Dimension modifier 1.1

I get a some reasonable requests to update my scripted modifier Dimension. Now I just add a checkbox to can scale uniform (keep proporsion) using one spinner, but there one more request on which I'll take care of somewhere into the next days.

Flip UVs across several files

Well, I know its not a time for work right now, but what is blogged here can be read in the future days, while what's in my head may not be there tomorrow, hehe :)

What I have in mind is just to post a link to that forum thread: FLIP UV across several files - Solution included. Its about how to batch UVs flip operation on several files, automating that procedure from importing to exporting the objects. The thread holds and working solution. Admittedly it can be polished and optimized but its a complete working script (at least for the case it written).

Well, looks like I can't hide my happiness after all because I was able to help on this task remotely (without Max on my hands), however, after reading the posts once more, I see a bit of educational value inside.

Ok, never mind, now back to the party. :)
Happy new year to all!

Selected Verts Boundary

No such tool in 3ds Max for measurement of bounding box on sub-object level and probably not so trivial task for everybody, never mind, I did this mini utility as I need it, but also decide to share it. You can grab the script from here, and... happy holiday to everybody!

Vue 10 PLE now available

At December 20, E-on Software release Vue 10 xStream / Infinite Personal Learning Editions. Many major enhancements introduces.

CGSociety celebrating 10 years

CGSociety is celebrating ten years in the business this week. Read more.

They're not real

Haha! Take a look at this hilarious video posted by TurboSquid, in which their support staff talks about some dissatisfied customers which ordered 3d models 'cause they thinking they were real.

I think it's just TurboSquid advertising only.
Pretty clever though :)

RemapPSD

RemapPSD is a MaxScript by David Shelton designed to easily map your entire photoshop file to a different set of uvs.

Find objects with animated keys

Forum challenges are always good learning sourse. Recent mini-challenge in CGTalk is about how to find all animated scene nodes, i.e. each node that has at least one animated track with keys.

Terrain Conformer

Terrain Conformer is a script that conforms a terrain surface to a road, video demo on youtube.

Autoweight - Automatic skinning tool

Autoweight is a script by Mirko Haenssgen designed to speed up skinning process (in 3ds Max 2010 and higher).

TopoRelax

TopoRelax is new (commercial) modifier for Max 9 and higher by Marius Silaghi. TR relaxes meshes while preserving their volume unlike the built-in relax modifier which shrinks the mesh.

Batch Loader 1.9

Well, one more update of Batch Loader.
An issue with "Import Name Conflict" dialogue fixed.

Thanks to Richard Missin,
who send me testing files that reproduce the issue.

Le1setreter scripts

Le1setreter release 2 new useful scripted mini tools - selectFaceByMinAngle and AlignObject2slicePlane.

Batch Loader 1.8

Another update of Batch Loader that fill 2 user requests. Suppress additional popup dialogue in import process, plus now Browse for folder dialogue start in recently used path.

Submit jobs to deadline

A tutorial by Klaas Nienhuis posted at ScriptSpot about how to submit jobs to deadline via MaxScript.

Autodesk MeshMixer07 released

Ryan Schmidt announced latest MeshMixer release as Autodesk MeshMixer07. In other words that are 2 news. Second one is that Autodesk acquired MeshMixer. Ah, and MeshMixer is still free (for now).

P.S. - a forum thread about appear at CGTalk.

Batch Loader v.1.7

I fill another request and add new option to my Batch Loader v.1.7 tool. Now you can optional attach impoted/merged objects per file as one mesh or poly.

PolyNurbs

PolyNurbs is a scripted tool by Luis Llamas which convert nurbs lattice to poly object, poly object to nurbs lattice, nurbs object to poly object, spline to nurbs, and nurbs to spline.

Select Faces By Normal

Select Faces By Normal is is one of my recent personal scripts. Select faces by normal in the given XYZ positive/negative axis. Work with base poly/mesh, edit poly/mesh modifiers, mesh select modifier.

NOTE: The current macros is not a replacement of the Graphite Tools (new in Max 2010) "Select By Normal" utility. This script have more flexible functionality (and fills my needs). Also if relevant, you can use that script in older Max versions.

Free Streaming Tutorials by 3d-Place

3d-Place open new section of their web site - Free Streaming Tutorials, where they plan to released new video tutorials on each Monday and Friday.

La Ola

La Ola is scripted tool by Daniel Wichterich which creates wavelike delay motion using scripted controlers (nice idea). More details.

Radial Symmetry

Radial Symmetry is the first and only 3DS Max modifier which allows you to model radial structures and see the end result.

More details.

BonyFace 2.7

BonyFace 2.7 was released recently.
The BonyFace 2.7 Basic available for free.

Public CAT bugs And Requests

Autodesk customer feedback for 3ds Max forum (aka Autodesk Uservoice) has new section - PublicCATbugsAndRequests which s'd helps Autodesk to prioritize known CAT limitations and desired improvements.

Blender 2.60 released

Blender 2.60 released (October 19th, 2011).
Check the list for highlights and the full changelog.

Miauu's Work Plane

"miauu's Work Plane" is new scripted tool by Kostadin Kotev for 3ds Max 2009 - 2012. Quote:

If you are familliar with Work Plane in Autocad, Revit or Modo and you want to have such a tool in 3ds Max "miauu's Work Plane" is what you need.

More details here.

ViewPort Preview v.1.4

An update. More flexible custom-built sequence for negative ranges.
What's new and more details at ScriptSpot.

E-on Vue R10 Pre-Release

At October 12, 2011, E-on Vue 10 Pre-Release available for users under maintenance. E-on planed upcoming Vue 10 release for early November 2011.

Autodesk acquires Alice Labs?

Fist photogrammetry technology Autodesk has acquired from Alice Labs was Project Photofly. But now the Alice Labs website is shuttered and there only a brief message:

"Autodesk has acquired technology from Alice Labs.
Customers needing maintenance or support should send an email to support@alicelabs.com."

What exact that means, is Autodesk acquired Studio Clouds (or other technology) form Alice Labs, or the whole lab? As the news at GraphicSpeak said (original news): "stealth acquisition" and "Everyone is being tight-lipped about the deal".

Appending .bip files to biped via mixer

All that Garrick Campsey said is true -
"You cannot combine bip files by loading multiple .bips onto a biped (only one at a time). However, you can combine bip files together using the mixer.
I've found very few resources (help, online, theArea, etc..) discussing this."

So his coding snippet is very welcome reference.

Add PRS Keys

AddPRSKeys is a quick script I made to fill this request. It operate on selected objects and add new keys for position, rotation, scale or whole transform tracks by given Nth frame interval.

As the Alessio said, "it would be useful for some game engines that requires a constant key on every frame to import correctly the animation."

3ds Max 2012 Service Pack 2

Service Pack 2 for Autodesk 3ds Max/Design 2012 is out (at 28 Sep.) and a large discussion about as well (into CGTalk).

Select By Material ID

As the title of the script telling all, no need extra notes, right? I wrote this script by user request at ScriptSpot forum. More details and the script you can find there.

But... OK, here is a few notes anyway.

It's a macro script that select all faces with Mareial ID equal to selected one. Work with base objects converted to Editable Poly or Mesh, plus with 4 modifiers (Edit Mesh, Mesh Select, Edit Poly, Poly Select). Work on currently selected object/modifier in the modifier stack (which make it usage very flexible).

Well, need some warning notes about Edit Poly Modifier.
Yeah, a very powerful modifier but with unstable scripting control.

The rest 3 modifiers involved here works fine and stable, but you can end with incorrect result when using Edit Poly modifier, and this not come from the script code but from the unstable nature of EditPolyMod interface. Sorry to tell that but this cannot be fixed with scripting code.

Possible "Plan B" could be to add new modifier on top (as Poly Select for instance), but this is very dirty solution. As we need stable and working code in production as more sensibly would be to replace "naughty mod" with other modifiers (like Edit Mesh for instance).

This is another script which reminded me why I not trust to this modifier and why I do not use it anymore in my scripts. So you're warned, and I can't do anything more than this for you, right?

However, I hope you appreciate my efforts and all the comforts that come from this macros.

SOX Realtime Spring

Inspired by Harrison Yu script Realtime Spring, a new (very neat coded) script for the same goal is out - SOX Realtime Spring by SangWon Lee.

LiveMeasure

Another measurement script by Kostadin Kotev goes out - LiveMeasure. Script that dynamical display faces area, edges or segments length.

Set programmatically Direct3D Driver Antialiasing settings

Mainly scripters topic, where was discussed concrete Direct3D setting that is new in 3ds Max 2010, but it's a good reference for everybody looking for workaround on how to set any Direct3D driver settings programmatically.

I'm too helps with code function on this subject, but that's not important. Those thread hold useful info for me, and I wish to can find it quickly in the future, there is why I pin a note here mostly for myself.

How To Rig A Crank-Connecting Rod System

Very quick video tutorial (51 secends) by Henrique Lundeqvist shows crank rig made with wireing expression.

Z_Spline2Bone

Z_Spline2Bone is a Max script by Sai Ling that create bones follows spline.

Fit the UVW Mapping Gizmo

Fit the UVW Mapping Gizmo is a macro script for 3ds Max 2008 and higher, and will works in previous version with free AVG extensions installed.

Hardly need to explain what Fit gizmo do in UVW Mapping modifier, nor yet the need and benefit of it automation via script, right?

That operation is not directly accessible to MAXScript, but thanks to Borislav "Bobo" Petrov and his nice tutorial on this task. He explain very well (as always) the matrix transforms.

Well, maybe my code hold some learning value too. However, as I not found such script online, I hope my script would be welcome to all Max'ers. (Script page)

Stretch Spline

Stretch Spline is new Max script by Kostadin Kotev that get the length of all or selected segments of selected shape and create new spline with the same length.

Self Referencing Script Controllers

It's a known problem, I think. The recursion issue appear if we call itself from within Script Controller. The main subject of this thread is how to simplify the "bypass" that usually we made with Custom Attributies. So, I think its s'd be interesting subject for animators and mostly riggers, for scripters maybe too. Usually I suggest workaround that I call "proxy controller", as it's easy for understanding and following, but this time I decide to share and another approach that not so abstract as it looks. It's based on "at time" context which made self-call safety. Well, I'll not going to repeat myself, so just read the forum topic. Cheers!

The Seventh World Festival of Animated Film in Varna

The Seventh World Festival of Animated Film in Varna, Bulgaria, is a successor of the famous festival from the eighties, whose last edition was in 1989, and which was one of the five most important festivals in the world organized under the patronage of ASIFA, was held between 8 and 12 September 2011.

After so many (22) years finally WFAF resurrected! As Bulgarian this event is very important to me. We suffered a period of 20 years with zero animation production in our country. Yeah, this industry was completely dead, and start to reborn in the last few years, relatively slow for now. Why did this happen is a large and political subject, and I do not intend to write about it.

Read more about into VarnaFest.org or the news in Vesti.bg (Bulgarian news translated with Google).

Undo SubObject Level

This is a macro script requested in the ScriptSpot forum. First to say, Kostadin Kotev already filled that request with his SubObjectModeToggle script.

My quick version (Undo SubObject Level) is a bit more simple, and probably not match strictly David request, but I beliеve it's more than simple and allows everybody to grasp the idea behind and calibrate the code to his personal needs.

The nut here is the Swap function I used to do 2 operations at once - store current SubObject Level (SOL) to a variable and restore the previous SOL state stored in those the same variable.

Well, too much words for so simple tool, right? I'm sure that after trying it you'll find out for a no time what it do and how it works ;) To test the script after running it once, open your Customize dialog and assign a keyboard shortcut, i.e. follow usual macro script installation procedure. And have fun ;)

Populate Terrain script

Marc Lorenz post scripted tool Populate:Terrain that assists in creating optimized terrain surfaces from shapes.

3D Environment Competition 2011 Winners Announced

The Vue 3D Environment Competition 2011 is closed and E-on announce the winners.

Ballooning file issue

A time ago I searched for "long time saving issue" and found 2 scripts (removeNoteTrack and removeMixerReftargs) in RangEmotions (RU forum) that solve this problem. And as I remember, I post about this somewhere in my blog. Now I see that this problem has another name - "ballooning file issue" (read notes about by Shane Griffith from Autodesk here) The 2 scripts that Autodesk offer to solve this are identical to previously posted into RangEmotions forum. However is, Denis Trofimov at CGTalk posted optimized version of both scripts and they're very welcome in case we met this problem again.

Forest Pack Pro review

Itoo Software's Forest Pack Pro review by Matt Guetta at MaxUnderground.

qHull2Max and JigsawMaker

Two interesting Max scripts was released recently by Havard Schei - qHull2Max and JigsawMaker. Check his web site for other of his public scripts.

