[sharing] Small script to snap all objects to rounded coordinates in presentation mode

Feb 06 2018 | 7:19 pm

Here is a simple script that I have been meaning to write for a while and haven't found in the community yet.

When designing interfaces it can be very annoying if object positions have fractions, causing blurry anti-aliasing and almost-but-not-quite alignment. For some reason these fractions always seem to be unintentionally introduced after a while.

This script aligns all objects in presentation mode to rounded coordinates. Note that it only works when the patch you are aligning is in presentation mode and <pitfall alert!> if is used in patching mode, it will completely screw up your presentation object positions. This is due to a limitation in the max js API, we can't query the presentation coordinates of objects in patching mode and we also can't find out if a patcher is currently in presentation mode. But given these limitations , this can be a pretty handy script :)

Use it like this:

Max Patcher
In Max, select New From Clipboard.

Show Text

Save as 'objectsnapper.js':

function bang() {
	var obj = this.patcher.firstobject; 
	while(obj != null) {
		var r = obj.rect;
		var newR = [Math.round(r[0]), Math.round(r[1]), Math.round(r[2] - r[0]), Math.round(r[3] - r[1])];
		if (obj.understands("presentation_rect")) obj.message("presentation_rect", newR);
		post("Adjusting " + obj.maxclass + "\n");
		obj = obj.nextobject;
	}
}

11olsen
Feb 07 2018 | 11:43 am
Very nice. I had to do it manually so many times. I'm gonna try it out.
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