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I'm begging you....


CliveG
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In the name of all that's holy and good.... can somebody please script a better Max Layer manager than the abject junk "Layer Explorer" merde of an excuse for a tool that we're given in recent versions.

 

A cursory search for information / inspiration on the subject shows there's a lot of people feel the same way. How they could have gone backwards from the simple and useable early versions of this tool to the sorry state of affairs we find now probably speaks volumes about AD.

 

It's something I'd happily purchase.... the stress reduction alone would make it worthwhile!

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Outliner works well and is free (similar to 3dsmax layer manager in 2012)

 

I actually prefer the new one - it took some time getting used to but I like it now... apart from the bugs. Oh theres some things that really grind my gears in terms of bugs... but Im used to that with 3dsmax now and just keep on keepin on

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Thanks guys, I'll try outliner.... hell I'd try voodoo and probably be better off than this torture.

 

Huge project (for me) it lost all of my layers, everything still showed the individual layer name in object properties but the layers didn't exist as far as that piece of junk layer manager was concerned - it showed layer 0 only and no heirachy. Merging in to a fresh file didn't work and then when eventually I went piece by sodding piece and put them on new layers.... it wouldn't let me rename those layers, so I have to know Layer001 = Ceiling etc.

 

Really I'm with Juraj on quitting the layer workflow, but what else is there.... bloody Xrefs don't work either! How can you organise a big project easily?

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The same here too working on large scale project then layers are crucial .. I've been using max for 12 years and It was hard to convert to the new layer system, but after disabling a few auto options (auto expand layer of selection e.g. ), filtering, create shortcut for the buried commands, I think I'm used to it now and don't have any issue.

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Honestly - the original layer manager in Max was horrible and limited. I loved it and thought it was perfect until i got used to the outliner workflow for layer management. Never adopted the new scene explorer, as i always thought it was overkill and in the early days was really slow. Nowadays ( Max 2017+ ) i think it's okay, but has some quirks. But AFAIK you can change various settings to fix that. But again, never really adopted scene eplorer and still rely on the great ole outliner script...

Abandoning layer workflow as a whole would be just plain silly IMHO. Better to get comfortable with some of the existing options - even when it's scene explorer, it's just a matter of workflow training

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....it's just a matter of workflow training

 

No, for me it is 100% a matter of reliability.

 

I was putting up with the scene explorer workflow even though it did a bad job... because it did a bad job RELIABLY. I could factor that into my workflow. As soon as that reliability went out of the window and it's now acting flaky and compromising my ability to hit deadlines then it is no longer tolerable.

 

Reliability is an absolute necessity and priority.

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The renaming issue you experienced was due to the fact a layer already has this name, probably nested somewhere.

 

Sometimes scripts can delete all your layers (pixamoons dwg copy/paste does this).

 

Would be good to be aware of what caused you to lose your layers, can you back track what you did leading to this?

 

For me its reliable with massive scenes and working with other artists, are you using the latest service packs, what version of max are you using?

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The renaming issue you experienced was due to the fact a layer already has this name, probably nested somewhere.

 

I'm not sure that this is so as the rename option was greyed out entirely so I couldn't rename it from the default layer name assigned by Max.

 

Though I think the catalyst for the problem was probably the dreaded Xref Scene. I know I shouldn't have tried it.... but I like Xref's. Possibly a throwback to decades of using them in AutoCAD :(

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I had saved out a couple of thousand corona proxy ceiling tiles and lights and used xref scene to have them render without getting in the way in my scene. But I had to make a change to the ceiling, so quickly "removed" that as an xref and brought them all back in to make the change in situ... but when they merged back in to the original model all of my layers had gone. I can't see how that should have happened, I've done it before many times but how does any glitch happen..... voodoo :) But it was that I couldn't merge everything into a fresh scene and resolve it that concerned me. The layer explorer has been weird since.

 

I should point out that I had followed instructions on some thread that had the layer explorer sort of mimic the old layer dialog from the early versions (without the old functionality... it was still the 2017 scene explorer fundamentals just set up like 2013) - Of course now I can't recall what I did or find the thread again.....

 

Mmmm it shouldn't be this hard to manage layers, but between me and Max.........

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I just tested this and it seems to be working fine for me with 3dsmax 2017 (latest service packs).

 

I notice when you de-select 'enable' in xref it will remove the layers, but when I merge back in the file those layers re-appear.

 

What version of 3dsmax are you using?

Are you using the latest service packs?

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Try this script:

[/code]

 

Cheers.... umm What'll it do? :)

 

James: I'm on '17 and was all service packed up to date about 5 months ago.... I'll check those are up to date tomorrow.

 

I suspect that the error comes about from the Xref Scene workflow as I often have to reload the Xrefs after isolating items and then ending that isolation - this often just drops the xref or causes issues with the layering current within the xref.

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  • 2 months later...

Josef,

Thanks for the Outliner script!

I just "upgraded" from 3ds max 2014 to 2017.

The Layer Explorer is 3ds max 2017 is just horrible.That's what we get when tools meant to be used by artists are designed by programmers.

So, I did some researching and found your script.

Minor critiques are; the light bulb icon seems to be reversed. It is grayed-out when the layer is visible and white when the layer is hidden.

Also, the active layer icon is very subtle.

Anyway, thanks again for creating this script I will continue to depend on it.

-DT

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Josef,

Thanks for the Outliner script!

I just "upgraded" from 3ds max 2014 to 2017.

The Layer Explorer is 3ds max 2017 is just horrible.That's what we get when tools meant to be used by artists are designed by programmers.

So, I did some researching and found your script.

Minor critiques are; the light bulb icon seems to be reversed. It is grayed-out when the layer is visible and white when the layer is hidden.

Also, the active layer icon is very subtle.

Anyway, thanks again for creating this script I will continue to depend on it.

-DT

 

From memory you can switch the light bulb action and make the icons more bold

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