Creating Functions in MaxScript

function Name Info moreInfo someMoreInfo =
(
Do stuff… with or to the info..
)

That does look computer-programme-y, right?

That said, if you did get all the way through the lengthy creating cladding post here, you should be used to it by now?

Let me explain it by using our example, where we’re adding a UVW box map to an object

function addAsimpleUVWBoxMapTo theThing theSize =
(
Do stuff… to theThing with the info from theSize..
)

Starting the line with ‘function’ tells MaxScript that we’re going to define and create, well, a function.

Remember box position:[0,0,0] length:100 from the creating timber cladding post? Well it’s unsurprisingly a bit like that in terms of syntax.

addAsimpleUVWBoxMapTo is its name (stupidly lengthy, I know), so we can use it later. It needs a name, or we’ll never find or run it!

Maybe ‘quickBoxMap’ would be a better name.

function quickBoxMap theThing theSize =
(
Do stuff… to theThing with the info from theSize..
)

The ‘Do stuff’ bit then, this is the good stuff that the function will do or ‘execute’ and is enclosed between two brackets. Here we’re going to create an empty UVW map, set its type to box, and dial in the same dimensions (theSize) for length, width and height. Once we’ve done that, then we’ll add this UVW map modifier to our geometry or rather, theThing..

We’re already familiar with creating UVW map modifiers, so it’s just a case of adapting our patch of MaxScript to work more generically, with the two variables we’re supplying our function with, theThing and theSize.

Actually, one thing, we’ll set our UVWmap to a variable, so that we can work with the UVW map settings easily. This is again a concept talked about in this earlier post. We won’t call the UVWmap modifier ‘claddingUVWmap’ or ‘brickworkUVWmap’ though, let’s call it ‘ourUVWmap’.

function quickBoxMap theThing theSize =
(
ourUVWmap = UVWMap()

ourUVWmap.maptype = 4

ourUVWmap.length = theSize
ourUVWmap.width = theSize
ourUVWmap.height = theSize

addModifier theThing ourUVWmap
)

Interesting that the addModifier line looks like a function in itself. Maybe it is, buried deep down in the bowels of MaxScript..

So, this is still just the definition bit for our function. We’ve set it up, got it ready to go, but haven’t used or run it yet.

If you had a box, box001 in your scene, then you could add a 300cm UVWmap modifier to it, like so (assuming you’ve already set the function up earlier in your script).

quickBoxMap $box001 300

Voila! Remember to include the $ dollar sign when playing around with Geometry in a 3ds Max scene.

Fancy a 450cm box map instead? No problem –

quickBoxMap $box001 450

Actually, a useful thing would be the inclusion of comments or hints when you’re creating your own MaxScripts, something I’ve not touched on as yet.

But obviously, if you type something into a script, there needs to be a way of telling MaxScript to ignore it, you wouldn’t want it to try and execute ‘this is the bit where I add the UVW map’. It would give a big fat error.

If you want to have a comment or handy reminder in MaxScript, then you delineate it with two dashes —

This will ‘tell’ MaxScript to ignore the characters coming after up until the end of the current line of text. In the Script editor window it will actually change this text to green and a different font.

I’ve included an HTML copy of our MaxScript below, so you can see how it appears in the Script editor window, with the comments added. Feel free to swipe and copy this and paste it into an empty Script editor window. If you then run it via Tools>Evaluate All, then of course,  you’ll need a box001 in your scene..