Remove Option Box in Max 2011?

Snight

Hey guys, sorry if this has been asked before... I just upgraded to Max 2011 at work. Does anyone know how to disable the new option box associated with beveling/extruding ect?

Can't stand it, it is chuggy as all hell. I would love to go back to the one that has been working fine forever...

renderhjs

can you move it around? and does it remember it's position? - in that case just move it to the border and try to ignore it.
It kind of makes me sad that they added another GUI style language to the already cluttered experience.

BeatKitano

renderhjs wrote: »

can you move it around? and does it remember it's position? - in that case just move it to the border and try to ignore it.
It kind of makes me sad that they added another GUI style language to the already cluttered experience.

Problem is, you can't ignore it, since it's waiting validation everytime you make an action associated with it. And it doesn't take enter as input, only mouse click (?????)...

I agree with Snight, it's amazingly annoying.

renderhjs

I guess one way would be to script things, - it could be that if you access the same method via maxscript that it is not wrapped within that distraction.

Maybe someone with some little maxscript experience could try this with a poly and a face within the editPoly base object selected:

$.faceExtrudeHeight = 50.0
$.EditablePoly.buttonOp #extrude

does it still appear?

mayaterror

Yes, I want this gone too. I haven't even used 2011 yet, we're just about to make the switch to 2010 from 2008 at work. But someone showed me this on his laptop and I was aghast. Horrified, even. The first words out of my mouth were, "how do you disable that?" This is far worse than those f*n viewcubes.

It sounds like you guys are saying it can't be turned off in UI preferences?!!! WTF I've used 3DS Max since 2.5 AND I'M NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS AT ALL. This rivals Adobe Bridge and MS Ribbon. Well, I just learned how to kill Bridge in another thread a few days ago, let's slay this beast as well. Does the MAXScript approach work? I know someone on Polycount has the answer...

Sorry, had to add that this is lamer than the Lost ending.

Purplepaint

I'm sure there is a way to get rid of it, or there will be. I use 2011 updated about maybe a month ago, at first I thought okay well it is updated but it just doesn't feel the same, i'm used to it now and it hasn't gotten in the way of anything for me yet, but hopefully theres a way to bring it back to the 2010 way it was

Revel

Hi guys, there's a lot of people in the AREA forum question about this new feature also, but the conclusion is you cannot turn it off. You can make it static but you can't turn it off/ bring back the old style dialog box.

If you don't like it then just stick with 2010 untill the next release of Max (or possible Service Pack for Max 2011 that can make then old style dialog box back, I don't know). Its the first generation of this feature and its far far from complete, same thing as Ribbon, I feel like in Max 2011 its much better then in Max 2010 (at least now we dock in at the side/vertical with the minimize view).

_Revel

Junkie_XL

Welcome to Excalibur. Where removing options is considered a step forward.

PolyHertz

What happened Excalibur, you used to be cool (when you were a sword)... :P

I havn't tried Max2011 yet, but I thought that would be an option, no an unswitchable default, ugh. The new features they keep adding to Max are neat and all, but they really need to get someone in there that knows how to design a good, clean, compact UI.

renderhjs

PolyHertz wrote: »

I havn't tried Max2011 yet, but I thought that would be an option, no an unswitchable default, ugh. The new features they keep adding to Max are neat and all, but they really need to get someone in there that knows how to design a good, clean, compact UI.

But not just in a visual way but also from a architecture and code standpoint - many things appear buggy and inconsistent booth design and functional wise.

renderhjs

It's just like with plastic surgery sometimes trying to improve something makes it actually even worse.
(viewcube, max2010 main menu, ribbon, viewport slider 2011, OBJ plugin interface,...)


And I agree with Perna, I had some hopes after they promised to listen more to the community but all I see since 2010 is casual targeting and marketing people steering the future of 3dsMax. It's very short sighted and part of the subscription issue they now have, because they feel like they need to announce new features with every year release. A very sad thing to see a used to and favorite application go down like that.

I like most of the things in 3dsMax like the modeling, scripting, rendering,... but what I don't like is the hefty price tag for a dated piece of software with patches every year.
Maybe they should take a break for 2 or 3 years and start working on some serious basic issues, meanwhile just release some small patches but don't treat it as a new release.


