Max Disaster

[IceAged]

Hi

I seem to have encountered a serious problem with a Max file - basically it won't open without an error message, no matter what. I've had to merge the contents to a new file and that seems to be working OK, what I would like to know however is how I can copy the contents of the material editor across as well. (The materials applied to the geometry are still there, but the editor itself is blank).

Also is there any reliable way of debugging a Max file when they do this? It's no good to be halfway in the middle of a project for it to suddenly cut out..

[denham]

Did you try merging the file?

Try merging the entire file, then 2 peices. If that still doesn't work try smaller peices.

[Craig Ramsay]

what I would like to know however is how I can copy the contents of the material editor across as well.

 

OK what you have to do is open the material editor, click on the 'get material' button, check the 'Mtl Library' tab in the new material/map browser that just opened then click on the 'open' button. In the new window that just popped up select '3ds Max (*.max)' from the roll-out at the bottom then browse to your old file and click on open. You should now get a list of materials that were in your old scene which you can drag into your material editor

 

Hope that helps.

[johnvid]

They may have gone from your editor but they are still in the scene. So rather than re-import your scene mats, you open the import dialogue(material import/save), and change the radio button to scene!

 

All your scene mats should now be visable in the right hand side of the panel, then just export the scene mats to a new .mat file then you can access them when & where you want.

[only3d]

if its not alot mats then u can use the 'pick material from object' tab, left to your mat name.

 

about the debugging issue- it happened to me quite a few times as well but unfortunatly i dont know of another way other than what uve done.

in autocad for example theres a 'recovery' utility which is very handy and saves 90% of damaged files ive come across.

 

push it on the max wish list, maybe someone will take notice..

[alrawli]

In max 9 on my old machine i couldnt open files that had the statistics showing up in the viewport. No mater what i did max would crash, other people could use the files without a problem but when opening on my machine max crashed.

[notamondayfan]

remember the material editor is an "editor". the materials are stored in your scene not, the material editor.

[Jose Negrete]

Hi

 

 

Also is there any reliable way of debugging a Max file when they do this? It's no good to be halfway in the middle of a project for it to suddenly cut out..

 

Hey,

 

Have you tried the garbage collector?

 

Type "gc()" in the white listner window and hit enter. Here is a link to a description...

 

http://www.cadforum.cz/cadforum_en/qaID.asp?tip=4118

 

Hope it helps.

 

-jose

[IceAged]

Thanks guys! I missed all your replies... no notifications in my e-mail... just noticed them today.

I think a debugging feature would be very helpful - Max can be rather harsh with it's error messages, offering no reason for a crash or an explanation. It's not good enough that one minor error or corrupted element brings down the entire scene - Max sould be able to identify and isolate these problems without being such a drama queen.

gc() hasn't helped in this instance, and I think a lot of garbage has been left behind still, since the new merged file is a lot smaller.

 

remember the material editor is an "editor". the materials are stored in your scene not, the material editor.

 

Interesting point, easy to forget...