README.md

HowTo: renameselected

Original MaxScript Tutorial Source Code

Goals:

• learn how to create a dialog with PySide
• learn how to hook a Python function to a 3ds Max ui element

Explanations

This tutorial shows how to rename all selected objects using a base name, chosen in a PySide dialog.

Using the tool

From the 3ds Max listener window we can do:

import renameselected

renameselected.startup()

Then from the Scripting menu we can use the renameselected menu item to use the feature.

If we install this sample as a pip package it will be automatically started during the startup of 3ds Max (because it defines a startup entry point for 3ds Max).

Understanding the code

The renaming is done in the renameselected function that receives a base name in its text parameter. Then rt.uniquename(text) is used for generating a unique version of this base name for each item in the selection.

def renameselected(text):
    '''Rename all elements in selection'''
    if text != "":
        for i in rt.selection:
            i.name = rt.uniquename(text)

This function is called whenever the Rename selected objects button of a dialog is pressed. This dialog is implemented in ui.py.

We declare a QDialog subclass, and make sure it receives a click function in its constructor. This click function will be our renameselected function:

class PyMaxDialog(QDialog):
    """
    Custom dialog attached to the 3ds Max main window
    """
    def __init__(self, click, parent=QWidget.find(rt.windows.getMAXHWND())):

We then populate the dialog with various widgets:

        super(PyMaxDialog, self).__init__(parent)
        self.setWindowTitle('Rename')

        main_layout = QVBoxLayout()
        label = QLabel("Enter new base name")
        main_layout.addWidget(label)

        edit = QLineEdit()
        main_layout.addWidget(edit)

        btn = QPushButton("Rename selected objects")

And make sure its push button calls the click function when clicked:

        btn.clicked.connect(lambda : click(edit.text()))
        main_layout.addWidget(btn)

        self.setLayout(main_layout)
        self.resize(250, 100)

Finally, in init.py we create a menu item that will show the dialog.

def startup():
    """
    Hook the function to a menu item.
    """
    menuhook.register(
        "howtos",
        "renameselected",
        showdialog,
        menu=[ "&Scripting", "Python3 Development", "How To"],
        text="renameselected sample",
        tooltip="renameselected sample")

The showdialog function simply does this:

def showdialog():
    dialog = ui.PyMaxDialog(renameselected)
    dialog.show()