Automaticaly save to different file name, after each destructive modifier?

[alexJ682T]

Hello, title is a bit misleading, but I don't know how to say it shortly.

The issue is as follows. 

Certain modifiers, like boolean, are lagging with the complex objects, so very often, after applying boolean, I have to apply convert to editable poly, to reduce slowdown. This means, initial objects are lost, and can't be edited any more after save. So it would be nice, that somehow, when you apply convert to poly, or other "destructive" modifier, a copy of file would be saved with different name, so in case of need, you can always go back. 

Like filename was test.max, I applied convert to poly to object, and there's a new save version like test.01.max, which contains that object, already converted to poly, and also, test.max also was saved, but without that modifier, just on a step before applying it. 

Is this possible?

[10DSpace · Accepted solution]

Hi @alexJ682T

Basically you are talking about a way to preserve a copy of the modifier stack (that you can go back to if necessary) so that you can continue working on the object with the stack collapsed.   Since there are multiple reasons why the stack may need to be collapsed for a given object, I wrote a script that automatically saves a backup of the currently selected object(s), names it as "ObjectName_Bak" with a timestamp (date and time of the save) as a suffix, places the backed up Object in a Layer named "Backup" and hides the Backup object so that you can continue to work on currently selected object.  Since I don't always need to collapse the stack when I want a backup of an early iteration of an object, I elected to not automatically collapse the stack with the script.    

I am usually working on multiple objects in my scene for which I want to have backup versions.  So for me it would not be efficient to save each of these as separate max files which is why I have the backups all organized in a single Backup layer within the same Max file.  The screenshot below shows what scene explorer (hierarchy view)   so that you can see the multiple backups of a Car Body I am working on.   

I have the script Hotkeyed to Ctrl + K so that making periodic backups is easy and doesn't interrupt my workflow.  After creating the backup I collapse the stack and continue with the modeling.

I have attached the script in case you or anyone else finds it useful.  To install it, unzip and drag the file MakeObjBak2.mcr to a max viewport.  The macroscript will then appear in the list of actions that you can hotkey via the Hotkey Editor.  Hope it helps.

[alexJ682T]

Wow!

Thanks!