topic Re: Getting Started Problems in 3ds Max Programming Forum

Getting Started Problems

lightcube — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 16:04:18 GMT

I've been doing MAXScript for a couple years now and decided it's time to move on to the SDK to speed up some of my functions that are slow. But I have no experience with C++, etc. My journey so far has been dismal as I cannot even figure out how to get the 3ds Max Plugin Wizard to work.

Things I have done:

* Installed VS 2010 Express + SP1
* Edited the 3dsmaxPluginWizard.vsz have the variable ABSOLUTE_PATH point to the absolute path of the pluginwizard folder in my SDK.
* Copied 3dsmaxPluginWizard.ico, 3dsmaxPluginWizard.vsdir and 3dsmaxPluginWizard.vsz from PluginWizard Dir to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\Express\VCProjects
* Opened VS 2010 and see the 3ds Max Plugin Wizard
* Create a project with that Wizard (using File Export type), set the required paths... but when I press the finish button to actually create the project, VS simply crashes.
* Open up VS 2010 and hit open... see that the project was actually created... but when I try to open the project, VS says "Unable to read the project file..." (Screen shot below shows the full message.

In the screen shot I've tried to hilight the files, folders, etc to show where everything got written to.

The error mentioned above (and the VCXPROJ file for the project) mention a file called 3dsmax.general.project.settings.props but I do not see this file anywhere. I've looked in the Documents\projects folders, in the VS instal dir, in the SDK folders... I see it nowhere. In the VCXPROJ file it wantes to reference it at :

  <Import Project="..\..\..\..\ProjectSettings\PropertySheets\3dsmax.general.project.settings.props" />

I see no such folder path called ProjectSettings in any path. There is a Settings folder, though--but that is not FOUR levels back in the directories as listed in the import code. But even in that settings folder the apparently required folders/files don't exist.

Anyway, any advice on getting the SDK Wizard going would be helpful. As I am just now dipping my toes into the SDK for the first time, I'd like to use this wizard as it will give me a heads up/head start on seeing how everything needs to be setup.

Re: Getting Started Problems

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:43:29 GMT

There are a couple of relative paths set in a couple of the project files
Just edit them to point to the correct folder.

The path to the property sheets on my system:


C:\maxsdk\ProjectSettings\propertySheets

Open


C:\maxsdk\howto\3dsmaxPluginWizard\3dsmaxPluginWizard.vcxproj

with a text editor and search for the line


<Import Project="..\..\..\..\ProjectSettings\PropertySheets\3dsmax.general.project.settings.props" />

And the Line


<Import Project=..\..\..\..\ProjectSettings\PropertySheets\3dsmax.cpp.props>

and set them to the actual dir :in my case
<Import Project="C:\maxsdk\ProjectSettings\PropertySheets\3dsmax.general.project.settings.props" />

and

<Import Project=C:\maxsdk\ProjectSettings\PropertySheets\3dsmax.cpp.props>

this file also needs the same love 🙂


C:\maxsdk\howto\3dsmaxPluginWizard\Templates\1033\root.vcxproj

its in there at least once for both files.
Now the wizard should work correctly.

Re: Getting Started Problems

lightcube — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:48:48 GMT

OK... so I figured it out.

I edited the following files to replace any relative path values for files located in the propertySheets folder to absolute paths.

The files I edited to get this to work:

\howto\3dsmaxPluginWizard\3dsmaxPluginWizard.vcxproj
\howto\3dsmaxPluginWizard\Templates\1033\root.vcxproj

The changes look like this:

From

  <Import Project="..\..\..\..\ProjectSettings\propertySheets\3dsmax.general.project.settings.props" />

  <Import Project="C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\maxsdk\ProjectSettings\propertySheets\3dsmax.general.project.settings.props" />

Now it works. Note the path to my maxsdk may be different than yours.

Re: Getting Started Problems

lightcube — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:49:46 GMT

Ha! It looks like you posted this while I was in the middle of writing my find. Thank you nonetheless 🙂

Re: Getting Started Problems

stigatle — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 05:33:01 GMT

Which SDK is this for? (2011\2012\2013?).

I had issues with the 2013 SDK, but the other ones has been working fine after fixing the path mentioned in the help files.

And also, if you need more inspiration \ help for you plugins then there is some good sample projects here:

http://code.google.com/p/3ds-max-dev/

Re: Getting Started Problems

lightcube — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 14:18:47 GMT

I am starting with 2013. I'm not sure I'll support the older SDKs unless there is a financial reason to do so.

I'm running into several problems. First, the path changes seem to only fix existing projects... so the Wizard is always crashing Visual Studio... but as far as I can tell it creates the projects despite the crash.

So that is a minor inconvenience but not a show-stopper. (And I'm leaning toward C# anyway... which I don't think the wizard will work with...)

But the main issue that I'm running into is that the SDK Documentation is not as user-friendly as I'd like. But it is something I'll have to get over.

What I really wish is that there was a reference chart to show some sample conversions of MAXScript implimentations to C++ or C# (I'm actually leaning toward C# at this moment only because a colleague finds it more friendly and it does feel more familiar to me because of other languages I've used such as ActionScript and JavaScript.)

So in my case, doing simple things is seemingly difficult because of 1) my lack of knowledge of C++/C# and 2) very few examples (that I can find) from the perspective of a MAXScripter.

What if I wanted to convert this simple function into a function I can call from a plugin:

for obj in objects where classOf obj == Box do (

 print obj.height

)

It's such a simple little thing. But wading through the docs is painful. This is a very common kind of task... there should be a collection of common MAXScript actions as C++ implementations. The examples you linked to are certainly helpful, and those in the actual SDK are helpful... but I don't feel like it's all structured in such a way that I can jump in and start running.It could be my own flaws... but usually I pick things up really quickly with just the right explanation... 🙂

I understand that everything must be done in an object-oriented fashion... which is fine with me. But the SDK docs are extremely sparse compared to the MAXScript docs. After wading through the C++ Reference, there are numerous classes that don't even have a single line of explanation! Those only have a skeleton of the class (its name, methods and property names...) but no explanation of what the hell the class is/does.

Having been around for a few years... I know that it is a common path for users is to start on MAXScript and then move to the SDK. I really wish there was a MAXScripter's Guide to Learning the SDK.

Anyway... just venting here. I'm still waiting for someone to develop the tech in the Matrix to download knowledge...

Re: Getting Started Problems

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:00:33 GMT

Same boat for me. I just want to simply change even the wirecolor of a selection of objects. Not sure how to do that even.

The education available for the sdk side of max is very hard to come by.

Re: Getting Started Problems

lightcube — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 01:21:00 GMT

With the help of a friend (who is not a MAXScripter but overall very gifted with programming), I've managed to get a little bit of an idea of how to proceed with my adventures into the SDK. I'll share some of my perspective and finds when I've gotten a little bit under my belt. I am still, however, very frustrated with the docs that are incomplete for C# and often have broken links, missing data and examples that simply do not work!

Re: Getting Started Problems

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 07:36:21 GMT

I have a problem with that, I'm configuring visual studio 2010, following instructions , but pop up that error: Unable to read the project file "maxProject.vcxproj". C:\User\Alan\Documents\VisualStudio\2010\Project\maxProject.vcxproj(78,81) the project file could not be loaded. Name cannot begin with the '3' character, hexadecimal value 0x33. Line 78, position 81

Re: Getting Started Problems

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:53:54 GMT

I don't have that folder under project settings, I just have 3 files!... is that new on 2013 sdk?