Project Spice Rack [3dsMax Ribbon UI]

Mr. BlueSummers

Hello.

I'm actually from 3dTotal, but I keep a login because I like the community here too. I wanted to let people know about a project I'm working on called "Spice Rack". It's a ribbon for 3d Studio Max that's similar to the ones you'd find in Word and Excel 2007.

So far, I've developed the first tab to entirely replace the main tool bar. In addition, I've written several supporting applets that will help me develop the other tabs quickly. Here's the list of the tabs, along with what you can expect on each one:

1. Main - Replaces the main toolbar, has the code structure for even more robust functionality (right, middle, left click).
2. Create - Objects, Splines, Cameras, Lights...
3. Edit - Pretty much everything you can do to an object. Everything under Edit, Tools, and Group in the menu bar.
4. Modifiers - A robust display of modifiers.
5. Animation - Sheets, constraints, solvers, bones, parameter wiring...
6. Utilities - Reactor, biped, scripted utilities...
7. Render - Rendering, sizing, saving...
8. Customize - Viewports, setups, optimizations, maxscript...

The feature list is a mile long, so development might be kind of slow. It would be nice to collect usage statistics so that I'll know what people use often or not very often at all.

The idea actually came from a bizarre dream I had where Autodesk actually rewrote the user interface using a ribbon, and I can't describe how happy I was. I jotted down the following snippet to guide the project:

I had a dream that one day this program will rise up
and live out the true meaning of its creed:
"Create stunning 3D in less time with Autodesk® 3ds® Max software."

I had a dream that my program would give me access
to all it's rich and diverse tools! That it would know what I need-
know what I want-
and know, beyond my own understanding, how to provide it.

I refuse to believe that what I see here
is the finest user interface that money can buy;
because we, the users, have paid and paid again
for this decrepit, obsolete interface.

Now is the time!
Now is the time to take matters into our own hands as users
and fix what we know to be broken.

The home thread can be found Here.

Let me know what you think! Critiques are always welcome. I'll try to keep this thread as updated as the original. :poly121:

Jeremy Wright

Mr. BlueSummers wrote: »

The idea actually came from a bizarre dream I had where Autodesk actually rewrote the user interface using a ribbon....

That's really not that bizarre seeing as how that's what they've done with AutoCAD 2009. Why they didn't do it with Max '09 I don't understand.

Good luck!

Xenobond

Hrmm..
'--Unknown property: "loadAssembly" in undefined'

is there some .net plugin for Max I need to have installed before trying to run the maxscript?
:S

Mr. BlueSummers

Nope; I think I might've forgotten to zip up the DLL you need in \<maxroot>\SpiceRack.
Let me update that...

<Edit> There we go. That should clear.
@ 8FtSpider: Oh wow, I didn't realize they'd done that. Well dang...I wonder if they'll do a ribbon for 3dsM in the next release or two. :P

Michael Knubben

Ooh, interesting. I've never used the Ribbon in Office, but I was always interested in it. And I'm especially interested in your mention of supporting lmb/mmb/rmb... does this mean you could initiate different actions per mouse-button, like say: flatten x, y or z, depending on which one button you used?

Mr. BlueSummers

MightyPea wrote: »

Ooh, interesting. I've never used the Ribbon in Office, but I was always interested in it. And I'm especially interested in your mention of supporting lmb/mmb/rmb... does this mean you could initiate different actions per mouse-button, like say: flatten x, y or z, depending on which one button you used?

You bet! What's so beautiful about doing it through DotNet instead of through Max native, is that you get complete control. Right now, there's no consistency across main toolbar buttons, but in this case you could bind left, mid, and right mouse buttons to any maxscript block. :nerd: