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GMax - Script to "Select Parts by Material"

n4gix

n4gix

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I noticed that Hiroshi Igami released a 'beta version' of a GMax Maxscript that will allow users to "select parts by Material," which is quite handy when doing an FS9 => FSX conversion... :wizard:

I made a Gmax's script which can select the parts by materials.

It's not really perfectly working since when the parts are in a group ,
group will be choosed.
But may be will be a help even at this level's script.

It's still a beta so please use your own risk.

For how to use and install and download , please access under.
http://forum.projectopensky.com/index.php?showtopic=36090
Script itself is already released as a Beta.

Hiroshi Igami
Click to expand...

I've had a chance to try it out and it really works a treat! :D
 
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Man...!

This is awesome!!!


Thanks for the heads up Fr. Bill! Very cool of Hiroshi to do this and make it available. I salute him.


I was asking about something like this just a couple of months ago.

The more I hear about scripts, the more interested I become. Some people can make some cool things happen with writing scripts. Really opens up possibilites for Gmax even further..



Bill
 
lionheart said:
Man...!

This is awesome!!!
Click to expand...

Indeed it is! Funnily enough, I used your EpicLT model as a guinea-pig to test out the script...

After selecting a part, I ran the script which auto-selected all parts assigned to the same Material...

...then I created a Name for the Selected Parts and used the name of the diffuse bitmap.

Doing this now allows me to simply chose the Name of the Selection to reselect all the parts. :D
 
I have been using the 'Mesh Tools' plugin for a couple of years and that comes with 'Select by material' and 'Select by material surface' tools as part of the kit.

There are a large number of tools available that make life much easier in GMAX. I would be lost without it now as I use those tools more than the default ones.

I have attached a screen shot of my tool bar, the active tools shown are available when in vertex selection mode. The other tools become available when you change to other selection modes (i.e. edge, border, poly etc.)

There are more tools available but as I never use those I didn't bother to add them to my tool bar.
 

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Hey Larry,

For some reason, Mesh Tools didnt work in my Gmax installation. I click on a button on the toolbar and nothing occurs.

Maybe a reinstallation. They look like some very nice tools that could be very powerful in model making..



Bill
 
Does this other "select by material" also select entire groups or linked parts if they contain an object using the material to be selected? That one would be a showstopper for me, unfortunately. However if they can select objects within groups then I can see a whole lot of uses for them.

I'll have a look anyway, I just noticed that the first link was now invalid, it wasn't intended to do be a recommendation of that particular script or a statement of personal preference.

Edit: Downloaded, and I looked through the features on the web page. There are certainly some things I can use straight away. I noticed there's one feature to look for objects without materials assigned, is that kind of thing a problem in-sim, or is that just a quick way to see any parts that might have been missed?
 
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lionheart said:
Hey Larry,

For some reason, Mesh Tools didnt work in my Gmax installation. I click on a button on the toolbar and nothing occurs.

Maybe a reinstallation. They look like some very nice tools that could be very powerful in model making..
Click to expand...
They can be a bit tricky to set up at first. I know I had issues when I first started as I had never set up a new 'tab' or a custom toolbar before so there was a learning curve to climb.

If you are still having difficulties maybe we can hook up via TeamSpeak and try to sort it out. A number of developers you know well (freeware and payware) hang out on the SOH TeamSpeak server in the evenings US time and we often help each other out with issues.
 
I've used the select by material script for a couple years now, some thing I can't live without when doing my models:D
 
Tako_Kichi said:
If you are still having difficulties maybe we can hook up via TeamSpeak and try to sort it out. A number of developers you know well (freeware and payware) hang out on the SOH TeamSpeak server in the evenings US time and we often help each other out with issues.
Click to expand...


Thanks Larry. I would appreciate that.
 
Hiroshi Igami's MaxScript?????????

Having successfully imported an FSX virtual cockpit into ModelConvertX, madified it in GMax and exported it to FSX (using GMAx FSX Tools), I have had one difficulty - unmerging objects. On the import to ModelConvertX or GMax, several objects are combined from the list when viewing the .mdl file in MDLViewer.

I want to delete several vertex from the main panel. But when viewing in GMax, they are combined in a large object and difficult to manipulate.

Several older posts reference Heroshi's MaxScript to select a single object and presents the url. Unforunately the OpenSky Forum no longer exists and the new Archive does not containe this MaxScript. As mentioned before, I successfully use the FSX Export MaxScript but cannot find Mr. Igami's script.

Can anyone help. Thanks.
 
dhsimmons_sl said:
Having successfully imported an FSX virtual cockpit into ModelConvertX, madified it in GMax and exported it to FSX (using GMAx FSX Tools), I have had one difficulty - unmerging objects. On the import to ModelConvertX or GMax, several objects are combined from the list when viewing the .mdl file in MDLViewer.
Click to expand...

Select by Material would be useless, since it was the export from MCX to 3DS that automatically created the mess of mesh to begin with!

All the mesh is organized according to DrawCall, meaning all objects that were assigned to the same FSX Material are now one, amorphous mass of mesh. :eek:

You may be able to use the Select by Element sublevel to manually find each of the original objects, Detach and rename. But, be prepared to be overwhelmed by the tedious and time-consuming project.

Because even after all the above is done, you will still have to recreate all of the Animations, Mouse, and Visibility tags, not to mention re-keyframing all of the original animations! :yikes:

IMHO, it would be far faster and more satisfying to start from scratch than to re-create something you would not be entitled to redistribute... ethically if not legally. :teacher:
 
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