Autodesk 3dsmax 2008 Maxscript ProEditor

[ypuech]

Here is a screenshot of the MAXScript ProEditor : http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/limage?siteID=123112&id=5708083&imageID=9980232

It seems it is based on Scintilla.

[erilaz]

And I can't wait! The glorified notepad editor we've had for so long will finally be destroyed!

I'm just happy for multiple undos!!:D

[ypuech]

Yes, finally we'll have a professional MAXScript editor. But, maybe they didn't update the Visual MAXScript Editor...

[mustan9]

That looks very cool!

For the last several versions of Max the script editor get's washed out be other windows that overlap it, and then the source code isn't redrawn. I'd have to min and then restore the window.

Hope they fixed that bug.

[j-man]

That looks very cool!

For the last several versions of Max the script editor get's washed out be other windows that overlap it, and then the source code isn't redrawn. I'd have to min and then restore the window.

Hope they fixed that bug.

Sounds like something to do with your display drivers!

J.

[mustan9]

Sounds like something to do with your display drivers!

I've notice it happen on almost any machine I've done MaxScript work on. That's mostly why I use an outside editor.

[Alex Morris]

I saw a demo of it at Siggraph. It looked pretty cool with line numbers, tabs, code blocking and auto tabbing and commenting of blocks. It also saves its state between sessions with changed scripts that are not saved highlighted on the tabs so you can see what's not been saved.

[mustan9]

Sounds great.

Did they show anything that looks like in-line debugging. Debug watcher, or call stack history?

**I'm crossing my fingers and hoping you say "yes"**

[Alex Morris]

bo they didn't, but that doesn't mean that it's not there.......I forgot to ask about that :(

[mustan9]

To bad. I'm loosing hope that they will ever implement such features. :(

[ypuech]

Sounds great.

Did they show anything that looks like in-line debugging. Debug watcher, or call stack history?

**I'm crossing my fingers and hoping you say "yes"**
What about the "Code for me button" ? :)

In fact implementing debug tool for script execution isn't easy. The current debug tool was just a try but it's not useful and I never use it: print() or format() are the law!

[mustan9]

What about the "Code for me button" ? :)

They have the macro recorder which works like crap, but the Maya MEL recorder works much better. :)

In fact implementing debug tool for script execution isn't easy. The current debug tool was just a try but it's not useful and I never use it: print() or format() are the law!

They can do GI, FG, Reactor, DirectX but they can't get a script to step line by line threw code. I just don't get it. :thumbsup:

[Wahooney]

I say it's about bloody time, well played Autodesk!

When they say that the editor is customizable I hope they mean it has scripted access. That would kick ass.

I hope it has code completion too, (Complete Word in the edit menu suggests that) but I can see that Ctrl-D is going to cause me problems (for those that don't know, Ctrl-D is used to recolour your code in the current editor, and for those that do know you'll know it's something that you eventually start doing sub-conciously).

Regex! :bounce:

[soulburn3d]

A question, does anyone know if max crashes, does the editor crash as well? Because that's one of the biggest advantages of having a seperate editor, is that it will remain up even if max crashes.

- Neil

[magicm]

I hope it has code completion too, (Complete Word in the edit menu suggests that).

Yes it has code completion, even with custom function names. The "complete word" shortcut is probably something like ctrl-space but I guess that can be customized.

Martijn

[mustan9]

That is very cool.

Do they intergrated language help? If you press "F1" on "meshop" in the editor will it display the help for that keyword?

[magicm]

Do they intergrated language help? If you press "F1" on "meshop" in the editor will it display the help for that keyword?

I don't know, but I sure hope so!

[ypuech]

That is very cool.

Do they intergrated language help? If you press "F1" on "meshop" in the editor will it display the help for that keyword?
Maybe Bobo can tell us about that.

[Bobo]

From Autodesk site:

"MAXScript ProEditor
3ds Max 2008 marks the debut of the new MAXScript ProEditor. This intuitive new interface for working with MAXScript includes multilevel undo functionality; fast, high-quality code colorization; rapid opening of large documents; line number display; regular expressions in search/replace; folding of sections of the script; support for user customization; and many other features. "

As anyone seen this already? Some insight would be cool :D

Let me tell you, it kicks serious behind.
Color coding is very vary fast and tied into the MAXScript so every keyword gets color-coded automatically, including interface names and their methods, even stuff from 3rd party plugins. Obviously, you can define your own color schemes and even apply them to specific folders using local property files so scripts loaded for one project folder could be color-coded differently if desired.
Also supports Find In Files, you you can search your whole drive for a keyword if you want ;)

As originally designed, MAXScript has no concept of "code line", so it is rather tricky to finish the implementation of the Debugger to allow stepping through the code or breaking at a specific line. The new Editor is an important step in that direction though...

[Bobo]

Maybe Bobo can tell us about that.

Yes, just like with the old editor prior to Max 2008, whatever the caret is in will be put into the Index tab of the Help. This does not mean that every keyword is correctly indexed in the Reference though... And of course the Ctrl+RightClick navigation menu is still there.

