All right , that sounds great! I'm looking forward to this update:)
There is just one abnormal behavior I've found: For some reason the script doesn't work right when the LOW_ is linked to its corresponding HIGH_ and the opposite too(HIGH_ is linked to the LOW_).
However, it works great when you have one LOW_ object with several corresponding HIGH_ objects (floaters for example, you may have them as separate objects). In this case either you must rename all HIGH_ objects to have identical names or you can link the secondary HIGH_ objects to the main HIGH_, both solutions work right now
And one last thing. Because this script is particularly useful for baking purposes(I can't think off for any other usage right now) it might be a good thing to add an option which puts "projection" modifiers on all LOW_ objects and adds their corresponding HIGH_ ones in the projection modifier list.
Here is a UI suggestion:
"Add Projection" puts a projection modifier on all LOW_ objects (also adds the HIGH_ ones in their list ready to be rendered)
"Presets" dropdown menu is the default preset.This dropdown is the same one as in the RTT dialog.It lets you to choose a bake settings like resolution, cage turned on/off, distance, maps you want to render, edge padding, etc.
"Output path" specifies the default destination for all rendered maps.
The rest of the settings dialog is pretty self-explanatory.
I think those additions can speed up the baking process.
Also 3 years late... this is awesome.
I'd love for a Maya version however, or don't know if anyone has found/made a similar script or process for baking complex stuff. It's a hassle to keyframe explode something that has a lot of pieces.
Perhaps it could work by using geometry constraints to a curve?
Don't really expect much if you go looking in the maxscript "code". It's really messily slapped together and I didn't even go back and make things functions that should be... I really didn't care or expect to be releasing it when I made it... I just made it because of my bike model with 300+ pieces that I didn't want to keyframe by hand or whatever.
Usage:
Name your low poly objects with the prefix LOW_
Name your high poly objects with the prefix HIGH_
The rest of the name following the prefixes needs to be identical. Currently this script works off of names alone, I didn't get to making anything kind of automated like I would if I were to take the time when making it again. I may look at revising this if there's enough demand for it. In general however, I think using the naming convention kind of forces people into good habits in being able to manage their scenes better... not that I would be enforcing that onto anyone
Best of luck, and happy baking!
2 years later im in dire need of this, could anyone be so kind as to upload it again?
The way it works is that it will match the object name, and sort between types using the suffix. This means that your lowpoly/highpoly/cage/blocker need to have the EXACT same name, and using the suffixes _lowpoly, _highpoly, _cage, and _blocker.
If your highpoly consists of more parts than your lowpoly you can put the highpoly meshes in a group that has a name matching the lowpoly.
When you run the script it will prompt you to input the amount of units you want to offset the meshes by. Also, it will key the meshes as gathered at frame 1 and exploded at frame 10. If you have existing keys or incoming connections it may cause problems.
Replies
There is just one abnormal behavior I've found: For some reason the script doesn't work right when the LOW_ is linked to its corresponding HIGH_ and the opposite too(HIGH_ is linked to the LOW_).
However, it works great when you have one LOW_ object with several corresponding HIGH_ objects (floaters for example, you may have them as separate objects). In this case either you must rename all HIGH_ objects to have identical names or you can link the secondary HIGH_ objects to the main HIGH_, both solutions work right now
And one last thing. Because this script is particularly useful for baking purposes(I can't think off for any other usage right now) it might be a good thing to add an option which puts "projection" modifiers on all LOW_ objects and adds their corresponding HIGH_ ones in the projection modifier list.
Here is a UI suggestion:
"Add Projection" puts a projection modifier on all LOW_ objects (also adds the HIGH_ ones in their list ready to be rendered)
"Presets" dropdown menu is the default preset.This dropdown is the same one as in the RTT dialog.It lets you to choose a bake settings like resolution, cage turned on/off, distance, maps you want to render, edge padding, etc.
"Output path" specifies the default destination for all rendered maps.
The rest of the settings dialog is pretty self-explanatory.
I think those additions can speed up the baking process.
I'd love for a Maya version however, or don't know if anyone has found/made a similar script or process for baking complex stuff. It's a hassle to keyframe explode something that has a lot of pieces.
Perhaps it could work by using geometry constraints to a curve?
http://vertexbee.com/rttassist
There is a youtube channel and help documentation that can explain you how it works.
Best regards,
Martin
2 years later im in dire need of this, could anyone be so kind as to upload it again?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/700791/Scripts/masterExploder.py
The way it works is that it will match the object name, and sort between types using the suffix. This means that your lowpoly/highpoly/cage/blocker need to have the EXACT same name, and using the suffixes _lowpoly, _highpoly, _cage, and _blocker.
If your highpoly consists of more parts than your lowpoly you can put the highpoly meshes in a group that has a name matching the lowpoly.
When you run the script it will prompt you to input the amount of units you want to offset the meshes by. Also, it will key the meshes as gathered at frame 1 and exploded at frame 10. If you have existing keys or incoming connections it may cause problems.