Small question.
I'm wondering if there are any plans to let the Texel Density be measured in Pixels/WorldUnit instead of Pixels/MaxUnit - I measure things in meters and it is a hassle to constantly do the math to keep the proper proportions of things.
Just a little question.. I just come back to max, first reflex.. TEXTOOLS :P A lot of improvement, seem's cool but after instaling ( files are in the proprer folder, auto instal worked great) the launch bouton doesn't work : / I had no problem with older version and max 2009, but i currently use 2012 64bit now (fresh install & admin right).. Any idea? 2012 is not listed in supported version, but i knew it works properly with max 2012..
Any suggestion?
I don't have a copy of max 2011,2012 or greater available to me. These days I use texTools at work for unwrapping and texturing but I don't actively develop it anymore because it does what I needed it to do within 3dsmax 2010 as its the 3dsMax version my company works with.
But I also stated hopefully clear enough in the past that the MZP textools file is just a ZIP so you can open it and explore the scripts, use them for other scripts and or improve them with the new 3dsMax 2012 or greater versions.
I got an email back in 2011 I think from Autodesk that they would like to take some ideas and tools from TexTools into 3dsMax and I believe my credits should be within 3dsMax 2012 because of the UV tools. For me though that was a sign that they finally addressed the UV tools and there is not much need for me trying to fix max with TexTools.
Small question.
I'm wondering if there are any plans to let the Texel Density be measured in Pixels/WorldUnit instead of Pixels/MaxUnit - I measure things in meters and it is a hassle to constantly do the math to keep the proper proportions of things.
Shouldn't be to hard to open the script and look into it yourself. I know that maxscript has some convertion tools for the units. Personally I work closer with Game Engines that I write or modify myself, which is why real units (internal units) matter as the real deal. But for some people that use UDK, Unity etc. and that prefer unit conversions (unity scales e.g by default units to 0.01).
If you are not that great or skilled in Maxscript, try to find at least the script within the TexTools.mzp (zip file), make a thread here in Tech talk on polycount and ask people to help you with it so works with set units in Max.
Shouldn't be to hard to open the script and look into it yourself. I know that maxscript has some convertion tools for the units. Personally I work closer with Game Engines that I write or modify myself, which is why real units (internal units) matter as the real deal. But for some people that use UDK, Unity etc. and that prefer unit conversions (unity scales e.g by default units to 0.01).
If you are not that great or skilled in Maxscript, try to find at least the script within the TexTools.mzp (zip file), make a thread here in Tech talk on polycount and ask people to help you with it so works with set units in Max.
I'm lukewarm at maxscript but I'll another look. To be honest, the syntax of these particular scripts are throwing me a bit, but I'll figure it out. Thanks for your encouragement, chief.
I'm lukewarm at maxscript but I'll another look. To be honest, the syntax of these particular scripts are throwing me a bit, but I'll figure it out. Thanks for your encouragement, chief.
Keep up the good work
Believe me it was the same for me, but eventually I hacked the stuff together the way it is now
A good reference is to just place a cursor in the maxscript editor on a keyword you don't understand and hit F1, it will open up the maxscript reference and very likely will jump to the specific command you placed your cursor at.
Maxscript 101 a previously commercial DVD is now available for free on Vimeo http://vimeo.com/album/1514565
Good spot to get into the meat
Believe me it was the same for me, but eventually I hacked the stuff together the way it is now
A good reference is to just place a cursor in the maxscript editor on a keyword you don't understand and hit F1, it will open up the maxscript reference and very likely will jump to the specific command you placed your cursor at.
Maxscript 101 a previously commercial DVD is now available for free on Vimeo http://vimeo.com/album/1514565
Good spot to get into the meat
Already got it sorted out. Easiest way was to just change the edittext to #maxunit spinners and change references to .text to .value
I did a bit of testing, and I don't think I broke anything. Not nearly as complicated as when I wrote a lighting-console script back forever ago.
I hate to keep asking questions, but I see that years ago you had 9 possible positions for the pivot in your transform floater and now you only have 4. What happened to the 9-pivot position button?
