How to properly use parameters in functions

[Anonymous]

I'm trying to define a function to fetch the number of materials applied to a mesh:

function getMatCount meshName = 
(
	mat = $meshName.material
	if mat.count != undefined then
	(
		return mat.count
	)
	1
)

getMatCount "body"
getMatCount "head"

Using $body.material works fine, but using $meshName inside the function doesn't work... as I would expect. What is the proper way to access the mesh?

Also, if there's a better way to fetch the number of materials by mesh name, please tell me 😉

[Swordslayer]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I'm trying to define a function to fetch the number of materials applied to a mesh:

function getMatCount meshName = 
(
	mat = $meshName.material
	if mat.count != undefined then
	(
		return mat.count
	)
	1
)

getMatCount "body"
getMatCount "head"

Using $body.material works fine, but using $meshName inside the function doesn't work... as I would expect. What is the proper way to access the mesh?

Also, if there's a better way to fetch the number of materials by mesh name, please tell me 😉

---

Variables in MAXScript don't have the dollar sign at the beginning, that's reserved for pathName access, i.e. accessing nodes by their name/hierarchical name. So instead of $meshName use just the variable name, meshName.

As for the material.count, that will report how many materials are there in case there's a multisub material applied to the object, not all of them have to be assigned to the object, either. Is that what you wanted, or do you instead want to know how many material IDs are used by the object?

[Anonymous]

Ah, yes, actually I want to know how many material IDs are used by the object 🙂

[Swordslayer · Accepted solution]

That's a bit more involved as you basically have to loop all the faces and check their ID. The method used depends on the geometry type, it's different for editable poly object edit poly modifier (obj.getFaceMaterial faceIndex) and editable mesh object and modifier (getFaceMatID obj faceIndex). So you either have to check for the type and choose accordingly or get a in-memory mesh snapshot and use that.

[Anonymous]

Alright, at least I know where to start digging now 🙂 Thanks!