MaxScript Release 1.7 Source FOR MAX 3 and 4 (4/1/2002)
Copyright (c) 1999-2002 by Borislav Petrov, Bobo's Rendert**ls.
SHORT DESCRIPTION
MAXscriber (formerly known as "Inscriber") is
a Scripted Render Effect Plug-in for MAX R3 which lets you place any text
and some system information on every rendered frame.
FEATURES
Version 1.7 (4/1/2002)
Fixed lots of bugs and made compatible with 3ds max
4.
Version 1.6 (9/1/99)
Fixed a severe bug with saving scenes containing a MAXScriber
REffect.
Changed the internal mechanisms to save the MAXScriber
data with the MAX scene - if you set up a scene, save, close MAX, open
MAX again and load the scene, it should render now even if you don't open
the REffects Dialog.
Support for Network rendering is in the works, but this
version might have troubles rendering on network slaves...
Version 1.51 (8/27/99)
Changed the name to MAXscriber.
Version 1.5 (8/26/99)
New Position Options: Pick Object lets you select any
scene object and use its position in the frame to place the text.
New System Commands - <name> displays the Name of
the Picker Object; <pos> displays the World Position of the Picked Object;
<speed> displays the local speed (on the current frame); <avrg> displays
the average speed in the active animation segment.
Speed is currently measured internally in Generic Units
per Second (UPS), You can display any text as units, but there is currently
no internal recalculation based on System or User Units. To be implemented
later.
Implemented greyed-out fields depending on Checkbutton
state.
Version 1.4 (8/21/99)
To install, copy both the MS and TGA files
to your \Scripts directory
Run the MS file.
Open Rendering/Effects..., press Add...
The Text Field is where you type in the text
to be displayed on the frame.
The text will be printed using capital letters
only. Still, Capital and Lower case letters can be displayed in different
colors.
The Text Field accepts 4 special System Commands.
They are replaced with the respective contents at rendertime.
The <file> command is replaced by the MAX
Scene file name.
The <smpte> command is replaced by the
current time in SMPTE time code format.
The <frame> command is replaced by the
current frame number.
The above 3 commands can be displayed in their
own color when the [System] checkbutton the the left of the 5th color picker
is checked (default).
The <cr> command is not shown on screen,
but causes a line break.
The System Commands can be typed by hand or
inserted to the end of the line by pressing the respective button.
By default, the text is displayed on top of
the rendered frame without a background.
The size of the text is calculated automatically,
and the text is put at the upper left position specified in the two value
fields.
The Position can be any positive number between
0 and 2000. This means that the text can be placed even partially or fully
outside of a frame smaller than 2000 pixels.
To change the size of the text, you can type
any Plate Width and Height values and activate the [Use My Plate Size]
checkbutton.
Both the Position and Size values are animatable.
Activating the [Show Plate] checkbutton will
display a solid background color using the Plate Color.
Activating the [Show Border] checkbutton will
display a single line around the text.
You can use any of the two, both, or none
as you wish.
The Plate and all Text types have their own
Opacity values ranging from 0 to 100. They let you change the transparency/opacity
of the text elements. Opacity is animatable.
When the [Affect Alpha] button is NOT pressed
(default), the text, border and plate are drawn to the RGB channels only.
There will be no change to the Alpha Channel.
To affect the Alpha Channel, check the button.
The Opacity values of all elements will be respected, too.
When the [Capitals] checkbox is activated
(default), letters typed in Caps in the Text Field will appear in a different
color. Uncheck the button to keep the original color of the letters (either
Text or System).
When the [System] checkbox is activated (default),
system command output will have a different color. Depress the button to
use the regular text color (and Caps color if activated).
All colors are animatable over time.
The output Text can be either Left Justified,
or Centered (default).
The drop-down list shows you a number of predefined
Inscriber-specific Font Files. You should copy the Font Files to your \Scripts
directory so they can be located properly. If no fonts can be found, a
prompt message will be issued.
Use the [SAVE Preset] button to save the current
(static) settings to an Inscriber presets file (.ISC). Note that in the
current version, no animation data will be saved. Only the static value
on the current frame will be used.
Use the [LOAD Preset] to restore a saved Preset.
Any Inscriber Animation Data (colors, position,
size, opacity) will be saved with the MAX Scene file as an animation Track.
You can access the animation in the Inscriber Global track in TrackView.
