Changing the Render Setup dialog settings via MAXScript should be done with the actual render setup dialog in a closed state.

Leaving the dialog open will make the attempted MAXScript modifications non-sticky.

Render Setup Dialog > Common Tab:

• Time Output Group:
• Area To Render
• Output Size Group
• Options Group
• Advanced Lighting Group
• Bitmap Proxies Group
• Render Output Group
• Scripts
• Render Presets

renderer 

In versions prior to 3ds Max 6, this global variable was used to switch between the draft and production renderers and test which one is active.

The draft renderer was retired in 3ds Max 6 and this variable now returns only #production for compatibility with older scripts.

Time Output Group:

Changing the Render Setup dialog settings via MAXScript should be done with the actual Render Setup dialog in a closed state.

Leaving the dialog open will make the attempted MAXScript modifications non-sticky.

3ds Max System Global Variables:

rendTimeType -- integer      

Get/set the type of time range to be rendered.

Possible values are:

1 -Single frame.

2 -Active time segment ( animationRange ).

3 -User specified Range.

4 -User specified Frame pickup string (for example "1,3,5-12"). See rendPickupFrames below.

rendNThFrame -- integer

Get/set the Every Nth Frame value. Minimum value is 1. Default is 1.

rendStart -- time   

Get/set the Start Time value. Used when rendTimeType is set to 3.

rendEnd -- time 

Get/set the End Time value. Used when rendTimeType is set to 3.

rendFileNumberBase -- integer 

Get/set the File Number Base value.

rendPickupFrames -- string 

Get/set the Frames string containing the user frames or sequences to render.

Area To Render

The following methods let you get and set the render type:

getRenderType() 

Gets the render type.

setRenderType <name> 

Setsthe render type.

The valid name values are:

#view | #selected | #region | #crop | #blowUp | #boxselected | #regionselected | #cropselected | #normal | #selection | #regionCrop .

#view and #normal are equivalent

#selected and #selection are equivalent

#crop and #regionCrop are equivalent.

Output Size Group

Changing the Render Setup dialog settings via MAXScript should be done with the actual Render Setup dialog in a closed state.

Leaving the dialog open will make the attempted MAXScript modifications non-sticky.

3ds Max System Global Variables:

renderWidth -- integer 

Lets you get and set an Integer value that defines the output size width for the active renderer.

renderHeight -- integer

Lets you get and set an Integer value that defines the output size height for the active renderer.

renderPixelAspect -- float 

Lets you get and set a Float value that defines the output pixel aspect for the active renderer.

Note that the Image Aspect is defined implicitly by the above values, though you can set the Image Aspect Ratio using rendImageAspectRation (below).

rendLockPixelAspectRatio -- boolean

Gets or sets the lock state of the Pixel Aspect setting in the Render Setup dialog box.

rendImageAspectRatio <float> 

Get or set the Image Aspect Ratio for the current renderer. Setting this value adjusts the renderHeight value.

rendLockImageAspectRatio <boolean> 

Gets or sets the lock state of the Image Aspect setting in the Render Setup dialog box.

Methods:

getRendApertureWidth() 

Get the Aperture Width in millimeters for the current renderer.

getRendImageAspect() 

Get the Image Aspect Ratio for the current renderer.

setRendApertureWidth <float> 

Sets the Aperture Width in millimeters for the current renderer.

Options Group

Changing the Render Setup dialog settings via MAXScript should be done with the actual Render Setup dialog in a closed state.

Leaving the dialog open will make the attempted MAXScript modifications non-sticky.

3ds Max System Global Variables:

rendAtmosphere -- boolean 

Get/set the renderer's uses atmospheric effects flag. TRUE = on; FALSE = off

renderEffects -- boolean 

Lets you get and set whether to perform Render Effects after a scene render.

A Boolean value - true if Render Effects are to be performed, false if not.

renderDisplacements -- boolean 

Lets you get and set whether to perform displacement mapping during a render.

