Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I wonder.. I know Dropbox files are constantly synchronized, but if one person (an administrator) sets all files in read-only.. would that prevent any deleting/editing by anyone else? And for versioning, as you suggested (if I got you right?), until some form of package control system could be thought-up/setup perhaps having entire workgroup versions (1.2, 1.4, ...) ? (1 every month?) With each new version essentially being almost an exact copy of the previous, but with individual updates that happened since the last workgroup version, plus new items. So if one were to connect to V1.3 at the start of a prod, (or download it to a local server) he could either stick with that version, and/or test-out new ones as they come out, and could always fall back to previous ones. This while perhaps having a Nightly Build Workgroup, where all updates happen live. (for daredevils or curious cats) Also, I remember having used a free FTP drive mapping thingy a while back.. could that solve many (if not any?) permission issues? For what would be on there, I would think of perhaps putting up a list of good item candidates, (on SI-Community?) were people could vote or post suggestions of what they would find useful.. And I think the result would feel ( be) like a live connection to what everyone in the community finds useful :-), while highly doubting that anything useless (or for too specific contexts) would find it's way in there. Any suggestions? Cheers! On 23/01/2013 1:27 PM, Andy Jones wrote: Fantastic thread. I could actually see something like Dropbox working as an always up to date thing, but only if there's a way for each tool owner to provide read-only access into some sort of central hub. So you'd see all the tools together, but each would be managed by one person. And for stability, I'd assume people would make copies of that repo if they're worried about stuff changing. It might be too complex for it to actually happen, but more along the lines of a package system, I would recommend that we first figure out how to put all these tools into a code repository, not unlike how most studios manage their tools. Something like git would probably be ideal (though I know people sometimes get scared off by the complexity). The great thing about working this way is that if people make improvements to the tools, there's a way to push the improvements back up to the main code repository in a controlled way. It's really not any different from other open source software. Something I do think is missing, though, is a way of managing plugins that fills the gap between workgroups and loose scripts. I think Addons were really meant to be this, but apart from installing and uninstalling them, they can be somewhat difficult to manage. It would be great if we had a really slick way to create a workgroup consisting of only our deployed addons, which would let us perform upgrades and such very easily. For example, inside the workgroup, you could have some metadata that lists locations where addons can be pulled from (like how rpm databases work), and would let you search for things and install/uninstall/upgrade them. So there would be two parts -- source checkin/checkout, and package installation/management. Another thought is that it would be wise to separate tools that are instantaneous (like gui scripts, etc) and tools that create dependencies, and which need to be deployed elsewhere once the tool is used. The former always has fewer strings attached, so it's easier to carry it around like a bag of tricks. On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 9:35 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com mailto:jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: Jason S wrote: I there are any conflicts, could it make any permanent changes to which just disconnecting from the workgroup wouln't resolve? Or can just connecting to a workgroup possibly execute code? By the way, what happens when connecting to a workgoup with things that are already locally installed? In the same vein, what happens when installing an addon with various extensions which includes things that are already installed? are those things overwritten? or display popups? So many questions sorry :) Found some answers to my many question from the good ol' manual :) *Resolving Plug-in Conflicts* Plug-in conflicts occur when Softimage finds multiple versions of the same self-installing plug-in. Softimage can resolve a plug-in conflict in either of two ways: • Versioning: Softimage loads the most recent version of the plug-in. • Origin Ordering: Softimage loads the plug-in from the location with the highest precedence. By default, Softimage tries to load the most recent version of a self-installing plug-in. For example, if your User location contains version 1.2 of a plug-in, and a workgroup contains 1.3, then Softimage
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
And I second that :) On 24/01/2013 9:43 AM, Jason S wrote: Another thought is that it would be wise to separate tools that are instantaneous (like gui scripts, etc) and tools that create dependencies, and which need to be deployed elsewhere once the tool is used. The former always has fewer strings attached, so it's easier to carry it around like a bag of tricks.
