How to Get Good Support

Issues are inevitable. Software can be very complex and sometimes involves on multiple vendor APIs, etc.

If you ask someone to re-create something, how can you know it matches what you created?

There is only ONE WAY: post a file

If you post a file, people can truly confirm if there is a problem or not.

Include a tag in your filename that tells us the Max version and TP version.

Getting good support is an art, and is actually pretty easy if you follow the steps below.

What is really important is to NOT just ask, "hey, this doesn't work... what could it be?"

This wastes everyone's time because there's no way to know for sure what you've done in your file.

Sure, certain areas might be suggested but there is no certainty.

Only by providing a file can there be certainty, and certainty is golden.

Steps to Follow:

1) Give a short & clear description of the problem.

Create this in a Notepad .txt file and include it with your .max file.

2) Provide a downloadable link to a simple file so users can just open the file and jump to a frame and see the problem

They should not have to configure anything or change any settings (that's your job ;)

Also keep the number of required plugins to a minimum, or none at all is preferred since it will help isolate the problem to tP.

3) Name the .max file so it includes:

A) A simple description of the scene, e.g."House collapse"

B) Your name or initials, e.g. "fy"

C) The Max version you used, e.g. "2020"

D) The TP version you used, e.g. "tp67143"

E) optional: a version number, e.g. "v006"

Sample file: "Total mayhem - fy 2020 tp67143 - v006.rar"

4) Bonus: include an image with annotations showing where the problem happens.

This is mostly used for debugging shots or pointing out areas or particles who are misbehaving.