[Closed] Copy colormap of output to mix

The most simple way of doing it, so you don’t have to mess around with a lot of things (some not even possible), would be to copy the whole texture output from one map to the other.

Here is a function to do this. if The parameter ‘instance’ is true, then any modification to one curve will affect the other.

(
	fn CopyMapOutput map1 map2 instance:false =
	(
		if not instance then map2.output = copy map1.output
		else map2.output = map1.output
	)

	CopyMapOutput <SourceMap> <DestMap> instance:false
)

Here is a more complete function.

(
	/*
		<SourceMap>: Map to copy the OUTPUT parameters from
		<DestMap>  : Map to copy the OUTPUT parameters to
		instance   : Make all OUTPUT parameters instances
		keep	   : Keep all DestMap OUTPUT parameters (except Color Map)
	*/
	
	fn CopyMapOutput map1 map2 instance:false keep:false =
	(
		with undo off with animate off
		(
			if not instance then
			(
				output = copy map1.output
				if keep do
				(
					properties = getpropnames map1.output
					for j in properties where j != #mono_color_map do
					(
						setproperty output j (getproperty map2.output j)
						controller = getpropertycontroller map2.output j
						if controller != undefined do setpropertycontroller output j controller
					)
				)
			)else(
				output = map1.output
			)
			map2.output = output
		)
	)

	CopyMapOutput <SourceMap> <DestMap> instance:false keep:true
)

replaceinstances <destination output>.Mono_Color_Map <source output>.Mono_Color_Map
-- or
replaceinstances <destination output>.Mono_Color_Map (copy <source output>.Mono_Color_Map)

if you want to copy (replace) only Mono_Color_Map

Do you know how to enable the Color Map from MXS? Because if you haven’t enabled it at least once manually in the , then replaceinstances() will throw an exception.

(
     	source = meditmaterials[1] = mix()
     	dest   = meditmaterials[2] = output()
     
     	replaceinstances dest.output.Mono_Color_Map source.output.Mono_Color_Map
     )

 From the Help:

The following properties are not accessible by MAXScript in 3ds Max: Enable Color Map checkbox and the RGB/Mono radio-button.

the only way to enable color_maps and change rgb <-> mono via mxs is to use some trick with ui-sendmessages…

actually it’s not easy to set these flags via sdk as well. it’s one of max’s ‘black boxes’

i showed my solution looking on the picture from the original question, where both color maps are already enabled.