Scale Control script

Nothing fancy I think, but I saw many times peoples confused when come to binding each of scale XYZ values to a separate spinner controller, so this time I decide to help on this question with this mimi tool, that's all ;)

The script you can get from this forum thread, or Copy/Paste it from here.

rollout dlgScaler "Scale Control"
(
   local asp = #()
   
   spinner spnX "X:" range:[-1000,1000,100]
   spinner spnY "Y:" range:[-1000,1000,100]
   spinner spnZ "Z:" range:[-1000,1000,100]
   pickbutton pbNode "Pick Object" autoDisplay:true
   
   on pbNode picked obj do if isValidNode obj do
   (
      if classOf obj.scale.track != ScaleXYZ do
         obj.scale.track = ScaleXYZ()
      local asc = getXYZControllers obj.scale.track
      for i = 1 to 3 do asp[i].controller = asc[i]
   )
   on pbNode rightclick do
   (
      pbNode.object = undefined
      pbNode.caption = "Pick Object"
      for i = 1 to 3 do asp[i].controller = undefined
   )
   on dlgScaler open do (asp = #(spnX, spnY, spnZ))
)
CreateDialog dlgScaler

Multi Camera Preview 1.2

I'm not really sure whether I need to bother the public with so small improvement of this MaxScript tool :) anyway, check it out if you need cancel option.

SEA3D exporter

An open-source SEA3D exporter (script) for 3ds Max 2008 and newly was released by Sunag Entertainment. It export animation, bitmap, texture, material, geometry, skeleton (Skin), camera, light, environment and helper to Flash Plataform (Flash Player 11 or higher required). More info at ScriptSpot or at the project web page.

Using SoX audio utility in 3ds Max

SoX is a cross-platform command-line audio utility (more info, docs, downloads), mostly used for audio file format conversion but it also armed with enough effects for quick composing. SoX is a very welcome tool to all batch script lovers, its free, still in development, and can be used with any program that can dump data to text file.

This blog article show nice introduction on how to use SoX in 3ds Max for quick audio sync composition to our animation, also show how to add some additional audio effects.

Creating Light Cycle Effects

A new video tutorial in 9 parts at 3dsMaxHowTos section.

LED style animation with MAXScript

Just illustration of an example approach which can be done and without writing code but there also a few points where using MAXScript (3ds Max scripting) can save alot of time.

Ok, I don't want to repeat my self by rewriting all description, more details at ScriptSpot. Also just to note that this quick tutorial just illustrate the idea of using "brush" but its prepared just for circular brush printing.

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.

Autoweight - Automatic skinning tool

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

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.

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.

ViewPort Preview v.1.4

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

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."

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.

How To Rig A Crank-Connecting Rod System

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

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).

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.