Beginner Advice-Programming for 3d

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I tried searching "beginner" for a similar post and only found specific trouble shooting threads.

I have a background in 3ds Max and a little Maya animation and modeling, but I'm interested in programming tools for artists. I'm just in the beginning stages of research and could use some real insight from industry professionals.

Questions:

1. Is programming tools for artists in 3d software a specific niche skillset, or is there cross-over for someone who knows code and has problem-solving skills?
   
   
2. Should I learn code using an IDE like Visual Studio or just play around with MAX Script inside of 3ds Max? Are there niche IDEs for the community? What other kind of resources would you suggest for 3d programming noobs?
   
   
3. Basic rundown of the current job market, and what titles to look up?

Any other guidance or considerations I didn't mention would be appreciated. 

Regards,

JC

[istan · Accepted solution]

Such generic questions are hard to answer, if you do not go into details. It all depends on the target. You first have to get familiar with 3dsMax in depth, before even thinking about development. There are too many ways in solving things, but you have to find the most convenient w/o losing existing 3dsMax capabilities (e.g. animation). Next is to get familiar with MaxScript, as even if you later switch to SDK, some user defineable MaxScript features can be called directly from the SDK. The SDK learning curve is very flat - especially if you have no C/C++ & Windows API background. Unfortunately I cannot speak about C#, I never tested. But again, it all depends on what you want to do. Simple material plugins are more or less easy but a new inverse kinematics solver might get a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I know it's vague because I'm just scratching the surface and looking for early direction and scope. After posting this I found out about SDK and C++ and didn't even realize MAXscript was C#. I assumed MAXScript was all that was used in programming.

But you gave me exactly the reality check I needed. I wasn't sure if it required extensive 3ds core knowledge, or if it was something a programmer versed in various languages could transfer into.

Thank you.

[Swordslayer]

MAXScript is NOT C#, C# is just one of the languages you can use with the .NET API (you could just as well pick F# or Visual Basic instead) and having been there, just don't. There's also Python API and although python is widely used in the industry, python in 3ds  max is the most unpythonic thing I've seen. MAXScript, on the other hand, is unique to 3ds MAX, which also makes it tailored to fit. It's not the best language out there and it's definitely not consistent but it's artist-friendly so the best bet when you're a beginner. As for C++... well, let's just say it's not a good language to start with, look up pointer arithmetic and manual memory management to get the idea.