3dsmax - add a note to an object?

[aaouviz]

I'm wondering if any of you smart folk out there know a good way to add some sort of note or helper to an object?

Ideally, it should be a little keyword, or arrow, or symbol that is always 'attached' to a mesh. I don't want it to be grouped, as this gets messy quickly, and I don't want to link it to the object, as that's a separate object entirely and won't copy across when I duplicate said main object.

I guess in an ideal world it would be some splines that are a separate element within the object, but as far as I know, it isn't possible to have curves/splines within a mesh or poly object.

Any tips out there? I'm modelling a big apartment building with a set of standard window sizes and want them to be labelled (for my own internal 3dsmax use only - so it doesnt have to be pretty).

Thanks!

[hurrycat]

Maybe a text object (mesh) attached to the main one with a material (using multisubobject) that has zero opacity so it won't render? Not the prettiest but may work for your case.

[aaouviz]

Thanks.

I did think about that - it is possibly the solution, the only thing holding me back is that I will eventually export this as a low-poly mesh, which will mean removing the mesh as an extra step before export.

But I do suppose any solution will require a similar step anyway, so this might have to be it unless I get a better suggestion.

Thanks again.

[romullus]

If you don't need it to be visible in the viewport and text is very short, then you could use custom attributes for that with dummy attribute that does nothing.

[hurrycat]

I found this script that adds simple note objects, but unfortunately they have to be linked to the base object.

https://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/note-helper

The simplest would maybe be to just put the note in the name :)

[aaouviz]

If you don't need it to be visible in the viewport and text is very short, then you could use custom attributes for that with dummy attribute that does nothing.

Actually, it being visible in the viewport is the main need here :)

Thanks though.

[aaouviz]

I found this script that adds simple note objects, but unfortunately they have to be linked to the base object.

https://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/note-helper

The simplest would maybe be to just put the note in the name :)

Thanks, will check it out.

I also found this which seems to do a pretty good job from a quick test: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-programming/textplus-how-to-label-an-object-using-its-object-name/td-p/7014035