I used to use quickdirt alot in max8 actually. pitsnpeaks is a decent alternative for later versions of max (at least it works in max 9, havn't tried in 2008 or 2009).
PolyHertz: Not bad, thanks for pointing me to that plugin. Nice little free app. and it does work in max 2009, well kinda. If you mesh is really simple it will work, but high poly imports, forget about it.
[Edit] oh yeah, just in case anyone wants to do a standard AO bake; I highly recommend Topguns AO solution. Best results I have seen in my opinion (better than max, maya, xnormal at least).
MatKill is now MatClean v1.1
I recently updated (and removed from my site) the material killer script. It is now selection sensitive and some of the button names have been changed and reordered along with some of the tool tips. If you've been using this script you should update
Basically, it takes a UV mapped mesh as input and creates a new object in the shape of these UVs - with a morph modifier to bring the verts back to their correct world positions.
It's great for laying out stuff along complex surfaces (straps and stuff to character torsos, for example). You can easily lay your stuff out on top of the (planar) flattened mesh, skin wrap it all to this and then when you morph the flattened mesh back into place all your stuff will come with it.
You know I searched through the thread twice... Darn if I can find it. It was a script that from what I understood from what was written would throw on small planes/plates on a objects surface to alah mimick Star Wars ship type detail. Any one know what Im referring to?
You know I searched through the thread twice... Darn if I can find it. It was a script that from what I understood from what was written would throw on small planes/plates on a objects surface to alah mimick Star Wars ship type detail. Any one know what Im referring to?
I would imagine the plugin you are referring to is called Greeble, check it out,
I'd like to give this Decorate a try but I don't know how to set it up. I don't understand how they got to the point that they did in the example max files you can download.
The SlideKnit method seems messy...I got it working, but the real-time interaction doesn't seem as smooth as the "Decorate" examples.
EDIT: nvm, I wasn't looking under the create option, only in the modify section. Pretty nifty but very poor viewport interaction when trying to move over the surface.
I'm sure I'm not the first guy to do something like this... Since the mirror tool likes to flip faces when it mirrors, and that is hidden (if backface culling is turned off) until you reset xform, export, or render and by then its too late... I wrote this to flip the faces when you mirror. Nothing worse then thinking your done and finding out your in flip a bunch of faces.
Macroscript VigMirror
Category:"VigTools"
toolTip:"VigMirror"
buttontext:"VigMirror"
(
if querybox "Do you want to correct the normals?" beep:true then
(
max modify mode
modPanel.addModToSelection (Normalmodifier ()) ui:on
modPanel.addModToSelection (Edit_Poly ()) ui:on
maxOps.CollapseNode $ off
(
max mirror
)
)
else
(
max mirror
)
)
To install, run the script once, then go Customize > Customize UI > Category VigTools > VigMirror. Assign it to whatever you wish, keyboard, toolbar, main menu or quad menu.
I'll probably create a new toolbar icon for it, but for now its called VigMirror.
I need to bring up a request I asked for a bit back. I didn't state what I was after correctly enough.
Ok what I'm seeking is a plugin that allows for non 1:1 in uv . I can set the tiles to pixel dimensions all I want. So I can have a nice rectangular layout, but requires hand manipulation. The image will not relax to anything but a 1:1 layout. So a plugin that will allow a relax tool to take into account what the material dimensions really are versus just squishing or stretching the uv layout on the screen.
Thought I'd post two script I've been using a lot lately:
IC.PolySplitRing - Created by the same guy who makes the Illusion Catalyst plugin, essentialy a recreation of the Maya tool by the same name.
Polymagus Action Items - This one is actually quite old but I only recently found it. I'm liking the enhanced bridge command the most, but it has several other useful features too.
Anyone know of a plugin that'll allow for the gizmo to temporarily be moved while selecting sub-objects, so that you could for example select an arms verts and then rotate them from the soulder?
mhh actually you dont need a plugin for this - just use the working pivot (2008 and up?), or, might be a bit more tricky, switch to "Use Transform Coordinate Center" now you have some sort of variable pivot in the ortho views. To stick with your example, in frontview - center view on shoulder area (yes screenspace center of the viewport is now the pivot ...) and rotate from there.