I hate to keep asking questions, but I see that years ago you had 9 possible positions for the pivot in your transform floater and now you only have 4. What happened to the 9-pivot position button?
You don't need them that's why I stripped them, because each up, down,left right side is part each corner pivot.
I mainly intended the pivot model of a way of referencing units in the texture space.
So the short answer is: Less is more and I thought that they are not needed.
I got an email back in 2011 I think from Autodesk that they would like to take some ideas and tools from TexTools into 3dsMax and I believe my credits should be within 3dsMax 2012 because of the UV tools. For me though that was a sign that they finally addressed the UV tools and there is not much need for me trying to fix max with TexTools
It's true, they've implemented a lot of your concepts and pretty well.. others not so well (align edges is broken, for example) or not at all (stacking shells), which is why I still have textools installed, even in '2013 ;-)
absolutely fantastic plug in. Really great work... just a shame I cannot use it right now as I'm working in Maya, but will be giving this a go next time am on Max for sure
Are those Tex tools intended to be working with Max 2008? I wright down a correct path to Road kill exe and the tools do nothing. Should I install something more over it?
Also I am interested a lot in the new "shift overlapping faces" feature. It also just blinks and then nothing happens.
Recently got this error "set clipboard bitmap requires bitmap, got: undefined" when rendering a blockout map to the clip board using material IDs. When "saving as" the texture comes out all gray.
Any ideas??
Recently got this error "set clipboard bitmap requires bitmap, got: undefined" when rendering a blockout map to the clip board using material IDs. When "saving as" the texture comes out all gray.
Any ideas??
yeah, i get the same error as well.
im on max 2012
Are you using a newer version of 3dsMax, back then I tested things with 2008+ up to 2010 / 2011 but I don't know if Autodesk changed their API e.g. that setClipboardBitmap command.
Might have to contact them to get me a recent copy of Max
Hello, Can you help me out please, im 59 and even though i am conversant with the max range of software, i am truly at an all time loss as to why i cannot get this remarkable software to install. I have followed by the letter, the instructions for maual instalation, but, this to offer no joy, i am not sure how, also, to stop temporarily disabling my adminisators rights; i am using Win XP pro with service pack 3 and all updates as to date installed, and as i stated, 3ds max 2010, i have also noted that, the version offered as 4.10, BUT, in the software D/L from tex tool site, it explose as 3.80 or the like, could this be the error?, i did change the version to 4.10 to see what would happen, but, no joy either. So their you have it, my problems and, i do use max for making creations for Auran/N3V trainz software and also do card models some on commision, so this software will be of a great boon to me, if, i can it to install that is lol lol... My grateful thanks and regards to you and yours and hope to hear from you very soon...................... Tom.Fisher.......:poly121:
Sorry if it's a knows issue but I didn't read 15 pages
Textools starts to render UV layout without mesh-lines, it's completely black image. How to fix it?
Sorry if it's a knows issue but I didn't read 15 pages
Textools starts to render UV layout without mesh-lines, it's completely black image. How to fix it?
Did you freeze or hide by chance you UV elements? (ctrl + H I believe). I never tested TexTools on newer versions of 3dsMax(2012+) so I can't really tell how well it works with newer versions.
I'm trying to get the hard edge option to work right in 4.10. It seems to render out the edges out of place. I'm using max 2014 BTW. If there is no solution can anybody tell me a way to render out the hard edges of any mesh without using textools?
Well yes the hard edges was/ is a hack using the Toon renderer - its very slow and never worked that great. More experimental if you want.
I worked in the last few weeks on some alternatives here at work and I wrote a dirty script that looks like this
The idea was to either create spline geometry where the edges are and or chamfer with open edges where the hard edges are and bake a mask with RTT. But even the results I have so far are less than perfect
Your TexTools is really great. Thank for making such a great tool.
I just want to know that, the last updated version is 4.10 released on 2010.07.09,
is there any plan for new release for latest version of max, the current version is working, but "space evenly" option is not working every time. And one more bug I found that, while opening the tex tools the existing uv smashed to a single line. (this does not happen every time.)
