Pymxs, the 3DsMax bindings of Maxscript to Python doesn't come with any stubs

Frieder Erdmann

Last update: Dec 27, 2022

Related tags

Overview

PyMXS Stubs generator

What

Pymxs, the 3DsMax bindings of Maxscript to Python doesn't come with any stubs. This is an attempt at generating stubs automatically by inspecting running code.

Generate stubs

Run generate_pymax_pyi.py in 3DsMax to generate stubs. Tested with 3DsMax 2021 (Python3).

Use stubs

Copy the pymxs.pyi file to a path where you'd usually be able to call import pymxs from.

These Stubs come as they are: I make no promises that they work or cover all your needs.

Development

Open Directory in VSCode
Pick the 3Ds Max Python as your interpreter
Unzip latest MXSPyCom Release into /mxspycom
Run debug/start_debug.py in Max
Run Debug configuration Python: Remote Attach
Run task Execute Script in 3Ds Max on generate_pymax_pyi.py file

Current scope

Works in 3Ds Max 2021
Works with Python 3
Gets properties of most 3DsMax objects

Missing from current version (to do)

Signatures for max script calls (need to go into __new__ constructors of the objects)
Some properties get skipped as the object they belong to can't be generated without the correct signature
No #Struct object types
No properties for regular object types (like Array)
Not all properties have the right hint (alot will still say None because they need initialization)
Some Max Scene clean up before, after, during script exectuion (this creates a TON of objects in your Max Scene)
Check other performance optimizations like turn off viewport rendering as applicable
Checking if everything is correct, including order of the pyi
Captialization rules - right now names are read as is, but might be worth enforcing some lowercase or CamelCase rules
Less hacky code
Streamline debug/development process
Encoding definition of pyi file
Callable for properties/arguments that need it

Contributing

Please feel free to fork and push Pull Requests my way. Also issues are welcome - in that case please include as much detail as possible.

Thanks

MXSPyCOM for easy debugging
TechArt.org for the constant help

Autodesk License

3Ds Max, the maxscript API, pymxs and all other items belong to Autodesk.

Comments

Optimisation: Pre-compiling the pattern would be more performant.

https://github.com/friedererdmann/pymxs_stubs/blob/5f793a81fc621c5ed56dc6c4193cf8f4097bc921/parser.py#L61 Generally I like to pre-compile where possible to reduce overhead. Not a big thing here, but it can noticeably improve performance for lots of iterations.

opened by ldunham1 2
Fix capitalization for class names

Currently inheritance can break between classes as classes might be capitalized or not. This leads to classes inheriting from Color but the class color was not capitalized. By default all class names should be CamelCased, also to avoid clashes with built-ins (like set and Set).

opened by friedererdmann 2
Clean up discarding invalid class and attribute names

Currently checking for invalid class and attribute names happens in at least two different places and makes no use of any good logic. See if there's an easy regex or similar to sort out illegal names (starting with digit or special character) as well as discarding any attributes and class names that double with Python internal reserved words.

opened by friedererdmann 1
Add structs

I created a simple method to generate all the stubs for all StructDef objects. I've got a pretty vanilla install of Max 2023 so it should be free of third party plugins. Wasn't entirely sure how to properly integrate it into the rest of the stub generation, so I manually copy-pasted it into the .pyi file. Hopefully this is a good starting point!

One thing to note was the <data> type for StructDef was, in all my testing, inaccessible and so I just assume it's private (even though it's listed as public). All <systemGlobal> types were accessible, so I assume they're public.

opened by thomascswalker 0

Added support for certain struct types

Added functionality to parse some struct types for signatures. It doesn't cover all the types, but provides data on a large number of the outstanding ones. Currently formatted to return nested dictionaries with all the data like so:

