Python in 3ds Max 2014 first impressions..
Well folks, it’s finally here… just a few days ago Autodesk released it’s 3dsmax 2014 extension to those who are members of the subscription program.
This extension release is something that I’ve been very excited about ,and have been looking forward to ever since the new features were first announced.
Well thankfully the wait is over. I’ve spent some time today checking out the new implementation trying to figure out what this update will mean to future mango development for 3ds max (which I would rather do in python and PySide so that apps can float between Max, Maya, Nuke).
Anyway here are some of my first impressions along with some snippets from today’s familiarization session, I hope they might be insightful.
This is not Blur Python
While evaluating the new python implementation in max 2014, it becomes very hard not to compare it to Blur python. They are both CPython implementations. But that’s about where the similarities end. If you have experience working with Blur Python this first installment of 3dsmax python by autodesk is going to be somewhat of hard pill to swallow.
Unlike Py3dsMax(blur python), maxPlus (autodesk python) does not really expose the same set of libraries and methods that people familiar with maxscript already know and love. Instead it exposed a very small (it’s actually pretty large) subset of the max SDK, and relies heavily on the idea, that programers will do most of the max interactions by writing python string containing max script code.
This string are then to be evaluated by “maxPlus.Core.EvalMAXScript” python method. In my opinion this will alienate allot of people.
- Those who are familiar with maxscript but are new to python will have to learn a whole new way of working with the limited set of exposed functions, and a brand new methodology behind creating and manipulating objects and data in max. Everything you know about max-script is now obsolete.
- Those who looked at python as a bridge to write tools for max with out having to learn maxscript will still have to learn maxscript to access the majority of functions and methods available via maxscript.
I’m hoping that the awkwardness of MaxPlus is just due to it’s infancy, and that in the next year or so it will be expanded to equal or even best blur python. At first glance it seems Autodesk really did the bare minimum. We can only hope that this was a time limitation, and that they will continue to devote time to growing the max python ecosystem.
No Python.import
One of Blur Python’s coolest features was the ability to import python modules right into maxscript via the “python.import” method.
This was really great for production, since any max scripter could use python libraries straight in maxscript with out knowing anything about python. For anyone that has used this feature to quickly harness the power of python external libraries inside of their native maxscript code, this will more than likely be very sad news. I really hope Autodesk can bring this feature back since it opens up the power of python to a much larger sets of users.
Where is PySide/PyQt?
Well not surprisingly Autodesk has decided not include PySide or PyQt with it’s new implementation of Python. The fact that PySide doesn’t come integrated with this first release of python is incredibly disappointing. Especially since I have been running Blur Python (Without Qt) in 2014 for months now, the Autodesk implementation of Python is a major downgrade when compared to Blur Python. This alone will keep me from upgrading current mango clients to this new extension (mango currently uses blur Python).
I really hope that they will spend sometime integrating PySide by the time 3ds max 2015 comes out. Switching from Py3dsMax (Blur Python) to MaxPlus (Autodesk Python) is going to be painful, but a properly supported PySide module would really make the switch worth it.
DIY PySide?
While Autodesk failed to give us an easy to use PySide implemention similar to the ones natively supported in Nuke and Maya, they were nice enough to include some documentation that the more technically inclined can use to compile PySide (that’s right! you going to compile stuff!!) against the proper builds of qt and python that are now bundled with max (Python 2.7.3, Qt 4.8.2). From the documentation hints, I was able to actually make my own image of PySide that allows me to start using Qt inside of 3dsmax 2014. This process while a bit technical and esoteric, is actually not to difficult and requires zero programing experience, I recommend that anyone interested actually try it. If you are too lazy to do it your self, you can try using my compiled installer (use it at your own risk) , which can be found here .
After installing my newly compiled PySide build, I set to do some basic testing using the following snippets. My initial test was just a QMessageBox…
st = "
import sys
import MaxPlus
from PySide import QtGui, QtCore
msg = 'hello'
n = MaxPlus.Core.GetRootNode()
msg = 'objects in scene:\\n'
for c in n.Children:
msg += '%s%s%s' % ('\\t',c.Name,'\\n')
msg = str(msg)
app = QtGui.QApplication.instance()
if app == None:
app = QtGui.QApplication([])
QtGui.QMessageBox.about(None,'PySide',msg)
"
python.execute st
This messagebox was just a way to test that the PySide was actually being loaded and working in max, and that python could collect some data from max and pass it to Qt.
While I was writing this snippet there were a few things that I noticed that seem strange.
- Modal windows have no effect on the max session. It’s not really clear to me how to parent Qt windows to the max application it self. So modal windows which would usually freeze max until the user close the dialog are not actually freezing max.
- Executing a QApplication is not needed, doing so actually really screws up the max environment, the behavior makes seem as if qt and python are not running on the main max thread. But I’m more than likely just missing a step.
Other than those strange oddities PySide seems to actually be working. Even with out executing the QApplication I can launch dialogs add widgets via the .show() and exec_() methods. exec_() seems to have absolutely no effect on the max session itself (same as qmessagebox) which is very strange.
Here’s my second test a simple Dialog snippet example…
st = "
from PySide import QtCore, QtGui
class mApp(QtGui.QDialog):
def __init__(self,parent=None):
super(mApp,self).__init__(parent)
vL = QtGui.QVBoxLayout(self)
for i in range(5):
cb = QtGui.QComboBox(self)
vL.addWidget(cb)
btn = QtGui.QPushButton(self)
vL.addWidget(btn)
btn.setText('press me')
btn.clicked.connect(lambda:QtGui.QMessageBox.about(self,'Modal Test','is this modal?'))
app = QtGui.QApplication.instance()
if app == None:
app = QtGui.QApplication([''])
ui = mApp()
ui.show()
"
python.execute st
here’s what it looks like..
Conclusion
Even though Autodesk’s first version of Python for max leaves a lot to be desired, I’m vary happy that Autodesk has actually taken on the task of bringing this very important feature to max. Not having to depend on a 3rd party to provided python support will make it much easier for studios to migrate to feature version of 3ds max with out fear of breaking their pipeline. With today’s need for python and Qt in the never ending realm of unified pipelines an awkward implementation of python, and a ghetto home brew of PySide are much better than NO PYTHON and NO PYSIDE.
I’m looking forward to experimenting with Mango and 3ds Max using this setup, and seeing what new knowledge tips and tricks the community will bring forth in the upcoming months…
Until next time..
Stay frosty my friends 🙂