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Floating_Inkpot
02-05-2009, 05:05 PM
Hi,
I use a specific exporter plugin and i need to batch lot of files with a maxscript.
Saddly there is no documentation and i have no access to the source code.


To begin i will show an example of what i need to do.
I will use the FBX Exporter plugin because it have a good documentation and i found the type of functions that i need for my specific exporter plugin...


To BatchExport a FBX, i will use :
exportFile DestOutput #noPrompt
This is ok but i need to configure the export options with maxscript.
There is a function for this :
To Export The Cameras for example i would write :
FBXImporterSetParam "Cameras" True


Now go back to my Specific Exporter, i didn't find anything to SetParameters...
I am pretty sure it would exist, but how can i find it ?

I tested the command help :
as for FBX for example when i type help "fbx" it returns me a listing of stuff with FBX in its name :

FbxExporter (const MAXClass): FBXEXP
FBXExporterSetParam (const Primitive): FBXExporterSetParam()
...

Here we can see the FbxExporter wich is the plugin export.
And a function that can Set Parameters to the FbxExport plugin.

I tryed this with my specific export plugin but didnt found anything other than :
MyPluginExporter (const MAXClass): MyPluginExporter

I tryed also to look at the listener with "MacroRecorder" enabled but it doesnt' show anything interesting...


Do you think there may exists something to write that could Configure the options in my Plugins ? or is that strictly impossible ?
Are Plugins completely Hermetic to max ? is'nt there something to tweak, or to "hack", to know what functions to find ? as the apropos or Help function give ? but in better ...

I find strange that i could not have access to things that i can do with my mouse in 3dsmax :s

Thanks ;)
ZeBoxx2
02-05-2009, 05:19 PM
might help if you told us the plugin / where to download.

I'd start with 'apropos <name>' to see if it exposes something easily found. Otherwise, I'd have a peek at the dll with a viewer and see if I can find any non-obvious names.
IF something is exposed, I'd then use the various getPropnames, showInterfaces, etc. calls on whatever was found to see if they're actually useful as well.

Beyond that.. see if it stores settings in an ini/the registry that you might alter and hope it picks up on those when exporting.

If all else fails, if it uses a user interface, you might be able to work with dialogMonitorOps and UIAccessor to interact with the user interface directly.
Floating_Inkpot
02-05-2009, 06:27 PM
Ok nice i will try all of these techniques :p

Can you tell more about a DLL Viewer ?
I tryed to open the .dle in notepad, i got a lot of strange characters and some readable things, but nothing interesting... Do you know a good DLL viewer and where to download ?

I have already tested the 'apropos <name>' but found nothing else than the Exporterplugin.
No functions like the FBX has.

I looked into the registry and typed some keywords but found nothing else but System root paths.

I will test the dialogMonitorOps and UIAccessor wich seems very interesting :p
I keep you informed about my investigations ^^ thanks a lot for the help.
ZeBoxx2
02-05-2009, 07:29 PM
mmm.. proprietary file formats.

As far as viewing DLL files goes - can't say that I do. I'm a long-time Total Commander user and there is a plugin for it called Fileinfo which can display all sorts of information about DLL and EXE files, including a listing of all strings and such. Otherwise, yeah, just open in notepad and scroll around - anything plaintext should stick out like a sore thumb and would be a candidate for an 'apropos <string>' :)

As this is an exporter from a (as far as I can tell) official group for developing content for Nintendo platforms, your best bet may be to just ask them if there is access and if so. how to gain that access - and if not, ask that they add it :)
Floating_Inkpot
02-08-2009, 07:57 PM
I finnaly get it working :)

They did a recent update on their plugin. They added a function to BatchExport Max files.
not exactly what i was looking for, but with a little work on my script its working very fine !

Anyways thank for the help ! i discovered a lot of useful things since you gave me all that tricks :p
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02-08-2009, 07:57 PM
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