Max speed tip - for tools stuff

Rick Stirling

Might be of use to some people.

I was doing animation exports last week, and they were taking quite a while. One of the tools guys was doing the same exports, but his were MUCH MUCH faster than mine.

The difference?

He didn't have the modifier stack open - he was on the creation screen.

It turns out that some things that max does will continually do screen updates, so coming out of the modifier stack tab *CAN* speed up some functions in max.

The same applies to the panel view, something I learned a long time ago - Max is faster with 1 large viewport rather than 4.

Jaco

Yeah I've noticed the same thing, especially when working with hi-poly models.

Malekyth

Huh, I hadn't noticed that, but it does make Max sense. It'd be a good idea to include a switch away from the Modifier panel at the beginning of export/prep/fix scripts ...

Thanks for the tip!

Ghostscape

I knew it ran better with 1 viewport rather than 4 (I think it has to do with the fact that wireframes are calculated on the CPU - the new DX10 enabled version is supposed to be drawing wire frames on the card to significantly speed up viewports), but I had no idea that having the modifier stack open makes it run slower.

Good to know!

Eric Chadwick

For the viewport problem, a script can disable redraw, do its stuff, then enable it again at the end. Don't have the code handy, but I remember it being pretty straightforward.

Rick Stirling

I've put this in a few of my scripts

disableSceneredraw()

-- STUFF HERE

enableSceneredraw()
redrawViews()


Its a good idea to have this as a standalone script too

enableSceneredraw()
redrawViews()

CrazyButcher

the same should be done in the exporter, as rarely you would need visual feedback while exporting (other than a progress bar)

Eric Chadwick

One weird thing we have is with our Skin-weights-adjustment script, it has to flash back and forth through the modifier stacks of different objects while it goes. Apparently Skin doesn't let us change weight assignments unless the mod stack is open. The script basically adjusts the bone assignments of various models to match one another so we can morph animations between very different skeletons, while keeping their weights unique.

CrazyButcher

yeah sadly some maxscript functions only work that way, that the object must be active and modstack visible. same goes with maxscript trying to exec a "maxscript utility", you must open the toolbar mode and so on.

Kevin Johnstone

I have max setup with 1 window by default, im not simply maximizing 1 of the 4 windows, i just set my maxstart file to 1 window with my scale reference object only in the scene with grids set as I need and I don't keep long operation modifier stacks, i always compress down then save a new file and continue on with a backup layer as a supplemental 'in case i screw it up' device.

Max is the same as photoshop in that regard, they both boast the long modifier stack / many layers are possible options but both cost so I always flatten, or merge things as I go.

Most of the time, the stuff we are trying to leave open in the stack or layers is simply stuff we could more quickly redo agao if we really needed to.

Layers in max really are your friend too. Layer manage is handy once you set all your object properties to be defined by the layer which its a part of, then you can hide, freeze, change view mode and so on with one tab.

Likewise, using turbosmooth render iterations only so that once you have sorted a section you just turn off the subdivides and continue on with other sections.

r.

Mark Dygert

Saving scene states (right click > quad menu > display > Save Scene State) in conjuntion with a good setup for layers is another good way to keep the modifier stack collapsed.

I've been to lazy to fix the script I started writing that triggers auto backup, saves a scene state, and collapses the modifier stack. Some day I'll get around to it but for now I just do it all manually.