VFB+ extension

VFB+ is DotNet/MaxScript extension for the 3ds Max frame buffer by Rotem Shiffman published at ScriptSpot. The author share the C# source code as well at CGSociety.

Basic tip on FindItem in Array

Working with MaxScript's Arrays is so easy, compared with arrays in programming languages of cuz, but some ops still need to write our own custom functions. Well, I done some quick help on user question about FindItem, and here is the forum topic if you interested though.

Welder

Welder is a new MaxScript tool by John Martini that creates welds (by adding geometry) along selected edges or intersecting geometry.

SIGGRAPH 2011 Diary

Read up on CGSociety's week in Vancouver for the world's biggest VFX and CG conference.

Lumberman

I'm a bit busy right now and this is very quick help on user request, but its better than nothing, I hope. It's about to track and delete a wood of thousands overlaped tree proxies, from where come and this funny name Lumberman :) Those script is plain and dirty solution that fill partially this task, but there is some known limitations about proxies, - they have not actual geometry on the scene, and... well, instead of repeat my words, just check the script page for details.

Input Camera

Input Camera is a free tool by Michael Sharpe, allows the user to control FreeCamera in 3ds Max via XBOX 360 controller.

TimeWarp modifier

TimeWarp is a scripted modifier plugin by Jonathan de Blok designed for easy-nondestructive-time-remapping of animations. Very interesting solution based on Max's EaseCurves function. Read more at ScriptSpot.

Get the Current Screen Resolution

It's about MaxScript. Even busy, time-to-time I help with what I can. Ok, its maybe not so special, but I think will be good to post this tip here anyway.

The question was - How to get the current screen resolution in MaxScript? The available built-in function sysInfo.desktopSize is fine if we use single monitor, but on multiple monitors this function return the full resolution of all monitors. So here is a function for that case:

fn ScreenResolution = (

    local scr = (dotNetClass "System.Windows.Forms.Screen").PrimaryScreen.Bounds

    [scr.Width, scr.Height]

)

Worm Face tool

A new script (Worm Face) by Shawn Olson added to his collection package (Wall Worm Mod Tools). More details.

Krakatoa Master Classes

Krakatoa Master Classes added to SIGGRAPH 2011 Lineup, where you can meet legendary Max scripter and Krakatoa guru Borislav (Bobo) Petrov, who will introduce the power of new Krakatoa 2.0. More details at Thinkbox Software.

Stretchable Bone Chain

A video tutorial by Henrique Lundeqvist on how to make a stretchable bone chain in 3ds Max.

Smart Quads

Smart Quads is another useful script (commercial) for modelers released by Remus Juncu. Official web page.

Smooth Edges script

Smooth Edges is another useful script (commercial) for modelers released by Marius Silaghi. Official web page.

Hotfix 2 for 3dsMax/Design 2012

Hotfix 2 for 3ds Max 2012 and 3ds Max Design 2012 is available:

• Hotfix 2 – Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2012


• Hotfix 2 – Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2012

Measure tools

A 2 scripts that measure distance between objects was posted recently - one by Luke Pettit (Tape Measure) and another by Kostadin Kotev (miauu Measure and Select). The second script allow measuring distance between verts and edges as well, plus edge length measurement.

100 Free MAXScripts online

Today after posting another requested script I saw that bit by bit my free MAXScripts online hit 100. I know that the quantity is not important but this is a kind of news for my web site, right? :) Actually that's really important (at least to me) is that I'm with MAXScript just for 2 years, fully self learned, and am not a programmer at all, so can say that I'm satisfied from what I achieve so far. What disappoints me is insufficient donations. I know that a lot of peoples enjoy my scripts and used some of them in their everyday work (saving their time), but this year I received donations from a few friends only. Otherwise to say, I want to remind that the donation button is on my Download page ;-) Thanks!

P.S. - Just to note that by sequence of reasons probably for awhile (just temporarily) will slow down posting news to this blog.

Grab Children script

It's a bean script (requested at ScriptSpot) that I done quickly, that select all children on picked object(s). More details here.

RTTassist 1.5

Kostadin Kotev update his RTTassist and the big news this time is that the source code is now fully available. Read more about version 1.5 here.

