[3ds max] mapping shortcuts to actions that aren't exposed by the MAXScript listener or CUI?

pablohotsauce

I'm sure it's been asked before, but is there any way to map keyboard shortcuts (or custom toolbar buttons, or whatever else) to actions that 3ds max doesn't echo in the MAXScript listener, and which also don't seem to show up in Customize User Interface?

For example, I want to map "Select by Element UV Toggle" in the Edit UVWs window to a keyboard shortcut. But toggling it on and off doesn't reveal the command in the MAXScript MacroRecorder. It's also not in the giant tool/action lists in Customize User Interface, as far as I can tell.

There's examples like this one all over the UI. Is there any way to expose these black ops so I can have my way with them?

spacefrog

Seems there are two actions in the CUI dialog for this , but both toggle the button on the modifier rollout only, not the one in the actual Edit UV dialog ( im pretty sure this is a bug ). Those two actions are "Geom. Element Select mode" and "TV element mode". I think the second one should really toggle the button in the "Edit UVWs" dialog, not that one on the modifier rollout. So i would say you should report this as bug
http://download.autodesk.com/us/support/report_a_bug.html?SelProduct=3dsMax

For a solution in the meantime, you could create your own macroscript action and assign the usual shortcut/button etc.. to it.
This is from the MXS docs of the UV Unwrap modifier


Returns the state of the Select Element checkbox in the Selection Modes group of the Editor’s panel.
<boolean><Unwrap_UVW>.getTVElementMode()

Sets the state of the Select Element checkbox in the Selection Modes group of the Editor’s panel.
<void><Unwrap_UVW>.setTVElementMode <boolean>mode
<code><p><code>

pablohotsauce

Wow, awesome, thank you. Three things:

1. Dang, I'd gone through the Unwrap UVW group in CUI, didn't look close enough. For what it's worth, I can't get Geom. Elem to activate via a keyboard shortcut, nor TV element mode. BUT, if I create toolbar buttons for them, both work as intended (TV works in the Edit window, Geom works in the modifier rollouts). But that's enough to get me the actionMan code.

EDIT: actually, after restarting Max, the custom keyboard shortcuts assigned to the native Unwrap UVW CUI functions (Geom. Elem, TV Element, etc) work fine now. Hmm!


2. So is it true that any action that's built into Max has a corresponding CUI entry, although it might be named differently in CUI than you'd expect?

3. I clearly don't know enough about Maxscript, because I don't know what's up w/ the html brackets in your code. :P But I played around w/ appending getTVElementMode() and setTVElement to my selection. The latter spits out "OK" responses, but doesn't actually toggle the mode on and off:



(which is moot, because the actionMan will do for now, but still)

Also, was there supposed to be more code at the bottom of your post? There's a glitchy gray box at the bottom of it.

Nam.Nguyen

The thing with 3ds max is  almost of the commands are listed in "customize UI"  they just have weird name.  The trick is to look for them in specific group.

For some obvious reasons, autodesk decided to call it "TV element mode" instead of some thing logical like "UVW element mode" or "UVW select element"

JakeRay007

spacefrog said:

Seems there are two actions in the CUI dialog for this , but both toggle the button on the modifier rollout only, not the one in the actual Edit UV dialog ( im pretty sure this is a bug ). Those two actions are "Geom. Element Select mode" and "TV element mode". I think the second one should really toggle the button in the "Edit UVWs" dialog, not that one on the modifier rollout. So i would say you should report this as bug
http://download.autodesk.com/us/support/report_a_bug.html?SelProduct=3dsMax

For a solution in the meantime, you could create your own macroscript action and assign the usual shortcut/button etc.. to it.
This is from the MXS docs of the UV Unwrap modifier


Returns the state of the Select Element checkbox in the Selection Modes group of the Editor’s panel.
<boolean><Unwrap_UVW>.getTVElementMode()

Sets the state of the Select Element checkbox in the Selection Modes group of the Editor’s panel.
<void><Unwrap_UVW>.setTVElementMode <boolean>mode
<code><p><code>

Thanks for the clarification. This helps me a lot in speeding up my workflow!