P43dsMax - P4GT 3dsMax Plugin

P43dsMax is a powerful Autodesk 3dsMax plugin that seamlessly integrates with the Perforce version control system. It enables developers and designers to:

• Manage assets
• Collaborate across versions
• Work in multiple languages —all without leaving the 3dsMax environment.

Prerequisites

To build and use the plugin, ensure the following dependencies are installed:

• 3dsMax SDK Download from the Autodesk 3dsMax site
• Jam build system Download jam-2.6.1.zip
• OpenSSL 3
• P4 source code Download p4source.tgz from www.perforce.com or the FTP site
• Visual Studio Version matching the Autodesk 3dsMax edition, per Autodesk's guidelines

Folder Structure

Create a root folder named p43dsmax, then follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository
   Create a folder named p4-gt and clone the repository into it:

   git clone <repo-url> p4-gt
   

2. Add 3dsMax SDK
   Inside p4-gt, create a folder sdk/3dsmax. Download the 3dsMax SDK from Autodesk and copy the include and lib folders into sdk/3dsmax. (Remove the folders x64/Release and directly copy files to sdk/3dmax/lib folder)

3. Add Jam build system
   Create a folder named jam and unzip all Jam files into it.

4. Add OpenSSL 3
   Create a folder named openssl-3. After building the OpenSSL source code, copy the following folders:

   openssl-3\include\openssl
   openssl-3\lib

   Then, open tools/setenv20xx.bat and set the following environment variables:

   set SSLINCDIR=\path\to\openssl-3\include
   set SSLLIBDIR=\path\to\openssl-3\lib

   (ensure openssl used must be compatible with visual studio version installed)

5. Add P4 source code
   Create a folder named p4 and extract the contents of p4source.tgz into it.

Your folder structure should look like this -

p43dsmax/
├── jam/                      # Jam build system files
├── openssl-3/                # OpenSSL headers and libraries
├── p4/                       # P4API source and build scripts
├── p4-bin/                   # Generated after building P4API
├── p4-gt/                    # P43dsmax source code
│   ├── libp4gt/              # Graphical components interfacing with P4API
│   ├── 3dsmax/            # 3dsmax plugin source
│   ├── sdk/
│   │   └── 3dsmax/        # 3dsmax SDK files
│   ├── tools/                # Build and utility scripts
│   ├── Jamfile               # Jam build configuration
│   ├── Jamrules              # Jam build rules
└── README.md                 # This file

Build Instructions

To build the 3dsmax plugin (.gup file), follow these steps:

1. Open the Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio
   Navigate to the root folder:

   cd p43dsmax

2. Set the environment variables
   Choose the appropriate setenv20xx.bat file based on your Visual Studio version:

   cd p4-gt\tools
   setenv20xx.bat

3. Go to the jam folder and build it:

   cd p43dsmax/jam
   nmake -a

4. Build the P4API:

   cd p43dsmax/p4
   ..\p4-gt\tools\bldp4api.bat 

   (Note: It may skip few (~6) targets - this is expected and can be ignored.)

5. Update version metadata:

   cd p4-gt\tools
   UpdateVersion.bat

6. Build the plugin:

   cd p4-gt
   tools\bld3dsmax.bat

7. Locate the output .gup file:

   For English: p4-bin\bin.ntx64\en\dyn
   For Japanese: p4-bin\bin.ntx64\ja\dyn

Install

To install the plugin in Autodesk 3dsMax:

1. Copy the .gup file to the 3dsmax Plug-ins directory.
2. Launch 3dsmax
3. Click on P4 to open the Perforce integration menu.

License

See LICENSE.txt for license information.