Dave Buckley Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 I have a series of scripts that i use daily. I want to be able to add all of these to my own personalized floater. as small icons. however, i don't have a clue where to start. i want to be able to open the 'Dave's Floating Tools' and then be able to click a relevant icon to start one of my commonly used scripts. is this possible and can anyone suggest where i may start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Thomas Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 (edited) This is quite straightforward I think. Go to Customize>Customize User Interface>Toolbars and click 'New'. Save it as 'Dave's toolbar' or whatever and a new blank toolbar will pop up. Now simply drag actions from the list onto your toolbar (you may need to run the script first for them to appear on it). Edit: if you then save over your maxstart.max file this will then open up your toolbar everytime you start max. Edited August 27, 2009 by stef.thomas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
free agent Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 stef.thomas: where is the maxstart.max file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Thomas Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 It's in 'My Documents' under '3dsMax/Scenes'. This is the default sccene that opens when you start up max. By setting up your interface and render settings the way you like it then saving over this file you can customize how max appears when you first start it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
free agent Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 thats exactly what ive always wanted from max, SU also has this startup template, and its good news to hear max does it too. however still cant find it, ran a search and nothing, the scene folder is there though, do i need to create this file? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandmanNinja Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 If you don't have the file, just create a clean 3ds scene, set the various setting to your liking, then save this file as maxstart.max do a reset and it will come back just as you want it. You can set default colours for objects, even put objects in the scenes (i.e. splines, spheres, etc). But back to Dave's original question. http://www.cgacademy.com has some fantastic maxscript tutorials. 4 or 5 discs - they lay out the foundation of the language, explain how things work, and then the last disc is an exercise of everything you've learned and you get to see how all of the commands work together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
free agent Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 brilliant!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buckley Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 stef i don't want a menu bar if thats what your talking about? i want to be able to create an interface for a floating toolbar sorry if i've misunderstood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buckley Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 sorry stef, apologies, it does exactl what i want, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buckley Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 difference between MaxScript and MacroScript? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandmanNinja Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 oops - sorry. It's late over here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buchhofer Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 maxscript is the actual script that is run, macroscript is the definition that surrounds a maxscript to give it a category and name in the customize ui system And yea, the cg academy dvd's are a good start, the first disk is pretty much language agnostic and just covers a lot of the useful basics of scripting in general, second disk and on get into the details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buckley Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 so i should be using the macroscript then? does it need to be copied to any directories? so i'm creating my custom toolbar with my collection of commonly used scripts . . . i place the macroscript into the stdplugs folder? then i run the macroscript? then it becomes avaialble in my customize user interface dialogue? then i just drag it to my new toolbar from the categories? then i save maxstart.max? then i close max? then i open max? and toolbar will be there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buckley Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 anyone know how i can create custom icons for my scripts as just text is displayed at the minute. if possible i would also like to put a header on my new toolbar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buchhofer Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 take a browse through: http://tech-artists.org/wiki/Macro_installation_(MAXScript)#How_You_Should_Install basically, running a macroscript "installs" it so it stays there, running a maxscript just runs the script once.. if you have a maxscript that you want to become a macroscript, then look in the maxscript help file for the syntax.. icons are just .bmp files that are in the ui\icons folder and are associated with a macroscript in a header personally i tend to use maxscripts more myself, as i have a little script that builds a pulldown menu for me that includes any scripts that i place in a certain directory on the network, that way to pass a script out to the crew all i have to do is place it in the shared script directory and it gets added in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buckley Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 and where might you have found that very useful sounding script that sounds like exactly what i'm trying to create, although i want a floating toolbar not a pulldown menu, but i guess a pulldown would work. i just wanted to get fancy and have a nice header in my floating toolbar like below guess i should learn to walk before i run Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buchhofer Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 I use a variation of: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=293684 but its a bit complex and messy this one is a lot simpler to setup: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/smart-menu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now