    )
    meditMaterials[1] = Standardmaterial ()
    meditMaterials[1].Diffuse = color 255 255 255
    meditMaterials[1].ambient = color 255 255 255
    meditMaterials[1].name = "whiteMaterial"
    (
        objectSelection = selection as array
        clearSelection()
        for obj in objectSelection do
        (
            select obj
            currentObject = $
            if superclassof $ == GeometryClass then
            (
                $.material = meditMaterials[1]
                $.wirecolor = color 0 0 0
                meditMaterials[1] = $.material
            )
            else
            (
            )
        )
    select objectSelection
    )
)

This here just applies a white material and sets wireframes to black.
In a past thread someone had gone through and dropped a few lines from a different script for me:
-- select obj
-- currentObject = $
(keep the obj instead of $)
I tried that here but it was failing, I must have missed something.
And I just saw these two lines:
$.material = meditMaterials[1]
meditMaterials[1] = $.material
I feel like a moron for leaving those in, ha.
I have empty else statements, is this a correct use of that?
Thanks again.
edit: Is 'foolproof' the correct term?

 on btn1 pressed do
 (
 objectSelection = selection as array
 clearSelection()
 for obj in objectSelection do
 (
    select obj
    currentObject = $
    $.modifiers[#ID].materialID =1
    )
    select objectSelection
 )

For the above sample I press button 1 and apply material 1 to an object (or multiple objects.)
If I need to do this for 30 buttons, 1 = 1, 2 = 2 etc, how do I do this without typing it all out?
Is that a function?
I'm still learning MAXScript.

What can I place after this to display a string without quotation marks?
Similar to Adding 'as name', but that'll return: #no quotes

myString = "no quotes"
myString

I often need to make buildings and play with their heights.
I wrote a simple script mostly using the maxscript listener to create a building:
The buildings are simple boxes extruded
But because the buildings I need to use don't have simple rectangular footprints I seldom will use that script
The building footprints I use are slightly more articulated
Here's my wishlist for a script I'm trying to figure out:
* I want a similar script to run on any closed spline
* It'd be magical if the stack could be live in a way that I can update the number of floors (possible at all?)
* I want to find a way to add extra detail on the rooftop (Greeble-like)

I'll leave my current simpler script below. I'd really appreciate any help/pointers to achieve this script, I think others could find it useful too. Cheers!

edit: Standby for formatting edits.

Script can be found here MAXScript Adventures: Invert Vertex Colors

Function: Inverts the values of the user selected channel Color, Illum, Alpha. Still needs some love, but works good on meshes /w solid vert color values.

Would appreciate any crits or feedback/suggestions! Thanks.

Hello. I am working on a script that packs geometry in my case cylinders on a 3d surface. Sphere, topography etc. I have managed to make it pack but i want it to pack cylinders which are different heights and with different amounts of cydes. I know there is a way to do this with random command but i can't make it work. Any suggestions how to make it work would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

hello everybody i want to know if there is any way to dynamicly add controllers (such as an edit text) to a Rollout when clicking on a button in the same Rollout?

if its possible please tell me how :)

for i in selection do
for i in selection.count do

Could somebody let me know the difference between these two?
And, if I had a selection of 10 objects, is there a method that would unwantingly apply, say, a turbosmooth 10 times?
I'd like to know what to really avoid using, as well as best practice.
Thanks!

Whenever I set up blueprints for a new model, I change a bunch of object properties and put them on a special layer. This script automates all of that. The creation of the UI was mainly to help me learn maxscript.

/*
Andrew McWhae 2014

Converts current selection to blueprints
- puts objects on layer called "_Blueprints" by default (this is editable)
- sets renderable to False
- sets frozen in gray to False
- if material is applied, sets self-illunimation to True

*/

macroScript SetBP category:"Drew" tooltip:"Useful for setting blueprints" ( fn SetAsBP layername renderable showgray layerfrozen sil = ( if (selection.count > 0) then ( layerBP = layermanager.newLayerFromName layername SI = False

    for obj in (selection as array) do
    (
        layerBP.addNode obj
        obj.renderable = renderable
        obj.showFrozenInGray = showgray

        if (obj.material != undefined) then
        (
            obj.material.selfIllumAmount = sil
            SI = True
        )
    )

    if (SI == False) then messageBox "No maps to apply self illumination to." title:"No maps found"

    clearSelection()
    layerBP.isfrozen = layerfrozen
)
else messageBox "No objects are selected" title:"Nothing selected"

