topic Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it? in 3ds Max Forum

Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 18:19:25 GMT

I really need this because my company recently updated our server and all the drive names changed. As a result it takes an hour or two to open a .max file that was created before the switch/using old paths. Once I've redirected all the assets in the Asset Tracker the files behave normally. Most of files are quite large and use hundreds of assets.

I can't be the only one who's entcountered this before. Is there an obvious answer I'm overlooking? Does a script exist to do this? Any help is appreciated.

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

electrotoast_old — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 17:55:11 GMT

Hi @Anonymous There's a couple things we're working on with regards to opening files with 'missing' references. I say missing because even though you know where they are, Max doesn't. For one, we're looking at the files opening faster even with lots of maps missing. And second, you could look at using the 3ds Max Asset Library to re-path the references before you open them. You can use it to re-path lots of files at once to look at a root directory and find references in all the sub-folders. For instance, I had 4GB of small assets that I was able to re-path with about 5 clicks and a few minutes of processing all without having to open 3ds Max. Download it here and give it a shot!

Hope it helps!

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 14:00:03 GMT

Thank you for your help.

I've installed and run the Asset Library tool. It seems like it'd be perfect for what I need. The problem is that on most files it tells me there aren't any dependecies when I know beyond a doubt there's hundreds of them. I click the "Manage External Dependencies" button on my files and it tells me there are none. I have been able to use it on a couple of my files of objects in my library successfully, but not most. Again, it tells me there's no external dependecies, even though I know there are textures, Vray proxies, and ies files in them.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong. What I've done is to add a projects "models" folder to the Locations section. It then lists all the files in that folder. I pick a file then click on the "Manage External Dependencies" button for that file. All I get is "No External Dependecies". For reference I have my texture maps on a server drive T:\library\maps, models (including Vray proxies) in T:\library\models, and ies files in T:\library\ies. Each of those folders have subfolders as well. All of my working project files are kept on the server under their particular project folder, but a different drive from the assets. P:\2017\JobNo\models for example.

Anything look off to you?

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

darawork — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 16:29:26 GMT

Hi,

This script will find all the missing Bitmaps and relink them:

https://www.colinsenner.com/scripts/relink-bitmaps

It's quite fast. I use it all the time, as do a lot of others here.

As for the .ies, vRay proxies etc... it only works with bitmaps.

You can always check out Scriptspot.com to check for something to relink the rest.

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 17:23:38 GMT

I use it all the time too. It won't help me because I would need to open the file to run the script. I need to be able to redirect the paths without opening the file. Opening the file can take hours and I have dozens of project files and hundreds of library files that must all be fixed now. I can't afford to wait hours for each one.

I've done some testing using the Asset Library electrotoast directed me to. Any file, no matter the size and number of external dependencies, will return a result of "No External Dependencies" if at least one path is pointed to the now-noexistant drive. Once I get the file open and fix the paths Asset Library shows them properly.

Also, a little more info on our server condition: I had switched from drive letter pathing for external references to UNC about a year or so ago after reading that Max likes that better. I did so because I'd been having some weird things going on with Vray distributed rendering and some nodes not finding the textures. Fast forward to two weekends ago and our IT consultants updated some server stuff and renamed the drives, giving them a new UNC name. The old drive UNC named link is still visible in the Network browser but clicking it results in a lengthy search to find something, to no avail. I believe Max is having the same problem, many times over based on how many items in the file are referenced to that drive that has nothing.

I've put in a request to have the old UNC drive removed from the network in hopes that it's absence will speed along the process of opening a file and it telling me it can't find the assets. I'll report back on my findings.

Ideally, I need a tool that simply allows me to view all external dependecy paths and reroute them without actually opening the file. Seems like the Asset Library is supposed to do that but it's not.

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

darawork — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 17:26:04 GMT

There was a 3Rd party routine being developed for Autocad, but I've not
heard of one for max. I'll have a look tomorrow, the link is in work.
Perhaps they may know of a max equivalent.

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

CAMedeck — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 19:54:40 GMT

http://www.pixamoon.com/shop/4587562584/library-track-relink-.../9337230

Library Track/Relink by Pixamoon does exactly what you're asking. Open up 3ds Max, run the script, then point it to the Max file(s) you want to relink or strip. It will read the file without opening it, and list all of the external links along with their paths. You can pretty easily repath everything with just a few clicks.

I haven't used the full version yet, just an older beta that someone had shared with me a few years back. But it works like a charm!

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 19:56:27 GMT

That sounds very promising, thank you! I'll have a look.

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 20:25:44 GMT

That does it, works like a charm! Man, you're a life saver! Sucks I had to buy it because Autodesk doesn't include something like this already.

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

electrotoast_old — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 15:09:45 GMT

Thanks @CAMedeck for the suggestion. This was one I hadn't seen yet either. @Anonymous, apologizes that the asset library didn't work out. This is what we tried to accomplish with it, but apparently we haven't covered every base. If you by chance still have a file that is still not showing up correctly, we 'd love to take a look at it and determine why the asset library doesn't see the dependencies.

In the end, I'm glad the community could step in and you were able to get up and running.

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

Anonymous — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 19:37:35 GMT

I don't think sending you a file would do much good since I believe it to be very local network dependent. As an update since my last post the IT consultants our company uses upgraded a piece of hardware for the network that they didn't manage to get updated the last go around. Now my files, even the ones with tons of dependencies, open in a much better time frame. I have no idea what they swapped out.

At any rate, things seem to be mostly back to normal. I'm spending some time this week updating my entire library's external paths. Now if I only had an intern...

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Re: Is it possible to strip all external paths in a file before opening it?

electrotoast_old — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 20:29:28 GMT

It's ok if it's local network dependent. We could still see if we get the same issue of the 'no external dependency' error you were getting before. This doesn't require knowledge of the local network as it's just reading the information that's stored in the file's metadata. In addition, we are looking for files that have hundreds of dependencies to do some work on loading files where those can't be found. This would directly influence the issue you were running into so Max doesn't try to find every single missing file.

If you want, feel free to PM me your email address and we can take it from there.