Im trying to figure out some way to store various settings in a max file. This would basically be data that would be used to initialize some tools when the scene is used.
Optimally this would work like the INISettings functions or, if that fails, like the UDP for nodes. Having a parallel INI file distributed with the Max file isnt an option, and adding a metadata node in to the scene with UDP data doesnt feel like a solid solution as theres always the possibility someone deletes it or does something to it etc.
So far the only thing ive found is the MAX Scene File Properties but there doesnt really seem to be any way of intuitively storing complex data there short of creating some sort of CSV serializer for one of the text fields… Again, not ideal, and im unsure if i can trust those properties not to be overwritten at some point either.
There’s also appdata which has the same issue, CustomSceneStream etc, but I’d argue if you want to store arbitrary data, having a custom attribute instance on rootNode makes sense the most.
wow, i totally forgot about rootNode.
Ive been thinking “if only there was a way to have a node in the scene thats inaccessible through the UI so i could store data in it without people screwing it up” but rootNode fits that bill perfectly doesnt it. Although doesnt seem possible to add UDPs to it, but I guess custom attributes will work too.