> Hi Tommy,

> > I personally enjoy MoI 10 times more now with Max' script installed

> It's cool that it has made things so much better for you!

> Are there some particular plug-ins that you are using very frequently for your work? Which ones are they?

> - Michael

It's kind of part of a bigger topic for me, but here you go:

In one kind of work I do, I let myself be inspired by basic forms or certain functions, create an object out of them and then see if I can make them into interesting images, more like a photographer (using Thea Render) than like an engineer.
So for me all the generator scripts are very useful, interesting and inspiring.
For instance, this image is a Loft between the different Levels of a Hilbert Curve:
http://www.screendream.de/
(BTW. It's also an example of an object that hits the limits of 32 Bit - MoI is hardly able to build and export it. ;-) ).

But there are many other cases. One time I need a sinus curve, another time the spherical points may come in handy or a baseball.
Since I work freelance in a wide range of jobs and topics, I never know what I will need next time, so having all possible options easily accessible multiplies the usefulness of MoI and I will turn to it with more confidence.
At the same time, having all these scripts may also help me creating my own or extending one if need should be.

If the "external scripts" menu in Max' script would have some way of sorting into categories with submenues (in the best case simply from file system folders), it would be basically all I ever need from such a plugins menu.


Several things in MoI are rather hidden in the default GUI, so for instance I hardly ever use the lighting options, but with Max' script they are right at hand so I will remember to actually use them to better visualize certain surfaces.


The object library is something I'm used to from many other applications, Thea Render for instance has a brilliantly integrated library for materials, objects, textures, lights etc. and that makes scene setup much faster, so again, this part of Max' plugin will encourage me to save certain parts I use more often. In theory I could save such objects into some folder and import them, but having them close at hand in this menu makes it much more obvious.


What it all boils down to: I'm used to working with Softimage XSI, Lightwave and other much more complex tools than MoI, so complexity isn't something I have a problem with, as long as it is well presented. What I HAVE problems with is, if existing functions or possibilities are hidden under the hood or missing from the interface.

It's not so much a case of this or that script being especially useful, but the sheer wealth of scripts being usable in a well integrated way makes MoI applicable to more situations.

I believe that by trying too hard to keep MoI simple it actually can go the other way. :-)
I would be happy with an "expert view" I guess.

But that's another discussion entirely... ;-)

YMMV of course.

Cheers,

Tom