Three
new Number value classes have
been
added to MAXScript: Double,
Integer64
and IntegerPtr. They support all
operations operating on Float and
Integer values documented in the
Number Values
topic.The following is a description of internal changes and "tweaks" to the MAXScript language in 3ds Max 9. Other than the "What is new..." topic, these changes do not implement new objects, classes, methods or interfaces, but change the way MAXScript works internally. Usually these changes either improve performance or simplify programming.
64 Bit Values - Double, Integer64, IntegerPtr
Three
new Number value classes have
been
added to MAXScript: Double,
Integer64
and IntegerPtr. They support all
operations operating on Float and
Integer values documented in the
Number Values
topic.
A new
method has been added to
MAXScript to determine whether it is running in a 32 bit or a 64
bit build.
Bit Methods For Double and Integer64 Conversion
Two new
methods
have
been added to the bit struct in MAXScript to convert explicitly
between Double and Integer64 values:
bit.doubleAsInt64() and bit.int64AsDouble().
Not
all ActiveX controls have been compiled for the 64 bit versions of
Microsoft Windows. Various areas of the 3ds
Max User Interface rely on
ActiveX controls like TreeView and ListView. To provide an
alternative implementation of these and other controls,
3ds Max
9 adds access to DotNet
Classes, Objects, Methods and Controls. These can be used in both
32-bit and 64-bit builds of 3ds
Max.
The new
system global
variable editorShowPath
controls whether the
MAXScript Editor will display the full path of the edited script
(true, default in 3ds Max
9), or only the file name
(false, the only mode prior to 3ds Max
9) in the title
bar. Changing the value
will update the open
MAXScript
editor
windows.
When
doing an Open or Save As from an editor window, and there is a
filename associated with the editor window, the file open/save
dialog will open to the filename's path. When doing an Open, Save,
or Save As from an editor window without a filename, or
from Listener or the main max window, the last directory specified
in a MAXScript
script file open/save
dialog will be used (unless the user cancelled out of the
dialog).
MAXScript Source Filename Access
A
new method
was
added
to
allow MAXScript code to query the source file is has been run
from: getSourceFileName().
The new
method getSourceFileOffSet()
returns the
character position
in the source
script file, 'undefined'
if not called from
a source script
file.
Aborting Execution with the ESC Key
The
system global variable escapeEnable
has
been changed to default to false. It used to default
to true in versions prior to 3ds Max
9.
New
method deepCopy()
has
been implemented for Array Values. It creates a copy of the array
including copies of all its elements and supports nested
arrays.
A new
method introduced in
3ds Max
9, previously available
in the Avguard DLX
Extensions, which can be used to control the format of numerical
values.
Memory Allocation and Garbage Collection
The HeapSize
and
the HeapFree
MAXScript System Global
variables have been changed from
Integer to Integer64
to
accommodate the increased memory address space
of
64 bit systems.
The
initial heap size is now limited to 512MB. If the initial heap size
is still too high, and the specified memory block cannot be
allocated, the initial heap size is recursively decreased by 10%
until the memory block can be allocated. If a 1MB memory block
cannot be allocated, an assert is triggered and the
3ds
Max session is
terminated (if
the
system cannot allocate 1MB at startup,
something is very wrong). Otherwise, a message is displayed in the
status panel stating that the requested heap size was automatically
decreased, and gives the actual heap size allocated.
A test was added to ensure that the initial heap size is at least the absolute minumum required by MXS - 12 bytes.
Code was added so that as new values are allocated, the heap size is automatically increased if necessary (requested memory size not available in the heap after performing a full garbage collection) . The first attempted increase is the maximum of 50* the requested size or 512KB. If this allocation fails, a series of allocation attempts is made with decreasing allocation sizes, with the last one being the maximum of the requested size or 256KB. If this final allocation attempt fails, a runtime error is thrown. Otherwise, a message is displayed in the status panel stating that the requested heap size was automatically increased, and gives the new heap size.
A
new
heapCheck()
method
added
to MAXScript. This method is for
internal debugging. It can
be
called by tools to perform a minimal consistency check of the
Heap.
The
MAXScript stack size
was increased from
1024000 to 2048000 bytes. The MAXScript System
Global variable stackSize
will
now return the new size, but the stack size cannot be effectively
changed - setting the variable to higher values will do
nothing.
A new
.tooltip
property has been added
to Button, Checkbutton, Mapbutton, Materialbutton
and Pickbutton
UI
controls. The property can now be both get and set via MAXScript.
In version prior to 3ds Max
9, tooltip:
was
only a construction parameter.
The
previously undocumented method isCreatingObject()
returns true if any object
is being created in the Create panel
when
called without arguments. Previously, it required exactly one
parameter.
New callbacks
related to Named Selection
Sets were added to the
General Event
Callbacks Mechanism, in a new
Named
Selection Sets Notifications
section.
#NamedSelSetCreated, calling callbacks.notificationParam() returns the new name
#NamedSelSetDeleted, calling callbacks.notificationParam() returns the name of the deleted selections set.
#NamedSelSetRenamed, calling callbacks.notificationParam() returns an array containing the old name and new name.
New callback
related to Modify Panel
Sub-Object Level was added to the
General Event
Callbacks Mechanism in the existing
Modifier
Panel Notifications
section.
#ModPanelSubObjectLevelChanged, calling callbacks.notificationParam() returns an array containing the new SO level number and the old SO level number.
New
callbacks related to resetting
the Direct3D device (for example when switching between
3ds
Max and other applications,
screensavers etc.) were added to the
General Event
Callbacks Mechanism in the newDirect3D
Notifications
section.
