[Closed] getEdgeFace not working

Instead of Edit_Poly or EditPolyMod, try using the actual instance of the Edit Poly modifier directly like so:

$.modifiers[1].getNumEdges()
$.modifiers[1].getEdgeFace 2 1

Since a lot of the epoly modifier and epoly object functions are identical, more help about certain methods can often be found in the epoly object section. Here’s some info on the getEdgeFace function taken from the reference:

Returns the face index used by the specified edge.
Since an edge can have two faces, the side argument is
needed to define which of the two possible faces to get.

Example:
p = convertToPoly(Plane()) --create a Plane, convert to Epoly
p.GetEdgeFace 18 1 --returns face 6 
p.GetEdgeFace 18 2 --returns face 7 
p.GetEdgeFace 4 1 --returns face 1 
p.GetEdgeFace 4 2 --returns 0 as there is no second face

Hope this helps,
Martijn

Thanks again. Yes, those are definately missing from the docs. Bobo, if you’re reading this, adding these to the max10 docs would be uber useful.

• Neil

D’oh! Are you using max9 perhaps? Because in max8 I still get an “Unknown property” error when I try and access the face normal.

• Neil

Ok, max11 then.

• Neil

Just heard back that it might not be too late, will try to add it tonight… Cheers!

I understand your point, but I feel my original point still stands. I feel that documenting things in this way leads to a lot of confusion (And Bobo, I know you’ve been working hard on fixing this stuff, so please forgive me if this is in any way harsh). But please, if you will, view this for a second from the position of someone just starting to learn maxscript.

You want to get the number of faces produced after an edit poly modifier. So you search and find the Edit Poly page. You are presented with a page that has NO example scripts, so you have no actual example code from which to draw any conclusions on how to actually modify an edit poly modifier. So since you can’t learn by example, you start by trial and error. So you look at the top of the page, it says…

Constructor:
EditPolyMod

Then you find the command you want and it says:

<integer>GetNumEdges node:<node>

So you think, ok, maybe that’s the command I need to use. So you try some code like this…

EditPolyMod.GetNumEdges $.modifiers[1]

And you get an answer of 300. Great, that code works! You have learned through trial and error that if you do a, you get b. Now from that experience, you move on. You want to get a face that is attached to a particular edge.

The help file says:

<index>GetEdgeFace <index>edgeID <index>side node:<node>

So, you say “This follows pretty much the same form as the other one, so obviously the following code should work”:

EditPolyMod.getEdgeFace 2 1 $.modifiers[1]

And you get an error.

So you can’t learn from example, learning by trial and error has failed since two similar commands do not work, so you ask for help on a forum. You find out what you needed to write is…

$.modifiers[1].getEdgeFace 2 1

This form is not discussed anywhere on this page. And the other form works for some things and not others. I’m sure you can see that this leads to the average person to become frustrated, since there’s no immediately obvious logic as to why one thing works, while something very similar does not, and the only way to get both to work is not discussed anywhere on the page that they went to for help.

So if there is any way to make this clearer in the helpfile, I think we will all appreciate it.

• Neil

Neil,

I completely agree and see where the confusion comes from.
I had already fixed all the interface methods to be prefixed with the < Edit_Poly > token to make it obvious how to use them.

Now I added this:

---------------------------------------------
[b]NOTE:[/b]

   The EditPolyModInterface is a [b]Mixin Interface[/b] exposed by the [b]Edit_Poly[/b] modifier. 

   You can call the methods listed below   as methods exposed by the Edit_Poly modifier itself because MAXScript will   search both the modifier and all its Interfaces for the method name.

             Thus, instead of saying something   like

   $Box01.modifiers[#Edit_Poly].EditPolyMod.GetSelection #Vertex
--or
$Box01.Edit_Poly.EditPolyMod.GetSelection   #Vertex

    you could say either

   $Box01.modifiers[#Edit_Poly].GetSelection #Vertex
--or
$Box01.Edit_Poly.GetSelection #Vertex

    The shorter form without specifying   the Interface's name is not only more compact to write, it is also slightly   faster to execute.

Of course, it is much better formatted (which is true for the whole reference).

What the heck is a Mixin Interface you ask?
Here is a good link:

http://sparks.discreet.com/knowledgebase/sdkdocs_v8/ref/main/html/class_f_p_mixin_interface.html

Detailed Description

See Also: Class FPInterface, Class FPInterfaceDesc, Function publishing.

class FPMixinInterface : public FPInterface

Description:

This class is available in release 4.0 and later only.

A “Mixin” interface provides a way for a plug-in to expose some of its functionality for use by other plug-ins or MAXScript. The notion of “Mixin” refers to the idea that the interface is a sub-class of the plug-in class and thus “mixed in” with it. Many classes in the SDK now inherit from FPMixinInterface in order to expose some of their functionality.

Developers should see the documentation for Class FPInterface for reference on this class as well.

For an overview of the function publishing system as a whole, see Function publishing.

Awesome Bobo. Even just one or two lines of example code is all you need to instantly communicate to the viewer how to do something. Can’t wait to check out the new Max10 documentation.

• Neil