Paste from clipboard into Slate Material Editor

[NBraz]

Hello,

I frequently use PrintScreen to get color references from the web when I'm working. I use Gadwin Printscreen and assign new printscreen images to be saved to a specific folder, but I would like to streamline the process a little more by being able to paste the last copied clipboard content to the slate material editor directly. Is this even possible to do in Max?

[10DSpace]

@NBraz 

I use Gadwin Printscreen and assign new printscreen images to be saved to a specific folder, but I would like to streamline the process a little more by being able to paste the last copied clipboard content to the slate material editor directly. Is this even possible to do in Max?

I agree this would be useful and it can be done with maxcript.  Since the material editor (SME or CME) can only display an image as part of a map or material, I wrote the attached script to load the image currently in the clipboard into the SME in a standard material's diffuse slot.  The material is also loaded into the SME parameter editor for you.   

To run the script, unzip it and drag the .ms file into a viewport.  The script will first check to make sure that there is image data in the clipboard and notify you if not.  If you find the script useful you can drag it to a custom toolbar and hotkey it for easy access.   Remember to NAME AND save the material if you want to use it again.   Hope it is useful for you.   I think I'll get some use out of it myself, so thanks for your question.

[NBraz]

Thank you very much 10DSpace!! 😉

However, I get the following Image I/O Error:

https://ibb.co/8mFf5NJ

And this one if i click cancel:

https://ibb.co/ZG8yKM2

Any ideas why?

[10DSpace]

@NBraz 

Sorry about that.  You must not have a directory called C:\Temp or you cannot write to it.  Try this version.  I just changed the path to where the temporary clipboard image file is stored to the current Max project folder. 

[NBraz]

Wow! Really cool 10DSpace!! Thank you very much for that!

I've been interested in getting my feet wet on maxscript. May I ask where did you learn it? Or if there's any online tutoring you'd recommend?

Thank you again for your help! 😉

[10DSpace]

@NBraz 

Glad if I helped you.  Regarding Maxscript, I personally believe it is one of the most powerful features of Max and has made a huge difference in my workflow.   For basic foundational learning there is an absolutely great series by the guy (John Wainright) who had a lot to do with the creation of maxscript here:

https://vimeo.com/showcase/1514565

But in addition, I suggest you  supplement the video series with creating scripts that you find useful for your workflow. It sinks in much better when you create a practical tangible result.   This is what I do when I come across posts like yours  that I think may be of use in the future.   Just research the code required and do it as an exercise even if you may only use it a few times.  In this way, you build up a library of useful functions that you can borrow from and adapt to new situations without re-inventing the wheel every time.   I have a now fairly large file of "Useful maxscript snippets" with detailed comments that I revisit all the time when I am trying to script a solution to a problem in Max.   Many times I see an issue or question posted which I can solve in 20 minutes or less.   (Frankly, other times it can take hours because I am still learning!).  Good luck.

[NBraz]

I remember reading someone recommending those very same videos from John Wainright as the holy grail of maxscript. Thank you! I mostly made very simple ones using maxscript listener to speedup a sequence of commands to speedup my workflow.

What about another challenge? 🙂

A script that works as the "Drag & Drop Reference Images" script by Buelter (http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/drag-drop-reference-images) but instead of forcing us to select a folder and then import the reference images, what if with one click we could place a plane directly in the viewport with the correct size and that plane already has the texture from the clipboard content.

I also noticed with the previous script that if I copied new content from the clipboard it was automatically updating the previous ones, which may not be desirable.

Will also fiddle with maxscript to see if I can do something useful 🙂

Thank you again!