are you asking about mxs plugin VS mxs tool?

Yep, exactly!

I can imagine plugins are more unstable and prone to fatal errors, but in general I’m just not sure if I’m missing out on some more useful aspect of tools.

[b]

Is there a reason not to make scripted plugins?

[/b]perhaps because it’s just as easy to make compiled plugins. also scripted plugins have a few major flaws, such as no “proper” mesh modifier , and crashing when using splines as a base .

there several things that make a differences between scripted tools (including utilities and macros) and plugins (object or modifier).

#1 is a history
changes made with a tool unlikely easy to store with ‘pre’-tool stage. modifier exactly designed for that

#2 storing parameters (settings). you can do it using ini files for tools and easy (again) with plugin’s parameter block

#3 real-time update (reaction on a parameter change(s)). plugin is designed for that. a tool can be done this way but always with a trick.

so everything sounds like a plugin better that a tools where both do the same.

but it’s not true.

for example, i’m working on the tool that has to optimize a mesh. it’s some old algorithm from 90s

here is a performance:
1K mesh – 0.1 sec
10K – 1 sec
30K – 5-10 sec
100K – >60 sec
+500K – forever

that means any plugin’s using this algorithm benefits are absolutely useless in case of 10K+ meshes, and can’t be used with 30K+

i made a tool

next thing we can compare is the performance.

i’m absolutely sure that is the same for both approaches.
plugin might have a performance loss because of some unnecessary notifications which case unnecessary updates (edit normals, uvw unwrap, or skin modifier for example). but in general well designed tool or plugin has exactly the same performance, and there is noting in this area which makes one better than another

the third area to compare is development

which is:

development speed

level of minimum and necessary knowledge

‘extend-ability’

‘support-ability’

… ooh. got tired. will return soon

Thanks for all the replies, that was exactly the kind of info I was looking for