Ever used Maya's knife tool, and then switched to Max only to be disappointed by how the cut tool works? Or maybe you've never touched Maya, and you just wonder why the Max cut tool insists on making all kinds of messy edges when you try to make a complex cut through a face. Well, CleanCut is my attempt at solving both of these problems! With CleanCut, you can make multiple, complex cuts through one or more faces, without messy edges and without having to restart a cut just because you've orbited the view**. Here's a little animation showing how the tool works:

CleanCut in action - click the play button to view

As you can see, it's pretty easy to use. Just start the tool, cut to your heart's content, and right-click to end the tool. While cutting, hold down the Ctrl key to start a new (not adjoined) cut, or hold down the Shift key to turn off edge/vertex snapping (good for those precision cuts close to an edge or on small faces). While the tool is active, you can orbit the view or even switch viewports without canceling your current cut**!

Like many of my other scripts, CleanCut is easy to install. Just drag CleanCut.mzp onto any of the Max viewports, and say "yes" when it asks if you want to install. It's up to you to add CleanCut to your user interface - just go to Customize User Interface and find CleanCut in the "RHTools" category.

I hope you enjoy this script, and I'd love to see what you're making with it. If you hate it, or are just have problems running it, I want to hear about that too! Drop me a message, my email address is just down below:)

NOTE: CleanCut is designed to work on Editable Poly objects only!

** Viewport orbiting while cutting should be done using Alt-middle mouse. Clicking the Arc Rotate tool will cancel the CleanCut tool.