#D3DPreDeviceReset
#D3DPostDeviceReset
An option
was
added to the MAXScript
Debugger to clear the
output message window when a break occurs.
The option was added in the MAXScript options dialog as a simple checkbox, is saved / loaded in the INI file and is also exposed via the MXSDebugger interface.
Previously when using the Debugger, any output that was already in the output message window was retained when a new break occured. Thus when a new stack dump was put into the output window, it could become confusing to users, where the new dump started, and where the old dump ended. This fix simply clears the output window, and scrolls to the top of the output window.
A
horizontal line above each stack level dump was added to the output
formatting during a Debugger stack dump to help seperate the
different stack levels.
New Colorman Interface Methods
The
following methods were added to the Colorman Interface:
colorman.reInitIcons()
and colorman.resolveIconFolder().
These
methods can be used to reload add icon files and to resolve a file
name using the icon paths.
CUI
icon files (*_16i.bmp, *_16a.bmp, *_24i.bmp, *_24a.bmp) are loaded
first from the user icon directory, then the max system icon
directory, and then <3dsmax.exe>\ui\icons. If a file set is
present in multiple directories, the version in the first directory
is used.
The
icon filename specified as an argument to loadPicture, the filename
in images arrays for UI items, and the filename for the bitmap UI
item no longer needs to specify a path to the icon folder. The icon
filename will be searched for in the multiple
directories
- see
above link for details.
Two new
methods added
to
allow the loading and saving of a material library as a temporary
(as opposed to current) library - loadTempMaterialLibrary()
and saveTempMaterialLibrary()
The
method loadMaterialLibrary()
was
fixed to also search the material library path.
Wrapping of MtlBaseLib
instances was not occurring properly.
refs.dependents a[1]
#(#materialLibrary())
--previously would return something like:
RefTarg:MtlBaseLib
The
new userMacroScripts
system path
becomes a second
macroscript load location. Duplicate scripts found in this location
take precedence over those found in exe\macroscript.
Additional
details:
Macroscript files auto-generated from MAXScript files are placed in this folder.
Macroscript files auto-generated from dragging script text to a toolbar will be placed in this folder.
If a user right-clicks to Edit the Macroscript, and the macroscript was in the default macroscript directory, the script editor filename will be changed to point the file to the userMacroscripts directory. A dialog will be displayed warning that the script editor filename path was changed. If the userMacroscripts and max system macroscript directory are the same, no dialog will be displayed.
The user Macros directory can be set to the max macros directory to retain existing behavior.
The
new userStartupScripts
is
a user location for placing
scripts that are run at startup.
The
new temp
system directory provides
a safe location to write a temporary file. No special cleanup is
done for this directory, this variable is only provided to avoid
ambiguity with regards to where a client should write a temp file.
Previously, plugins could write to anywhere, including the max
root, C:\temp, or a location specified by the TMP environment
variable. Most of these
locations (except perhaps
the last) would be invalid under Vista. The temp directory will
directed to a safe-write location.
Startup scripts in
the 3ds
Max system startup scripts
directory are run first, and then the Startup scripts in the user
startup scripts directory are run, providing that the user startup
scripts directory is different than the max system startup scripts
directory. The startup.ms file is searched for in the following
order:
The user scripts directory
The user startup scripts directory
The max system scripts directory
The max system startup scripts directory
The 3DS executable main directory
The Windows NT 32-bit system directory (system32)
The Windows 16-bit system directory (system)
The Windows directory
The directories that are listed in the PATH environment variable
The
filename specified as an argument to
openFile(), encryptScript(),
include()
and editScript()
will now also
be searched for
in
the user scripts directory.
The
following new
symbolic
pathnames have been added to
MAXScript:
$exports
$help
$expressions
$previews
$maxstart
$vpost
$drivers
$autoback
$marketDefaults
$icons
$renderOutput
$animation
$archives
$photometrics
$renderAssets
$userScripts
$userMacros
$userStartupScripts
$userIcons
$maxData
$maxSysIcons
The $maps
and $plugins
symbolic pathnames can now
also specify an index, and the indexed directory will be
used.
For example:
"$maps[2]\\mybitmap.tga"
The
new
symbolicPaths
Struct
exposes advanced methods
for accessing system symbolic paths and managing user-defined
symbolic paths.
The
new compareBitmaps() method returns true if the
two bitmaps
provided as
arguments compare as the same, false
if not.
Exception reports which
had the word '+ve' instead of 'positive' since 3ds Max R2 have been
fixed.
The out-of
range error message for Function Published
Interfaces range checking
was
changed from:
-- Runtime error: Parameter value out of range: 100
to:
-- Runtime error: Parameter value out of range: < 1 or > 99: 100
The
MAXScript inspection methods
have
been modified to return 'printable'
names - these are names with punctuation replaced with '_'.
Accessor
methods have been modified
to
also test against the printable names. Existing scripts
will still run, as the
"raw" names are tested for resolution first, then the printable
names.
The
following methods now inherit from the const Generic instead of
const Primitive. acos(),
asin(),
atan(),
atan2(),
ceil(),
cos(),
cosh(),
floor(),
getInterface(),
getInterfaces(),
log(),
log10(),
mod(),
pow(),
showMethods(),
sin(),
sinh(),
sqrt(),
tan(),
tanh().
This change was made for internal SDK organization reasons and should have no influence in performance or functionality.
See also
What is New in MAXScript in 3ds Max 9