[Closed] Creating MAXScript DLX function… HELP

Well, the following code compiled without error… but is it correct??? :surprised Is this the correct way by using:

[size=2][color=cyan]extern RefTargetHandle GetReference([color=cyan]int i);[/color][/color][/size]

/**************************************************
*<
FILE:  myDLXfunction.cpp
 
CREATED BY:  Michael Lawler
 
HISTORY:  Started on September 5, 2013
 
*>   Copyright (c) 2013, All Rights Reserved.
**************************************************/
 
 
#include "MAXScrpt.h"
 
 
#include "Numbers.h"  // for handling of MAXScript Integers and Floats 
 
 
#include "Arrays.h"   // for returning a MAXScript array
 
 
#include "3DMath.h"   // for handling all MAXScript linear algebra classes
 
 
extern int NumRefs();
 
 
extern RefTargetHandle GetReference(int i);
 
 
 
 
void myDLXfunctionInit() 
 
 
{	 
 
 
	  // TODO: Place initialization code here. This gets called when MAXScript
	  // goes live during 3ds Max startup.
 
 
}
 
 
// Declare C++ function and register it with MAXScript 
 
 
 
#include "definsfn.h"
 
 
 def_visible_primitive(myDLXfunction, "myDLXfunction"); 
 
 
 
Value* myDLXfunction_cf(Value **arg_list, int count) 
{
[indent]	  //********************************  

	 /* Explain function usage here */
	 //******************************** 
 
	  //Begin function code:
 
	  //Get sourceNode containing myDLXfunction in one of its Controllers
 
	  //Seems the 1st dependent is always the transform controller and 2nd is node
 
	  int ownNode = 2;
 
	  RefTargetHandle ownHandle = NULL;
 
	  ownHandle->GetReference(ownNode);  //should be its node???
 
 
 
 
 
	  INode* sourceNode = (INode*)ownHandle;
 
 
 
 
 
	  Point3 initPos = ( sourceNode->GetNodeTM(0).GetRow(4) );
 
 
	  return &ok;
 
[/indent]

}

Well, with only a minor amount of frustration… I have finished and compiled the first beta version of my new DLX function: <[size=2]point3> orbitPos { parameters } :wip:[/size]
[size=2][/size]
Now to test it out… hopefully it works as intended and doesn’t crash 3dsMax! Better try it on my old machine to be safe.

If all goes well I will post a video …if not, then back to the drawing board!

Hmmm… getting: “Unknown system exception” when I try to use the function in a wire parameter expression– not very informative! :shrug:

Edit: I tried using “this” pointer when trying to get its references and the compiler error states:

orbitPos\orbitPos.cpp(59) : error C2673: ‘orbitPos_cf’ : global functions do not have ‘this’ pointers

So I think this unknown system exception has to do with the GetReference( ) function… which goes back to my original question… how do I get the owning Node holding an instance of this function? Any expert out there willing to throw me a bone? :hmm:

you probably need to post the entire function code so we can see what you are doing but I don’t think using this is a goer the node should be passed as a function argument.

Oops… I’ve found the source to some of my problems…

To get the translation row it should be:

node->GetNodeTM(t).GetRow(3) …and not GetRow(4)

…because the matrix index starts at zero.

I’ll recompile and give it another try after work today.

UPDATE: So I have a test scene of some point helpers… when I input the following in the listener (and execute) I get:

Test 1:
orbitPos $Point03 $Dummy01.rotation $Point01

** system exception **

[color=deepskyblue]Test 2:
orbitPos $Point03 $Dummy01.rotation $Point01 upNode:$Point02 upAxis:2

[color=#ff0000]– Runtime error: Expected a number for targetDistance, in function orbitPos

[color=plum]So test 2 is telling me it is not liking the default of &unsupplied for targetDistance… but I don’t understand why not… because the logic should catch that and set targetDistance to the distance between the source node and target node on frame 0. So perhaps this is failing because it’s not getting the time value??? Can someone tell me if I’m not getting the time correctly (to evaluate the node transforms)???

Test 3:
orbitPos $Point03 $Dummy01.rotation $Point01 targetDistance:103.126

[color=#ff0000]** system exception **

[color=#fffffe]———————————————————————
Hmmm… not too informative, my hunch is that I’m not getting the time correctly, or maybe I’m not making a live connection to the scene nodes, so the evaluation of [color=#fffffe]

node->GetNodeTM(t).GetRow(3) is failing…

Anybody have any thoughts???
[/color][/color]
[/color][/color]

[/color][/color]

delete extra post…

I wish there was a delete button for extra posts.

I’m flopping and floundering here…

orbitPos $Point03 $Dummy01.rotation $Point01 upNode:$Point02
– Type error: Call needs function or class, got: $Point_Helper:Point03 @ [-44.061302,-41.762451,0.000000]

…nothing I’ve tried this evening has worked. :shrug:

I found some more errors in my code…

I had:

Matrix3 rotH;
rotH.SetRow(1,row1_rotH);
rotH.SetRow(2,row2_rotH);
rotH.SetRow(3,row3_rotH);
rotH.SetRow(4,_row4);
 
Matrix3 rotV;
rotV.SetRow(1,row1_rotV);
rotV.SetRow(2,row2_rotV);
rotV.SetRow(3,row3_rotV);
rotV.SetRow(4,_row4);

…which, along with changing the Point3 variable names to match, has been changed to:

Matrix3 rotH;
rotH.SetRow(0,row0_rotH);
rotH.SetRow(1,row1_rotH);
rotH.SetRow(2,row2_rotH);
rotH.SetRow(3,_row3);
 
Matrix3 rotV;
rotV.SetRow(0,row0_rotV);
rotV.SetRow(1,row1_rotV);
rotV.SetRow(2,row2_rotV);
rotV.SetRow(3,_row3);

Also, there seemed a problem with the “Normalize” function I used. Visual Studio intellisense was telling me that “Normalize” was using:

_D3DVECTOR Normalize( const _D3DVECTOR &v)

Instead of the 3ds Max [color=cyan]“Normalize” Point3 method… so I changed it to use “FNormalize” from the 3ds Max SDK to avoid confusion.[/color]

New source code is attached (…for those of you who downloaded the original code). All feedback and help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!