What was New in MAXScript in 3ds Max 6
The following pages will give you a quick overview of the MAXScript language changes and improvements in 3ds Max 6. For details on each feature, please follow the links to the respective documentation pages.
Nodes
Align Pivot and Reset Transform Methods
New methods were added to provide access to the ResetXForm Utility functionality and to the Hierarchy Tab Pivot alignment and transformation resetting functions.
HideByCategory Properties and Methods
The hideByCategory structure provides properties and methods to control the Hide By Category checkboxes found in the Display panel.
New properties .isNodeHidden, .isHiddenInVpt and .isNodeFrozen added for enhanced access to the Hidden and Frozen state of nodes.
New . vertexColorMapChannel property exposed by INode Interface, new enum value #map_channel in . vertexColorType
Display Panel: Wireframe and Shaded Colors
New displayColor.wireframe and displayColor.shaded read/write variables. Valid values are #object and #material . These variables correspond to the Wireframe and Shaded radio buttons in the Display panel, Display Color rollout
Shapes
Arc : Shape, Donut : Shape, Ellipse : Shape, Helix : Shape, NGon : Shape, Rectangle : Shape, Section : Shape, Text : Shape
.sides property value class changed from Float to Integer in all the above classes.
Editable Spline Modify Panel Command Modes and Operations
startCopyTangent(), startPasteTangent() methods added to splineOps structure.
New PolymorphicGeomshape Shape added.
Spline Shape Common Properties, Operators, and Methods
applyOffset() and measureOffset() methods previously available in Autodesk VIZ added.
Geometry
Added new .isolineDisplay property to control the Isoline Display.
New compound object class whose instances can turn any geometry or Particle Flow particle system into a Metaball system.
New methods added to the patchOps structure: . growSelection, .shrinkSelection, .selectEdgeRing, .selectEdgeLoop, .patchSmooth, .toggleShadedFaces
AEC Objects and Autodesk VIZ Features
All Doors and Windows AEC Objects have been made available again in 3ds Max 6. These include Awning, BiFold, Casement, Fixed, Pivot, Pivoted, Projected, SlidingDoor and SlidingWindow.
Al Stairs AEC Objects are now available in 3ds Max 6.
These include L_Type_Stair,Spiral_Stair,Straight_Stair and U_Type_Stair : GeometryClass.
Geometry - AEC Extended Objects
All Extended AEC Objects are now available in 3ds Max 6. These include Foliage, Railing and Wall.
The Luminaire Helper class was introduced in Autodesk VIZ4 and is now available in 3ds Max 6.
The ShineExp plugin and the related ShineExport Interface were introduced in Autodesk VIZ4 and are now available in 3ds Max 6.
A number of internal classes have been added. There is no MAXScript access to their properties or methods though.
ADT_Category : ReferenceTarget
This class provides access to the Category of Architectural Desktop objects Imported into 3ds Max
This class provides access to the Category of Architectural Desktop objects Imported into 3ds Max
Modifiers
New Shell Modifier gives geometry objects thickness by extruding the surface by amount or using a control spline.
New camera modifier for perspective correction, previously available in Autodesk VIZ.
Several new methods added, existing methods enhanced. Modifier supports TriMeshes now.
Object-space version of the MapScaler. The original MapScaler WSM has been renamed to MapScalerSpacewarpModifier.
New Unwrap3 interface providing access to AutoBackground and Relax functionality added to the Unwrap_UVW modifier.
New Skin Properties in 3ds Max 6
New properties added to the Skin modifier: . mirrorPlane, .mirrorOffset, .mirrorUseInitialTM, .mirrorEnabled, .mirrorThreshold, .mirrorProjection, .manualUpdate, .mirrorFast, .ignoreBoneScale, .rightJustifyBoneText
New Skin Mirror-related methods skinOps.pasteAllBones and skinOps.pasteAllVerts added to the SkinOps structure.
New SkinUtils interface provides additional methods for controlling the Skin Modifier.
The original VertexPaint Class from older 3ds Max versions has been renamed to OldVertexPaint in 3ds Max 6. The new implementation has exactly the same class name but a different classID and completely replaces the old one.
