Relink Missing Files

Could you please help me here I still have missing files after running the script.
I am sending a screen capture.
Thanks

Thank you this really is the script i was expecting!

THX !!

Great! :D If you have any problems/ideas and stuff please let me know :)

This is a great tool. :)
However, while it lists my missing simbiont darktree shaders, it fails to relink them. "Unkown System exception."

Thanks mate,

I have never used darktree shaders. Can you please upload somewhere a sample scene with a darktree shader in order to try to support it?

Cheers,
Nick

Wow, and here I was worried if the script was still maintained at all.
Thank you for the speedy response!

Here is a link to the free plugin.
(Latest ones can be a bit tricky to install, though. So if you have still Max 2011 or 2012 that would be the easiest solution. If you need a version for 2013/14 let me know. )

http://www.darksim.com/html/download_simbiont2.shtml

and here a testscene.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8ni2cpzunolbihn/Darktree_Testscene.zip

It's basically a material plugin and the shaders are linked inside of the material, so that might cause the problems. (But your tool ist the first I found which does at least list them in the missing files. )

I've downloaded the free plugin for 2012 but unregistered users can't change paths so I could only load your shaders.
I then tried to use VRay's Simbiont shader and everything worked fine. VRay's material read your *.dsts files and I assigned a couple of textures. I then moved the textures in a different folder and I used my tool to relink the shaders. Everything worked fine.
Can you please re-send me the same 3dsMax scene. The only change I need you to do, is to apply some textures before sending the scene (include the textures too).

Thanks,
Nick

Hi Nick,

sorry for the late reply.
It's not about the texture paths, but the shader files themselves. (.dsts)
(Max will find them if they are in the same path as the 3ds max file or below or in one of the standard paths, even if the saved path is empty, but while they are still set to the old path, they will be ignored by network rendering.)

this tool deserves much more attention and praise! hope you get it after your rewriting/update ;)

Thank you very much for your support and for your kind words! :D I've almost finished writing the new UI! :D

Sometimes the script does not find filenames where the case is not the same:

MapleLeaf.jpg vs mapleleaf.jpg

Is there a way you could add a feature to ignore case?

thanks,

I think that I have made it to ignore case by default.. :/
I'm about to re-create it almost from scratch. I'll probably start the development in a couple of months. Would it be a problem for you to wait until the next version?

Hey this sounds really good. I love Relink Bitmaps by Colin Senner, but it just didnt do all file formats, so I used a combination of RB, Relink Assets, and the Asset Tracking Tools which is annoying. Thanks!
One thing: Could you add something like a progress bar? Dont know if that makes sense as I guess it would jump from left to right when adding subfolders in the search, and I dont know if it has impact on performance, but I dont really like scripts that do something and let me wait without any chance to know if they still operate. Great script anyways.

Thanks for your C&C!. Basically that was the exact same reason that I developed this script (plus a couple more, such as that all this kind of scripts are encrypted and I couldn't contribute with some changes/improvements in the code).

I'm very busy atm but I'll add this to the wishlist for the next release. :)

if you have any further wishes/ideas let me know.

regards,
Nick

2# - An adress bar for "fast-pasting" "paths".just like pasting www adress to a browser. Two-clicks and "BAM" it should be linking stuff already.
3# - changing the order or stored paths for having a more "organized look"
for example, i may select a path and hit the "up" button button so that it will move it upper part or to top of the list"

and looking forward to it! :)

Hey crystal3d,

I remember your requests and I had started their development when you first proposed them, but unfortunatelly I got involved in some projects and I don't really have any free time to finish them.

I'll do my best to find these extra hours for the tool. I also have a batch new ideas for the next version and I'm really looking fwd to add them.

Sorry for the delay though,
Nick

script meanwhile.

update:
an option to "ignore case", currently it can not recognize if the path is AM99.bump.jpg from am99bump.jpg

same goes for file extensions...

good luck with your current project, have a nice day

Hello again crystal3d,

The script by default ignores case. It is set to just check the letters by converting both target and source to lowercase. In the two names I can see a type difference. AM99.bump.jpg has a "." before "bump". I don't know if this is just a typo.

Anyway, thanks! I really appreciate your comments!

PS. If you want, please send me an email at sinokgr at yahoo.com.

thanks

I will definitely test your script for bugs and such but from what i can see , it may take a few humble suggestions already!
As i am suggesting right now, i am also comparing this script against the most usefull one that i have been using for years so any of the suggestions below (if applied properly) will take your script a few years forward in time.

