PainterInterface : ReferenceTarget
The Painter Interface is a general API introduced in 3ds Max 5 providing tools for painting on meshes. The functions and properties are accessible through an interface called thePainterInterface.
Defining Custom Paint Tools Using the Painter Interface
Get/Set the state of the "Update On Mouse Up" checkbox in the Painter Options dialog. When set to true, the Painter will update the stroke only when the mouse button is released.
Get/Set the depth of the quad tree used for hit testing. The larger the value, the faster the interaction, but more memory will be consumed and it will take longer to build the tree.
thePainterInterface.minStr : float : Read|Write|Validated by Range: 0.0 to 1e+006 thePainterInterface.maxStr : float : Read|Write|Validated by Range: 0.0 to 1e+006
Get/Set the Min. and Max. Strength values. If no pressure device is available, only the Max Strength is used.
thePainterInterface.dragStrLimitMin : float : Read|Write thePainterInterface.dragStrLimitMax : float : Read|Write
These two values limit the Strenght range when using ALT-SHIFT drag to adjust the value interactively in the viewport.
thePainterInterface.minSize : float : Read|Write|Validated by Range: 0.0 to 1e+006 thePainterInterface.maxSize : float : Read|Write|Validated by Range: 0.0 to 1e+006
Get/Set the Brush Min. and Max. Size values. If no pressure device is available, only the Max Size is used.
Get/Set the state of the "Additive" checkbox. When set to true, the painted values will add to the existing ones instead of overwriting them.
Get/Set the display of the Brush Ring.
Get/Set the display of the Brush Normal vector.
Get/Set the display of the Brush Trace line.
Get/Set the Normal Scale value.
Enable/Disable Pressure Sensitivity for use with pressure tablets.
Get/Set the "Pressure Affects" option.
Enable/Disable Predefined Strength Pressure. When set to true , instead of using the tablet pressure or Max Strength value, a graph is used to determine strength based on its position in the stroke. To set up the graph, you can use the options dialog to set up the "predefined pressure" properties. The options dialog is available via thePainterInterface.paintOptions()
Enable/Disable Predefined Size Pressure. When set to true, instead of using the tablet pressure or Max Size value, a graph is used to determine size based on its position in the stroke. To set up the graph, you can use the options dialog to set up the "predefined pressure" properties. The options dialog is available via thePainterInterface.paintOptions()
Enable/Disable the Mirror option.
Get/Set the Mirror offset value.
Get/Set the Mirror Gizmo size.
Enable/Disable the Point Gathering mode.
Enable/Disable Normal building.
Defines the hit type for painting outside the mesh or without a mesh.
0 - creates a plane based on your last hit point and normal. When using this type there must be a mesh to paint on.
1 - a zdepth into the screen, this creates a plane x units into your view that you can paint on. No mesh is required in this case.
2 - create a plane on a point in world space aligned to the current view. No mesh is required in this case.
Defines the Z Depth to be used with .offMeshHitType 1. (see above)
Defines the world position to be used with .offMeshHitType 2. (see above)
Initializes the nodes for painting. NodeList is an array of the nodes to paint on. Flags is currently not used, you can use 0 as stand-in.
Returns the number of registered nodes.
When the updatePointGather argument is supplied as true , the point gather list will be updated, too.
Opens the Paint Options dialog.
Used to registers macro callback scripts to control the painting.
macroName is the path to the macroScript source, category is the category of the macroScript.
Returns true when in painting mode, false when painting is not active.
Returns true when the indexed point was a hit.
thePainterInterface.getHitPointData <void> <&point3>localHit <&point3>localNormal <&point3>worldHit <&point3>worldNormal <&float>radius <&float>str <integer>tabIndex
All parameters are in and out parameters.
The method lets you retrieve the hit point data of the stroke:
localHit is the hit position in local space of the node that was hit
localNormal is the normal of the face that was hit in local space of the node that was hit
worldHit is the world space hit point
worldNormal is the world space normal of the hit face
radius is the radius of the brush at the time of the hit
str is the strength of the brush at the time of the hit
tabIndex is the index of the hit point that you want to get. If this value is 0 it will return the last hit point.
