So some projects came up that forced me to put this on the backburner, but I'm jumping back in this week. After some digging, the issue I'm having appears to be the result of Max changing from .NET 4 to .NET 6 in 2024, which the original script is not compatible with. I did some testing, some research, worked with my IT team, and upgraded to the latest version of ChatGPT and came up with the below, which required downloading a few DLLs and has some debugging efforts built in (username swapped out because, the internet):
plugin simpleMeshMod Retroreflector24
name:"Retroreflector24"
classID:#(0x6ce99f6f, 0x315dd71e)
usePBValidity:off
(
fn compileAndLoadAssembly =
(
try
(
-- Define the references to required DLLs
local references = #(
getDir #maxRoot + "\\bin\\assemblies\\Autodesk.Max.Wrappers.dll",
getDir #maxRoot + "\\Autodesk.Max.dll",
"C:\\Users\\[Username]\\DLLs\\Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.dll",
"C:\\Users\\[Username]\\DLLs\\Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.dll",
"C:\\Users\\[Username]\\DLLs\\System.Collections.Immutable.dll",
"C:\\Users\\[Username]\\DLLs\\System.Reflection.Metadata.dll"
)
-- Print paths to ensure they are correct
for ref in references do
(
print ("Reference path: " + ref)
)
-- Define the C# code
local csharpCode = "
using System;
using Autodesk.Max;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Wrappers = Autodesk.Max.Wrappers;
public class MeshNormals {
public static void SetNormalsConvergencePt(IntPtr mesh_pointer, IntPtr point3_pointer) {
var mesh = (IMesh)Wrappers.CustomMarshalerMesh.GetInstance(string.Empty).MarshalNativeToManaged(mesh_pointer);
var pt = (IPoint3)Wrappers.CustomMarshalerPoint3.GetInstance(string.Empty).MarshalNativeToManaged(mesh_pointer);
if (mesh.SpecifiedNormals == null)
mesh.SpecifyNormals();
using (var normals = mesh.SpecifiedNormals) {
normals.SetParent(mesh);
if (mesh.GetFlag((uint)mesh.NormalsBuilt) == 0)
normals.CheckNormals();
for (int face = 0; face < mesh.NumFaces; face++) {
for (int faceCorner = 0; faceCorner < 3; faceCorner++) {
var vtxPos = mesh.Verts[(int)mesh.Faces[face].V[faceCorner]];
normals.SetNormal(face, faceCorner, pt.Subtract(vtxPos));
}
}
}
}
}
"
-- Create the SyntaxTree and Compilation objects
print "Creating SyntaxTree..."
local syntaxTree = (dotNetClass "Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.CSharpSyntaxTree").ParseText csharpCode
print "Creating References..."
local referencesArray = for ref in references collect (dotNetClass "Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.MetadataReference").CreateFromFile ref
print "Creating Compilation..."
local compilation = (dotNetClass "Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.CSharpCompilation").Create "MeshNormalsAssembly"
compilation = compilation.WithOptions ((dotNetClass "Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.CSharp.CSharpCompilationOptions").Create (dotNetClass "Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.OutputKind").DynamicallyLinkedLibrary)
compilation = compilation.AddReferences referencesArray
compilation = compilation.AddSyntaxTrees #(syntaxTree)
-- Emit the compiled assembly to a temporary file
print "Emitting Assembly..."
local tempDllPath = getDir #temp + "\\MeshNormals.dll"
local emitResult = compilation.Emit tempDllPath
if not emitResult.Success then
(
for diag in emitResult.Diagnostics do
(
format "Diagnostic: %\n" (diag.ToString())
)
throw "Compilation failed. See diagnostics for details."
)
-- Load the emitted assembly and create an instance of MeshNormals
print "Loading Assembly..."
local assembly = (dotNetClass "System.Reflection.Assembly").LoadFrom tempDllPath
local meshNormals = assembly.CreateInstance "MeshNormals"
print "Assembly Loaded Successfully"
return meshNormals
)
catch e
(
if isKindOf e dotNetObject then
(
format "Error: %\n" (e.ToString())
format "Exception Type: %\n" (e.GetType()).ToString()
format "Exception Message: %\n" e.Message
format "Exception Stack Trace: %\n" e.StackTrace
)
else
(
format "Error: %\n" (e as string)
)
return undefined
)
)
-- Compile and load the assembly
print "Compiling and Loading Assembly..."
local meshNormals = compileAndLoadAssembly()
-- Check if the assembly was loaded successfully
if meshNormals == undefined then
(
format "Failed to load the compiled assembly.\n"
return
)
-- Define the parameters and rollout
parameters main rollout:params (
centerObj type:#node useNodeTmValidity:on useNodeOsValidity:on ui:pbCenterObj;
_dummy type:#maxObjectTab tabSizeVariable:on
)
rollout params "Parameters" (
pickButton pbCenterObj "Pick Object" autoDisplay:on;
)
-- Modify the mesh normals to converge at the specified point
on modifyMesh do if isValidNode centerObj do
if meshNormals != undefined do
meshNormals.SetNormalsConvergencePt mesh (centerObj.pos * inverse owningNode.objectTransform)
-- Clean up after display
on postDisplay obj do
(
if classof obj == Editable_Poly do
(
deleteModifier obj (obj.numModifiers)
local ca = obj.custAttributes["A Simple Normal Modifier"]
if ca != undefined do
(
obj.custAttributes.delete ca
)
)
)
-- Track node transformation
on attachedToNode node do if isValidNode node do
append this._dummy (NodeTransformMonitor node:node)
)
I'm not back to going in circles troubleshooting the issue, getting this error with the current code:
-- Error occurred in anonymous codeblock; filename: C:\Users\JSwanson\DLLs\Retroreflector-2024.ms; position: 4916; line: 110
-- Syntax error: at name, expected Plugin clause:
-- In line: print "
