[Closed] Per-face data — Can I use it?

Hello,

I want to export OBJs which respect poly groups in order to support Daz/Poser rigging systems. Since I couldn’t find any poly grouping support in Max or my favourite (gw::obj) obj exporter I decided to write a grouping tool and exporter in MaxScript.

I have completed my exporter but now come to storing faces for each group. I saw that this thread [ http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=4864090#post4864090 ] mentions custom attributes, and a page about them on kxcad mentions something about face data channels.

What are face-data channels? Are they like a dictionary like the modifiers collection? How do I access them? Could I use them to store the group (just an integer or a string)?

PS. I did see this thread [ http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=4194294#post4194294 ] but I cant find simpleFaceManager. Also, I would like to work as ‘close to’ TriMesh as possible as that is what my exporter operates on.

PPS. While I am asking, does anyone know what the requirements for a Key value for a System.Collections.Hashtable object are? I tried to pass in a scene object as a Key but it would not accept it (was not a System.Object).

Thanks!