I just love this Script, but is there a way that it snaps to boarders of 3dsmax like polyboost so that it´s not "floating" around?

Originally Posted by cman2k

manbabies.
I will give you them.
<3

speechless

Originally Posted by SpeCter

I just love this Script, but is there a way that it snaps to boarders of 3dsmax like polyboost so that it´s not "floating" around?

I hate snapping in most tools myself (macromedia MX2004+ days, newer CS suites, Miranda) it makes arranging your workspace at pixel precision impossible, which is sometimes needed if you have just 1 monitor available or not much space left to work (because of some always on top video / image reference,... stuff)

What I already implemented is that if you click on the Logo of the toolbar ("texTools x.xx) it snaps to the UVunwrap window if there is one. I could add some snapping functionality there, meaning that if you click on the icon of the toolbar it tries to snap (within a pixel radius) to a possible near border which is either your max window frame or along the UV unwrap window.


meanwhile yet another update:
TexTools_2.24.mzp
there were some stupid mistakes on mybehalf that resultet into wrong path's of the checker maps (the bitmaps) and an error if you wanted to save preferences in the setup menu, booth code wise- the data is itself is copied just fine. Thats fixed now with 2.24.

documentation page has been updates, more compressed Layout + changed order of content so that the obvious stuff gets seen first.
http://renderhjs.net/textools/

Originally Posted by renderhjs

What I already implemented is that if you click on the Logo of the toolbar ("texTools x.xx) it snaps to the UVunwrap window if there is one. I could add some snapping functionality there, meaning that if you click on the icon of the toolbar it tries to snap (within a pixel radius) to a possible near border which is either your max window frame or along the UV unwrap window.

If you do that i love you
But i have to test the snapping functionality you mentioned, maybe this is enough

u should add this to createDialog... style:#(#style_toolwindow, #style_border, #style_sysmenu)

@rappyBMX, thx for the input- will try it out - though I fear it will snap as a whole (whole vertical space used of the screen) - so I will test it out if I like it. Otherwise I will fake a snapping by using a timer.


fuck I cant leave my hands of this - even though I really need to move my stuff here. Anyway a little teaser for a UV symmetry topology based tool:

You Tube

OH NICE! I can't wait for the release with that in there

AH! you got it working

fantastic work, man!

very cool work render!

woah that symmetry looks awesome ! needed this like 1 billion times ;(
i still vote for scaling all unwrapped shells (elements dialog style) - command

that looking great
why you have chosen to make the "bloking map" with mesh shell, and not UV shell?

Originally Posted by zOffTy

that looking great
why you have chosen to make the "bloking map" with mesh shell, and not UV shell?

I could add that too (and smoothing groups), but from my experience its usually the elements that split elements of a 3d model. What I wanted with the block map is group the elements or sub-objects of a object with colors codes.
I work most times with elements on a mesh- even more so if I group multiple objects to 1 single UV layout- you would like to know which object is where. I worked on UV layouts with 30+ objects all mapped into 1 UV space and the most annoying task was to identify which UV element belongs to which part of the 3d model(s).

I argued with a friend about it and we thought that elements would be the most logical case - after that perhaps smoothing groups.
But the work in progress edge map rendering helps also somewhat with that as it renders smoothing group edges into a texture map.

Originally Posted by Acumen

woah that symmetry looks awesome ! needed this like 1 billion times ;(
i still vote for scaling all unwrapped shells (elements dialog style) - command

well no official support from autodesk on this (the method does not support it in maxscript) - do so many guys of you have un-normalized shells? Just hit

before you start stitching - I hit that button pretty often just to make sure everything is normalized.
I might have to look into the code if it supports local selection as filter - meaning that you can select 2 shells for example and only normalize those 2 to each other. Not sure what Mop did there.

