super-low-level-beginner's max cheatsheet

benniy's icon

dear all,

for an all-beginner's lecture, i've prepared a small handout about the super-basics in max (to be printed on double-sided A3). thought someone may have use for it.

(feel free to comment on corrections and additions, but bare in mind – it's intended to be super low-lever :))

cheatsheet.pdf
pdf 2.11 MB

Floating Point's icon

that's actually really good! data types, message ordering, arguments, etc it's all there-- c74 stick this guy on your payroll!

ben sonic's icon

good work, but there is a tiny error.

you wrote:

"sending a float to an object defined to handle integers will usually round the result down", which is not correct.

Correct: the values will be truncated.

rounding down -2.9 ==> -3

truncation -2.9 ==> -2 (the way max handles float to integer conversion)

Jean-Francois Charles's icon

Maybe add x, the shortcut to shortcuts.

Messages are output from an object Right to Left. Not sure what you mean when you say "Top to Bottom". Max's own Tutorial 5 even says "bottom-to-top" when it considers the spatial disposition of objects. Max makes a depth-first exploration: "All actions on a branch are completed before the next branch is activated." (tutorial 5).

Interesting: I can't create a [switch] object with just 2 inputs, as in your graphic...

benniy's icon

super! thanks a ton for the input. have corrected and added some stuff – here's the new link

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a92ejdnhh1pufui/max%20cheatsheet%20v2.pdf?dl=0

vichug's icon

nice and pedagogic ! maybe add a button to the "debugging" ? idk, i use it all the time to see if there's something going on at all