What was New in MAXScript in 3ds Max 2013
The following page will give you a quick overview of the MAXScript language changes and improvements in 3ds Max 2013. For details on each feature, please follow the links to the respective documentation pages.
For a list of changes made to the MAXScript Reference itself besides documenting new feature, see Documentation Changes and Additions at the bottom of this page.
New 3ds Max Features Exposure
New Objects
The new Deformable_gPoly GeometryClass baseobject provides optimized viewport performance with deforming objects. See also the Turn_to_gPoly Modifier below.
The new Egg Shape object is useful for the creation of pipe cross-sections.
New Modifiers
The new mCloth Modifier allows the integration of Cloth simulation with MassFX.
The new Turn_to_gPoly Modifier allows the dynamic conversion of geometry objects to Deformable_gPoly class on the modifier stack.
Workspace Manager
The new WorkspaceManager Core Interface exposes methods for creating and managing custom 3ds Max workspaces using MAXScript.
View Panel Manager
The new ViewPanelManager Core Interface exposes properties and functions to create and modify view panels with user-defined viewport configurations.
Interaction And Mouse Configuration
The new MouseConfigManager Core Interface exposes properties and functions to modify the viewports mouse behavior to match various user workflows, including the emulation of Autodesk Maya viewport controls.
The new IInteractionMode Core Interface exposes the Interaction Mode tab of the Preference Settings dialog to MAXScript.
Isolate Selection
The new IsolateSelection Core Interface exposes methods to access the reimplemented Isolate Selection functionality of 3ds Max.
Retimer Controller
The new Retimer Controller can be used in an EaseCurve of another controller to tweak its local timing, or as the Global Retimer Controller to affect the whole scene.
The new RetimerMan Core Interface exposes a method to access the Global Retimer Controller which controls the retiming of the whole scene.
Ghosting Manager
The new GhostingManager Core Interface exposes properties to access and control the existing Animation Ghosting feature of 3ds Max.
State Sets
The State Sets system is exposed to MAXScript using DotNet objects, properties and methods.
One Click Revit Workflow
The new OneClickRevit Core Interface exposes a method for requesting views from a Revit file.
New mental ray Shaders
New mental ray shader SSS2_Skin material has been added to 3ds Max.
New mental ray shader SSS2_Skin_Displacement material has been added to 3ds Max.
New mental ray shader SSS2_Surface_Shader textureMap has been added to 3ds Max.
New mental ray shader SSS_Lightmapping_shader textureMap has been added to 3ds Max.
New mental ray shader misss_set_normal textureMap has been added to 3ds Max.
New mental ray shader misss_fast_shader2 textureMap has been added to 3ds Max.
New mental ray shader misss_fast_shader2_x textureMap has been added to 3ds Max.
New mental ray shader mia_physicalsun textureMap has been added to 3ds Max.
New mental ray shader Inverse_of_Photographic_Exposure textureMap has been added to 3ds Max.
Enhancements to Existing 3ds Max Features
Scene Objects Enhancements
Two new properties have been added to the existing Ellipse Shape to control the optional Offset.
Nitrous Graphics System
New properties have been added to the existing NitrousGraphicsManager Core Interface to expose controls over the Make Preview quality, Multi-Threaded compiling of Shaders and Mouse Cursor behavior.
New methods have been added to the existing NitrousGraphicsManager Core Interface to expose Progressive Refinements, AppWindow Size and Position, get the Nitrous memory usage, and perform some internal tests.
New properties have been added to the existing ViewportViewSettingImpl MixinInterface returned by the NitrousGraphicsManager.GetActiveViewportSetting() method to control the Skylights As Ambient Light, Depth Of Field and Bokeh effects.
Quicksilver Hardware Renderer
New properties have been added to the existing Quicksilver Hardware Renderer to expose Shadows Intensity/Fade and Bokeh Shape.
iRay Renderer
Several new properties related to controlling the Motion Blur effect have been added to the existing iRay Renderer.
MassFX Dynamics Simulation
New properties have been added to the existing nvpx Core Interface to control the Gravity mode and reference object.
New properties have been added to the existing MassFX_RBody modifier.
New nvpxConsts Core Interface exposing the read-only NVIDIA PHYSX Constants have been added to MassFX.