<void>thePainterInterface.getHitFaceData <&point3>bary <&integer>faceIndex <node>node <integer>tabIndex bary is In and Out parameter faceIndex is In and Out parameter
This function lets you retrieve the hit face data of the stroke. This is the face data that exists at the top of the stack.
bary - the barycentric coords of the face that was hit
faceIndex - the index of the face that was hit
tabIndex - this is the index of the hit point that you want to get If this value is 0 it will return the last hit point
<void>thePainterInterface.getHitPressureData <&boolean>shift <&boolean>ctrl <&boolean>alt <&float>pressure <integer>tabIndex shift is In and Out parameter ctrl is In and Out parameter alt is In and Out parameter pressure is In and Out parameter
This returns the key state and pressure state of a stroke point
shift is the state of the Shift key
ctrl is the state of the Ctrl key
alt is the state of the Alt key
pressure is the pressure from pressure sensitive tablets
tabIndex is this is the index of the hit point that you want to get. If this value is 0 it will return the last hit point.
<void>thePainterInterface.getMirrorHitPointData <&point3>localMirrorHit <&point3>localMirrorNormal <&point3>worldMirrorHit <&point3>worldMirrorNormal <integer>tabIndex localMirrorHit is In and Out parameter localMirrorNormal is In and Out parameter worldMirrorHit is In and Out parameter worldMirrorNormal is In and Out parameter
The method lets you retrieve the mirror hit point data of the stroke:
localMirrorHit is the mirror hit in local space of the node that was hit
localMirrorNormal is the normal of the face that was hit in local space of the node that was hit
worldMirrorHit is the world space hit point
worldMirrorNormal is the world space normal of the hit face
tabIndex is the index of the mirror hit point that you want to get. If this value is 0 it will return the last hit point.
Returns the mouse position of the indexed hit point in the stroke.
Returns the time of the indexed hit point in the stroke.
Returns the distance of the indexed hit point in the stroke.
Returns the vector of the indexed hit point in the stroke.
Returns the number of hits in the stroke.
Returns the hit node of the supplied sample index.
Loads a custom point list for the specified node.
Returns the hit list as bitArray.
Returns the position of the indexed point from the specified node.
Returns the indexed point’s Strength from the specified node.
Returns the indexed point’s Weight from the specified node.
Returns the indexed point’s Normal vector from the specified node.
<void>thePainterInterface.addToStroke <point2>pos <boolean>updatePointGather <boolean>updateViewPort
Adds a point to the stroke. When updatePointGather is supplied as true , the point will be included in the list. When updateViewPort is supplied as true , the point will be displayed in the viewport.
Returns a random hit on the specified point.
Returns a random hit along the specified stroke.
Returns true if there is a hit at the specified point, false otherwise.
<void>thePainterInterface.getCustomHitPointData <&point3>localHit <&point3>localNormal <&point3>worldHit <&point3>worldNormal <&float>str localHit is In and Out parameter localNormal is In and Out parameter worldHit is In and Out parameter worldNormal is In and Out parameter str is In and Out parameter
The method lets you retrieve custom hit point data:
localHit is the hit position in local space
localNormal is the normal of the face that was hit in local space
worldHit is the world space hit point
worldNormal is the world space normal of the hit face
str is the strength of the brush at the time of the hit
<void>thePainterInterface.getCustomHitFaceData <&point3>bary <&integer>faceIndex <node>node bary is In and Out parameter faceIndex is In and Out parameter
This function lets you retrieve the custom hit face data.
bary - the barycentric coordinates of the face that was hit
faceIndex - the index of the face that was hit
Returns true if the specified testPoint is inside the polygon defined by the pointList coordinates.
Returns the center of the mirror gizmo.
<void>thePainterInterface.ScriptFunctions <value>startStroke <value>paintStroke <value>endStroke <value>cancelStroke <value>systemEnd
Registers MAXScript functions to be called by the Painter’s callback system at the specified events. See Defining Custom Paint Tools Using the Painter Interface for more details.
Causes the undo system to start recording. It must be paired with an undoAccept or undoCancel . Typically called in the start of a stroke function.
Accepts the current state of the undo record and puts it on the undo stack. Typically called in in the end stroke function
See Also
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