Hey PolyHertz, don't know if you're already aware of this semi-hack: you can transform a sub-object selection by a temporary point by activating snaps and locking the current selection to transform.
From 3ds Max Reference, topic: "Choosing a Transform Center"
Transforming About Snapped Points
While the transform center choices are often useful at the object level, they are not usually convenient when transforming sub-object selections. You can override the active transform center and perform the current transform about a temporary point by using snaps. When Snaps is active, and your selection is locked, the point you snap to will set the point about which the transform is performed. Using this technique, you can:
Is there a plugin or tool I'm unaware of that will display how many pixels x and y (2d) a currently selected object is on the screen? I'm working on some manual LOD's and the engine works on the pixels shown to switch to each detail level.
Hi oXYnary,
I made the script you requested. I hope it does what you're looking for. Get it from the IllusionCatalyst website, page MaxScript, section Scripts. Let me know if you need something else.
Theirs one thing in max I've been wanting for a while now: Smart loops. By that I mean, loops that take into account the unselected space between the sub-object selection. For example:
polyboost (and hence max2010) have something similar with dotloop, but it only allows you to specify the spacing of a single selection, so the above would be impossible with it.
Hi oXYnary,
I made the script you requested. I hope it does what you're looking for. Get it from the IllusionCatalyst website, page MaxScript, section Scripts. Let me know if you need something else.
Wow. Thanks man. Helps tremendously! Kudos.
If you ever want to take it further, I would say if it could be integrated into statistics or a realtime popup window that updates automatically as you move the object around the screen. Maybe even a type box inside it that zooms the current viewport in/out to match whatever you have typed in either x or y. Possibly with a few defaults you can create to click into a particular preset size.
I'm not sure how many others it would help, but at least for people using the TGEA engine, you would have a fan club.
Again, what you did already is great, and appreciated.
@ PolyHertz: Is that a XSI feature, or am I completely wrong? Anyway, it seems to be quite interesting, and I got it in my mind for some time, trying to find an algorithm as smart as the loop to do the job. There are some open issues about it I haven't figured out yet, like how to deal with a closed loop. In particular, should the pattern be repeated starting from right, left, or else? Maybe an options panel would be required. It should be limited to a single row made along an edge ring selection, or would it be possible to do something smarter? Would it work with quads only or vertices and edges too? I still have no clue, but sooner or later will give it a try. About IC.SizeInScreen, I got some time and it was quite interesting, it's only a bunch of code lines
p.s. I read again my last reply to you in this thread and sounded like an idiot. I'm sorry, I never meant to.
@oXYnary: Thank you, I'm glad you like it. I know, the Message Box is quite uncool, but it is just a fast patch to get the job done. You suggested many interesting fetures, and at a first look they should be all feasible. My only concern is about the realtime statistics. To get the result the script loops through all vertices of all selected objects, taking their position in 3D, and converting it in 2D, which is quite intensive for MaxScript, but for mid-low poly models, like those for games, it should work, maybe using an on/off trigger to get feedback only when needed. Cannot make any promise, but I'll try to make it a bit better.
Lots of great stuff on this thread - and I'm glad some people found SlideKnit helpful!
We've just released another tool, this one is for rendering/comping rather than modelling, so possibly of interest to a slightly different group. It lets you save multiple 3dsmax render elements to a single .exr which is pretty useful when it comes to compositing in apps like Nuke, Fusion & AfterEffects. There's full source and VS2008 project there too if you want to tweak and rebuild.
Download from the same place as before - http://slidelondon.com/iv - and there's a discussion/help thread over here on CGTalk :
Ok I have been tasked with taking some higher rez models (about 10000 tris) that have been triangulated. They were originally created with nurbs. I asked for those files instead so I could instead convert into polygons. That data is gone.
Now before saying I can use a standard triangulation to poly tool. I attempted this and at least the ones I attempted base on the length of the edge to figure out whats what. (forgot which one I attempted though - know of a better one specific to this task please link). Unfortunately, it had the tendency to choose the wrong edge in some spots with how the nurbs triangulated the mesh.