There are so many things that even I as a script developer stumble over every time, things are at to many places broken, not documented or simply never changed since the initial windows NT 4.0 days and so the people that initially worked on things forgot it or are not longer part of the team.

elte

Use QT, everybody happy.. u can even port ur custom layout into maya, realflow, whatever apps that use it.

I against the caddy as well, it's useful but I'm so unfamiliar with the icon and in fact I have to always hover it to be able to see the text. This, plus remembering icon in the graphite modeling toolbar, is gonna take time to get used to.... Why don't they focus on workflow instead of fancy feature.

robioto

perna wrote: »

I openly challenge anyone at autodesk to defend their UI designs since version 2010 and the general direction of their ui designs in a debate with me by phone or in person.

Autodesk: 3ds has always been the most capable 3d editing software out there, however it can arguably be said that it's had the least popular UI. Autodesk, in trying to address this, is making it even worse.

Autodesk has what I call an "architect problem": Part of their software requires significant improvement, but the person in charge of identifying and designing fixes for those problems is the one that caused them in the first place, ergo those problems are unlikely to be dealt with.

It reminds me of this quote from Albert Einstein

“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Hopefully AD will spend some time gathering ideas from you and others here that know what they're talking about.

r_fletch_r

This post from bobo helps a little
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=6485600&postcount=8

Disabling Aero was the best speed increase i found myself

r_fletch_r

my favourite was the viewcube. It made perspecive mode jump about like crazy and crashed backburner if you tried to render from a camera(cos its not like your going to render from a camera right). never has a feature been so hated. The XBR idea of being able to use what plugins you want will be very welcome.

Jeremy Wright

Nothing beats the ribbon and graphite modeling tools ribbon for sheer UI stupidity. I've laid my arguments against the ribbon out all over the interwebs and don't feel like getting into depth here, but suffice it to say, functionality is not driving the ribbon. Marketing 'wizards' who don't use any actual Autodesk product are pushing them on every app Autodesk makes.

No AutoCAD user worth his/her salt uses buttons (they use shortcut keys - possibly tied to macros and an N52). Same with Max. Time is money, and I don't have time for bullshit.

/end rant

BeatKitano

renderhjs wrote: »

I guess one way would be to script things, - it could be that if you access the same method via maxscript that it is not wrapped within that distraction.

Maybe someone with some little maxscript experience could try this with a poly and a face within the editPoly base object selected:

$.faceExtrudeHeight = 50.0
$.EditablePoly.buttonOp #extrude

does it still appear?

I didn't test your macro, but it doesn't appear if you use the old interface maxscript functions.

It's how i kinda solved some griefs, but there's some functions in the ribbon that have no equivalent in the old ui and you can't deactivate this stupid thing.

Gotta love it...

@8feetspider:

Totally agree, and that's why i eagerly awaits renderhjs script for quick hotkeying ;>

if only autodesk was one bit brave, they would completely scrap the command pannel, and rehash it to be streamlined and merged with the ribbon... But i guess they fear old users leaving the max wagon...

mayaterror

You know, the CG industry is full of stories of people who refused to embrace new technology and got left behind, most notably the 2D-cel animators who railed against computer technology & CG...

But am I wrong for just wanting to stick with 2008, before the viewcubes, before the ribbon, in the halcyon days of old? I don't know... I held out as long as I could on 3DS 8, but the other day I saw a guy still running it and it just felt archaic. Don't want to be "that guy" with 2008... Well, here's to hoping I can get a good few years out of 2010 and maybe some issues will be solved by then.

Or maybe I could always go back to Maya...

BeatKitano

I didn't say they should rewrite everything and close it because that's how it should be, take it or leave.
I'm the first to defend script capability in all softwares. But isn't the habit of autodesk to buid on top of very dated ui, the right way to make redundant things ?

I mean, the ribbon and the command panel, come on ? You have almost 80% of the same functionality in both, and none of the two options are in par with today ui standards...
I understand that old max users have learn to love their ui, but almost all the non autodesk products have been re/written to be user friendly at least in their ui. And yet max is still stuck with its early 90's design.


Backward compability is one thing, but for a few version we have two ui in one, isn't it wrong ?

The caddy and graphite tools are a perfect example of building on top of old things to mask the real need to streamline the tools.