RobH2

The renaming scripts are really handy. I'm doing Anton Tenitsky's Udemy class on "Learn hardsurface-modeling with Voxels. It's a few years old and even as he provides the original script, I found this thread talking about how it was updated. But I can't get the 'material' one to run. I get an error when running it directing me to see the 'View execution log'. In that 'log.txt' there is no info, just this: ============================================================================ 17.09.2023 19:11:32 : Executing script: E:/1_My Documents/3DCoat/UserPrefs/Scripts/ExtraMenuItems/add_material_as_suffix.cpp ============================================================================ I know nothing about scripting in 3DC. I may not be using it correctly. But, I put different materials on 5 parts under a root folder. If I change the roots name and use the 'rename_children' script, it works perfectly. If I click the root and run the 'add_material_as_suffix' I just get the error message and no other changes. Edit: Ha, I just relized this is Anton's post. Good job Anton. I do have another question. Is there a script that will just modify one word in all the layers. For instance, in doing this course I've renamed a lot of layers nicely. But the first word I have in all of them is "Sketch_", like "Sketch_Collar" and "Sketch_Ribs1" and "Sketch_Ribs2." I don't want to get rid of the specific naming, just want to get rid of the word "Sketch". Is there a script to do that?

Thanks for the fast corroboration guys, I'm on it and things are working nicely.

I'm going to sort of answer my own question. How often do you struggle with something, hours, days, etc., and as soon as you post, you figure it out? Happens to me all the time. In case this helps someone else who has a hard time with searching the official Documentation (please educate me if I'm the only one who can't figure it out), what I've found is that 'Separate Hidden Volumes' is now what 'Object-ify Hidden' is called. For me, it only works if I use it right after hiding Voxels. If I work for a while and try to use it, I get no generated volume from what was previously hidden. And that's good enough. I can just make it immediately and if I don't want it I can delete or hide it.

I've upgraded to V2023 and can't find 'Object-ify Hidden.' The doucmentation is not very useful these days becasue you can't just search it for a word. It's good if you want to go through it page by page like a course and learn everything, but the documentation is broken into sections and it's unclear what section to use when trying to find something. It takes a very long time to just find a word or feature. The global search at the top returns nothing for "Object-ify". I have a feeling 'Object-ify Hidden' is now called 'Separate Hidden Volumes' so I search for that using the only search field in the documentation and no hits on that either. So I'm kind of stuck. 'Separate Hidden Volumes' is not working for me and I want to read about it but can't find it. Ideas? I realize I might be Nooby here but I've spent two hours trying to find out where Object-ify went, what it's called now and how to perform this once useful function.

Thanks kenmo!

Ok, I got it working by doing the manual install in 2016. I'm good to go.

Yes, I see that switch now and will use it. Again, sorry for the bother and this is a nice addition. I just completely trusted my junction and it apparently could not fool your code on my system. FYI, I tested it on Max 2016 and I get an error during installation. I made sure to uninstall first and then closed Max and manually cleaned out any files with '*applink*' in the name. I opened Max 2016 and get this during install. Maybe I missed one or two files to delete? Best regards...

I have it working now. What I tried to do was have the 'Exchange' directory elsewhere and not in my system default documents directory. I redirect anything away from there except documents that I personally create. My C: drive is a 120GB SSD drive and it fills up fast. I don't put anything on it that is not absolutely necessary. I had created the exact folder hierarchy in my preferred path and had assumed it would work. Theoretically, maybe it should but for me it did not. I also have a junction that points my 'Documents' directory away from the C: drive to another drive. That works perfectly for everything else that I do and no programs that I use have any idea that they are being redirected. Except this one. It won't work if I point to my preferred path. I tried the default path and it now works in Max 2017. I will try Max 2016 later. So, I'll just have to get over it and leave it on the C: drive and clean it out now and then if things linger. Sorry for the continued insistence that I had an issue. I've just trusted this junction so much that I just couldn't believe that it might be the issue and it apparently was. Really nice work and I along with 1000's of others certainly applaud PolyHertz's effort. These little "niceties" help all of our jobs go faster and more smoothly. Thanks very much. Best, Rob

Just reporting in that I still cannot get this to function. I'm sure it's really handy and I wish I could figure out why not. I just tried '3ds Max Applink V1.9.mzp' in both Max 2016 and Max 2017 without success. 3DC opens and just sits there empty. I turned off the 3dc initial splash screen to see if that was hanging things up but it apparently had no effect. No mesh is automatically imported.

Hi, here's the current situation. 1. I uninstalled 3DC 4.5.37 and reinstalled in the default path on c: 2. I placed a Teapot in Max, added a VRay standard material and exported to 3DC. Same issue, no import window and no 'Export' menu item under 'File'. Also, the Applink did not create the '3dsMax 201x' folder with the 'run.txt' file. 3. I changed the renderer to 'Scanline' and added a standard material. I exported to 3DC. Same issue, no import window and not 'Export' menu item under 'File'. However, the Applink did create the '3dsMax 201x' folder with the 'run.txt' file. 4. I placed the Applink Temp directory in the 'users/Public/Documents' to see if that might get around a Windows 10 permissions issue. No help. Finally, I shared the Temp directory with 'Everyone' and gave full read / write permissions. No help. Are you watching this Andrew, ideas?