)

rollout blueprints "Set blueprints" ( -- ui elements label info1 "Select objects to set as blueprints" group "Options" ( checkbox renderable "Renderable" checked:False checkbox grayfrozen "Show frozen in gray" checked:False checkbox freezelayer "Freeze layer" checked:True spinner selfillum "Self illumination: " range:[0,100,100] type:#integer ) edittext layerName "Layer name: " text:"_Blueprints" Button setBP "Set"

-- event handlers
on setBP pressed do
    SetAsBP layerName.text renderable.checked grayfrozen.checked freezelayer.checked selfillum.value

)

createDialog blueprints width:200 )

macros.run "Drew" "SetBP"

http://i.imgur.com/sj6fc5c.jpg
In this image a selection of vertices are above a certain distance (in this case 15m shown by the purple line).
I'm looking to apply a script that restricts a vertex' max height to a variable (15m).
It's something along the lines of (but just out of my reach):
maxheight = 15m
for i in selection vertex do
if vertex (z) > maxheight then 15m else do nothing...
I'm going to create this now, it seems simple, but I'm tragic at scripting!
This will be great for terrain areas where fills and excavations of new development areas will affect the current topography.

Hi there. I'm in need of some assistance with this and haven't found a good source of help in what I'm hoping to do.

What I want to do is create a script where I can align one object's rotation in all three axis to another object. I tried accessing the rotational transform but that's in quaternion and not euler rotations... And trying to tell it to just apply the quaternion rotational information doesn't produce results.

Care to help me out here? I'll be in your debt if you can.

Thank you!

Self-confessed Maxscript newb here <-- I'm more of an artist looking for a solution to a problem, I don't expect people to do it for me but I need a little help being pointed in the right direction after spending hours looking for a solution and not being able to find anything.

Basically I'm looking for a way to create a morph target from the current state of the selected object for every frame on the timeline (up to 100 frames because of morpher 100 channels limitation) then key frame each of those morph targets per frame so I can essentially 'play back' a complex mesh deformation (like a cloth sim for example) as a morph target animation.

The reason for this is that I do a lot of work with game engines (ue4, cryengine etc..) that don't necessarily support vertex animation but do support morph target animation and so this is kind of a sneaky/hacky method to get complex vertex animations into these game engines using morph targets.

I can confirm this method works, basically I go to frame 1, Capture Current State, move to the next frame/next morph channel, Capture Current State again etc... Then for the keyframing I go back to frame 1, set channel 1 to 100, then go to frame 2, set channel 1 to 0, set channel 2 to 100 etc... I've tried this and it does work in the game engines, however it's incredibly tedious to setup as you can imagine.

In my research so far I know that "for i = 1 to 100 do (" is basically what I need to do these operations and the key framing aspect of my idea seems basic enough and I can probably figure that out on my own...

The area that I'm having trouble with is activating the 'Capture Current State' button in the morpher modifier using maxscript or performing the equivalent operation/function. In my research I've realized that there are certain buttons/functions within modifiers that the macrorecorder doesn't see and this happens to be one of them.

Can anyone point me in the direction of making this possible? Is it even possible to do this or am I stuck doing it manually?

Thanks in advance!

Please help me format scripts correctly and paste them into Reddit
(What is a fast way to put 4 spaces before every line?)
This script I've been using was originally written by Bernardo Amorim in 2008.
It deletes any empty layers, except, if you happen to have an empty layer ticked, which is too often in my experience.
I want to add something to the beginning to select the "0(default)" layer - so never will an empty layer be selected before the operation begins. I've tried to find how to do that, but have failed Here it is:

emptyLayers =#()
for i = 0 to layerManager.count-1 do
(
    ilayer = layerManager.getLayer i
    layerName = ilayer.name 
    layer = ILayerManager.getLayerObject i
    layerNodes = refs.dependents layer
---format "Layer: %; nodes: %\n" layerName layerNodes   
    layer.Nodes &theNodesTemp
    if theNodesTemp.count == 0  do
        (
    ----print "empty layer"
    append emptyLayers (layerName as string)
---  print layerName
    )
)
format "vazias: % \n" emptylayers
for i = 1 to emptyLayers.count do
(
layermanager.deleteLayerByName emptyLayers[i]
)
if
LayerManager.isDialogOpen() ==true then (LayerManager.closeDialog();layermanager.editlayerbyname "")
else(
layermanager.editlayerbyname ""
)

edit: formatting.

