What happened?

Every now and then I’m not able to open the “Asset Tracker” in 3ds max. I’ve tried using the shortcut (shift+T) and clicking to it via the menu, but nothing happens. Apparently I’m not the only one, so I thought I’d share what I have found out works pretty great.

Sometimes the asset tracker window would be hiding outside the desktop area or on my second monitor. To check this, the first thing I do is to try open up asset tracking (so the window in theory would be selected). Hold down the windows button and then click your left/right arrow key a couple of times to see if it shows up on screen again.

If this didn’t work,  I used to deleted the whole ENU folder as suggested on Autodesk’s own site.

The big problem here is that while all your problems are pretty likely to go away, you’ll loose all of your customized interface settings and have to set everything up again. This can be a huge pain.

Updated quicker solution (19-10-2017)

It’s been a while since this bug has happened to me, but today it did! Even though the original solution I posted last year still works great, it is a hassle. So try this first and if it doesn’t work for you, just skip this section and go to the original one.

1. Download the Connecter app for 3ds max (amazing assets app btw.)
2. Drag one of your assets into the 3ds max viewport
3. Click “About/Config…”
   
4. Click “3ds Max: Asset Tracking…”
   
5. Voila!

A more targeted solution

I’ve spend a few hours on tracking down the thing in the ENU folder that was causing this bug. I started out by deleting stuff in the ENU folder systematically. Then I started up max to see if the bug was gone, if not: repeat. When I finally found the file that was the problem, I took the same approach and started deleting lines of “code” inside the file until the bug was gone. Slowly I narrowed it down to this line of text (marked in yellow) in the 3dsmax.ini file:

The file is just inside the ENU folder as seen below.

To fix the asset tracker not opening, do the following:

1. Close all instances of 3ds max
2. Navigate to: C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2016 – 64bit\ENU
3. Open the 3dsmax.ini file (right click and “open with” notepad)
4. Find the line above that I’ve marked in yellow: InstallPath=C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2016\ (your’s might end in 2017 or what ever version you have)
5. Delete that line and click save

When you start up max the next time you’ll be met with the unit conversion pop-up (just click ok) and the template startup screen. Everything else should be intact.

I’m still not sure what is causing this bug, but this fix will have your asset tracking working again quickly without messing up your interface.

How to fix it

If you are having problems trying to open the Scene States in 3ds max and you are using a 3Dconnexion product (like the SpaceMouse Pro I’m using), go download the latest driver, reboot and you should once again have your Scene States back!

As you can see from my screenshot I’m using the 10.5.4 version and there is now a newer driver, but I simply don’t dare to update now it’s finally working! I’m pretty sure the latest one should work for you too, but in case it doesn’t let me know and I still have the 10.5.4 installer I can send for you to try.

Good luck!

People near to me mostly know what it is I do, but most of them don’t know more than I sit in front of a computer and work with 3D. Maybe it’s just me, but talking to someone about something they don’t find particularly interesting, feels odd.

It’s small talk and small talk is fine. It can be cozy and part of a healthy relationship between people interested in each other. My spouse can go on for hours about her day. Of cause most of the times it’s very interesting stuff (she might read this), but I just don’t know how she does it.

At times it feels likes the day passed without much happening. What did I spend 8 hours, in front of this damn monitor, on? Was I productive or did social media checking creep up on me again?

Keeping note of things

I hated that feeling. What a waste of time. Not having accomplished anything, but if I took the time to think about my day, this would of course not be true at all. I had actually completed a task – however small or meaningless it may have seemed when working on it.

So I started to keep track of what I had done on a giving day. You can call it a log, a journal, a list or what ever, the important thing is that I began to write it down.

Every night before I go to bed, I will take a couple of minuttes (or longer if the words are flowing) and write down what I have done. The form is not important. I started out with keywords and really short sentences. This is actually what I still do most days, but sometimes I write a bit more.

It’s mostly work related – as that is the point of the whole thing – but at times a few personal things sneaks it’s way in. I let it. It must be sneaking in for a reason.

Sticking to the schedule

I’ve been doing this for a few months now. Occasionally I miss a day, but I strive to fill in the gap the day after. Never to miss two days in a row. You can use anything to write this down, a notebook or on your phone, it doesn’t matter.

I’m using the Day One app for IOS as this allows me to go back every now and then and see how I’ve progressed. I also think it’ll be fun in a few years to read about my current struggles, achievements or just see if I’ve gotten better at small talk.

What I always end my notes with is adding an action item and ask myself:

“What is the main task I should work on tomorrow?”

It’s such a relief to sit down in front of the computer knowing what to work on. Your mind will also spend the night thinking about that task subconsciously as you sleep. I often have new ideas about the action item when I wake up.

The best thing about it

I was notoriously bad at making a realistic to-do list. Mostly I wouldn’t even get to complete the first item. This resulted in a bad feeling, as if I failed on that day.

I wouldn’t really know why these days happened. But by using only a few minuttes every day to write down what I had done, it forced me to think about the day in details I normally wouldn’t. Maybe I got carried away with technical 3D stuff or ended up having to redo something that took way longer than expected, but it’s okay. So maybe I didn’t even get past item no. 1 on my to-do list, but I did actually accomplish or learn a lot trying to do so. Or, I can use it as a kick in the butt if I wasted time on meaningless stuff. It’s a valuable lesson none the less.

After a couple of weeks doing this, my to-do lists actually got doable. I still struggle at estimating the time certain tasks will take, but now I know when to put in a buffer and what the most important task to focus on is.

Focus on a single task. If you complete that one of most importance, perfect, now everything else is just a bonus.