Is there any other options or plugins I can use to attempt to get some type of polygon item out of these? It would make my job so much easier to optimize via edge loops and such versus trying to work with this nightmare of edges.
Or maybe a quick lowdown of a process using one of these triangulation tools with a combo of another max modifier that will take the hidden edges after the plugin finishes and attempt to create a polygon model with consistent edge loops.
I think I asked this in another thread -
Is there a MaxScript that will automatically make each UV island a unique smoothing group?
Or, alternatively, is there a plug-in/script that will let me render a UV template that has each smoothing group colored uniquely so I can find smoothing group breaks inside my UV islands?
Might need to ask that other question to the general audience. Have a new one. Max refuses sometimes to update my textures in the viewport, especially when Im am looking at them in DX mode. Even if I go and manually reset/reload and re-choose the texture.
Is there some plugin I can get that will force max to empty its texture cache and reload in dx display mode?
I had the same issues yesterday with max2010 and 4k PSD textures as it would simply not update the textures. As soon as I tried to manually reassign the URL's of the textures it displayed an error of something like this:
" I/O error, can allocate enough memory..." which is propably triggered by not having enough ram (2048 in my case). So sometimes max can't reload stuff because of that.
When I'm working I often I these "what if I could do this" moments.
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned or done with the new graphire tools; but it would be cool if you could select edges like you do when making seams for pelt mapping. Like if you don't want to select a whole loop and you can just click on the first edge and last edge to make a selection in-between. If anyone has a solution I would greatly appreciate it.
[Edit]
Opps, this may have been exactly what Polyhertz was asking about
Thanks Renderhjs. I found step loop in max 2010 and it kind of does what I want but only for one selection. Then I noticed right underneath it is "Step Mode" which pretty much does what I want. The hitch is that it doesn't seek a path unless it is part of a loop (like crossing over one loop ring to the next or something it won't do.)
Anyways, this discovery will certainly speed things up a bit when I have to do a bunch of chamfers on a high poly or the like. Thanks again.
just wondering
anyone got a plugin/tool to lerp between lofted shapes? Say I start the spline with Lofted shape A then lerp in to Lofted shape B.
I reckon you'd probably have to lerp between shapes with the same amount of control verts but that wouldn't be an issue. I just would rather it do that - and have the control of loft variables - than reshape the tool by hand afterwards. I find it's awkward, for HP modelling.
Create a circle, a star, and a line. With the line selected, go to Create > Compound Objects > Loft. Activate Get Shape and choose the circle. Increase the Path spinner some (watch the yellow x move down the path), activate Get Shape, and choose the Star.
Tree maker basically makes the particle generation (for the leaves) and making the tree's branches really easy. The problem I am having is that the leaves are not generating uv's on there own. When doing the uv's I need to have the leaves (just squares on the uv sheet) to overlap. So I run a "Flatten Mapping" to quickly get them all flat, but then all the squares are laid out as if I want unique space for each one.
So I have to grab each individual square and move it to the next and so on until I get the verts all close enough so that I can weld the correct verts to make a single uv box. As you can imagine, doing this for a thousand leaves is really annoying.
Is there some way to automate this? Like overlay similar uv islands or something? Or is there simply a way to flatten the leaf squares so they are all the same size in the first place and not spaced using unique uv space.
I'm using 3ds max 2010 by the way.
If anyone has a solution for me please let me know, I would Greatly appreciate it.
Replies
That tutorial on Bobo's site is great, much better than any the crap you get by typing in vertex paint in the 3ds max help file.
I did get a chance to install quickdirt on my old XP OS today, with 3ds max 6, however; 3ds max 6 is so unstable its practically usless.
So I tried to save a lot and the freaking thing does has this bug where as soon as I save it crashes and the files it saves is corrupt!
So quick dirt is nice, but when I can't even import my high res meshes it defeats the purpose.
I think I will be able to get by with bobo's trick though, thanks again.
