Macro Recorder

The MAXScript Macro Recorder captures many of the actions performed by the user, and generates the MAXScript commands that correspond to those actions.

Output from Macro Recorder is displayed in the Macro Recorder pane of the MAXScript Listener window. Several filtering options are available that control what types of user actions are recorded, whether the generated MAXScript commands contain explicit object references or are selection-relative, and whether the generated MAXScript commands contain absolute or relative transforms and coordinates. These options are set using the MacroRecorder menu in the Listener window. The default option settings are specified in the MAXScript page of the 3ds Max Preferences dialog, as described in MAXScript Preferences. You can also make and change these settings by editing the [MAXScript] section of the 3dsmax.ini file.

While many areas in 3ds Max generate Macro Recorder output, there are also many areas that do not. In general, most of the buttons on the 3ds Max menu bar, toolbars, status bar, Create panel, and Modify panel will generate Macro Recorder output. If the button invokes a secondary dialog, changing settings or performing actions in the secondary dialog typically do not generate Macro Recorder output. In the Create and Modify panels, Macro Recorder output is typically generated if the object or modifier can be created by MAXScript. In rare cases, the plug-ins implementing an object or modifier have not been updated to support Macro Recorder, so that object or modifier does not generate Macro Recorder output.

MAXScript supports text drag-and-drop onto toolbars to create Macro Script buttons. You can select and drag text from any text window, such as the Listener window panes or Editor window, onto any visible toolbar. The cursor changes to an arrow with a + sign when it is permissible to drop the text. Dropping it at that point adds a Macro Script button to the toolbar with the dropped text as the body of the Macro Script. A typical usage of this would be to drag text from the Macro Recorder pane onto a toolbar to make a button that does the sequence of events just recorded.

For detailed information about the MAXScript utility, consult the MAXScript Help, available from Help menu MAXScript Help.