Working with Values

Print and Format

The print() and format() functions are straightforward. The format function is used when any formatting of the output is desired, or if you want to print multiple values on a line. When printing a value using either of these functions, a string representation of the value is printed. This is not the object name for those objects with names (for example a 3ds max object or material). In the following example, variable b contains a reference to a 3ds max Box object that has a material applied:

Script:

print b

print b.name

print b.material

print b.material.name

Output:

$Box:Box01 @ [-74.353745,0.000001,-19.931978]

"Box01"

Material #1:Standard

"Material #1"

The printed results above also reflect the result of a <value> as string operation, that is the result is a string representation of the object rather than the object name.

classOf, superClassOf, and isKindOf

The following table shows the hierarchy of classes and superclasses for a variable that contains a reference to a 3ds max Box object (i.e., b=box()).

	ClassOf	SuperClassOf
b	Box	GeometryClass
box	GeometryClass	Node
GeometryClass	Node	MAXWrapper
Node	MAXWrapper	Value
MAXWrapper	Value	Value
Value	Value	Value

The isKindOf() and classOf() functions are useful for filtering objects from a set. For example, either of the following will collect all objects of class box into variable allBoxes:

allBoxes=for obj in $* where (isKindOf obj box) do collect obj

allBoxes=#()

for obj in $* do (if classOf obj == box then append allBoxes obj)

One of the named parameters to the interactive node selection functions is filter, which allows you to specify a function that returns a value of true if an object can be selected. The classOf, superClassOf, and isKindOf functions are frequently used in these functions. For example, the following function limits the choices to shape objects:

fn shape_filt obj = isKindOf obj Shape

For an example of such a usage, see Pickbutton.