Working with parameters and the ParameterBlock class

Many 3ds Max features are implemented as plug-ins and expose properties at run-time using a mechanism called a parameter block. This is hidden from MAXScript users, but in Python these properties are accessible explicitly using a ParameterBlock class, which is accessible on any Animatable derived class via the Animatable.GetParameterBlock() function or the equivalent Animatable.ParameterBlock property.

Many of these run-time parameters are documented in the MAXScript documentation, and in most cases, the names of the parameters are the same as those of MAXScript.

You can set or query the dynamic parameters of 3ds Max objects via the ParameterBlock class. The ParameterBlock class wraps the parameters exposed via 3ds Max’s IParamBlock and IParamBlock2 classes. Examples of these types of parameters are the radius of a sphere object and the angle of a bend modifier.

Unlike MAXScript, when you access a parameter, you do not get the value of the parameter, rather you get a Parameter instance that wraps the parameter, and you then get/set properties on that Parameter instance.

Setting the parameters for an object

Set your parameters via the ParameterBlock class, for example, as follows: 

obj = MaxPlus.Factory.CreateGeomObject(MaxPlus.ClassIds.Sphere)
obj.ParameterBlock.Radius.Value = 5.0
node = MaxPlus.Factory.CreateNode(obj)

Unlike MAXScript, parameters are searched for only on the object specified. Thus, if you have an INode instance and you access its ParameterBlock, you get the ParameterBlock on the node itself. You can also access parameters on the base object via INode.BaseObject, for example, as follows: 

obj = MaxPlus.Factory.CreateGeomObject(MaxPlus.ClassIds.Cylinder)
node = MaxPlus.Factory.CreateNode(obj)
node.BaseObject.ParameterBlock.Radius.Value = 10.0
node.BaseObject.ParameterBlock.Height.Value = 30.0

Querying the methods and properties of ParameterBlock

Use the help command as follows to obtain the list of methods and properties of ParameterBlock: 

import MaxPlus
help(MaxPlus.ParameterBlock)

Enumerate across the Parameters in a ParameterBlock

A ParameterBlock holds a list of Parameters. To query the Parameters available in the ParameterBlock that you set for your object, do as follows: 

obj = MaxPlus.Factory.CreateGeomObject(MaxPlus.ClassIds.Sphere)
for p in obj.ParameterBlock.Parameters:
    print p.Name, p.Value

p in obj.ParameterBlock.Parameters retrieves each of the Parameters from the ParameterBlock. The name and current value for each of the Parameters are then printed out.

NOTE:The names of the dynamic properties exposed by ParameterBlock are not case sensitive.

Querying the methods and properties of Parameters

The Parameter class also has its own set of methods and properties. To query these, do as follows: 

import MaxPlus
help(MaxPlus.Parameter)

A description of its methods and properties is as follows:

If Parameter.IsArrayData is True, Parameter.Value will return a list containing the current values for the parameter. This list is not connected to the Parameter, and changing the size or contents of the list does not affect the value of the Parameter. If Parameter.IsReadOnly and Parameter.IsArrayParameter are False, then after modifying the list, you can assign the list back to the Parameter by assigning it to the Parameter.Value property.

For certain Parameter types, such as FPTypeConstants.Angle (Type value 5), the parameter value shown in the UI, MAXScript, and Python is not the same as the value stored in the Parameter. Instead, dimensioning is applied to the UI/MAXScript/Python value while Parameter holds the internal data value (undimensioned). In the case of FPTypeConstants.Angle, the displayed value is in degrees, while the stored value is in radians. This dimensioning is normally invisible to the user, but can come into play when dealing with controllers assigned to these parameters, as the controllers will store the actual value (that is, the internal data value), and the dimensioning information is not held by the controller (a controller can be assigned to multiple parameters with different dimensioning).