well that normalizing button is gorgeous, i use it all the time !
what i mean is, that let's say i put all uv shell elements too close next to each other and want to scale all of them a tiny bit, so there's a bit more space inbetween each element, so that i don't have to manually scale each element on it's own and move it around. ah anyways, it's not that big deal in the end ;)
i'll wait with update till you finish that symmetry stuff which looks like a tremendous timesaver to me

at scriptspot someone made a modification in hope that I will include it in the next version:
http://scriptspot.com/3ds-max/textoo...t#comment-4116

ok, here's my first serious mod

http://inhuman.ogoportal.net/portal/...s_2.23_mod.rar

All changes are about pick/set texel density tools:

1. geometry and mapping densities were treated as integer numbers o_0, as soon as this is "a bit inaccurate" now densities are treated as floating point numbers. Density values are saved within scene, so you don't need to pick them everytime you open your scene or restart script(uv_toolbox_2.23.ms)
2. Pick tool now working with any type of mapped geometry, not only epoly. It now calculates densities for selected faces only (if there is a face selection). It will not close UV editor window if one is open. (fn_20__texel_pipette.ms)
3. Set tool now working with any type of geometry with unwrap UVW modifier assigned. It will not close UV editor window if one is open. Right now it works only if one object is selected, unwrap UVW assigned and faces selected to assign new density on them. No multi-object processing and processing objects without modifiers. Sorry for that guys, but I don't really need such functions, so I didn't write them (fn_19__fixTexelDensity.ms)

All new functions are not tested right now, so do not install this modded scripts if you are not familiar with MAXscript, wait untill new release, hope renderhjs will include these features into next one.

will have a look at that next week - see what it does better or what it can do more.

Is it possible to incorporate that into my tex tools?

well download his package and try it out- I don't have time right now. I assume he did some modifications to how the values of the texel density are read and transported to the functions using float values (i.e 4.0075) instead of integers like it is now- in the end yes that might be more accurate but its not what I first thought of (because game engines like Unreal are my background).
The rest is some kind (I assume, have not yet looked into it) classof( $ ) == GeometryClass or something along the lines- allowing to pick and apply any poly/trianngle objects - because I have that htm. only for editablePoly objects.

I also still got a function from Piranha Bytes to be checked which falls into the same category beeing texel density map stuff. But that one is a bit advanced and it takes me some time to look it all through.

wow, that symmetry tool you showed looks amazing, and extremely useful.
Congrats on getting that to work.
I can't wait to try it out!

the symmetry is not yet complete - it is a bit tricky with the options I have with maxscript. I used a mesh grow selection and compared on booth sides of the symmetry line if the vert was already checked and if not if it found 2 (= 1 pair).
I will create a gif animation next time how it works- its very tricky and not yet perfect. I still have some ideas to add to the code so that it works better. Once I have it somewhat stable and useful I will add it.

Keep it up, you're the man

Originally Posted by renderhjs

speechless

You should take him up on this. It's well known around Cryptic that Carlos has the best manbabies. He keeps them in a closet, but they're well fed, and taken out for exercise twice a week.

Originally Posted by renderhjs

What I already implemented is that if you click on the Logo of the toolbar ("texTools x.xx) it snaps to the UVunwrap window if there is one...

Right now, it seems to autosnap when you open the tool just after the Unwrap window is opened.
Could you please add that into the setting, allowing the user to decide whether he wants an autosnap or not?
It's cool, but I might want to disable it.

Originally Posted by renderhjs

... Just hit

before you start stitching - I hit that button pretty often just to make sure everything is normalized.

How does this one work anyway? Because when I did make a test, just one chunk was getting matched to the other. Say I have chunk 1 and 2.
2 was matching 1. If I scaled 1 and then applied normalize to 1, nothing happens, but to 2, then 2 was trying to match 1 again.

Tried to figure out what it could be. A bug or is it just me?

Originally Posted by renderhjs

http://scriptspot.com/3ds-max/textoo...t#comment-4116

I look forward to the edge/ worn map rendering functions

as mentioned before- here is a example animation of how I tricked with the topology symmetry:


if its not clear:
The basic trick is to grow the vert selection each time and substract alraedy processed verts from that grown selection, then check if the result are 2 verts (thus a pair) then mirror the 2 in the UV area.

