MaxScript Basic Course

Name: MaxScript Basic Course
Rating: 4.3 (5 reviews)

An initial course to make a quick start in programming in MaxScript for Autodesk 3Ds Max.

Created byVasyl Lukianenko

Last updated 12/2023

English

English [Auto],

What you'll learn

Understanding how scripts are structured, types, launching, saving.
Basic programming principles: variables, loops, arrays, functions.
Writing your own simple scripts. Lots of application and automation examples.
How to understand errors in code, where to look for information.
Writing your first script to randomize the transformation of objects.

Course content

1 section • 14 lectures • 1h 15m total length

Intro1:03
Introductory remarks, why MaxScript is a simple programming language, how we will be trained and general information.
File Types in MaxScript7:45
One of the most important things before you start programming is to figure out what file types are available for MaxScript. Different types of files are responsible for a different approach to scripting.
MaxScript Listener5:38
In this lesson I want to talk about such an important thing as the console.
Creating Objects5:34
Let's see what objects we can create and figure out how to change their parameters. For example height, width, radius, number of segments and so on.
Object Manipulation5:42
How to put objects in the right position in your scene? Let's figure it out.
We will consider:
- Specifying the exact position when creating an object;
- Changing position when the object is already in the scene.
Data Types4:09
In MaxScript, as in any other programming language, you need to correctly designate certain data so that 3Ds Max understands you.
These can be strings, numbers, colors, logical operators and more...
Variables, Random6:07
Variables are named containers for storing values. They are used to temporarily or permanently store data such as numbers, strings, objects, etc.

Random command generates random numbers within a given range...
Conditions (IF)5:08
Conditional statements are used to execute specific blocks of code depending on whether a certain condition meets our requirements or not.
Loops, Arrays (Part 1)4:52
What are cycles?
Imagine that you have a list of elements and you want to perform the same action for each element, loops will help you do this automatically.
Loops, Sets (Part 2)4:57
In MaxScript there is such a thing as ObjectSets. Thanks to them, you can quickly access a specific list of scene objects. For example, we can access all lights, cameras or selected objects.
Functions5:23
In MaxScript, the existing features are very powerful. They allow you to perform many different actions. But sometimes we need to create our own, and fortunately MaxScript allows you to optimize and customize your work.
Comments, Catching Errors5:29
Comments in MaxScript allow you to insert explanations or descriptions into your code to help other developers understand its contents or your own in the future.
No matter how well you know the MaxScript documentation, absolutely all programmers make typos or errors in their code. How to catch errors and understand what they mean?
Documentation, ChatGPT, Google7:09
MaxScript holds a lot of secrets and is a fairly broad language that touches many aspects of 3D Max.
I will give my example of how I use the documentation.
What about ChatGPT? It all depends on your prompt...
! Small update on AI: in 2026, AI agents already have a solid understanding of MaxScript. You can now create even highly complex scripts using tools like Claude. !

Below I will attach links to forums where you can ask or find a ready-made solution.
Also see below, two MAXScript Reference files are attached - this is a "CHM" format help file.
Randomization Script6:10
Well, today, as a completion of the course, let's write a script to randomize position, rotation and scale.
This will help consolidate our knowledge.
See the attached files for an example script.

Requirements

You must have 3Ds Max 2011 or higher installed.

Description

Hi everyone, I'm MastaMan and we're starting a series of MaxScript tutorials.

Most of you work in 3Ds Max doing routine tasks every day. MaxScript will help optimize your workflow or you can learn how to code.

Since MaxScript is a very simple programming language, understanding its basics will help you understand how to write code and is a great start in your programming. By understanding the basics, you will be able to further explore other programming languages.

In this series of lessons, I will try to explain very simply, in simple words, how to quickly start writing code, and most importantly, we will consider simple examples and quickly achieve results.

After all, when we immediately see the result, it raises enthusiasm and there is more desire to dive into MaxScript.

We will learn the basic concepts and fundamentals of programming. We will cover such important topics as: variables, loops, arrays, data types, functions and much more.

And at the end of this course, we will create our own script to randomize the transformation of objects, using a stack of books as an example.

You can also write your own simple scripts to optimize your work in 3Ds Max. This will allow you to be above your competitors and do routine tasks much faster.

For example, you can write a script in a couple of lines that will increase all or selected lights by 20% or massively change any other parameter at your discretion.

Who this course is for:

Gain basic programming skills for 3Ds Max using the built-in MaxScript language!
You will learn to write simple scripts, as well as understand other people's code.
We'll cover basic programming concepts, from variables to functions.