'Mission Control' (Enhanced Spreadsheet Editor) : Ideas needed

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Hmm, you can scrap that last post. I've just made a bit of a breakthrough in the performance of the script.

Here's a clip showing the performance improvements.


Only 1400 objects, but setup and refresh are down to below a second, scrolling is fast, and for bonus points, I'm showing real-time(ish) feedback of animated values with colour hilighting of animated tracks and keyframed values. I imagine this might be quite handy for animators!

Pink = animated track
Red = keyframe

Please let me know what other types of information would be useful to have through value colouring. I think some kind of sanity-check system could be developed so you can set a collection of value ranges you prefer to work within for certain objects/modifier/material parameters, and if anything sits outside those values, they would be highlighted in the UI.

Definitely a good idea. If we could check for non render supported features. Like wrong light shadow settings or material incorect like MR mat in Vray scene etc etc that could save lots of problems.

[re:FORM]

Here's something that might interest some of you here. What would you say if there was a 'history' feature for every cell in the spreadsheet. Ie, in your max session, every adjustment you made to any parameter in the scene could be easily looked at and reverted to. It would effectively give you an unlimited and independent undo buffer for every parameter in your scene. Something I hope all the render-setting and material tweakers would appreciate!

[Vizioen]

That would be great, depending on how it's implemented ofcourse.

[re:FORM]

Any suggestions? I'm thinking either an additional panel to contain things like 'history', a copy/paste bin, presets, etc. Or, if you press 'h' when mouse-ing over, a selectable dropdown could appear under the mouse-pointer...
My aim is always to minimise mouse clicks if at all possible!

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Is there a way to get a beta to test it out? I cant think of anything now. I would probably need to play with it and see what else I could find helpful...

[re:FORM]

Hi Dariusz,
I'm getting close to being happy to release a beta.... but there's still a few obvious bugs for me to iron out before I subject the unsuspecting public to my efforts
I'll definitely send you a beta when the time comes.
Love your automotive work by the way! Very nice.
p.

[re:FORM]

Hi again,
I've posted up some animations showing an exciting new feature-set; a Mass Editing Utility Panel which allows you to set multiple parameter values ( * currently only float, integer and boolean values) in the following ways :
- Absolute
- Relative +/-
- Randomised relative
- Randomised absolute
- Incremental by step
- Ranged between minimum and maximum values
- All of the above, but conditional on existing parameter values (ie "if x == 23 then apply abs/rel/rand/etc/ values" type thing)

Please head over to the website to check it out! http://mcontrol.reformstudios.com/news/mass-editing-utility-panel-overview/

[squintnic]

looking forward to trying this out patrick

[re:FORM]

Cheers Nic,
I'm looking forward to getting it to a stage where it's ready for public consumption!

[re:FORM]

You will be pleased to hear Mission Control has entered an alpha-test phase. Bugs are being ironed out and the code is becoming far more stable.

I've released some videos to my blog showing how Mission Control could be used with RT to speed up lookdev workflows. Still no audio, but I have annotated them this time! There is also an update to the light-lister showdown, and a demo of manipulating MCG objects.

http://reformstudios.com/2016/01/27/mission-control-vs-light-lister-an-update/
http://reformstudios.com/2016/01/29/...-with-vray-rt/
http://reformstudios.com/2016/01/30/...ray-rt-part-2/
http://reformstudios.com/2016/02/01/...raph-packages/

[NicoC]

Hi Patrick,

Pretty long time since I first heard about your MC !! nice to read it's now "officially" on alpha stage any chance to be part of the testing or still too early ?

Keep up the great work - 3dsmax definitely needs this sort of tools !

Cheers.

[Oleg_Budeanu]

That is really awesome, Patrick !
Will be happy to alpha/beta test this and report any bugs !
Should i send you an e-mail or something to join ?

[re:FORM]

I have added a feature list to the website here : http://reformstudios.com/mission-control-for-3ds-max/
I am also looking for beta testers, so please sign up here for a chance to take Mission Control for a spin.
http://reformstudios.com/mission-con...eta-programme/

With a new relase of 3ds Max out in the wild, it was interesting to see how well Mission Control coped with the changes... and I'm pleased to report that it did pretty well! The UI appears to hold up well within the new UI paradigm, and all the new object types are supported without any issue. Finally, as Mission Control is entirely scripted, no recompile is necessary for the new version of Max.

[Oleg_Budeanu]

Signed ! Would be happy to test and to provide feedback. Good job !

[RE:FORM_STUDIOS]

Thanks Oleg!
Did you get MC up and running ok?
Let me know how you get on.
Thanks
Patrick