There are however at the moment some issues- like when it grows the selection, subtracts processed verts and results into more than 1 pair. How should I know which 2 belong together ? - after all I want this to be topology based and not some cheating approach.
Which let me think of this:

so that if I find more than 1 pair- compare their mesh edge length towards the growing vertex origin and pair up those who match length wise.

Originally Posted by Haider of Sweden

Right now, it seems to autosnap when you open the tool just after the Unwrap window is opened.
Could you please add that into the setting, allowing the user to decide whether he wants an autosnap or not?
It's cool, but I might want to disable it.

he he I can- and with all the annoying things its usually my lazy butt that forces default settings to my liking or will
Its still experimental and I am still considering a few options (like frame interval alike moving synchrony with the UVunwrap window, a checkbox, hidden in the options menu, not at all or other options.
But for starters I can remove it from the openUveditor button so that it only happens if you click on the logo - that should annoy you less ;)

Originally Posted by Haider of Sweden

How does this one work anyway? Because when I did make a test, just one chunk was getting matched to the other. Say I have chunk 1 and 2.
2 was matching 1. If I scaled 1 and then applied normalize to 1, nothing happens, but to 2, then 2 was trying to match 1 again.
Tried to figure out what it could be. A bug or is it just me?

Mop wrote that one- I learned quite a few things from it- and its most likely what I assumed before - it normalizes only through all shells, so its not case sensitive.
You can as well process with this button if there is even no Unwrap UV modifier applied or opened at all.
Maybe I will dig into the code and build in more context sensitivities like normalizing only through selected UV shells so you can normalize just 2 shells in relation to each other - rather than processing all of them.

Originally Posted by Haider of Sweden

I look forward to the edge/ worn map rendering functions

me too, cant wait to use it then for some real projects with nice detailed and complex texture work.
I am thinking of some gallery or thumbnail mode for all the detail maps (AO, cavity, Worn/ Edges) because there are more in the process to be added soon:

• Like a z-Depth map or a Volume checker map with units (so you know how much volume a texture space takes in the 3d world space)
• or a scanline advanced lightning renderer (Light Tracer) that usually results into those clay renders but very powerfull for detailed dirt maps

in a thumbnail or list mode (seperate window floater that would pop up) it would then be easier to add all those little sliders to modify the result and one could easier select on of those via a preview or sample thumbnail of such a map.

Just wanted to say that this tool just saved me coutless hours of UVing just by having Stack, Align and Linear tools. So invaluable in UVing big, scryscraper-like houses. Fantastic work and keep it up!.

@martinszeme: especially with buildings and skyscrapers some faces could be quickly adjusted using

though watch out if the selected faces should not be rectangular, you can finish off outer edges with the "linear" button. I once had the idea of a mode or button that lines up (90° snaps) only outer shell edges so that essentially loop and connect edges of textures better lineup with the pixels on the texture map.


just a smal GUI progression screen:



some re-arranging and added mirror/ symmetry as well as calculate texel texture size (based on input texture size proportions). All the detail maps (Ambient Occlusion, Cavity, Worn/hard Edges, LightTracer,...) will be available in a separate floater that pops up if you hit the "detail" button. That way I can add more texture map rendering modes later- and add spinners and input fields for additional parameters.
edit:
this is a mock up from the detail map render dialog:

Those 4 types might be the ones I add in the next release although I have more planned.

Max ver. 9. 32 -When I open uv editor through your script then pull the dropdown of textures to display behind islands, the UV editor will not display the texture.

When I open UV editor from 3ds max UI it works -all your UV editor window options are all still in effect - but this time dropdown to display texture works.

will have a look at it,- 90% of the time I do not use it myself. I could modify the drop down list of that particular case and list for example only the objects- material if available.