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).

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.

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!

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".

What happened to Reactor in 2012?

This is an interesting (at least to me) discussion about the Reactor death in 3ds Max 2012.

Two thinks are clear (for now) - 1. the Reactor is riped and never will be back in the next Max releases, and 2. No any sensible reason for this decision until there is no equivalent replacement feature. If there was good reason, we will have an official explanation as well.

It's not just about Reactor, other features removed too, and as we know this is not the part of the legacy Autodesk politics, and this new course open many doubts and misgivings.