ha ha… yeah, it’ll fit in well with my, “User Error Not Permitted!” startup screen… or the “Chair to Keyboard Interface Error.” dialogs I use…
I’ve been looking for those! on your site? scriptspot? give to me the preciousssssesssss!
You could, possibly, mess about with the node event system or older callbacks, and invoke an Edit > Undo.
But yeah, if you absolutely cannot have it collapsed – then a helper it is.
Although… you could, possibly, I have no idea how this works yet as I try and stay away from the craziness usually, have a helper -and- simpleObject mesh and stick them in an assembly. Let the helper (assembly head) deal with parameters and such, and the simpleObject deal with the meshing.
Yeah, I have no idea what that does to performance and the like. But it might be a fun avenue to explore (for twisted interpretations of ‘fun’).
Even with simple helper objects I’m seeing problems with UI and speed issues. I have deduced that the only good method is a simpleObject.
out of curiosity, PEN, is that with
A. any helper object, including max’s own (e.g. point, dummy, etc.)
B. only scripted helpers, but regardless of whether they implement their own displaymesh
C. only scripted helpers that implement their own displaymesh
?
Well all helpers are increadibly slow, do that test I suggested. Looks like they spam the viewports as the mesh isn’t cached and it is constrantly redrawing. Now one of the problems I’m having is when you have a custom mesh and you are moving it around constantly, at some point it doesn’t keep up and it will move away from the mouse. It all gets worse from there. No matter what I used as a mesh this happened. This doesn’t happen with a point helper as it is faster I guess then a scripted solution. I don’t use Dummies as they have no display properties and I can’t color them.
hmm… something to keep in mind, then; I’m only extending the Point helper… I know I’ve had scenes with thousands of them and the intended purpose would see maybe 10 at best.
and yes, the dummy ignoring wirecolor is annoying
Okay, now I feel the need to write a point helper than is really a simpleObject class plugin… Am I sick??? Great point about the wire color and render attributes… no pun intended…
I’ve found extending the dummy does respect the wireColor Attribute. That’s where I am right now and I can adjust the wireColor no problem…
Here’s the end result… We use a Selection Set based workflow here… I created a helper object that holds render properties, Vray Matte properties, an “Override” Material, and a list of objects and “undoing” post render… I’ve a pre and post render callback that looks for this object being visible and reacts accordingly, applying the selected options… You simply place this object is your selection set and our “Scene Setter” enables the callbacks when it is in the selected selection set.
Thanks for all the help guys!
All helpers have the same speed problem. They are not optimized at all. What is interesting is creating 1000 point helpers and turning off all the display properties still results in a slower FPS. As long as the helpers are un-hidden they are trying to redraw all the time. What I have done now is create a helper out of the simpleObject class. So it has a superClass of geometry but at least I can still search the scene for penHelperObject. The penHelper that I created will not be used in any production that I do now and I’m going to pull it from my site soon. I now have three geometry superClass objects that I do all my rigging with.
Do you have a way to stop it from collapsing to a mesh? How do you keep the UI elements if they do?
Thanks
Once a geomety object is collapsed to a mesh thats it – you could in theory story its current .baseObject values in a CA internal to itself. Then essentially rebuild itself to revert back.
How fast are splines? against simple objects?
Splines are only about twice the speed of helpers, was getting in speed tests 250fps for geo and 60 for splines or something. I would have to run the tests again.