I need a simple script for max9

Japhir

Hey guys,

I thought i'd start using StrokeIt together with max, so i thought of some nice ways to set it all up. (mouse gestures > faster workflow).

but to make a stroke do something i want it to do, i need the action assigned to a shortcut key (which i can then prompt from strokeit).
So i need a little script that i can then assign to a shortcut.

what i want the script to do:
-select all the faces
-make them all of smoothing group 1

i want this because i find it very annoying to have to scroll down and up all the time in the modifier panel.

can anyone point me in the direction of this really simple scripting? showing me how it's done would be great, but it might be good too to link to some simple tutorials for scripting so i don't have to ask myself.

i'm pretty sure that its something like: $smoothing group = 1 or something similar but i have no idea.



maybe this could be a "simple script thread". where you post little scripts that help speed up your workflow?

Slum

macroScript Smoothtastic
category: "jTools"
(
$.EditablePoly.SetSelection #Face #{1..$.numfaces} --select all faces
$.EditablePoly.setSmoothingGroups 1 1 1                 --assign selection to smooth group 1
)

Run that and then just assign a keyboard shortcut like normal. As for learning maxscript, the max helpfile has a TON of info. Documentation for a lot of stuff, and step-by-step tutorials to get you started. Just go to Help>Maxscript Reference

Rob Galanakis

(
	if classOf (modPanel.getCurrentObject()) == Editable_Poly then
	(
		polyop.setFaceSmoothGroup $ #{1..(polyop.getNumFaces $)} 1
	)
)

EDIT: Slum beat me to it but mine is only one line and doesn't change your selection :P

Slum

Yeah... well.... mine has a cooler name!

Psyk0

I found this pretty helpful for writing my own scripts:

http://cgempire.com/forum/tutorials-110/even-artists-can-write-funky-maxscripts-391.html

Japhir

yay exactly what i was hoping for! thanks a lot guys!
muhahah i chose slum's name, with RobG's code and sortof merged it all together.
do you always have to put:
macroscript: smoothtastic
category: blabla
in front of every script?


Psyk0: wow great link, i'm definately gonna follow that tutorial some time.
soon i'll be writing stuff like this myself without a problem .

Slum

Nope, you don't need to do that for every script. A script will run without it, you just won't be able to assign a keyboard shortcut.

Rob Galanakis

Japhir, this link explains all about Max macros: http://tech-artists.org/wiki/Macro_installation_(maxScript)

Slum

Is this some sort of existentialist riddle?

EDIT: The page is blank :P

Rob Galanakis

Sorry the url-detection cut off the trailing ). Fixed.

Haha Slum just got that one.

rooster

related to gestures, i did some poking around a little while ago and g-mote is quite cool (strokeit had some vista issues for me) http://www.handform.net/gmote.php

butt_sahib

Oh man thank you SO much for that script Slum/Rob.very useful

So yeah,japhir,we should really look into writing our own scripts eh.

BradMyers82

Hey, thought I would mention that Polyboost has 3 buttons that I find very usefull for what you are asking for, even though you already have the solution.

Smooth= assigns all faces to one smoothing group; Hard= assigns all adjoining faces to seperate smoothing groups; and 30= mixes the smoothing and hard based on the angle of the adjoining faces.

If you can get a hold of polyboost it will probably give you shortcuts to all sorts of things you didn't even consider before. It's a real time saver for sure.

Eric Chadwick

Might be old news, but you might check out the Strokes utility that ships with Max, lots of options in there, does a pretty good job.

Japhir

hmm i recently reinstalled max, to get rid of some scripts i never used anymore (chugnuts etc). but somehow everytime i run it now it says:
--Runtime error: EPoly face index out of range: <1 or> 14:15

the exact code i'm using:

macroScript Smoothtastic
category: "_BWA_Tools"
(
    if classOf (modPanel.getCurrentObject()) == Editable_Poly then
    (
        polyop.setFaceSmoothGroup $ #{1..(polyop.getNumFaces $)} 1
    )
)

Rob Galanakis

Are you sure it is crashing in this script? Have you restarted Max? I have seen some very wrong behaviour where Max will say the problem is in a certain script where it should be in another- if nothing in my code changed, but you got rid of a bunch of other scripts, I don't think the problem is with my code... you may go into your C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Autodesk\3dsmax\2008 - 32bit\enu\UI\usermacros\ directory and get rid of everything (move to a temporary directory), then re-run those scripts you do want to re-install them.

Japhir

ah ok, restarting max made it work :P. sorry about that.

works like a charm again. thanks!