A Boolean value - true if displacement mapping is to be performed, false if not.

rendColorCheck -- boolean 

Get/set the Video Color Check option.

rendFieldRender -- boolean 

Get/set the Render To Fields options.

rendHidden -- boolean 

Get/set the renderer's render hidden objects flag. TRUE = on; FALSE = off

rendSimplifyAreaLights -- boolean 

When set to true , area lights will be examined and converted to point light sources when appropriate.

rendForce2Side -- boolean 

Get/set the renderer's force two-sided flag. TRUE = on; FALSE = off

rendSuperBlack -- boolean 

Get/set the renderer's super black flag. TRUE = on; FALSE = off

See also rendSuperBlackThresh

Advanced Lighting Group

These two options are exposed by properties of the Interface: RadiosityPreferences :

Properties:

RadiosityPreferences.useRadiosity

RadiosityPreferences.computeRadiosity

Bitmap Proxies Group

See Interface: BitmapProxyMgr for access to the Bitmap Proxies Manager.

Render Output Group

Changing the Render Setup dialog settings via MAXScript should be done with the actual Render Setup dialog in a closed state.

Leaving the dialog open will make the attempted MAXScript modifications non-sticky.

3ds Max System Global Variables:

rendSaveFile -- boolean 

Get/set the state of the Save File option.

rendOutputFilename-- string 

Lets you get and set a String value that defines the output file name for the active renderer.

It contains the corresponding value set in the Render Setup dialog.

If this global variable is set to "" then Save File check box in the Render Setup dialog will be unchecked.

rendUseDevice -- boolean 

Get/set the state of the renderer's use device flag. TRUE = on; FALSE = off

rendShowVFB -- boolean 

Get/set the state of the renderer's show virtual frame buffer flag. TRUE = on; FALSE = off

skipRenderedFrames -- boolean 

Lets you get and set whether to skip rendered frames during a render.

A Boolean Value - true if rendered frames are to be skipped, false if not.

rendUseImgSeq -- boolean 

Gets whether Save File is checked, and an output file specified.

rendImgSeqType: Integer 

Gets whether Put Image File List(s) in Output Path(s) is checked, a file type is selected, and Create Now has been clicked. The returned integer is one of:

• 0 - Autodesk ME Image Sequence File (.imsq)
• 1 - Legacy 3ds max Image File List (.ifl)

Scripts

3ds Max System Global Variables:

usePreRendScript (system BooleanClass) 

Get/set the state of the Pre-Render > Enable checkbox.

preRendScript (system String): "" 

Get/set the file name of the Pre-Render script.

usePostRendScript (system BooleanClass) 

Get/set the state of the Post-Render > Enable checkbox.

postRendScript (system String): "" 

Get/set the file name of the Post-Render script.

Render Presets

rendViewIndex -- integer 

The index of the viewport to render when the Lock button is pressed ( rendUseActiveView is false )

The index numbers correspond to those used by the "viewport" functions, for example, viewport.activeViewport .

Available in 3ds Max 2009 and higher.

rendUseActiveView -- boolean 

Get/set the Lock button state.

When set to false , the Lock button is pressed and the viewport specified by rendViewIndex will be rendered regardless of which viewport is active.

When set to true , the Lock button is depressed and the active viewport will be rendered, disregarding the selection in the drop-down list.

Available in 3ds Max 2009 and higher.

renderPresetMRUList -- array of string arrays 

This property contains a list of render presets, matching the Render Dialog Preset dropdown list.

This is an array of items, where each item is an array of two sub-items. The first sub-item is the display name of the render preset, the second item is the filename of the corresponding render preset file.

Available in 3ds Max 2009 and higher.

Target Dropdown - this UI element is not exposed as a MAXScript function per se, but calls functions that define targets in the MacroScripts\Macro_RenderButtonActionItems.mcr script.

Also see the .renderDialogMode, .renderButtonText and .target parameters of the Renderers global struct, which are set by the target definitions.