Boosting 3D Game Production Efficiency with Maxscripting

1. Making 3D Game Production FasterUsing Scripting in 3D Studio Max# Augustine John

2. Augustine John Sr. Technical Artist, Indiagames Ltd.# He has been in the graphics industry for 11 years – before joining Indiagames 4 years ago. He started his 3D career doing modelling and rigging, and has lead the 3D character art team. He has been instrumental in streamlining the production pipeline – developing 3D Studio Max scripts and plug-ins for the artists. Currently as a Senior Technical Artist, he contributes his experience to Indiagames proprietary ICE 3D# platform.

3. Agenda • Short Introduction to Maxscript • Maxscript in action • Modeling • Animation • Exporting • Level Design

4. What is Maxscript? • Maxscript is the built-in scripting language for 3Ds Max • Allows to control 3Ds Max • Allows to customize and extend 3Ds max user interfaces

5. Maxscript in Action

6. Modeling & Texturing • Texture Finder • Assigns the latest texture from the specified folder and its sub-folders

7. Modeling & Texturing • Adjust UV • Transforms the UV as specified 256 x 256 texture Resized to 128 x 128 * Texture from Project Asoka

8. Modeling & Texturing • Change Texture Format

9. Animation • Problem faced • Change in Bone Count or Hierarchy • Change in Character’s Proportion • Change in Character’s Overall Dimensions • Animator’s file may be initial rough model • So, animator has to • Save all the animations one-by-one • Load these animation files into the final model

10. Animation • Batch Save and Load Animations Batch save ‘bip files’ from max files Batch load ‘bip files’ on finalized model

11. Exporting • Process for our earlier MascotCapsule v3 rendering engine in our game development pipeline • All animations 1st frame be positioned at x = 0 & y = 0 • Insert a new 1st frame common for all animations • Export this max file to fbx format (This process is to save data) • Import the fbx file • Change the fps as required for the target phone • Adjust the ‘main key poses’ – which may be lost in fps reduction • Collapse the trajectory to 1 key per frame • Place BAC axis in (0,0,0) to take care of y-z axis and origin. • At last, export the file to bac and tra

12. Exporting • Approx. export time per animation manually = 4 minutes(Ignoring the potential human errors) • Impractical to export manually • Approx. export time per animation using script = 8 seconds(Plus gives detailed report witherrors and warnings)

13. Level Design • Level Editor (Predator) Level Editor used for the mobile game “3D Predator: Bad Blood”

14. Uses of Maxscript • Automate repetitive tasks • For e.g.. Batch save & load animations • Simplify the workflow • For e.g.. Save and load biped animations script • Export assets for game programmers • For e.g.. Level editor, Camera exporter • Eliminates the human error • ‘Time’ factor – faster job completion

15. How to learn Maxscript? • Maxscript documentation • Study others’ scripts from sites like www.scriptspot.com • Search / ask questions in online forums • DVD video tutorials

16. Questions & Answers Thank You!