New properties added to the modifier: . Map_Channel,. Rotation_Angle, .Rotation_Center
New Select_By_Channel modifier added.
New UVW_Mapping_Add modifier added.
New UVW_Mapping_Clear modifier added.
New UVW_Mapping_Paste modifier added.
New property added to the modifier: .backTransform
Lights and Shadows
New . noAreaShadows property added to Adv. Ray Traced shadows generator.
New . rays_per_sample,.ray_bias and . castShadows properties explosed by Slylight. Removed the obsolete .rayengine property.
New .rays_per_sample, .ray_bias and . castShadows properties explosed by Slylight. Removed the obsolete .rayengine property.
Removed the following properties: .EmitterCausticPhotons, .EmitterDecay, .EmitterEnable, .EmitterEnergy, .EmitterGlobalIllumPhotons
Controllers and Trackview
New point4Controller superClass added to 3ds Max. A number of Point4 controllers deriving from this superClass have been implemented. They support an alpha value and are used by DirectX and mental ray shaders.
'This' Local Variable in Scripted Controllers
The this local variable in scripted controllers will contain a MAXWrapper value wrapping the scripted controller.
New #positionW, #alpha, #curveW, #boneobjects, #keyableTracks filter options added to the existing method trackviews.current.setFilter() . Also added a list of all valid filter names for this method's description. Same additions made to the setFilter() and clearFilter() methods in the Track View structure.
Materials and Maps
New Interface ExposureMaterialControl added to Standard Material
New Interface ExposureMaterialControl added to RaytraceMaterial
New property .samplerUseGlobal added to InkNPaint.
New material providing access to DirectX 9 shader files.
Material Common Properties, Operators, and Methods
The following new methods were added: getNumSubMtls, getSubMtl, setSubMtl, getSubMtlSlotName, getNumSubTexmaps, getSubTexmap, setSubTexmap, getSubTexmapSlotName
Material/Map Renderer Compatibility Method
The method areMtlAndRendererCompatible checks the compatibility between a material or texture map and a renderer class instance. It returns true when the map/material is supported by the specified renderer, false otherwise.
The new property .tieTimeToMatIDs corresponds to the new "Sync Frames to Particle Age" checkbox in the "Time" rollout.
FoliagetextureMap : TextureMap
A special textureMap class used by the Foliage GeometryClass.
New properties added to the Vertex_Color TextureMap (originally it had none): .map and .subid
MatEditor - Open and Close the Material Editor
New methods to open and close the Material Editor and check whether it is open.
Renderer
New SystemGlobals .medit and .medit_locked added to the Renderers structure providing access to the Material Editor Renderer and the "Lock To Current Renderer" checkbutton in the Assign Renderer rollout of the Render Scene dialog. The .draft property has been removed.
New .supportsTextureBaking read-only boolean property added to all RendererClass classes.
New #mask channel name corresponding to the Sub-Pixel Mask channel in the RPF File Format added to the possible bitmap channels in the render method, Bitmap Values andScripted RenderEffect Plug-ins
Default_Scanline_Renderer : RendererClass
New Global Super-Sampler related properties .globalSamplerEnabled, .globalSamplerClassByName, .globalSamplerSampleMaps, .globalSamplerQuality, .globalSamplerAdaptive, .globalSamplerAdaptiveThresh exposed by the props interface.
Atmospheric Effects Common Properties, Operators, and Methods
New behavior:Calling editAtmosphere() or editAtmospheric() without an argument will open the Environment tab in the Environment and Effects tabbed dialog.
Render Effects Common Properties, Operators, and Methods
New behavior:Calling editEffect() without an argument will open the Effects tab in the new Environment and Effects tabbed dialog.
New parameter: rendSimplifyAreaLights lets the renderer simplify area lights by rendering them as point lights when appropriate.
New parameter: quiet plus related flags.
New system global: rendSimplifyAreaLights lets the renderer simplify area lights by rendering them as point lights when appropriate.
envEffectsDialog - Open and Close the Environment and Effects dialog
New methods to open and close the Environment and Effects dialog and check whether it is open.
