Contents  Introduction  Modifiers  Utilities  Using MFC  Conclusion  Get the project  Printable version

Conclusions

To sum up then. A modifier is a plug-in made to modify objects in some way and that benefits from the geometry pipeline, while a utility is a plug-in that is useful for implementing modal procedures but is not designed (in theory) to modify objects.

In my opinion, modifiers should be used when you can't develop a utility, because utility plug-ins are simpler to develop. A utility should be developed to:

1. Get information from the scene without modifying objects, or
2. Modify objects only if the objects can have their modifier stacks collapsed, or
3. Drive modifiers and build a "super utility plug-in".

So knowing the constraints and the specifications of the tool that you have to develop, you should now be able to choose wisely between the two types of plug-in, as well as the Microsoft Foundation Classes. And remember: programming in 3D Studio Max, your code might not always look nice, not when you have to make things work in any way you can, but you usually can make things work.

Acknowledgments and References

Thanks to Jurie Horneman for his help in writing this article.

Further information about this topic can be found at:

• The Discreet web site : http://www.discreet.com/
  
• The 3D Studio Max SDK Forums : http://support.discreet.com/~200
  
• The 3D Studio Max Open source forums: http://support.discreet.com/~maxopensource
  
• Gamasutra article about Developing 3D Studio Max plug-ins
  
• Using Max with MFC : http://www.ktx.com/mfc

David Lanier is a programmer working for Kalisto Entertainment France (http://www.kalisto.com/ ). In the past four years, Kalisto has developed games such as Dark Earth, Ultimate Race Pro, The Fifth element, 4 Wheel Thunder and Nightmare Creatures II. David has been working in the R&D department as a tool developer for the last two years. The R&D team focuses on technologies, tools and processes allowing the game teams to focus on gameplay. David is specialized in developing tools that deal with real-time texture-mapped 3D graphics. He can be reached at dlanier@kalisto.com.