Your TexTools is really great. Thank for making such a great tool.
I just want to know that, the last updated version is 4.10 released on 2010.07.09,
is there any plan for new release for latest version of max, the current version is working, but "space evenly" option is not working every time. And one more bug I found that, while opening the tex tools the existing uv smashed to a single line. (this does not happen every time.)
It'd be great to get a TexTools update, some of the stuff doesn't really work on newer max versions. But it's still great and I'm grateful for it
Hi
I am trying to use Textool but if I open the uv editor the small panel to align shell/vertex wont stay open if i click on the edit UV it show and goes away.
I use Max 2008 but no matter if I install the 3.10 or 4.10 the result is the same.
Thank you for ant help
Can you tell how you use it and extract/bake the map out of it please? Because the video isn't available on youtube (private), and the site seems to be down.
I have a low poly wooden crate and I can't figure out how to make the script work on it.
Thank you.
Hi guys. I am preparing a mesh for normal map baking by making smoothing groups from uv shells. There is such option in the the TexTools, but it always fails in situations like this:
As you can see TexTools have not made any seams because it's one shell. I think the right script should be called "hard edges from UV seams". Do you know how to make this?
3dsmax doesnt use hard edges like Maya, where every edge can be a hard edge, but the smoothing group approach, where only intersected edges between two or more smoothing groups can be hard edges, it won't work as intended, unless all your faces are on separate shells. If you import from Maya it might look like that using a mix of smoothing groups and split custom vertex normals (I think, not sure).
Hi guys. I am preparing a mesh for normal map baking by making smoothing groups from uv shells. There is such option in the the TexTools, but it always fails in situations like this:
As you can see TexTools have not made any seams because it's one shell. I think the right script should be called "hard edges from UV seams". Do you know how to make this?
I'm a bit late to this thread, sorry. But most scripts will not create the proper smoothing groups to make this happen. They assume each shell just needs one unique Smoothing Group, or they assume each island just needs a different Smoothing Group than its neighbors in model space.
But if you have seams like this, then what you need is for the top face to have two SGs (e.g. 1 and 2), the front/back faces to have one SG (e.g. 1), and the side faces to have the other SG (e.g. 2). So the sides share a SG with the top, but not with each other.
I haven't seen any tools for 3ds Max that do this properly.
What version of Max? What does your modifier stack look like? What does your mesh look like with map seams on it?
When I go to Tools and choose "Smoothing Groups from UV Shells", it adds an Edit Poly modifier to my stack, with the smoothing in that. Do you get this?
Hi, sorry if this has been asked before, but the Pixel Unit Transform Floater doesn't show up in my 3dsmax. I am using max 2010. Any ideas?
Got the same issue in Max 2015, Textools 4.10
The Pixel Unit Transform Floater is completely missing. If I figure out a dirty fix I'll post it here.
Edit: I noticed the Pixel Unit Transform Floater appears for a split second when the UV Editor first loads up (When I click Edit UV on the Textools panel of course)
Dirty Fix: I found that if I make the UV Editor window smaller, and then go to the options menu on the UV window and click "Save Current Settings As Default". I collapse the Object and then Relaunch the UV editor through textools and It's there.
Is it only me or the texel density tool are not working at all in 3ds max 2016. i have tried every possible way and clicking on the normalise or pick button do nothing at all and the number field stay at 0 value.
Any help^would be appreciated since i need to normalize my uv shell so they are the same texel density without moving them .
TexTools is very outdated. You should check out PolyUnwrapper.
Also if you normalize, it must resize your shells, which moves them. So they do indeed have to move.
If you want to transfer your texture from an old layout to a new one, you could copy the UVs to another channel, normalize and repack the new channel, then bake from the original UV to the new UV.
Is it only me or the texel density tool are not working at all in 3ds max 2016. i have tried every possible way and clicking on the normalise or pick button do nothing at all and the number field stay at 0 value.
