Source Objects Controls

These controls are used to select the objects to save.

../../../_images/xmesh-saver-mx_ui_visible_source_objects.png

Source Type drop-down list

  • Choose the type of object to save. Switching the mode will reload all objects and re-populate the lists.
  • Any objects specified in the “Objects to Save” list will be moved back to the “Available Sources” list.
  • The selection of this option will be sticky between 3ds Max sessions via INI file.

Selected Geometry

  • The top list, as well as the Down, Up and Search controls will be hidden.
  • The bottom list will be resized and will show all selected supported objects.
  • This way, you can select the objects you want to save and press the RELOAD button to make them the active objects for caching to disk.

Scene Geometry

  • The top list will show all supported geometry objects in the scene, both visible and hidden.

Visible Scene Geometry

  • The top list will contain all supported geometry objects that are visible in the viewports (not hidden by node, by layer, by category, by frozen state etc.).

Named Selection Sets

  • The top list will contain the Named Selection Sets defined in the scene, with a column showing the actual geometry objects in each Named Selection Set.
  • Moving a Named Selection Set down to the bottom list will enable all the contained geometry objects for saving.
  • If an object is found in more than one Named Selection Set, it will be saved just once.

Layers

  • The top list will contain the Layers defined in the scene, with a column showing the actual geometry objects on each Layer.
  • Moving a Layer down to the bottom list will enable all contained geometry objects for saving.
  • If an object is found in more than one Named Selection Set, it will be saved just once.

Particle Flow Systems

  • The top list will contain the Particle Flow systems (PF Source objects) found in the scene, both visible and hidden.
  • Moving a Particle Flow System to the bottom list will enable all its Events for saving.

Particle Flow Events

  • The top list will contain the Particle Flow Events found in the scene.

Thinking Particles Systems

  • The top list will contain the Thinking Particles systems found in the scene, both visible and hidden.
  • Moving a Thinking Particles system to the bottom list will enable all its renderable Groups for saving.
  • If a Group is marked as non-renderable in TP, it will NOT be saved.

Thinking Particles Groups

  • The top list will contain the Groups of all Thinking Particles systems found in the scene.
  • The renderable property of the Groups will not be respected - if a group is moved to the bottom list for saving, it will be enabled for rendering temporarily and then set back to non-renderable.

Frost Objects Only

  • The top list will contain all Thinkbox Frost objects in the scene, both visible and hidden.

Scene XMesh Loaders

  • The top list will contain all Thinkbox XMesh Loader objects in the scene, both visible and hidden.
  • This mode is useful for resaving XMesh Loaders as new XMesh sequences, for example to combine multiple XMesh sequences into a single one.

3ds Max Groups

  • The top list will contain the 3ds Max Groups found in the scene, with a column showing the names for the contained geometry objects.
  • Moving a Group to the bottom list will only save the geometry objects from this group, but not geometry objects included in nested Groups.

3ds Max Nested Groups

  • The top list will contain the 3ds Max Groups found in the scene, with a column showing the names of the contained geometry objects.
  • Moving a Group to the bottom list will save all geometry objects including ones found in nested groups within the specified group.

Previous Sessions History

  • Available in v1.1 and higher: The top list will contain records of every XMesh Save performed in the current scene since its creation, including all settings and the list of objects to save.
  • The latest save will be listed on top.
  • Moving an entry to the bottom list will let you save the same geometry objects as that previous session using the current settings.
  • Moving multiple entries to the bottom list will combine their object lists into a new list.
  • Right-clicking an entry provides a menu option to restore the XMesh Saver settings from the record, as well as an option to remove the entry from the History in order to clean it up.
  • The History data is stored with the .MAX scene file as a persistent global MAXScript variable.
    • It is called XMeshSaverTools_LastProcessedObjects.

RELOAD button

  • Clear the bottom (Objects to Save) list and display all available objects according to the current mode in the top (Available Sources) list.

Down and Up buttons

  • The Down button moves the selected items in the Available Objects into the Save Objects list.
  • The Up button moves the selected items in the Save Objects list into the Available Objects list.
  • These buttons are hidden when the Source Type is “Selected Geometry”.

Available Sources list

  • A list of objects that match the Source Type.
  • If you want to save an object in this list, move it into the Save Objects list below.
  • You can move an object between the two lists by double-clicking it, by highlighting it and using the Up and Down buttons, or by highlighting it and using the Right-Click menu “Move To…” option.
  • This list is hidden when the Source Type is “Selected Geometry”.

Objects to Save list

  • A list of Objects or Layers/Groups/Named Selection Sets that will be saved when you press a Save button.
  • The Save buttons are found in the “Save Options” rollout and in the “Submit Job to Deadline” rollout, depending on whether you want to save locally or on Deadline.
  • Note that a list of valid objects will be built from the items listed in the list even if the items are not actual objects (e.g. Layer names, NSS, Groups etc.).
  • Duplicates will be ignored.

[]|> button

  • Clicking this button in the upper right corner of the dialog will open a pop up menu with options to set the UI to 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns.
  • Each column is 480 pixels wide, so 4 columns require 1920 pixels desktop width.
  • When switching the layout, the rollouts will be split between the columns, with 4 colums containing one rollout each, two colums containing two rollouts each etc.
  • Below are screenshots of the two-colums and four-columns layouts:
../../../_images/xmesh-saver-mx_ui_nss_2columns.png ../../../_images/xmesh-saver-mx_ui_layers_4columns.png