Learning Modo scripting...

WarrenM

I'm interested in learning Modo scripting as there's a few things I'd like to do but don't really have a great place to start from.

I know there's a Wiki but it's somewhat incomplete and I haven't found a really awesome source of info yet.

Anyone have any leads on tutorials or how to get started?

I'd prefer a dead tree book because I find I can learn better that way but online stuff will do as well. I just keep coming up blanks when Googling ... is it not a popular enough topic?

passerby

do you already know how you program, and know one of the languages in modo, or your doing everything from scratch.

Farfarer

The best method I found is a mix of reading Seneca's scripts - because they're comprehensive and well written - and the documentation that comes with modo.

It's also handy to check the command history. Everything you do in modo is logged, giving you the commands sent to the program. If you scale up the little command window in the bottom right, you can get a full list of your command history for that session (under the History tab there).

WarrenM

passerby - Sorry, I should have included that. Yeah, I'm familiar with programming. I've been doing it for years so programming and syntax aren't really the issue. It's more about Modo specific calls and things.

Farfarer - True, and I've been doing those things. I wish there was a resource that would walk you through, say, a custom exporter.

Farfarer

Eh, depends what you're exporting to but a fully fledged plugin might be a better option than a script. There's a full wiki for the plugin SDK, too, rather than a dodgy pdf for scripting.

I wrote an SMD exporter (for the Source engine) and because it's a script it's really slow for larger meshes. A plugin would be waaay faster.

WarrenM

Sure, that was just an example. I learn better with tutorials for a specific purpose. Most tutorials on scripting I've come across focus around recording macros and such and replaying them. I'm just wondering if there's an awesome learning center somewhere for Modo scripting.

Or, barring that, if this is like the early days of Quake mapping and QC coding where it was basically look at what's out there and figure it out yourself.

passerby

does modo not have the whole API, and commands documented like maya?

i never used too much of modo but i found with other packages i was able to just jump in and read the docs for the needed commands, since i am already a very experienced python programmer.