One of the annoying task during 3D production is managing scene files and files associated with the scenes. As it is very easy to forget to update or change a texture location of a newer scene or any other file path, I usually had ended up with missing links to necessary files when I started using 3d. Also, there is a need to manage a bunch of 3D scenes of different shots and production. You know a distinct 3d scene is needed for each stage of production i.e model, texture, light, rig, visual effects, and render etc.

So to ease this mundane task, I have coded a few scripts in 3ds max script. So far, those include new scene creator, project creator, fumefx cacher, and pflow cacher.

I have learned it from Allan McKay’s FX TD Transformation course. While studying computer science, I registered it as soon as Allan opened his course. Now as I am graduating, I think I will devote more time to the course.

Going back to the tools, firstly I created a startup script on 3ds max script startup directory. It would be here:

C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 20XX\scripts\startup

3ds max automatically loads all scripts inside this directory. I put only one script there including some functions to call other scripts and variables that help me describe functions there. Since I am calling functions by their path, I put scripts responsible to get the job done somewhere in my disk.

Actual scripts automatically create necessary directories and set a project when they are called. So that way, I will have an identical directory structure and scene management whenever I work on. As for pflow and fumefx cachers, they cache a selected particle object. The cache directory is also setup automatically with the project creator script.

Next, I will convert those script to python as it is becoming an industry standard.