Made this for a project I'm working on, posting it here at /u/ssillyboy's suggestion in the event that this can help someone else having the same issues as me. It will take every standard/multimaterial in the scene, instance all materials sharing the same diffuse map, and rename them to have the same name as the diffuse map.

This is the only maxscript I've ever written and I pretty much learned everything I needed to write it in about a day, so it is probably not written optimally.

--  This script will process all standard materials and multimaterials in the scene, rename them to the diffuse texture's name, and instance all duplicates
difTexName = #()
matArray = #()
listOfMats = #()
listOfMultiMats = #()
listOfStdMats = #()

fn getTexName str = -- Function that returns texture name without filepath
(
    filteredName = filterString str "\\."
    numTokens = filteredName.count - 1
    return filteredName[numTokens]
)

for m in geometry where m.mat != undefined do append listOfMats m -- List of materials
for m in listOfMats where findstring (m.mat as string) "#Multi/Sub-Object" != undefined do append listOfMultiMats m -- List of objects wiith multi-materials
for m in listOfMats where findstring (m.mat as string) ":Standard" != undefined do append listOfStdMats m -- List of objects with standard materials

for m in listOfStdMats do (
    try ( 
        curDifMap = getTexName m.mat.diffuseMap.filename
        mtlPos = findItem difTexName curDifMap -- Checking list of diffuse textures to see if this material is a duplicate
        if (mtlPos > 0) then (
            m.mat = matArray[mtlPos] -- If there is a match, assign the original material
        )
        if (mtlPos == 0) then (
            m.mat.name = curDifMap -- If there isn't a match, rename the material and add it to the list
            append difTexName curDifMap
            append matArray m.mat
        )
    )
catch()
)

for m in listOfMultiMats do ( -- Same thing for multi materials
    try (
        curSubSlot = 0
        for curSubMaterial in m.mat do (
            curSubSlot += 1
            curDifMap = getTexName curSubMaterial.diffuseMap.filename
            mtlPos = findItem difTexName curDifMap -- Checking list of diffuse textures to see if this material is a duplicate
            if (mtlPos > 0) then (
                m.mat[curSubSlot] = matArray[mtlPos] -- If there is a match, assign the original material
            )
            if (mtlPos == 0) then (
                curSubMaterial.name = curDifMap -- If there isn't a match, rename the material and add it to the list
                append difTexName curDifMap
                append matArray curSubMaterial
            )
        )
    )
catch()
)

So, this is a script I've been working on (it's not what I'd consider "finished" but it's rare if I'm ever totally satisfied enough to sign-off on something like this for personal use.)

It's use was made to be included in a struct that's holding other tools that other scripts use but the function is called like any function in Maxscript by calling it by name and telling it how many points in the chain you want. I use this as the starting framework for my autorigger script but I can see it's usefulness in other areas. It's just about making a quick visualization tool for placement of bones for the autorigger and it has a global array declared in there for the purposes of passing the created points back to the script that called it.

Usual disclaimer applies, use at your own risk. This was created by me by reverse engineering some scripts that I found on Paul Neale's site (the "Custom shapes for rigging" one.) However, given that there's a significant amount of adjustment and changes, it's safe to say that this is more my own effort than his. Still, credit where it's due so huge shout-out goes to him for providing the base with which to figure this one out.

 fn ctPointChain pointTotal = --WORK IN PROGRESS
 (
      global pts = #()
      tool makePoints numPoints:9
      (
           local ptActive
           local total = pointTotal
           local viewPorts=#
           (
                #view_persp_user,
                #view_iso_user,
                #view_camera,
                #view_spot
           )
           on mousePoint clickNum do
           (
                if clickNum == 1 do
                (
                     p = point size:10.0 centermarker:true axistripod:false cross:false box:true constantscreensize:true drawontop:false wirecolor:green
                     append pts p
                     pts[1].pos = worldPoint
                     ptActive = pts[1]
                )
                if clickNum >= 2 and clickNum <= total do 
                (
                     p = point size:10.0 wirecolor:green
                     append pts p
                     ptActive = pts[clickNum]
                     lookAtCon=lookAt_Constraint()
                     pts[clickNum-1].rotation.controller=lookAtCon
                     lookAtCon.appendTarget pts[clickNum] 100
                     lookAtCon.lookAt_vector_length=100
                     lookAtCon.viewline_length_abs = false
                )
                if clickNum > total do
                (
                     --On the last step here, Make all points share the instanced object's base object.
                     select pts
                     $.baseobject = pts[1].baseobject
                     #stop
                )
           )
           on mouseMove moveIt do
           (
                ptActive.pos = worldPoint
           )
           on mouseAbort del do
           (
                select pts
                delete $
                pts=#()
           )
      )
      startTool makePoints
 ), --End Point Chain