"SkinUtils": {
    "ExtractSkinData": {
        "signature": "<void>ExtractSkinData <node>node",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "ExtractSkinData "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "node"
            }
        ]
    },
    "ImportSkinData": {
        "signature": "<void>ImportSkinData <node>targetNode <node>sourceNode",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "ImportSkinData "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "targetNode "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "sourceNode"
            }
        ]
    },
    "GetBoneBindTM": {
        "signature": "<matrix3>GetBoneBindTM <node>skinNode <node>boneNode",
        "return_type": "matrix3",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "matrix3",
                "name": "GetBoneBindTM "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "boneNode"
            }
        ]
    },
    "SetBoneBindTM": {
        "signature": "<void>SetBoneBindTM <node>skinNode <node>boneNode <matrix3>tm",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "SetBoneBindTM "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "boneNode "
            },
            {
                "type": "matrix3",
                "name": "tm"
            }
        ]
    },
    "GetMeshBindTM": {
        "signature": "<matrix3>GetMeshBindTM <node>skinNode",
        "return_type": "matrix3",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "matrix3",
                "name": "GetMeshBindTM "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode"
            }
        ]
    },
    "SetMeshBindTM": {
        "signature": "<void>SetMeshBindTM <node>skinNode <matrix3>tm",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "SetMeshBindTM "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode "
            },
            {
                "type": "matrix3",
                "name": "tm"
            }
        ]
    },
    "GetBoneStretchTM": {
        "signature": "<matrix3>GetBoneStretchTM <node>skinNode <node>boneNode",
        "return_type": "matrix3",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "matrix3",
                "name": "GetBoneStretchTM "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "boneNode"
            }
        ]
    },
    "SetBoneStretchTM": {
        "signature": "<void>SetBoneStretchTM <node>skinNode <node>boneNode <matrix3>tm",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "SetBoneStretchTM "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "boneNode "
            },
            {
                "type": "matrix3",
                "name": "tm"
            }
        ]
    },
    "GrowSelection": {
        "signature": "<void>GrowSelection <node>skinNode",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "GrowSelection "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode"
            }
        ]
    },
    "ShrinkSelection": {
        "signature": "<void>ShrinkSelection <node>skinNode",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "ShrinkSelection "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode"
            }
        ]
    },
    "LoopSelection": {
        "signature": "<void>LoopSelection <node>skinNode",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "LoopSelection "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode"
            }
        ]
    },
    "RingSelection": {
        "signature": "<void>RingSelection <node>skinNode",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "RingSelection "
            },
            {
                "type": "node",
                "name": "skinNode"
            }
        ]
    },
    "ImportSkinDataNoDialog": {
        "signature": "<void>ImportSkinDataNoDialog <boolean>matchByName <boolean>removeTargetPrefix <boolean>removeTargetSuffix <boolean>removeSourcePrefix <boolean>removeSourceSuffix <float>threshold <integer>interpolationType",
        "return_type": "void",
        "arguments": [
            {
                "type": "void",
                "name": "ImportSkinDataNoDialog "
            },
            {
                "type": "boolean",
                "name": "matchByName "
            },
            {
                "type": "boolean",
                "name": "removeTargetPrefix "
            },
            {
                "type": "boolean",
                "name": "removeTargetSuffix "
            },
            {
                "type": "boolean",
                "name": "removeSourcePrefix "
            },
            {
                "type": "boolean",
                "name": "removeSourceSuffix "
            },
            {
                "type": "float",
                "name": "threshold "
            },
            {
                "type": "integer",
                "name": "interpolationType"
            }
        ]
    }
}

opened by munkybutt 2

Streamline development process
See if attaching debugger and starting pymxscom can be summarized in one launch profile.

See if deploying pymxscom startup script can be automated

See if linking VSCode workspace Python compiler to Max can be automated
opened by friedererdmann 0
Make stub generation repeatable and less memory hungry

Optimize stub generation by cleaning the scene before and after the generation of the stubs. Investigate if turning off UI/Viewport elements can improve generation speed as well. Provide visual feedback how far along the stub generation is.

opened by friedererdmann 1
Find and catalogue missing/broken properties

A number of current properties default to None or its not possible to construct the base object without some signature, so they are ignored. Catalogue the missing or broken properties and create follow up tasks to fix them.

opened by friedererdmann 0