MaxPlus is no longer available in 2021

[alex]

3ds Max 2021 is great and having python 3 support is really important. But it looks like the low-level Python bindings for C++ classes are no longer available! This is really unfortunate since pymxs binds to MAXScript runtime and can't offer the same level of flexibility. Is this decision final or we can expect some Python3-to-C++ bindings in the near future?

BTW is it possible to get SWIG interface files which were used for MaxPlus? By using these, developers who really need C++ bindings could build them themselves.

I'm asking because Verge3D for 3ds Max plugin which we develop is built on top of MaxPlus. Thus, it would be really important to get some insights from Autodesk developers before we can proceed with Max 2021 support.

[istan]

This decision was discussed on the beta board. Register as ADN or as beta user.

I know, it's hard today to find developers, but we for instance solve 90% with C++ and never regret this decision. For really weird things, we simply call MXS from C++. And, for complex dialogs, we could use QT.

[attilaszabo · Accepted solution]

Hi @alex ,

Verge 3D looks really cool!

We took the decision to support only pymxs with Python 3 in 3ds Max 2021 based on a few factors:

- MaxPlus is based on a C++ interface that requires manual coding every time new functionality is added to our C++ interface

- MaxPlus coverage of the 3ds Max functionality was much less than what Maxscript covers

- Having two Python APIs is confusing, especially because there was no clear separation between feature areas one covered versus the other

- Maintaining two Python APIs is not sustainable for our team
- Many scripters and developers we spoke to through our beta program confirmed our strategy to improve support for pymxs

We improved pymxs and its documentation. We also worked with several tool developers to make sure migrating from MaxPlus to pymxs was relatively smooth.
I'd be happy to follow-up with you one on one, and would like to extend an invitation to the 3ds Max beta program.

Best regards,

Attila Szabo

[alex]

Hi,

thank you for the thorough explanation. Indeed, deprecation of MaxPlus was quite a surprise, but we understand that supporting two different Python APIs is a bit over-complicated (especially considering they both do the same things). We already started porting our plug-in to pymxs and so far it's going well. I hope we finish this task before the next Verge3D release.

Also, we appreciate your invitation to 3ds Max beta program. Thank you very much!

[denisT.MaxDoctor]

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@alex wrote:

deprecation of MaxPlus was quite a surprise...

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Absolutely not! And I really like this news.
Non-viability of MaxPlus was obvious from the very beginning of its appearance. It's easy to find my post on this subject, where I said that it makes no sense to design and develop long-term projects implemented with the using of MaxPlus.

[alex]

I believe MaxPlus was not so bad. In many cases it allowed writing low-level stuff which is similar to native C++ by using scripted environment. There were no compilation (using different Visual Studio runtimes), nor complex debugging and crashes when you somehow messed with pointers 😀

[738746223]

😤