Any help^would be appreciated since i need to normalize my uv shell so they are the same texel density without moving them .
Ok i just answer my own question: Just convert to editable poly since it doesn't work on edit mesh
TexTools is very outdated. You should check out PolyUnwrapper.
Also if you normalize, it must resize your shells, which moves them. So they do indeed have to move.
If you want to transfer your texture from an old layout to a new one, you could copy the UVs to another channel, normalize and repack the new channel, then bake from the original UV to the new UV.
Thank Eric i will have a look at PolyUnwrapper and also thank for the copying UV tip!
Replies
I'm wondering if there are any plans to let the Texel Density be measured in Pixels/WorldUnit instead of Pixels/MaxUnit - I measure things in meters and it is a hassle to constantly do the math to keep the proper proportions of things.
But I also stated hopefully clear enough in the past that the MZP textools file is just a ZIP so you can open it and explore the scripts, use them for other scripts and or improve them with the new 3dsMax 2012 or greater versions.
I got an email back in 2011 I think from Autodesk that they would like to take some ideas and tools from TexTools into 3dsMax and I believe my credits should be within 3dsMax 2012 because of the UV tools. For me though that was a sign that they finally addressed the UV tools and there is not much need for me trying to fix max with TexTools.
Shouldn't be to hard to open the script and look into it yourself. I know that maxscript has some convertion tools for the units. Personally I work closer with Game Engines that I write or modify myself, which is why real units (internal units) matter as the real deal. But for some people that use UDK, Unity etc. and that prefer unit conversions (unity scales e.g by default units to 0.01).
If you are not that great or skilled in Maxscript, try to find at least the script within the TexTools.mzp (zip file), make a thread here in Tech talk on polycount and ask people to help you with it so works with set units in Max.
I'm lukewarm at maxscript but I'll another look. To be honest, the syntax of these particular scripts are throwing me a bit, but I'll figure it out. Thanks for your encouragement, chief.
Keep up the good work
A good reference is to just place a cursor in the maxscript editor on a keyword you don't understand and hit F1, it will open up the maxscript reference and very likely will jump to the specific command you placed your cursor at.
Maxscript 101 a previously commercial DVD is now available for free on Vimeo
http://vimeo.com/album/1514565
Good spot to get into the meat
Already got it sorted out. Easiest way was to just change the edittext to #maxunit spinners and change references to .text to .value
I did a bit of testing, and I don't think I broke anything. Not nearly as complicated as when I wrote a lighting-console script back forever ago.
I mainly intended the pivot model of a way of referencing units in the texture space.
So the short answer is: Less is more and I thought that they are not needed.
my $0.02: I think the center-pivot would be handy, but the math is easy enough to position the center of a cluster in a specific place.
It's true, they've implemented a lot of your concepts and pretty well.. others not so well (align edges is broken, for example) or not at all (stacking shells), which is why I still have textools installed, even in '2013 ;-)
just for share some features "ideas" i've had using textools
http://movherkazen.toile-libre.org/UVBitmapPacker_01_TextureAtlas.htm
http://movherkazen.toile-libre.org/UVBitmapPacker_02_EnlargeBitmapUV.htm
http://movherkazen.toile-libre.org/UVBitmapPacker_03_NormaliseUV.htm
http://movherkazen.toile-libre.org/UVBitmapPacker_04_TransfertUVBitmap.htm
http://movherkazen.toile-libre.org/UVBitmapPacker_05_Crop_And_PixelRatio.htm
hope you'll find some interesting things in my own script
Also I am interested a lot in the new "shift overlapping faces" feature. It also just blinks and then nothing happens.
9, 2009, 2010
Some features don't even work with 9 (which was prior to 2008)
Any ideas??
yeah, i get the same error as well.
im on max 2012
Might have to contact them to get me a recent copy of Max
Thanks a lot!
Can you help me out please, im 59 and even though i am conversant with the max range of software, i am truly at an all time loss as to why i cannot get this remarkable software to install.
