I’ve been doing a heck of a lot of scripting recently and looking over scriptspot I’ve always been intrigued by the extensions available to maxscript… but how do they work? Are they just clever bits of maxscript to call on as functions, or are they actual compiled plugins to add functionalty within the program?
The main reason I ask is this: If I code a script that utilises the extensions, will it be required of an external user to also have these extensions installed on their pc? Logic would deem this to be the case, but I’m really after how they work overall.
Extensions are just regular ol’ max plugins (compiled msvc++), but instead of being materials or object plugins they add functionality to maxscript. Often a technique can be implemented in a compiled plugin that would be hundreds or thousands of times faster than a maxscript. Other times, there are things like reading/writing to the registry that aren’t possible without an extension to expose/add the functionality. In the same way as plugins are required to open max scenes, the used extension would be required every time the script was run…
Splendid and apt explanation cgrant3d! Thankyou.