3D Environment Competition 2011

E-on software, in association with Maxon, Google, Pixologic, 3D Total, Ballistic
Publishing, 3D World magazine and Cornucopia3D, is honored to invite you to
participate in the "3D Environment Competition 2011".

Read all about the "3D Environment Competition 2011" here.

MAXScript icon layout

Othoap posted illustrative tutorial for MAXScripters which deal with custom .bmp icon files in their scripted UI's.

3D-Place celebrate

3D-Place.com celebrate coming back with free tutorials, plus new site and forum design.

Bendy limbs tutorial

A tutorial by Felix Joleanes that covers the creation of Bendy rigs in 3ds max. (thanks to JoDaC for the web link to that tutorial)

Protecting Your Own Intellectual Property?

"Your Own IP?" is one of the hot threads at CGTalk this week. The main question is how to protect your own work in progress IP (Intellectual Property).

It's not an easy task, right?
Here is a quote of Ali Ismail (I agreed with):

I haven't tried to register an IP for movie or a character yet but I had brief encounters with lawyers regarding trademarks and IPs in general and from that I can say things are pretty complicated.

for example regarding a trademark registration, lets say you have a studio name or any brand name for that matter, when you register that one you have to choose in what field to register it and in which country, the fields are too many and the countries are also too many :)

meaning its very very costly to register a worldwide brand or trademark.for example you could register a studio name in the USA but it doesn't mean that no one could use the same name and logo to sell Beer for example in the same country or to make an exactly similar studio in Berlin.or in another instance if you register your characters and someone in your country steals you idea, changes the look and name of the character slightly, it would be a costly matter to prove that he stole or damaged your IP.

in short, my advice is to keep your concepts and ideas as hidden as possible until the release. find a cheap way to register at least in your country so that you have some form of starting point and hope and wish that no big company will have interest in taking your ideas because you have little chance of standing against their lawyers because the more expensive your lawyers are the more legal and righteous you are in the eye of "justice".

Clear Reactor Collisions Data

Just small macro script (as quick assistance from me to user request at ScriptSpot forum) for debugging scenes, that auto clean embedded Reactor collisions data.

Apache web version of Backburner monitor

Very interesting (to me) tutorial by Alex York on how to setup the apache web version of 3ds Max's Backburner monitor.

My sincere gratitude goes to the Max Underground (the best source for 3ds Max news)
where I read a news about this article.

Sculptris Alpha 6

Sculptris Alpha 6 released (now with support for Mac OS X), and it is still FREE! I worried that after Sculptris was acquired by Pixologic will become commercial. Nice surprise :)

What's new announced at ZBrushCentral forum.
Sculptris download page.

Grab ViewPort Plus Alpha

It is my recent script for Max I ups at ScriptSpot (full details included there) that allows to grab the active viewport with embedded alpha channel.

Over 100 Free Particle Flow Presets

Amalgamation blog remind us that since the release 2010, 3ds Max has shipped with over 100 Particle Flow presets, created by Allan McKay specifically to ship with 3ds Max, and because they are not part of a default installation, Gary M. Davis showed how to install them and finally how to access them within 3ds Max.

Facima Tools

FACIMA Tools is a free script based plug-in for 3ds Max 2008 and higher by Alexey Vlasov for importing MoCap data from Pixel Farm PF Track.

Quad Cap

Quad Cap is new commercial script for 3ds Max by Marius Silaghi (the author of Quad Chamfer and Subdivision Reversion scripts), designed to produce quad caps for even sided polygons.

Scene file recovery

Two parts tutorial at MaxStation blog on how to recover max scene file that fail to open. The first part cover how to do that by hand and the second part - how to automate the process with MAXScript.

Quad Connect

Quad Connect is a script by Marius Silaghi that produce all quad connects.

Insanto's MaxScripts

I saw a time ago the web site of Raphael Steves when it was still in progress, but yesterday by chance I visit it again and now I see he post a lot of useful MaxScript functions and code snippets.

Procedural Snow

A new step by step tutorial by Cristian Pop (at CGTuts+) on creating snow cap over object using Particle Flow and Blob Mesh. It's probably very popular technique but worth to read it though.

MaxScriptManager

MaxScriptManager is a script by Norman Schaar that help to manage your installed scripts. A lot of features included inside... check your self. The big studios used repositores (data bases)... glad to see someone take care to work on such script for free :)