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Phelonius
09-23-2005, 12:58 PM
I frequently have to create model after model of certain object types and wanted to check how i can define a simple parametric base model. I've had a search around on here as well as the rest of the web to no avail.

I know there are loads of commercial parametric objects like Facial Studio, various plant/shrub generators etc, but havent been able to look into the guts of these things to find out how the parameterisation is defined.

No need to tell me how to do it etc, but if anyone knows of a Maxscript - or other - tutorial or some references somewhere, I would appreciate a pointer to it.

For this particular case, i have to do *dozens* of different styles of golf club heads, and if i could make a simple base primitive which uses spinners etc to control the lie, lofts, radii and various other basic dimensions, i would probably be happy enough to soil myself!
Maven
09-23-2005, 01:04 PM
This is a job for Maxscript.
CiaránMurphy
09-23-2005, 01:06 PM
That's all in the "getting started" section of the maxscript tutorials included in the installation. The samples given are pretty simple, but you can create pretty much anything and have UI elemnts control their values, you can apply modifiers, mapping & materials too.
Phelonius
09-23-2005, 01:17 PM
Thanks folks, will have a closer read. I had the impression that it was not really what i wanted but will check again. Havent used maxscript so far, but i program a bit so should be a breeze right? :S
DangerousCliff
09-23-2005, 02:45 PM
go to scriptspot.com
do a search for a script called "plug o matic"

direct link:
http://scriptspot.com/download.asp?ID=1198 (http://www.breidt.net/scripts/Plug_O_Matic20.ms)

it allows you to save any custom object as a new parametric object. works great! i've created a handful of frequently used objects- like a quad sphere, quad based cyl, as well as your basic planes and tube sections. i've also created my own teapot, and various character parts (mouth, noses, hands, etc) i use frequently.
Joel Hooks
09-23-2005, 07:27 PM
The maxScript docs are excellent, and if you want a quick overview the cg-academy.net DVDs are a fantastic short course on the subject.

You shouldn't have any problems if you can code already.
Phelonius
09-23-2005, 10:40 PM
excellent feedback as always. If I may push my luck, do you know of any tuts for scripting of materials as per my recent post here? -->

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=276633

Additionally, as a geo dude, i would be curious as to whether anyone has delved into the actual guts of e-on's 'eco material.' (not the ecosystem distribution, but the actual properties of their low LOD materials for Vue.x.) I have done a few Max procedurals that I've tried to make represent good scalable veg models, and before anyone flames me, I understand that this is a sort of "grail" at the moment among the mainstream 3d packages.

I have given up long ago on trying to actually make anything commercially viable for representing dense vegitation, but still entertain the idea of mapping floral procedurals to low-res raster images like those from Landsat7 etc...
Phelonius
09-23-2005, 10:42 PM
Oops, apologies. I need to post that in the other section.
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