I have followed by the letter, the instructions for maual instalation, but, this to offer no joy, i am not sure how, also, to stop temporarily disabling my adminisators rights; i am using Win XP pro with service pack 3 and all updates as to date installed, and as i stated, 3ds max 2010, i have also noted that, the version offered as 4.10, BUT, in the software D/L from tex tool site, it explose as 3.80 or the like, could this be the error?, i did change the version to 4.10 to see what would happen, but, no joy either.
So their you have it, my problems and, i do use max for making creations for Auran/N3V trainz software and also do card models some on commision, so this software will be of a great boon to me, if, i can it to install that is lol lol...
My grateful thanks and regards to you and yours and hope to hear from you very soon......................
Tom.Fisher.......:poly121:
Sorry if it's a knows issue but I didn't read 15 pages
Textools starts to render UV layout without mesh-lines, it's completely black image. How to fix it?
I worked in the last few weeks on some alternatives here at work and I wrote a dirty script that looks like this
The idea was to either create spline geometry where the edges are and or chamfer with open edges where the hard edges are and bake a mask with RTT. But even the results I have so far are less than perfect
Your TexTools is really great. Thank for making such a great tool.
I just want to know that, the last updated version is 4.10 released on 2010.07.09,
is there any plan for new release for latest version of max, the current version is working, but "space evenly" option is not working every time. And one more bug I found that, while opening the tex tools the existing uv smashed to a single line. (this does not happen every time.)
Great work!
It'd be great to get a TexTools update, some of the stuff doesn't really work on newer max versions. But it's still great and I'm grateful for it
What I've been doing is using TexTools in tandem with PolyUnwrapper (http://www.polytools3d.com/polyunwrapper/)
I end up with some redundant stuff, but works fine to me.
Iron, Relax UV Selection, Pack, Crop, Space Evenly.
My favorite tool is iron tool and relax uv selection, works most of the time.
If the tex tools get updated, I think it will work all time.
http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/edgefinder
I am trying to use Textool but if I open the uv editor the small panel to align shell/vertex wont stay open if i click on the edit UV it show and goes away.
I use Max 2008 but no matter if I install the 3.10 or 4.10 the result is the same.
Thank you for ant help
Can you tell how you use it and extract/bake the map out of it please? Because the video isn't available on youtube (private), and the site seems to be down.
I have a low poly wooden crate and I can't figure out how to make the script work on it.
Thank you.
As you can see TexTools have not made any seams because it's one shell. I think the right script should be called "hard edges from UV seams". Do you know how to make this?
I'm a bit late to this thread, sorry. But most scripts will not create the proper smoothing groups to make this happen. They assume each shell just needs one unique Smoothing Group, or they assume each island just needs a different Smoothing Group than its neighbors in model space.
But if you have seams like this, then what you need is for the top face to have two SGs (e.g. 1 and 2), the front/back faces to have one SG (e.g. 1), and the side faces to have the other SG (e.g. 2). So the sides share a SG with the top, but not with each other.
I haven't seen any tools for 3ds Max that do this properly.
When I go to Tools and choose "Smoothing Groups from UV Shells", it adds an Edit Poly modifier to my stack, with the smoothing in that. Do you get this?
Got the same issue in Max 2015, Textools 4.10
The Pixel Unit Transform Floater is completely missing. If I figure out a dirty fix I'll post it here.
Edit: I noticed the Pixel Unit Transform Floater appears for a split second when the UV Editor first loads up (When I click Edit UV on the Textools panel of course)
Dirty Fix: I found that if I make the UV Editor window smaller, and then go to the options menu on the UV window and click "Save Current Settings As Default". I collapse the Object and then Relaunch the UV editor through textools and It's there.
Any help^would be appreciated since i need to normalize my uv shell so they are the same texel density without moving them .
Also if you normalize, it must resize your shells, which moves them. So they do indeed have to move.
If you want to transfer your texture from an old layout to a new one, you could copy the UVs to another channel, normalize and repack the new channel, then bake from the original UV to the new UV.
Thank Eric i will have a look at PolyUnwrapper and also thank for the copying UV tip!