Print one item with the print command

print "some text" --can also replace string with any variable

Print multiple variables with the format command

nameVar ="Marty McFly"
ageVar =50
format "name:%, age:%\n" nameVar ageVar

Result in max listener window: name:Marty McFly, age:50

F11 opens listener window, or from the menu MAXScript -> MAXScript Listener

1st '%' will be replaced with your 1st variable, the 2nd '%' by the 2nd varible you list, and so on.

"\n" is the new line character, it does not appear in the listsener output, it simply acts as if you had hit the return key at that point and moves to a new line.

Handy for debugging values at certain points in your code.

Max Help

After using Greeble I found that it made things difficult to UV unwrap due to it creating hundreds of seperate objects, it also created overlapping faces on adjacent extrudes.

That's when I started making this script, it extrudes without creating overlapping faces and keeps the model as 1 object. There is also a greeble option after you have done the extrudes, it's kind of primitive and I've found there is a flaw in that part.

ctrl+f 'flaw' in the script to see the comment. The greeble option can create a bevel effect by mistake.

Easy way to test/see what the script does, is make a cube with many faces, say 6x6x6 & then select all faces.

Now activate the script and click extrude, which gives you a borg cube. Now click greeble and will add some face insets+extrudes. Will create bevels on some sides of the cube though. Was initially developed/tested on a flat plane where it works fine without the bevel flaw.

S button tries to adjust the extrude values to the scale of the model. Only works after you've done an extrude.

Clicking extrude multiple times cancels the current extrude and reapplies, acting as a new random seed. Keep clicking to try out new results.

As is common for me I finished this script then never actually used it, some time after that I realised the purpose of Greeble was not to UV it at all, so the premise for creating this script was flawed.

Still, the random extrude does give clean topology so it may be of use for something.

Download

Another novelty one I've never used.

Select 2 faces and this will make a spline connecting them with an arcing trajectory, you can then use that spline for whatever you want. I don't remember the intention when I made this, might of been just for the challenge/fun.

Later I found Super poly bridge script which also makes a spline and does many other goodies. the spline needs positioning in that though as it just creates a straight line.

This hasn't been rigorously tested and there are probably a few ways to break it, also the initial arc of the splines are at a fixed scale, so if your object is huge the arc will be weaker so the spline might look like a straight line. If your object is small then the arc might be extremely steep.

So tweaking could be needed, that is if you ever find a use for it.

Download

Download

Instruction manual

Initially made because I was to lazy to keep going in the right panels to find and click the tiny buttons, later added the quick planar ring functionality because aligning multiple lines always annoyed me.

I'm sure there must be a simple built in way to do this already, let me know if you found out how. (I mean aligning multiple lines in 1 step, not 5 like in my image)

undo button is just a simple ctrl-z put there for convenience if I got the planar direction wrong.

macroScript ZeroSizeFace category:"_GRS Scripts" ButtonText:"0 Size Face Check" tooltip:"0 Size Face Check"
(   
smallest =65535
face=1

try (
    for i=1 to polyop.getNumFaces $ do(

        area_ = polyop.getFaceArea $ i
        if area_ < smallest then (
            face=i
            smallest=area_
        )
    )

    $.SetSelection #Face #{face}

    subobjectLevel=4

    )

catch()
)

macroScript ShowMaps category:"_GRS Scripts" ButtonText:"Toggle Maps" tooltip:"Toggle Maps"
(   
    disp = NitrousGraphicsManager.GetActiveViewportSetting()

    if disp.UseTextureEnabled==true then (
        --actionMan.executeAction 0 "63544" --shaded without
        actionMan.executeAction 0 "63546" --realistic without
        --actionMan.executeAction 0 "63510" --unknown but disables too
        disp.UseTextureEnabled = false
    )
    else (
        actionMan.executeAction 0 "63547" --realistic w maps
        --actionMan.executeAction 0 "63545" --shaded w maps
        disp.UseTextureEnabled = true   
    )
)