TabbedDialogs - Controlling Tabbed Dialogs
New methods to control all Tabbed dialogs in 3ds Max including the Render dialog, Environment and Effects, Configure Paths, Object Properties etc.
Bitmap IO
New BitmapIO Interface provides access to the options of the RLA file format.
New BitmapIO Interface provides access to the options of the RPF file format.
mental ray
Mental_Ray_Renderer : RendererClass
Represents the mental ray Renderer.
Interface:mental_ray_Preferences
This Interface lets you enable and disable the mental ray Extensions..
MAXScriptExtensionsfor mental ray
This chapter lists some currently unsupported mental ray-related classes accessible through MAXScript.
Radiosity
New methods added to the srrOps Interface: GetPointIlluminance, GetPointLuminance, GetPointReflectance, GetPointTransmittance. These methods let you script your own Lighting Analysis utilities.
New Interface: srrRadiosityMesh provides access to the Radiosity Mesh and allows MAXScript access to the radiosity solution.
Interface: RadiosityPreferences
New property .updateDataWhenRequiredOnStart added, old property .displayWarningOnGIPropsChange removed.
New Utility for fixing the Ambient color for Radiosity processing by enabling the Ambient-Diffuse lock.
Vertex Colors
This new Interface lets you assign vertex colors to a specified node, optionally specifying an existing VertexPaint modifier
Render Elements and Bake Elements
New .targetMapSlotName property added to all Bake Elements.
diffuseRenderElement - superclass: MAXObject
New .lightingOn property added.
New Lighting RenderElemen tadded.
Illumination_Render_Element : RenderElement
New Illumination RenderElement added.
MatteRenderElement : RenderElement
New Matte RenderElement added.
Utility Plug-ins
New UtilityPlugin provides Map Channel Info. No properties exposed.
Clean_MultiMaterial : UtilityPlugin
Cleans unused sub-materials in scene Multi-Materials.
Fix Ambient Color values in materials by locking them to the Diffuse Color for use in Radiosity calculations.
Instance_Duplicate_Maps : UtilityPlugin
Finds all duplicate materials Bitmaps and makes them instances instead of copies
Material_XML_Exporter: UtilityPlugin
A utility to export materials to XML format.
Panorama_Exporter: UtilityPlugin
A utility to export and view 360 degrees panoramas of 3ds Max scenes.
Renders the active viewport to a TIFF file which includes luminance and illuminance data that can be used for lighting analysis.
New Utility to extract Skin data to Mesh and import Skin Data from Mesh. No MAXscript properties or methods exposed.
Particle Flow
New properties .Surface_Offset_Variation and . Vertex_Noise added to the Shape_Mark helper.
New property .Subframe_Sampling added to the Position_Icon helper.
New properties .Restrict_Divergence_To_Axis, .Divergence_Axis_X, .Divergence_Axis_Y, .Divergence_Axis_Z added to the Rotation helper.
reactor
MAXScript Extensions for reactor
All reactor Helpers, Spacewarps and Modifiers have been fully exposed to MAXScript.
This Interface provides properties and methods to access the reactor Utility's settings and simulation data including collision information.
Interfaces
This new interface controls the new material propagation to instances and provides methods to collect instanced nodes and make nodes, modifiers and controllers unique.
This new interface gives access to the new Map Channel Info dialog and provides methods for managing the Map Channels of selected objects.
A number of methods have been changed to use RGB colors instead of RGBA.
Provides means to export a material to XML format.
This Interface provides access to the internal radiosity mesh generated by the Radiosity Advanced Lighting effect
This Interface provides access to some new Skin-related methods related to skin data import and export and bone binding transformation matrices.
Interface: mental_ray_Preferences
The mental_ray_Preferences Interface lets you enable and disable the mental ray Extensions.
The renderpresets Interface provides access to the new render presets system
Interface: globalDXDisplayManager
The globalDXDisplayManager Interface controls how DirectX shaders are being drawn in the viewports.
Interface: MtlBrowserFilter_Manager
Internal use, no properties or methods exposed.
