MAXScript Tools and Interaction with 3ds Max > File Access > Asset Browsing, Zip-file Packaging and Drag And Drop > Drag And Drop MAX files, Bitmaps and Scripts >

# i-drop - drag and drop

i-drop was a technology developed by Autodesk which allowed the drag-and-drop of web content onto i-drop aware applications. This feature has been retired.

i-drop drag-and-drop support in 3ds Max allows i-drop-encapsulated files, scripts and texturemaps to be dragged from web pages directly onto a 3ds Max viewport, toolbar or menubar.

To create an i-drop capable web page, the following components are necessary:

- An HTML file containing at least one i-drop ActiveX control

- A standard file called idrop-schema.xml containing the XML definitions of high-level objects that can be dropped into i-drop-aware applications. This file is available online but can also be included locally when i-drop is used on local machines without internet access.

- An XML file describing the package to be dropped. The file is being referenced by the i-drop ActiveX control.

- A thumbnail image representing the content to be dropped.

- A resource file, for example a .MAX files containing the model to be dropped, a bitmap texture to be dropped on scene models as diffuse map, a drop script to execute MAXScript commands.

EXAMPLE
Here is a simple HTML file containing a single i-drop active-X control that represents a MAX file that can be dropped into a 3ds Max viewport. The HTML refers to an XML file containing details about the MAX file to drop. The image proxy, XML file and .max file names specify files in the \Temp directory on the local C: drive, you will have to adjust these for your setup.
HTML FILE:
    <html>
    <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
    <title>i-Drop Example</title>
    </head>
    <body>
    Example of ani-drop activeX control...
    <p>
    <object name="idrop" width="64" height="80" classid="clsid: 21E0CB95-1198-4945-A3D2-4BF804295F78">
    <param name="package" value="file:///C:/Temp/Example.xml">
    </object>
    </body>
    </html>
XML PACKAGE FILE:

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <package xmlns="x-schema:file:///C:/Temp/idrop-schema.xml">
    <proxy defaultsrc="file:///C:/Temp/blob.gif">
    <caption>i-Drop it!</caption>
    <img src="file:///C:/Temp/blob.gif"/>
    </proxy>
    <dataset>
    <datasrc clipformat="CF_IDROP.MAX">
    <datafile src="file:///C:/Temp/foo.max"/>
    </datasrc>
    </dataset>
     </package

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