I learn max script hard for some time, the tutorials available and knowledgebase is fabulous. I never thought maxScript is so powerful.
I thought about learning SDK paralelly but I’m not aware of it’s advantages.
Since there are scripted tools like orionflame or polyboost to name a few, why would one want to use SDK over maxScript?
Is SDK a C++ way to communicate with 3dsmax core? What would I get by writing a say “staircase generator” in SDK instead of maxscript? Do I have to be a programmer to use it?
Can scripted tool be easily translated to SDK plugin? And many similar questions :).
edit: perhaps somebody could elaborate on this book : Mastering Maxscript and the Sdk for 3d Studio Max ? It’s quite old…is it worth buying yet, if I have all video tuts available?
Maxscript, in all it’s wonderful glory, cannot do anything more than what it can access via 3dsmax and embedded controllers. The SDK however provides the means to program a plugin to do pretty much anything you’d like.
All in all the general rule I use is if you’ve exhausted what you can do in maxscript, do it in SDK. The distinction may be a little harder now there’s dotNet access in Max 9, but I would generally think it would be used in only larger applications, such as handling vast amounts of data.
And yes, you’d need a decent knowledge of programming to use the SDK.
i can sell you the maxscript book if you want.
personally i know quite a bit about scripting, and other “simple” languages, as php, javascript.
but i was totally lost when i looked at c++ and the max SDK.
i have no clue. i dont understand anything about it.
Thanks for your replies, I’ll never gain decent programming experience:)
I’ll wait a bit with this book, have ordered maxscript for max 8 today.
Thanks for your offer plastic.
Hi,
Since there are scripted tools like orionflame or polyboost to name a few, why would one want to use SDK over maxScript?
I think these tools could be faster if they were developed in C++ with the SDK ; but with the SDK it’s more difficult and take more time to develop such tools.
Do I have to be a programmer to use it?
I think it’s not mandatory but C++ is much more difficult to learn than scripting languages.
Also SDK programming is a bit difficult than MAXScript but some types of plugins are easy to develop (utilities for example) rather than others (modifiers for example). The samples coming with the SDK are very advandced and it’s not trivial to understand them.