Help Needed! - Maxscript FBX Exporter and Vertex colors .fx shader

CastorPT

Hi,

I've been looking around but with no luck so I now turn to Polycount for help

Q1.
Do you guys know where I can get a good (ideally free) DirectX shader for 3Dsmax 2012 that allows me to see vertex color blending textures in the viewport? (a simple black to white vertex colors)


Q2.
I'm doing a lot of Max to Maya FBX export and need to speed up the process.
The steps I do are:

1. select objects,
2. apply a edit poly
3. export as FBX to a specific file
4. remove edit poly

My maxscript skills are not that great so the best I could do was use the maxscript listener, do the actions and save that to a button. But I still have to go trough the dialogs for the FBX export and confirm overwrite of the .fbx file.
Is there a script around that can do this much faster? If not could you guys help me get this one working?

In case it helps this is what I have atm:

macroScript Macro1
	category:"DragAndDrop"
	toolTip:""
(
	modPanel.addModToSelection (Edit_Poly ()) ui:on
	actionMan.executeAction 0 "40373"
	max file export selected
	max select
	deleteModifier $ 1
)

Thanks!

poopipe

you need to enable quiet mode when you export - here's an example

--hard code paths because I'm a lazy sod...
exportFolder = "C:\\export_pile"
exportFileName = ("thing.fbx")


-- do some stuff


print (exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName)
exportFile ( exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName) #noPrompt quiet:true    

CastorPT

Thanks for the help.Is it supposed to look like this then?

(
		--hard code paths because I'm a lazy sod...
exportFolder = "C:\Dropbox\raw_data\misc"
exportFileName = ("temp.fbx")

	modPanel.addModToSelection (Edit_Poly ()) ui:on
	actionMan.executeAction 0 "40373"
	max file export selected
	max select
	deleteModifier $ 1

print (exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName)
exportFile ( exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName) #noPrompt quiet:true
	

)

I still get the pop up to ask for the folder...like I said, my maxsscript skills are null...

poopipe

you appear to be exporting it twice


lose the "max file export selected" line and see what happens

CastorPT

Ok, this is what I got so far. Those 2 lines are the actual export process?

(
			--hard code paths because I'm a lazy sod...
			exportFolder = "C:\Dropbox\raw_data\misc"
			exportFileName = ("temp.fbx")
			
			-- Add "Edit Poly" modifier to selection
			modPanel.addModToSelection (Edit_Poly ()) ui:on
			
			-- Export Selected
			print (exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName)
			exportFile ( exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName) #noPrompt quiet:true

			-- Remove "Edit poly"
			deleteModifier $ 1
)

CastorPT

And this is what I get in the listener with the Print command...I wonder if there is something wrong with the way I wrote the folders?

"C:\Dropbox
aw_data\misc\temp.fbx"

poopipe

you need to escape the backslashes by using a double backslash instad of a single

eg.

"c:\\dropbox\\aw_data\\misc\\temp.fbx"

and yeah - this line does the export. I cant remember if it'll export the whole scene or the selected object(s) off the top of my head - you'll be able to check in the maxscript help to find out for sure.

exportFile ( exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName) #noPrompt quiet:true

Eric Chadwick

For vertex blend shaders, take a look here.
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryShaders

Shader FX is the easiest way to get a simple vertex blend shader. They have sample shaders, but you can also very easily make one too. Free for individuals IIRC.

CastorPT

Thanks for the tip, trying that right now.
As for the Maxscript...I feel so lost, I still cant get it to work and it seems I have to restart max everytime I want to see it run with the new changes, it takes ages to try it out.

I'm not a technical artist and just wanted to have a quick go at doing something that would save me tons of time but its taking a lot longer than I wanted...

This is what I have so far, not sure why its not exporting

macroScript Macro1
	category:"DragAndDrop"
	toolTip:"Export to FBX"
(
		--hard code paths...
		exportFolder = "C:\Dropbox\raw_data\misc"
		exportFileName = ("temp.fbx")
		
		-- Add "Edit Poly" modifier to selection
		modPanel.addModToSelection (Edit_Poly ()) ui:on
		
		-- Export Selected
		print (exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName)
		exportFile ( exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName) #noPrompt quiet:true
		
		-- Remove "Edit poly"
		deleteModifier $ 1
)

CastorPT

A friend just told me that I need double backslash for folder, that was the problem!
The script is now exporting but not the selected objects.. it exports everything... any help on that part?

(
		--hard code paths...
		exportFolder = "C:\\Dropbox\\raw_data\\misc"
		exportFileName = ("temp.fbx")
		
		-- Add "Edit Poly" modifier to selection
		modPanel.addModToSelection (Edit_Poly ()) ui:on
		
		-- Export Selected
		print (exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName)
		exportFile ( exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName) #noPrompt quiet:true
		
		-- Remove "Edit poly"
		deleteModifier $ 1
)

CastorPT

So I finally got it working, for those interested!

--hard code paths...
		exportFolder = "C:\\Dropbox\\raw_data\\misc"
		exportFileName = ("temp.fbx")
		
		-- Add "Edit Poly" modifier to selection
		modPanel.addModToSelection (Edit_Poly ()) ui:on
		
		-- Export Selected
		print (exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName)
		exportFile ( exportFolder  + "\\" + exportFileName) #noPrompt quiet:true selectedOnly:true
		
		-- Remove "Edit poly"
		deleteModifier $ 1

Now for learning shader fx.... any tips on creating the simple black/white vertex colors blend material?