Internal use, no properties or methods exposed.
Layers
New .nodes() method added to the LayerProperties Interface, returns an array containing all nodes on the layer.
New layerAsRefTarg property returns the layer as ReferenceTarget.
Schematic View
The SchematicViews Core Interface provides access to the updated Schematic Views system in 3ds Max 6.
This SchematicView MixinInterface provides access to the properties and methods of a single Schematic View.
New Schematic View-related callbacks have been added to the General Event Callback Mechanism: #svSelectionSetChanged, #svDoubleClickGraphNode, #svPreLayoutChange, #svPostLayoutChange
MaxOps Interface Additions
New #vizR enum value added to the .productAppId property.
New .autoGrid property enables/disables AutoGrid mode.
New #all and #other e num values added to .setKeyFilters .
New method startNewShape() pressed the Start New Shape button, new . startNewShapeLock property enables/disables "Start New Shape" mode.
New . inProgressiveMode read-only property, new method beginProgressiveMode() enables Progressive mode, new method endProgressiveMode() disables Progressive mode.
User Interface Items, Rollouts and Dialogs
New parameter alpha :<boolean> added to the colorpicker UI item. When set to true , the color picker will open with alpha support.
New optional lockHeight and lockWidth keywords added to CreateDialog . When set to true , the height resp. width of the dialog cannot be interactively changed
Utility and Rollout Properties, Methods, and Event Handlers
New .placement property valid for rollouts and rollout floaters gets/sets whether the dialog is minimized, maximized, or normal.
Scripted Plug-ins
The new optional autoPromoteDelegateProps : parameter gives control over whether the delegate’s properties are automatically searched if a property access is performed on the plug-in, but the property is not defined by the plug-in.
Scripted Plug-in Event Handlers
New event handlers added :postCreate and postLoad .
Loading Scripted Plug-in Local Variable
The new .loading local variable in Scripted Plug-ins will return true while the plug-in instance is in the process of being loaded.
Rollouts and related Event Handlers
New optional keyword argument added to rollout definitions of scripted plug-ins that extend an existing class: usePBValidity.
The Super Class ID and the Class ID
New optional keyword argument added to genClassID to allow a return value rather than printing to the Listener: returnValue.
Callbacks
General Event Callback Mechanism
Over 50 new callback events have been added to the system. The callbacks documentation has been reworked to list both callback names and notificationParam() return values together.
External Files Access and System Information
3ds Max File Loading and Saving
New optional keywords added to mergeMAXFile: [#promptMtlDups|#useMergedMtlDups|#useSceneMtlDups|#renameMtlDups], [#promptReparent|#alwaysReparent|#neverReparent]
Two new optional parameters added to saveMAXFile : clearNeedSaveFlag and useNewFile .
New method added to the sysInfo structure: .getLanguage returns a 3 element array describing the current system language.
New method added to the logsystem structure: .logEntry outputs a user-defined string to the Log File.
The getIniSetting method has been enhanced. If only the .ini file is specified, the method will return an array of the sections in the .ini file. If only the .ini file and section are specified, the method will return an array of the keys in the section.
The new delIniSetting method will delete a specified key from the supplied section of the given INI file, or a complete section with all keys when only filename and section are supplied.
The new getMAXIniFile() method returns the current 3dsmax.ini file as a string.
New #defaults value returns the market specific defaults directory.
Session paths are identical to bitmap/photometric paths and xref paths, except they are never saved when 3ds Max exits. A possible use for session paths is to create a project management system.
Command Line
Provides access to the renderer from the command line, including pre-render scripts via MAXScript.
This new command line option allows the execution of MAXScript commands from the command line.
This new command line option suppresses dialogs participating in the new Default Actions system.
Mouse Tools
New behavior: While running a mouse tool, if you click in a viewport where the construction plane is on edge, the tool will exit with a return value of #abort
Text Values
Stricmp String Comparison Method
This new method performs a lower-case comparison of two strings and returns an integer value.
Internet
This new structure provides a .CheckConnection method used to check whether a connection to a specified URL can be established.
See Also
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