today i've found a book for MAXScript in my native language. But the version is for 3D Studio MAX 2.5 . I would want to know if i can learn MAXScript in this book. Obviously after I will begin to read the MAXScript Reference (thank's Bobo for this).
Yes, you can learn about 60% of the typical MAXScript features using that book.
Here is a list of the main features that were added to MAXScript after 2.5:
*The MacroScripts were added. In R2.5, you could only write scripted utilities and floaters with multiple rollouts and start them from the Utilities tab. In R3, MAXscript moved into the main UI and most buttons on the toolbars were implemented using it. So if you want to learn about writing MacroScripts, then you have to read the Reference.
*A major change from R2.x was that since R3, all implicit variable declarations are local, while in R2.x implicit variables were always global. This broke several scripts at the transition to R3, but if you make it a habit to declare explicitly what is local and what global, there is no big difference...
*Scripted Plugins were added to MAXScript, letting you develop your own or extend existing modifiers, geometry objects, materials, render effects etc.
*The Function Publishing System was introduced. This was probably the single most significant addition to MAXScript to-date. It allowed every discreet developer to expose all new features' functionality to MAXScript without waiting for a dedicated MAXScript developer to expose them.
*Scripted manipulators were a highlight for me in R4. There is enough info about them in the Reference and lots of examples on my site (Magmapulators package)
You can read the "What was new..." topics about the changes to R5,6 and 7, but MAXScript has not changed as a language much since R4. Most changes were related to making it faster, easier, smarter with memory usage and open as many features of Max as possible to scripting.
Conclusion: The basic of the language have not changed much since R2.x, except for the major change in the way implicit variables are declared. Most changes were related to the way you write tools and dialogs, use MAXScript to extend the GUI and access methods and properties of plugins and new Max features. So if you want to learn about FOR loops, IF THEN ELSE conditions and so on, even materail from R2.0 would be OK. I would guess that about 30% of the MAXScript Reference are still identical to the original version of the help John Wainwright wrote for R2...
02-28-2005, 08:52 AM
Many Thanks for the information, Bobo!
02-28-2006, 09:00 AM
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