Hi everyone,
I’ll be learning how to script in either MEL or MaxScript next September. My main goal is to be able to create custom arrays for creating three-dimensional shapes. Very basic stuff by most users’ standards.
I have ZERO programming experience.
I do, however, have a whole summer to get ready. How can I best prepare for learning scripting?
1- One of my instructors suggested I take a class in Java and concentrate on Loops and Assignments. His reasoning is that Max Script (and maybe MEL?) is very similar to Java. So I have found a summer course that lasts 8 weeks and is a basic intro to Java.
2- A second person has suggested that Python might be a better language because it is easier to learn and it is based on scripting, which is ultimately what I’d like to do. This sounds good, but Python seems far less common, so I will have less resources at my disposal (Ie. books, forums, help etc).
3- Maybe my time is best spent buying a training CD and trying to understand what this is all about on my own. I assume there will be many questions left unanswered with this approach as this will not really teach me programming, but rather just the correct syntax (maybe I’m wrong on this?)…
I’m not interested in programming as a career change, so maybe Java is overkill. On the other hand, I don’t mind doing some good old fashioned work, if it will allow me to more fully master scripting.
What do you suggest I do?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Carlo
Are you sure he said Java and not javascript?
If he indeed said Java, then I wonder about his arguments for this reasoning. Java is really quite different from maxscript. Java is an Object-Oriented Programming language, something which maxscript clearly is not (apart from the struct command perhaps).
However, I think that programming or scripting is for 90% a way of logical thinking, and 10% knowing how to write the syntax. A Java course will certainly help develop that way of thinking, even though there are a lot of differences between maxscript and Java.
So perhaps it won’t be directly useful to you when your only goal is to learn maxscript, but it might help.
Hey Carlo,
MAXScript was the first language I learned (aside from HTML, but that’s different), then I learned Python, and later C#. It was scary learning a language for the first time, and all I did was read the MAXScript reference, since the only book when I started learning had bad reviews. So it is true, you can learn MAXScript through pure experimentation and reading the docs. Now there’s these DVDs that Bobo has released, and there’s one for people wanting to learn scripting. I hear its good, there is also an advanced scripting DVD which I can say for sure is great for learning some applied trig. They’re here.
As far as learning Java before MXS, I wouldn’t think that’s necessary. Why make it harder for yourself? Just go straight for your goal; you don’t need any pre-reqs to learn it. You would learn about some core object oriented programming (OOP) concepts by learning any other modern language, but to get started with scripting you really don’t need to. I learned Python and then brought back OOP concepts to MXS. Sure, I benefited as a maxscripter from learning Python (would have for any language), but the beauty of MXS is that it is so simple that you can just cut through the complexities and get something working in no time. After you get a taste of maxscripting, and you think you might like to do more of it, then go and learn another language. It’ll only make you a stronger scripter.
You should just jump in and start trying to do stuff, that’s the way I learned, by thinkning, ‘I wonder if there’s a quicker way to do what i’m doing’, you’ll then discover from the reference that you probably can Though it’s advisable to start small and build up!
I agree, I think you should just jump directly to maxscript.
I learned several languages before I learned maxscript, but always had trouble, partly because the “example” programs one would usually write when learning languages like python, etc, don’t have direct bearing on what you actually want to do.
When I started learning maxscript, it was WAY easier, because I now had the proper motivation. “If you write this program, your 3d work will go a lot faster”. It’s amazing how a practical application can inspire you to learn a programming language.
- Neil
This is my advice as well…get the Maxscript Fundamentals Set from CG Academy. I also learned Maxscript largely from the documentation, but it would have been much less frustrating if combined with the kind of tutorial overviews on those DVDs. Even if you just passively watched them to get an idea of what Maxscript is capable of doing, it would literally eliminate 50% of the head-scratching/head-banging of learning on your own. Then you simply have to nail down the correct syntax on the commands you’re using, which is really what the Maxscript documentation is designed to do.
Swami still has his tutorials wad-o-tutorials if you ask nice. They don’t cover the newest stuff but are still excellent. You have to ask him for them though since I don’t think they’re hosted anywhere anymore. http://forums.cgsociety.org/swami@cfl.rr.co m” data-bbcode=”true”>swami@cfl.rr.com
I believe that the only programming knowledge that you need to start maxScripting is a basic understanding of OOP, conditionals, loops, variables (and their types) and functions. Knowing the scope of variables helps too.
Once you learn those learning the actual language is easy. I learned by programming in Basic, QBasic and Turbo Pascal.
I learned maxscript because I needed to export the depth buffer data from a rendered image then I started to see all the other possible applications then I went crazy.
I’d sooner spend 5 hours writing a script that would automate a task that would take 10 seconds (but that is 10 seconds of triviality that would be repeated over and over again).
Anyway, enough rambling, bottom line is the best way to learn to program is to have a goal to work towards, and here is a piece of advice that any maxScribe will give you…
RTFM as much as possible!
And look at other scripts that ship with Max if they do something similar to what you want to do.
I hope you enjoy learning maxScript, cbass.