Yes, I did see those posts. My default Windows documents path has a symbolic link to a different drive so the system doesn't know that the files are somewhere else. It makes no difference nor does it cause any issues with any of the other of the over 200 programs I have installed.

PolyHertz, you teased my curiosity when you thought I was trying the link in Max 2017. So, I tried it in Max 2017 for the heck of it. I have the same failure. Well, really not a failure. Just that nothing happens. Max 2017 does write out the files to the 'Applink_Max3DC' folder. 3DC just does not see it and try to automatically import it. Nor do I get the "Export" function in 3DC.

Hi, what you are asking is basic 3ds Max functionality questions and isn't s specific to the Applink plugin except for the saving of the materials as a .mat. You can find all kinds of great info about wiring and building materials in Slate and Compact in the Max 'Help' file and in 100's of tutorial on the web. You can connect the maps to the material in either Slate or Compact. It's done a little differently but winds up in the same place. In Compact you "point to" maps and in Slate you "wire" maps. Finally, per the 3DC 'readme.txt' you can use whatever format you want, just make sure that they are all the same and they can be blank, meaning, just create solid black (or any color) map and name it, "color.jpg" or "opacity.jpg" etc. Connect the dummy maps to the material and save it per the instructions.

While I'm diagnosing I did run the second script. I only get the drive also. Mine happens to be E:\ as well.

FYI, I guess i updated my signature too much. I have Max 2017 but never use Max for production for about 4-months after release as none of my plugins will have updates for a few months. So, I'm having this failure in Max 2016. I do not have 'File>Export>3DS Max 201X'. So, it's not seeing ANY 'run.txt' anywhere, right? So I guess I need to figure out where 3DC is looking for it and place it there. That would be the first thing to fix and then we can look at permissions, etc.

I can confirm that did in fact fix the Temporary File path issue. The Applink still won't function properly for me. I did completely uninstall 3DC, clean the registry and reboot. I reinstalled the latest Beta 4.5.37 and it still fails to open the 'Import' dialog. I just get the normal splash screen with the 12 options. If I'm the only user experiencing this you can stop diagnosing with me. I can live without the link. But, if you want to continue to analyze it, I'm happy to keep working with you. I enjoy figuring these things out. I'm not a programmer but know my way around the OS.

I grabbed the latest Beta and still no go. I checked 'AppLink_3DC_settings.ini' and the switches I'm setting are being written to it. I examined the .mcr and my paths are correct so that everything should be able to be found. The only odd thing I'm finding is that when I select the 'Temp' path it's doing this: Say I want the Temp path to be d:\Exchange. The .obj gets written to the root of d: and is named "Exchangeinput.obj". If I add another folder to d:\Exchange and make it d"\Exchange\Exchange, the .obj is written to d:\Exchange\Exchangeinput.obj. It skips the second folder in the path.

I thought I had the most current version. When I use check for updates in 3DC it says I'm current. Ok, I'll see if i can find a newer version. Edit: Are you suggesting I grab the Beta because 4.5.19 is the latest version I see on the main site for downloading?

Hey, it's 4.5.19 (it's hiding in my signature).

Hi, yes, the correct Temp File path is selected and the input.obj is indeed created. 3DC just doesn't open the 'Import' window when it automatically opens. The 'import.txt' file in the Temp File path references the correct path as well (actually, the path that it is in). Certainly, I can go import 'input.obj' manually, but that defeats the purpose a bit. Odd...

I just installed this and have a small issue to report. When 3DC opens, I never get the 'Import' panel. All I see is the regular options panel (...Voxel Sculpting, Repair Scanned Mesh, Vertex Painting...etc. ) I exported from Max 2016 after having 'uninstalled' the Applink first go round. I restarted Max and installed and tried to export a teapot with VRay basic material. 3DC opens and then nothing else. I tried a Standard material also. I rebooted the whole machine for kicks, not necessary I realize but what the heck. No help. I searched for some .ini's or something to see if maybe a path was incorrect for something. I do see in the 'Export' folder a 'run.txt' under my Max 2016 folder that is generated. That .txt file is completely blank. Not sure if that indicates anything or not. Finally, the '.mat' files are in the proper place: "C:\Users\%username%\Documents"

Hmmm, didn't realize you could 'grow' a selection. This is an interesting suggestion which I'll try. Just looking to speed up my workflow and people usually have tricks that aren't obvious. 'Growing' a selection is common in Max, I just never realized that I could do it in 3DC. Sometimes we can't see the forest for the trees....Thanks.

Yes, of course. But that clears everything. I don't want to clear it all, I just want a faster way to clean out strays like you see in my attachment. I want to keep the large islands and remove all the little lingering pieces without doing it edge-by-edge for 1000 edges.

I have a model of a vertebrae from a CT scan and it's all tris. When I box map it in Max I get a lot of stray islands and edge seams. I want to clean the islands up but am having to CTRL click Edge Loops one-by-one on a very dense model an it's taking hours. Is there a way to just drag the brush over a bunch or lasso select a bunch of seams and remove them? I can't see to get any functionality like that. I know I could just remove everything and start over but there might be situations where that's not the best workflow. I'm interested in finding a way to remove the seams not only for this model for for future models.