[Edit] oh yeah, just in case anyone wants to do a standard AO bake; I highly recommend Topguns AO solution. Best results I have seen in my opinion (better than max, maya, xnormal at least).
I recently updated (and removed from my site) the material killer script. It is now selection sensitive and some of the button names have been changed and reordered along with some of the tool tips. If you've been using this script you should update
Saw this one today, SlideKnit.
Some examples of what it can do...
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=5395022&postcount=56
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=5103103&postcount=89
These were done using earlier plugins, SlideKnit is by a different author.
nevermind.....SUCCESS!!! thanks eric...that's rad!!!
I would imagine the plugin you are referring to is called Greeble, check it out,
http://max.klanky.com/index.htm
"A fun modifier plug-in useful for generating random detail for spaceship models, cityscapes, Death Stars..."
I'd like to give this Decorate a try but I don't know how to set it up. I don't understand how they got to the point that they did in the example max files you can download.
The SlideKnit method seems messy...I got it working, but the real-time interaction doesn't seem as smooth as the "Decorate" examples.
EDIT: nvm, I wasn't looking under the create option, only in the modify section. Pretty nifty but very poor viewport interaction when trying to move over the surface.
Macroscript VigMirror Category:"VigTools" toolTip:"VigMirror" buttontext:"VigMirror" ( if querybox "Do you want to correct the normals?" beep:true then ( max modify mode modPanel.addModToSelection (Normalmodifier ()) ui:on modPanel.addModToSelection (Edit_Poly ()) ui:on maxOps.CollapseNode $ off ( max mirror ) ) else ( max mirror ) )To install, run the script once, then go Customize > Customize UI > Category VigTools > VigMirror. Assign it to whatever you wish, keyboard, toolbar, main menu or quad menu.I'll probably create a new toolbar icon for it, but for now its called VigMirror.
it might have holly variations, pudding girth, steaminess etc
Ok what I'm seeking is a plugin that allows for non 1:1 in uv . I can set the tiles to pixel dimensions all I want. So I can have a nice rectangular layout, but requires hand manipulation. The image will not relax to anything but a 1:1 layout. So a plugin that will allow a relax tool to take into account what the material dimensions really are versus just squishing or stretching the uv layout on the screen.
Vtools:
http://home.insightbb.com/~jamestaylor/index.htm
on my cs4, vQuickPSDTGA generate me a ".tga" and not a "psdfilename.tga" while that working well on my cs2..?!
is there a way to bugfix this great tool?
IC.PolySplitRing - Created by the same guy who makes the Illusion Catalyst plugin, essentialy a recreation of the Maya tool by the same name.
Polymagus Action Items - This one is actually quite old but I only recently found it. I'm liking the enhanced bridge command the most, but it has several other useful features too.
From 3ds Max Reference, topic: "Choosing a Transform Center"
I made the script you requested. I hope it does what you're looking for. Get it from the IllusionCatalyst website, page MaxScript, section Scripts. Let me know if you need something else.
Theirs one thing in max I've been wanting for a while now: Smart loops. By that I mean, loops that take into account the unselected space between the sub-object selection. For example:
polyboost (and hence max2010) have something similar with dotloop, but it only allows you to specify the spacing of a single selection, so the above would be impossible with it.
Wow. Thanks man. Helps tremendously! Kudos.
If you ever want to take it further, I would say if it could be integrated into statistics or a realtime popup window that updates automatically as you move the object around the screen. Maybe even a type box inside it that zooms the current viewport in/out to match whatever you have typed in either x or y. Possibly with a few defaults you can create to click into a particular preset size.
I'm not sure how many others it would help, but at least for people using the TGEA engine, you would have a fan club.
Again, what you did already is great, and appreciated.
p.s. I read again my last reply to you in this thread and sounded like an idiot. I'm sorry, I never meant to.
