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880 Chapter 22: Customizing the User Interface
Inter face
Star tup group
You can start scripts automatically in two ways.
You can create a file named
star tup.ms that
contains your startup code. MAXScript searches
forthisfileinthescriptsdirectoryfirst,thenthe
3ds Max root directory, and final ly the directories
specified in the Win dows PATH envi ronment
variable. MAXScript stops searching after it finds
the first occurrence of
startup. ms .
Yo u c a n a l s o p l a c e t h e s c r i p t f i l e s y o u w a n t
auto-loaded into the
\startup director y inside the
\scripts director y. MAX Scr ipt loads any script file
w ith the file name extension
.ms or any encrypted
script file with file name extension
.mse .
If you have both a
startup.ms file and auto-load
files in the
\startup directory, MAXScript always
loads
star tup.ms first.
Load Star tup Scripts—Loads scripts automatically
when 3ds Max star ts.
Loa d/Sav e S cene S cr i pt s—Enables Scene Script
loading and saving.
Load/Sav e Persi stent Gl obals—Enables load and
save Persistent Globals.
MAXScript supports a limited form of variables.
You declare that a particular global is persistent
andthevalueitcontainsisalwayssavedtoand
restored from scene files as they are opened
and closed. In this way you can, for example,
keep direct references to objects in the scene in
variables. Those references wi ll move across scene
save and reload.
MAXScript Windows group
Font—Choose a font for the MAXScript editor
Font size —Choose a font size for the MAXScript
editor.
Auto Open L ist ener On Output —Opens the Listener
if a script sends output to a WindowStream value
with no associated window. This would require a
MAXScript extension.
Runtime group
Use Fast Node Name Lookup —When on,
MAXScript indexes scene node names in a cache,
resulting in significantly faster resolution of
non-wildcard pathname va lues (for example,
$box01) to node values. When off, the scene nodes
areenumeratedasMAXScriptlooksforascene
node name that matches the pathname, resulting
in slower lookups.
Turn this off if you encounter an incompatibility
with an existing script.
Memory group
Initial Heap Alloca tion (Mbytes)—Sets the initial
heap allocation.
MAXScript carves its own working memory
(called a heap) out of the memory that the software
allocates. You can add to the heap at any t ime by
increasing the value here.