Learning MaxScript from scratch

[billnuttall]

Hi All,

A few of us here in my office are starting off down the road of learning MaxScript. I have a simple question - what is the single best resource that's helped you learn it? Personally I prefer books over DVDs as you can scribble things down in them and pass them around. That's not to say I wouldn't consider a DVD.

Any recommendations would be gratefully received

Thanks!

[Steve_Curley]

The MaxScript Help.

Start at the top and go through the all of the Introduction section before you do anything else.
The Help has many examples in it, also a number of the provided Scripts bear scrutiny.

Trying to learn a language as a job in itself is counter productive - set yourself a realistic (i.e. simple) goal and go for it. The first one will take ages and involve frustration and hair-pulling, the 2nd will be much easier (same with any other language - they all have quirks and oddities you just have to get used to).

Always use the Help - always keep the Listener open so you can see the error messages (sure, they can be cryptic, but you'll soon get used to what it's trying to tell you). Read some of the threads in this forum - many examples (some good, some not so good), many hints and tips here too.

If you get totally stuck feel free to ask, but try everything you can yourself first. If you do post code, make sure it is enclosed in CODE tags - the forum messes up code something rotten if not within those tags.

[jeff]

...and there will be a lot of hair-pulling and cursing. But, Steve is right, this happens with any language at the beginning (and for me, later on as well). The MaxScript help and tutorials are actually among the best I've come across. The other scripting I've done is Flash ActionScript, and Photoshop JavaScript. The MaxScript help is much better than either of those. Which is just to reiterate: start simple. One tip as you go: use plenty of "format" or "print" statements to output values to the Listener window so you can check what's going on as your script executes (or doesn't). As you get a feel for things, ScriptSpot has simple and complex scripts you can use as samples, though some will be better structured/commented than others. Also, I've found the CG-Academy ParticleFlow lessons (not free) quite well produced, would expect the same for their MaxScript lessons.

-Jeff

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice. I'm learning maxscript too. Video tutorials on maxscript: http://www.mrbluesummers.com/

[billnuttall]

Thanks for the advice everyone!