@oXYnary: Thank you, I'm glad you like it. I know, the Message Box is quite uncool, but it is just a fast patch to get the job done. You suggested many interesting fetures, and at a first look they should be all feasible. My only concern is about the realtime statistics. To get the result the script loops through all vertices of all selected objects, taking their position in 3D, and converting it in 2D, which is quite intensive for MaxScript, but for mid-low poly models, like those for games, it should work, maybe using an on/off trigger to get feedback only when needed. Cannot make any promise, but I'll try to make it a bit better.
Lots of great stuff on this thread - and I'm glad some people found SlideKnit helpful!
We've just released another tool, this one is for rendering/comping rather than modelling, so possibly of interest to a slightly different group. It lets you save multiple 3dsmax render elements to a single .exr which is pretty useful when it comes to compositing in apps like Nuke, Fusion & AfterEffects. There's full source and VS2008 project there too if you want to tweak and rebuild.
Download from the same place as before - http://slidelondon.com/iv - and there's a discussion/help thread over here on CGTalk :
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=6&t=745452
Cheers from London!
Rob
Now before saying I can use a standard triangulation to poly tool. I attempted this and at least the ones I attempted base on the length of the edge to figure out whats what. (forgot which one I attempted though - know of a better one specific to this task please link). Unfortunately, it had the tendency to choose the wrong edge in some spots with how the nurbs triangulated the mesh.
Is there any other options or plugins I can use to attempt to get some type of polygon item out of these? It would make my job so much easier to optimize via edge loops and such versus trying to work with this nightmare of edges.
Or maybe a quick lowdown of a process using one of these triangulation tools with a combo of another max modifier that will take the hidden edges after the plugin finishes and attempt to create a polygon model with consistent edge loops.
Is there a MaxScript that will automatically make each UV island a unique smoothing group?
Or, alternatively, is there a plug-in/script that will let me render a UV template that has each smoothing group colored uniquely so I can find smoothing group breaks inside my UV islands?
Is there some plugin I can get that will force max to empty its texture cache and reload in dx display mode?
http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/reloadallbitmaps
http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/reloadbitmaps
I had the same issues yesterday with max2010 and 4k PSD textures as it would simply not update the textures. As soon as I tried to manually reassign the URL's of the textures it displayed an error of something like this:
" I/O error, can allocate enough memory..." which is propably triggered by not having enough ram (2048 in my case). So sometimes max can't reload stuff because of that.
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned or done with the new graphire tools; but it would be cool if you could select edges like you do when making seams for pelt mapping. Like if you don't want to select a whole loop and you can just click on the first edge and last edge to make a selection in-between. If anyone has a solution I would greatly appreciate it.
[Edit]
Opps, this may have been exactly what Polyhertz was asking about
Anyways, this discovery will certainly speed things up a bit when I have to do a bunch of chamfers on a high poly or the like. Thanks again.
http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/lsd
anyone got a plugin/tool to lerp between lofted shapes? Say I start the spline with Lofted shape A then lerp in to Lofted shape B.
I reckon you'd probably have to lerp between shapes with the same amount of control verts but that wouldn't be an issue. I just would rather it do that - and have the control of loft variables - than reshape the tool by hand afterwards. I find it's awkward, for HP modelling.
Create a circle, a star, and a line. With the line selected, go to Create > Compound Objects > Loft. Activate Get Shape and choose the circle. Increase the Path spinner some (watch the yellow x move down the path), activate Get Shape, and choose the Star.
cheers
Tree maker basically makes the particle generation (for the leaves) and making the tree's branches really easy. The problem I am having is that the leaves are not generating uv's on there own. When doing the uv's I need to have the leaves (just squares on the uv sheet) to overlap. So I run a "Flatten Mapping" to quickly get them all flat, but then all the squares are laid out as if I want unique space for each one.
So I have to grab each individual square and move it to the next and so on until I get the verts all close enough so that I can weld the correct verts to make a single uv box. As you can imagine, doing this for a thousand leaves is really annoying.
Is there some way to automate this? Like overlay similar uv islands or something? Or is there simply a way to flatten the leaf squares so they are all the same size in the first place and not spaced using unique uv space.
I'm using 3ds max 2010 by the way.
If anyone has a solution for me please let me know, I would Greatly appreciate it.