CAT - Character Animation Tools
A new interface has been added to CAT: CATGroupManagerFPInterface .
A new interface has been added to CAT: SpineFPInterface
The existing CATControlInterface has been renamed to ICATControlFPInterface .
The existing CATLimbData2 FloatController has been reimplemented as CATLimbData2ReferenceTarget : ReferenceTarget with the same ClassID.
The existing CATBoneData FloatController has been reimplemented as CATBoneDataMatrix3Controller : Matrix3Controller with the same ClassID.
Import/Export Filters
New .MeshResolution property has been added to the InventorImport ImporterPlugin. The page was lost in the documentation conversion last year and has now been restored.
Online Help System Access
A new HelpSystem.SearchProductHelp() method has been added to the existing HelpSystem Core Interface allowing the search for a user-defined string in the documentation.
Updated mental ray shaders
New properties have been added to the existing mental ray shader mib_texture_filter_lookup_2 textureMap
New tinting-related properties have been added to all existing ProMaterials mental ray shaders.
Retired/Removed 3ds Max Features
The LS_Colors SpacewarpModifier has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
The LS_Mesh Modifier has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
The Lightscape_Material Material has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
The Lightscape_Materials UtilityPlugin has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
Removed mental ray Shaders
The pass_through_color Material has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
The pass_through_float Material has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
The pass_through_float2 Material has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
The pass_through_float3 Material has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
The pass_through_float4 Material has been removed from 3ds Max 2013.
MAXScript Language Improvements
Modifiers
Modifiers can now be indexed in the .modifiers array of a scene node using their class, in addition to by index, name string or literal.
Viewports
New methods viewport.EnableSolidBackgroundColorMode() and viewport.IsSolidBackgroundColorMode() have been added to the existing viewport struct to get and set the Solid Background Color mode vs. Background Gradient mode for the current viewport.
User Interface Creation
New optional offsets: creation parameter has been added to the existing radiobuttons User Interface control to allow the tweaking of the individual label's placement within the control.
New context with macroRecorderEmitterEnabled
File I/O
The openFile() append behavior has been modified to create a new file if the file does not exist.
The fopen() append behavior has been modified to create a new file if the file does not exist.
Unicode Character Encoding Support
3ds Max (and MAXScript) now support Unicode Characters Encoding.
New options have been added to the existing [MemStreamMgr](../../3ds-Max-Objects-and-Interfaces/Interfaces/Core-Interfaces/Core-Interfaces-Documentation/M/Interface-MemStream.html).openFile() method to control the stream encoding preferences.
New optional keyword argument forceUTF16: and related method setIniForceUTF16Default() controlling its default value have been added to the existing setINISetting() method.
Documentation Changes and Additions
The Interface:actionMan topic has been updated with previously undocumented methods and MixinInterfaces providing access to ActionTables and ActionItems.
A new section about Memory Management Considerations has been added to the existing Controlling The Renderer topic.
The windows struct was not fully documented, and the return values of several methods were changed from 5 to 8 elements in 3ds Max 2011. The documentation of all methods has been improved.
The max command max show vfb was introduced in 3ds Max 2011, but was undocumented. This has been fixed.
Rollouts and Rollout User Interface Controls in 3ds Max 2011 and higher expose a .hwnd property containing the rollout's HWND Window Handle. It was previously undocumented.
Some methods of the NitrousGraphicsManager Core Interface for setting the Texture and Background size were left undocumented.
Some properties of the ViewportViewSettingImpl MixinInterface for controlling the Lighting and Shadows Quality and Reflections were left undocumented.
The topics FBX Import Dialog Access and FBX Export Dialog Access have been updated to reflect the latest version of the plugins.
The documentation of the meshop.getVertsUsingFace() method has been enhanced with a Note explaining why it is not suitable for getting the three vertices of a face definition.
The topics describing Material and TextureMap classes were largely missing their Index entries. This has been fixed.
The mental ray SSS Shaders were listed twice in the Contents, including some duplicated topics documenting the same shaders. This has been cleaned up.
The topic Modifier : MAXWrapper and SpacewarpModifier : MAXWrapper has been reformatted for clarity and has been enhanced with more examples.
The OpenEXR BitmapIO topic has been updated with information about accessing the Main Render Layer.