But there are some more new features that were not there before:
*If you select a file path (say, an Include() or fileIn() path) inside a MAXScript, you can use the Open From Path to open that file in a new tab.
*AutoComplete can be used either in manual or automatic mode - any keyword already used in the current file can be autocompleted.
*Abbreviations let you define not only expressions but whole codeblocks, so you could define 'fa' to correspond to the code snippet "filteredArray = for o in objects where classof o == someClass collect o" and you can type in fa and hit a shortcut and the code snippet will be inserted. Even with new lines and stuff.
*Ctrl+F3 searches for the current selection, so instead of highlighting a keyword, pressing Ctrl+F and then searching for it, you can just highlight the keyword and hit Ctrl+F3 and the search will be done immediately.

I cannot even scratch the surface of what is in there, a large portion of the new MAXScript Reference deals with the new Editor's capabilities.

The editor is a slightly modified version of SciTE so it still supports some of the lexers for XML, HTML etc, but you can use the free resources on the web to add more features and support for other languages.

[Bobo]

A question, does anyone know if max crashes, does the editor crash as well? Because that's one of the biggest advantages of having a seperate editor, is that it will remain up even if max crashes.

- Neil

If Max crashes, both Max 9 and 2008 will attempt to save any unsaved scripts to disk as "_recover" versions before the exit. I haven't lost any scripts since that was added. The crash must be really severe (straight to desktop without any CER popup or attempt to save the Max scene) for the editor to actually drop the scripts.

[mustan9]

Those sound like great features. Can't wait to start working with this new editor.

Have they improved or added much to the MaxScript language itself? Is there any new function or command that standards out as a special new feature of MaxScript?

:D

[Bobo]

Those sound like great features. Can't wait to start working with this new editor.

Have they improved or added much to the MaxScript language itself? Is there any new function or command that standards out as a special new feature of MaxScript?

:D

Well, half of the new stuff in MAXScript is the exposure of the new Max 2008 features (shading and lighting, adaptive degradation, scene explorer, new Editor etc.)
The other half is the complete Avguard extension built in, so you can use all the cool stuff Larry has added over the years without worrying about people not having the DLX.

There are just a few language-specific news - you can finally have verbatim strings using the @ prefix so you don't have to add double \\ in your paths anymore. For example, thePath = @"g:\temp\newfolder\render" would be recognized as a valid path without expanding \t and \n and \r as escape characters.
Oh, and standard Open and Save dialogs can now have custom History lists - just give them a historyCategory:"some name" keyword and the management is automatic.

I really hope though that the new navigation concepts inside the MAXScript Reference will blow your mind... Cannot wait for you all to try it out.

[mir-vadim]

Hi, Bobo. Maybe You know. Did they fix bug with Reactor RigidBodyInterface in MAX9?
Here example from MAXScript Reference

resetMaxFile #noprompt --reset the scene
t = Teapot() --create a teapot
select t --select the teapot
rctMakeRBCollection() --create a RigidBodyCollection with the Teapot
a = $RBCollection01.getRigidObject 1 --get the Teapot's RigidBodyObject
b = a.rigidBodyInterface --get the Teapot's RigidBodyInterface
c = b.GetPrimitive 1 --get the Teapot's primitiveInterface
c.mass --get the mass
c.mass = 1.0 --set the mass
c.simulationGeometry --get the simulation geometry mode
c.simulationGeometry = 0 --set the geometry to Bounding Box

but it`s not work and instead this I must use
setUserProp $Teapot01 "mass" 10
.

[ypuech]

Thanks for all the informations Bobo!
Can't wait to use this new MAXScript Pro Editor and the MAXScript Reference!

[erilaz]

I was hoping you'd step in Bobo. Thanks for the insight. This is looking to be one of my favourite features for the upgrade!

[soulburn3d]

If Max crashes, both Max 9 and 2008 will attempt to save any unsaved scripts to disk as "_recover" versions before the exit. I haven't lost any scripts since that was added. The crash must be really severe (straight to desktop without any CER popup or attempt to save the Max scene) for the editor to actually drop the scripts.

Good to know, thanks Bobo. I'll take a peak at the new editor when it comes out and see if it's worth switching.

- Neil

[peliosis]

Yes it has code completion, even with custom function names. The "complete word" shortcut is probably something like ctrl-space but I guess that can be customized.

Martijn

pfff now, when my keyboard is burned, when I have no visible fingerprints and (shiftRange myFingers.rotation.z 0 90 0 0 0.1)...
now they feed me with completion...sob

:buttrock:

[AlpineMan]

That looks very cool!

For the last several versions of Max the script editor get's washed out be other windows that overlap it, and then the source code isn't redrawn. I'd have to min and then restore the window.

Hope they fixed that bug.

Hm.... I have never ever seen that problem, not on any of the systems I have ever worked on. I don't think that is a bug with the old maxscript editor. I think that is a problem with your graphics system.

[AlpineMan]

Sounds great.

Did they show anything that looks like in-line debugging. Debug watcher, or call stack history?

**I'm crossing my fingers and hoping you say "yes"**

No that feature (Tops in my list btw...) will not be in this version of 3dsmax.

[AlpineMan]

A question, does anyone know if max crashes, does the editor crash as well? Because that's one of the biggest advantages of having a seperate editor, is that it will remain up even if max crashes.

- Neil

The new editor does not spawn in a seperate process. It is a child window of the main max window.

[Aline3D]

ohhh!!! it's amazing!! :bounce:

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