#1 - "Ignore Case" option. For FILES like ThIs One.TIF

2# - An adress bar for "fast-pasting" "paths".just like pasting www adress to a browser. Two-clicks and "BAM" it should be linking stuff already.

3# - changing the order or stored paths for having a more "organized look"
for example, i may select a path and hit the "up" button button so that it will move it upper part or to top of the list"

4# - partial linking feature.

if i select and hightlight only 5 files From the missing paths list, and select 1 or 2 paths from the path list(by holding ctrl), it will make "linking" ONLY for those selected files in those selected paths.

this is as far as i can tell, hope this helps, it would be such a great script for sure.

Hi there,

1. It is already supported (if you mean that it should read both tiff and TIFF) but you gave me another idea for another feature.
2. Nice one I'll add this on the nect update.
3. Ok no probs.
4. Already supports it via right click menu.

Thank you very much for your comment. I really appreciate it!

Bug#1 - the mzp file did not install as it should by dragging it to the viewport.

runing it through maxscript\run script installed fine!

hm.. The drag-n-drop feature is something that I don't usually support in my scripts. MaxScript needs a very specific procedure to be done in order to support the drag-n-drop feature that I don't usually follow it. I'll keep it as a feature request but I can't promise that I'll add it. That's why, in my site I have specific instructions on how to install it.

thanks for your support! :D

I think BUG#2

The feature to select the correct file when there are more files with same name in different sub directories,

the feature is really good and handy but i think it does not actually accomplish the file-linking task...

in two different scenes, i chose the correct files but the files still reported as missing.

It maybe because the problematic meshes were in an "xref scene" so that i ti could not interfere with its paths, but i know some script can relink those xref stuf aswell.

great feature again.

weird, it is supposed to work xrefs too. I captured a video where I have XRefs in my scene and it seems to work just fine. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14719090/XRefs.mov

Can you please do me a favor? Try not to change anything on the popup for the duplicates, just press "done" and tell me if there are still missing.

Thanks! :)

I made a quick test scene with two textured objects...

texture_A
texture_B assigned them changed their directories so that they would not be found.

i dublicated the two files into a subfolder.

Next time, i opened the scene, it asked me to chose which of the files and i just pressed "done" and the two files were still shown as missing.

so it s not about xrefs... the dublicate file, selector does not do any operations atm. :(

weird cause if you saw the video, it worked for me.. can you please mail me this test scene with these textures at (sinokgr @ yahoo.com)?

thanks

Glad that you fixed that problem, i have just been through a rough deadline lately and I am continously using the script,no other problems yet, however i can suggest some more features if you are interested. let me know

cheers!

Cool that's great news!

Yes, I'm open to any suggestions!! :D

cheers mate :D

I think I found the problem! You probably have something of the following in your paths. \n \r \t \x and that's why it doesn't work.. I'll try to fix it as soon as possible.

That's probably the reason why I didn't notice it. Cause it doesn't work under certain circumstances.

Problematic example:
"C:\Users\Sinok\Desktop\test\A1.jpg"
Returns:
"C:\Users\Sinok\Desktop est\A1.jpg"

UPDATE
I think I fixed it. Please download the new version :)

can you tell us please what is the advantage of this script over Max's native asset tracking?

regards.

Like all the other scripts that do retargeting, mine too, helps you retarget many files at once. Lets say for example, that you received a file with many missing files and you know that all these files are somewhere in your C:\ but you don't know exactly where. This script will do all the searching/matching for you in seconds. It will also warn you for any duplicate names. (I did a small benchmark test and I searched 6 missing files in my Z:\ HDD that contains over 500.000 files and it retargeted the files in about 20secs)

My script uses the asset tracking instead of searching through the scene, that gives me a couple of advantages. First of all, I support all the fileformats at once and I don't need to include any new formats for every new plugin/3ds max feature. Using asset tracking makes it a lot faster cause I don't search multiple times for the same path.
Other than that, I think that the "duplicates" option, makes my script even better. I did a test with the scene I'm demonstrating on the video with another script and it didn't warned me about the dublicates. It chose them by itself and that was a bit disapointing for me.

Regards,
Nick

a lot for detailed answer. Great tool for sure!!

You're welcome. If you find anything that bugs you.. or if you need any new feature just post it. I will be a bit busy until christmas but I'll try to catch up later.. cheers