The parameter types with dimensioning are:

FPTypeConstants.Rgb (Type value 2) – displayed: 0-255; stored: 0-1

FPTypeConstants.Angle (Type value 5) – displayed: degrees; stored: radians

FPTypeConstants.PercentFraction (Type value 6) – displayed: 0-100; stored: 0-1

FPTypeConstants.Hsv (Type value 10) – displayed: 0-255; stored: 0-1

FPTypeConstants.ColorChannel (Type value 11) – displayed: 0-255; stored: 0-1

FPTypeConstants.RgbTab (Type value 2050) – displayed: 0-255; stored: 0-1

FPTypeConstants.AngleTab (Type value 2053) – displayed: degrees; stored: radians

FPTypeConstants.PercentFractionTab (Type value 2054) – displayed: 0-100; stored: 0-1

FPTypeConstants.HsvTab (Type value 2058) – displayed: 0-255; stored: 0-1

FPTypeConstants.ColorChannelTab (Type value 2059) – displayed: 0-255; stored: 0-1

Accessing a Parameter

You can access a Parameter to get or set its properties or call its methods by doing any of the following:

  • <Parameterblock>.<name>; for example, obj.ParameterBlock.Radius.Value = 10.0
  • <Parameterblock>.GetParamByName(<name>); for example, obj.ParameterBlock.GetParamByName('Radius').Value = 10.0
  • <Parameterblock>.GetItem(<index>); for example, obj.ParameterBlock.GetItem(0).Value = 10.0

ArrayParameters

An ArrayParameter can be thought of an array of Parameters. As mentioned above, if IsArrayParameter is set to true, you can cast your Parameter to an ArrayParameter by doing the following: 

ap = MaxPlus.ArrayParameter._CastFrom(p)
To obtain the methods and properties of ArrayParameter, do as follows: 
import MaxPlus
help(MaxPlus.ArrayParameter)

In addition to the methods and properties for Parameter, ArrayParameter also has the following properties and methods:

NOTE:Delete(), Insert(), and Append() are not commonly used methods. They are only used for certain kinds of plug-ins, such as scripted custom attributes, and are targeted towards advanced users.

Enumerate across the items in an ArrayParameter

Each item in an ArrayParameter is a Parameter. To enumerate through this array, do as follows: 

pa = MaxPlus.ArrayParameter._CastFrom(p)
for v in pa.Items:

The following example demonstrates how to get the properties for the ArrayParameter, then enumerate across its items and obtain each item's properties. 

pa = MaxPlus.ArrayParameter._CastFrom(p)
print '   ', pa.Name, pa.Type, pa.IsObsolete, pa.IsAnimatable, pa.IsReadOnly, pa.IsArrayData, pa.Value
for v in pa.Items:
    print '      ', v.TabIndex, v.Name, v.Type, v.IsObsolete, v.IsAnimatable, v.IsReadOnly, v.IsArrayData, v.Value

Example

The following example creates a material, then enumerates through each Parameter in the ParameterBlock. Then, for Parameters where Parameter.IsArrayData is true, it prints out each value in the array. For Parameters where Parameter.IsArrayParameter is true, it casts the Parameter to an ArrayParameter, then prints out the properties of the ArrayParameter. Then, it iterates through each Parameter in the ArrayParameter and prints out the properties for each Parameter. 

import MaxPlus

# Define a method to print array data
def printArrayData(indent, v):
    count = len(v)
    print '%s#(' % indent,
    for i in xrange(count):
        if i != (count-1):
            print '%s, ' % str(v[i]),
        else:
            print '%s' % str(v[i]),
    print ')'

# Create a standard material
obj = MaxPlus.Factory.CreateMaterial(MaxPlus.ClassIds.Standardmaterial)

# Enumerate across Parameters and print out the properties of each Parameter 
for p in obj.ParameterBlock.Parameters:  
    print ' ', p.Name, p.Type, p.IsObsolete, p.IsAnimatable, p.IsReadOnly, p.IsArrayData, p.Value

# If IsArrayData is true, then print out the array data
    if p.IsArrayData:  
        v = p.Value
        printArrayData(' ', v)

# If IsArrayParameter is true, then cast the Parameter to an ArrayParameter
    if p.IsArrayParameter:  
        pa = MaxPlus.ArrayParameter._CastFrom(p)
        #print out the properties of the ArrayParameter
        print ' ', pa.Name, pa.Type, pa.IsObsolete, pa.IsAnimatable, pa.IsReadOnly, pa.IsArrayData, pa.NumItems, pa.IsResizable, pa.Value  

# For each Parameter in each ArrayParameter, print out its properties
        for v in pa:    
            print ' ', v.TabIndex, v.Name, v.Type, v.IsObsolete, v.IsAnimatable, v.IsReadOnly, v.IsArrayData, v.Value

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