DarkScintilla: Maxscript Editor dark scheme

42 votes
Version: 
1.2d
Date Updated: 
04/13/2021

A dark color scheme for the Maxscript Editor, inspired by dark schemes available for other IDEs

As i was doing more and more max scripting lately, the urge to do something with the eye hurting Maxscript Editor colors escalated. So i sat down today and had a walkthrough on the various options Scintilla (Maxscript Editors core) provides.

 

After that i started to tweak, and integrate the color scheme and font settings which i use in other IDE's like Monodevelop, Flashdevelop or Eclipse ( even VS is set to the dark scheme here). Additionally i transfered nearly all of the color settings previously in the "maxscript.properties" to the "MXS_EditorUser.properties" file, using symbolic color names etc...

So here is the result:
It has not been tested to all it's extends, but this is a pretty complete set.

Updates:

  • V1.2d - fixed too dark-blue color for FPS and struct properties...
                 slightly brightened color for global constants and made it use bold fonts
  • V1.2c - fixed yet another typo in "MXS_EditorUser.properties" which was breaking coloring of verbatim strings..
                  ( corrected line is "colour.string.verbatim=...", the equals-sign was typed as colon   )
                  Huge thanks for reporting this go to Klaas Nienhuis from the beautiful netherlands
                  Made caret color a bit darker ( this is global), now it should be better visible on white backgrounds
  • V1.2b - fixed typo in "MXS_EditorUser.properties" ( "indent.closeing" changed to "indent.closing" )
                  Now autoindenting should work again as expected (thx go to James Haywood for reporting)
  • V1.2a- Fixed some stupid install script error popup happening on older Max versions.
                 Note: you can't assign a string-variable to a maxscript  label-text during roll out creation.Smile
  • V1.2  - provided an installer Script. Just Drag and Drop the complete packacke ( *.mzp) into a 3ds Max viewport
                 The Installationscript will guide you through the complete installation (or uninstallation) process
                 Some minor color tweaks...
  • V1.1a- Updated readme for people having trouble installing. The "MXS_EditorUser.properties" has to go to the Max
                  user- folder. See readme. I will create a install script over the weekend, so stay tuned...
  • V1.1  - integrated ALL tweaks in "MXS_EditorUser.properties", replacing maxscript.properties NO LONGER necessary !!!
                 I recommend to restore the original from your backup, or use the one in [maxscript.properties ORIGINAL] in the zip
                 Thanks go to Johan Boekhoven for the hint...
  • V1.0a - Fixed "MXS_EditorUser.properties" to not modify global color styles( back color most noticable )
  • V1.0    - Initial release

Notes:

  • Internet Explorer tends to rename *.mzp  (Maxscript Package)  downloads to *.zip -  please change extension back to *.mzp
  • !!! BACKUP YOUR ORIGINAL FILES !!!
  • There is no adapted html.properties, so html file display with Maxscript editor is not "recolored" -> see readme in the zip
  • This scheme uses Microsofts Consolas font, which is freely downloadable at MS ( see link inside the zip)
  • Changes can easily be done, just edit self-explaining symbolic color values in MXS_EditorUser.properties
  • If you make some improvements and tweaks, please contact me and share and i will integrate them

Suggestions, improvements etc.. are welcome

Here is how it looks

 

Dark Color Scheme for Maxscript Editor

Version Requirement: 
3ds Max 2008 and up

Comments

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Any's picture

Good day. Write the following

Good day.

Write the following code in the editor
____________________________________________________

ModObj = $Modified_Shapes/* as array
ini = abs (in coordsys $CameraProject ModObj[1].pos.z)
for i = 2 to ModObj.count do
_______________________________________________________

The color coding of the code disappears after the symbol /*.

NicolasC's picture

Awesome !

Perfect, thanks a lot !

NicolasC

triff's picture

Aah, lovely...

Found this scheme a year or two ago but completely forgot what it was called, then I tripped over it on cbuelter.de. Thanks for saving me from the almost-but-not-quite-Comic-Sans default setup again :)

Chief Pixel Bully | http://triff.co

bathyscaph's picture

Love it

Thanks! This makes a world of difference. I never realized just how horrible the default maxscript editor color scheme was; I have been enlightened.

Nik's picture

Thanks!

--Nice script of dark scheme.

BradT's picture

Thanks!

So much easier on the eyes. Thanks for creating this!

borent's picture

Alexey

Cool thanks!!!

hedphelym's picture

Thanks, it works perfectly! I

Thanks, it works perfectly!
I really enjoy using this.

ravenslayer's picture

awesome, just what i

awesome, just what i wanted!
tnx :)

tim_little's picture

After spending 8 hours

After spending 8 hours straight one day staring at the retina-frying beams of my white maxscript page I decided there must be something out there that could change the default colors. I was very grateful when I found your UI script. Thank you very much for sharing your secret to avoid scalded eyeballs.

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