I’m very keen on figuring out a way to add my own custom primitives into my 3ds max interface. They don’t need to be parametric although that would be a nice additional feature.
I know I can always merge geometry but that isn’t as smooth a workflow as having the custom geometry readily available in the interface. Another neat thing about this is that users could exchange custom primitives or create entire “sets” like a library of custom arm primitives for example.
I know there is a plug in/script called plug-o-matic that allows this, but as the author Martin Breidt states:
“Takes any geometric object and converts it to a new object plugin. This has a few known problems and needs updating, so use with care.”
Known Issues:
– * Currently only works with single editable meshes. Groups not supported.
– * Class IDs are randomly generated for the new plugin scripts, so it might happen that the
– Class ID is already in use by some other plugin; simply repeat the generation procedure
– until you get no errors when running the new plugin script.
– * No support for UV maps, vertex colors or additional vertex data channels. Send me an email
– if you need that, too.
– * Generated script plugins can get fairly large and slow when using high-poly meshes
it’s available here for those interested:
http://www.breidt.net/scripts/Plug_O_Matic11.ms
I would love to see a similar script that can generate a custom primitive from any object type and that also would add the features missing from this version. Ideally this would be part of 3ds max as it ships, the application should be as customizeable as possible. I’d also love to be able to sitck these custom primitives onto a custom quad menu. I think this would be a great workflow improvement for 3ds max especially for those in the game industry or those who tend to reuse specific topologies or start with generic topologies.
I’m going to check out the maxscript resources in my manuals both print and online but I’m hardly the person to write this as I know relatively little about max script. While I hope my recent purchase of the maxscript 101 dvd will help diminish my ignorance of maxscript, I’m sure this project will remain way over my head.
I hope one of our accomplished scripters will consider this challenge.
thank you for your time,
robert
ps: I will post this on the discreet board also when I remember what my log/pass is, my computer ate my cookies