New MaxScripts
polycounter lvl 18
I've reorganized my site and uploaded a bunch of scripts I created at work. There's a little bit of everything in there, hopefully you'll find something that helps speed up your work in some way. If you think any of them are useful, or buggy, drop me a line. 
http://www.jhaywood.com/maxScripts.htm
http://www.jhaywood.com/maxScripts.htm
Replies
Thanks
I had to change mine back to the defaults because it was unfortunately unusable for me (unless they weren't intended as "replacements" to the default subobject toggle keys).
Also, in Max8 it didn't seem to be keeping the selection between sub-object changes like your info implied.
The relax shortcut has already come in handy though, and I'm sure the non-quad and cleanup verts functions will come in handy soon!
Hmm, yeah, something you might wanna change, cos I had to stop using your sub-object selection keys - if you have an Unwrap UVW modifier on top of the stack and you're using it, you can't use hotkeys to toggle vert/edge/face mode in the Unwrap UV window, since 1-5 were hotkeys for the scripts.
I had to change mine back to the defaults because it was unfortunately unusable for me (unless they weren't intended as "replacements" to the default subobject toggle keys).
Also, in Max8 it didn't seem to be keeping the selection between sub-object changes like your info implied.
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I'll have to look into the UnwrapUV issue. I do use the subObject scripts as a complete replacement to the defualt shortcuts. About keeping the selection, I'm using 8 also and it should work with Edit Mesh, Editable Mesh, Edit Poly, and Editable Poly selections. So, for example, if you select a face and then use the script to switch to vert mode, the verts that make up that face will be selected. Basically, it's exactly the same as holding down control and clicking on the selection mode icons with EPoly editing. But I'll double check.
Thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it.
If it helps at all, I installed the scripts then restarted Max, assigned the hotkeys and started getting on with work - it shouldn't require another reboot after assigning hotkeys, right?
About the selections not transfering over to other sub-object modes, I don't know what to say. It works both at home and on differenct computers here at work using Max 8. You shouldn't have to reboot or anything to get it to work. I'm stumped. It's cases like these where I would actually have to sit down in front of your computer and figure out what's going on.
But if you want to re-download the script pack and install it again, let me know if the new revised sub-object switchers work better now. Just overwriting the current files with the new ones in the zip file should do it, no need to delete anything.
The one I personally use the most is Render View. It's a lot like the Maya render buffer that saves your renders as you do them and let's you flip back and forth between them. If you turn on the "Auto" checkbox for a scene, it'll save the renders whether the Render View window is open or not, and they'll still be there even when you exit out of Max and open the file later. There's a Notes section that lets you type in info you want to remember about a particular render, like Final Gather settings and whatnot. Also save render times, camera view, and frame number the render was done from. Hope you like it!
Other new ones:
Reset XForm To World Center - Sets the pivot of all selected objects to world coordinates [0,0,0], and then resets the XForm... twice. Resetting twice is just a safety measure against a Reset XForm bug that's been in Max forever.
Toggle Subdivision - Looks for either a TurboSmooth or MeshSmooth modifier on the selected objects and toggles it on or off in the viewport. Doesn't effect the render setting, so you can toggle it off and still render correctly with smoothing applied. If there isn't a TurboSmooth or MeshSmooth modifier, but the object is an Editable Poly, then the "Use NURMS Subdivision" checkbox with be toggled on or off.
Average Skin Weight - Assigns an average bone weighting to the selected verts based on the weighting of the verts around them. Good for fixing random stray verts or doing a final cleanup pass on your skinning.
Flow Connect - Same as using the Connect button on an edge Ring, but will also move the newly added verts out along their local Z axis in order to keep the overall curvature of the object. If only one edge is selected it will automatically select the entire edge ring before connecting them. Currently only works with Editable Poly base objects, not Edit Poly modifiers. I posted this one here a while ago.
http://www.jhaywood.com/maxScripts.htm
And Cybroxide, I'm a self-taught scripter. I started by thinking of a few tools it would be cool to have and then figured out how to make them. I spent a lot of time banging my head against the maxScript reference file (it's extrememly useful, but also extremely confusing at first), and asking tons of questions at cgtalk and the public Max webboard (now The Area). The main thing you need is a committment to learn, just like any language.
I guess I'm officially a technical artist now, but I still consider myself more artist than programmer, but scripting is a big part of my job now. It helps me get things done faster, and has also given me an insight into the world of prgrammers and how they think, so I can communicate with our engineers much better.
One of these days I'd like branch out from maxScript and get into Java or C#, but there's just no time. And once in a while a real programmer will look at one of my scripts and show me how it could be written better. I still have a lot to learn, but like anything else, it gets easier and you get better at it over time.
Whatever happened to the turnaround render script, the one with the light setups? I recommended it to someone recently, but couldn't find it on your site.
Whatever happened to the turnaround render script, the one with the light setups? I recommended it to someone recently, but couldn't find it on your site.
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That was probably one of the first three scripts I ever wrote, so looking at it now it's kind of embarassing.
Let me clean it up now that I know what I'm doing (more or less), and I'll post it up again. Thanks for reminding me.
Yeah, I know about both of the SO issues. Just haven't gotten time to address them. I'm thinking that the "all selected" issue is easy to fix, but the instance one is a bit trickier. I'll tackle it soon though because I use these myself and want them to work they way they're supposed to.
And flowConnect is one of those I want to go back to and do some more work on when I get some time. What I want to do is try to make it respect smoothing groups, and fix an issue where it works fine on convex surfaces, but not so much on concave ones. I definitely wouldn't mind the feedback on when you see it breaking though.