BMax Tools or how I left 3ds Max :)


Original Post in 2013:

this is my first post at BA so first of all i want to say hi :wink:

short background: in the last ca. 11 years i was using 3ds max for low-poly game asset creation (for games that never materialized - but that’s another topic :)), from modeling, texturing to rigging and animation.

during this time i was also checking the evolution of blender (first time it even wasn’t open source and last time it was release 2.49) and although i liked it it somehow was not a match for app i was using (unstable, lack of tools, weird…)

now a week ago i gave it another shot and downloaded release 2.68a and was blown away. i can say i was waiting all these years for blender to reach this maturity (it even contains 3ds max preset - YES).

however as i’ve said i’m used to 3ds max so to satisfy my needs (or habits?) to full extent i’ve coded a small addon i’ve named ‘bmax tools’.

i hope you’ll enjoy it.


OVERVIEW:

BMax Tools is a set of custom and assorted selection of native Blender tools that loosely follow the appearance and naming conventions of 3ds max. All tools are accessible through custom context menus which replace the native ones.

Affected screens:

Custom tools:

The package comes with BMax Tools Extras, which are an optional install that enhances and/or consolidates some aspects of Blender’s default behavior.

Changes:

  • modified select, rotate, scale, and cursor icons
  • modified industry compatible keymap (for changes see this post)

Additions:

  • one-click set scene view to scene origin
  • synchronized X-Ray toggle (both modes are set at once to the same value)
  • enhanced X-Ray setup (adds access to backwire alpha and pose bone X-Ray)

INSTALLATION: Read the included file “readme.txt”

MIN. BLENDER VERSION: 2.83.9 LTS

DOWNLOAD: BMaxTools_complete_v3.0.zip (297.2 KB)


ARCHIVE:


9 Likes

Hello Ozzkar, welcome to the fold. I’m a Maya user who popped on over as well, and seriously started using Blender around the 2.63 point. Once you really take a good hard look at Blender, its quite an amazing little application isnt it? Anyways, glad you are here. I think its good to have users of other applications who bring with them workflow experience and can apply it to blender, which ultimately helps it grow and develop into a tool for a wider audience. Thanks for the script.

Also i recommend hitting up a few of the blender channels on irc.freenode.net (one of them is full of developers and the other users).

An other maya “veteran” over here!, welcome!!!, glad to see i’m not alone switching =), cheers and all the best!

thanks :wink: this is exactly how i feel. i’m amazed how blender today combines the best of various worlds and and it’s own goodies.
i think the biggest obstacle for new users is it’s different terminology for what are basically the same features in other apps as well as it’s modular design making the user make several separate actions (albeit more flexible approach in the end) whereas in other apps user would just klick one button.

thanks for the tip. i was never a member of an irc channel so maybe it’s the right time to change it.

thank you very much :wink:

Align Selection

bmax_v3_align_selection

Mirror Object

bmax_v3_mirror_object

Mirror Armature

bmax_v3_mirror_armature

Clone Options / 1D Array

Object

Edit Mesh

Edit Curve

Edit Armature

Edit Pose

UV Editor

Dopesheet

Graph Editor

Thats some very nice tools! And a very nice level of contribution :slight_smile:

Indeed, those are some very useful tools. I come from a Max background as well and especially the “select by type” has always been somewhat of a chore to me in Blender. I will definitely use your tools, thanks! :slight_smile:

download add-on

Keymap is based on “Industry Compatible” (directly modified) and it follows the paradigm LMB = select / tweak, MMB = navigate, RMB = context / cancel. The changes are as follows:


Global changes:

Shortcut Action Notes
MMB Pan
Alt + MMB Orbit
Ctrl + Alt + MMB Zoom
Ctrl + <select> Extend selection (add) Ctrl and Shift are essentially globally swapped
Shift + <select> Remove from selection
F1 Toggle toolbar
F2 Toggle sidebar
F3 Toggle tool settings
F4 Edit last action
F5 Play/Pause
F6 Stop
F7 Go to start
F8 Go to end
F9 Toggle quadview
F11 Quick Tools
F12 Search Menu
Spacebar Toggle area fullscreen
Ctrl + Y Redo
HOME Zoom all
Z Zoom selected
Shift + Z Interactive zoom border
S Toggle snap

Screen specific changes:

3D View UV Edit Graph Editor Dopesheet
Tab Select transform space Select linked under mouse Go to Dopesheet Go to Graph
A Select snap target
` (accent) Select pivot N/A
Alt + ` (accent) Snap cursor to selected

3D View specific changes:

Shortcut Action
X Toggle cursor visibility
Shift + X Center view to cursor
Shift + C Snap cursor to origin
Up Arrow Select child
Down Arrow Select parent
Numpad 2 Orbit down
Numpad 4 Orbit left
Numpad 6 Orbit right
Numpad 8 Orbit up
End Set view to scene origin

Globally disabled shortcuts:

  • MMB duplicates that mirror other tools (scroll, select, tweak, transform)
  • F1 – F12 (for available actions see the table ‘Global changes’ above)
  • animation actions originally bound to ‘S’ (with any modifier key)
  • select more/less (up/down arrows)
  • frame navigation (left/right arrows)
  • pie menus (replaced with respective standard menus)

… and the rest is untouched :smile:

thanks, it feels good to read your post :slight_smile:

i’m glad you find it useful ;). today i’ve made some minor updates, you can find more in OP and post #10.

your tools and interface you have made look very good.thanks.any interest in doing a Array tool(like max) with scaling,move rotate options(cumulative,random).

thanks.

well i didn’t plan to implement it, but your suggestion surely is a food for thought.

You have done hard work, very clean UIs, especially align tools even it has same properties than Advanced Align Tools addon. Min and max are always good for positioning objects in interior environments.

Very nice. Although I migrated from Maya/Max back in 2009, these tools look too good to pass up. Good job with all of this, and welcome to the wonderful world of Blender.

Love the add-on, I’m also 3ds user. Selecting by type is priceless, before addon I was stick with selection name pattern… Is it only my error that align is affecting position in non selected axis? I like puting things on ground by min to max in Z only. I know sanping can handle this easily but I’m using snapping to other stuff so changing the mode from vertex to face snap is to long… So for me it would be usefull to change position in only 1 axis… But again THANKS FOR ADDON !!!

align (the dialog) should affect selected axes only. i’ve looked into it but could’t replicate behavior you mention. could you please describe the steps that lead to this behavior in more detail? btw. target to align to is always the active object (or 3d cursor when selected, then also the active object is aligned)

advanced align tool (with quite a bit more functionality) was a part of inspiration (as well as simple align tool and of course 3ds max’s align selection dialog) :wink:

thanks, i hope you’ll find these tools useful.