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Am 18.01.2013 09:16, schrieb Thomas Volkmann: I agree, a workgroup/Dropbox solution is really not an option...somehow I was believing that mankind is good and no one would ever place malicious stuff or break things, not even by accident. But reality is cruel of course. @Gene: please go for it. Start a kickstarter project. I'll drop some bucks for sure. Rray.de inside netview, with one-click-install, update notifications, a rating system, comment section, and Editors-choice collections . BM! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2hqzEKbaIQ rray.de/xsi inside Netview already works. Open local backup, dd an xsiaddon into a viewport. Nice! Some problems, though: - some addons are zipped or rared, so the poor site admin would have to go through the whole bunch and unzip them. - the search field seems not to be working... not good. - does anyone else get some strange script error popup opening the backup link in Netview? I have to click continue script execution, then it works nonetheless. - when dd-ing an addon, it always gets installed into xx:\Users\xxx\Autodesk\Softimage_xxx\Addons. There ain't no way to re-route this to a workgroup, is there? I'd say the last version of the xsiaddon could reside directly on the blog entry, for convenience. So basically rray.de might be the place to go, since it's the most complete addon collection out there, right? Maybe the usual suspect plugin writers can get access to the blog to post their stuff themselves, so the admin has less work? /Thomas Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com hat am 18. Januar 2013 um 06:47 geschrieben: yep :) On 18/01/2013 12:46 AM, Andy Moorer wrote: Why not keep things simple, we're all busy people, just share out whatever you want to share, however you want, as a workgroup, snippets of code, whatever. If you have a suggested combination of tools or addons, share what's yours and just list out the rest, or just ask the author if they mind you including their tool in your bundle. Over time the best few bundles will float to the popularity top naturally, internet style. (Shrug) We work hard enough supporting ourselves, sharing with the community will only work if its something we can fit into already busy lives. If you have good stuff you think will help others, please share it out if you're comfortable doing so knowing that that effort will help this community grow. If you're busy, make cool stuff and try not to sleep in the studio. :) On Jan 18, 2013, at 12:08 AM, Xavier Lapointe xl.mailingl...@gmail.com mailto:xl.mailingl...@gmail.com wrote: Eric is probably not in front of his computer because he would have answer right away :p Wasn't XSI database and all the other sites likehttp://ray.de meant to be something similar? Bunch of people do their stuff on their side, but nothing seems to be fitting everyone. Kinda like the sublime package control approach though to just have a github based system. Auto-updates, catalog, etc.
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I like the idea, before I read your reply I was thinking something akin to a ninite.com for Softimage plugins/scripts? Checkbox select your desired plugins from a list, hit go, and download a workgroup ready to connected, with all the requested plugins/scripts in the right folders ready to be invoked. It wouldn't need a single central repository for all tools, it could draw them any reliable hosts, as long as the tools themselves are somehow documented and categorized well enough to be auto-installed in the right place in the workgroup Ah, blue sky thinking :) On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 4:40 PM, Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.comwrote: Yeah count me *out* of any dropbox solution. 3 main reasons... 1: I would go freaking MAD if anyone could add, remove or change versions of addon's from my working setup. 2000% deal breaker. 2: Space is limited with the free accounts and I don't want just anyone being able to use my space however they feel is necessary. 3: A lot of studios don't allow you to install 3rd party software, but * especially* things like dropbox that tunnel through firewalls and generally disregard network safety. @Thomas: If descriptions are the main reason that you prefer rray, then why not make a small text file a requirement for submitting? Same level as addon/plugin/script that contains a short description. Also it does have advantages. First of all it's instant availability for everyone, don't forget, the second you upload something, it's available to all. Also don't forget that *you* have read/write access to it. Here's another idea which has been one that I've been tinkering around with the concept for a while now. I've had this idea to create a full blown package manager for Soft for a long time now. Think of a full GUI that lets you browse all available packages (addon's, plugins, scripts) and their versions and also prompts you to update your local copy when a new version gets published. It would be crowd sourced, meaning everyone would have read/write access. If I had extra time... hah, I could create a whole user account system where users create accounts to manager their own packages, but only have read access to everyone else's. Another advantage is that anything uploaded would also be available via http: http://www.genecrucean.com/softimageRepo/Rendering/GeneCrucean/AddonName/v001/TestAddon.zip I also have a small utility I built that lets me recursively create xml files that describe the folder contents and structure: http://www.genecrucean.com/softimageRepo/Rendering/GeneCrucean/contents.xml-- this file could exist in every level of the directory. It's parseable ;) Or if someone that knows PHP and has more time than I do wants to write a proper api endpoint, well then things get really cool. Until then, xml it is. -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** *Freelance for hire* ** www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.com for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~ -- Technical Pretty Picture Making Person Kettle http://www.kettlestudio.co.uk/
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
It would be handy if we could also be able to zoom-out, Since it's IE based I would have thought that it could but it can't.. pity. On 18/01/2013 3:48 AM, Eugen Sares wrote: rray.de/xsi inside Netview already works. Open local backup, dd an xsiaddon into a viewport. Nice! Some problems, though: - some addons are zipped or rared, so the poor site admin would have to go through the whole bunch and unzip them. - the search field seems not to be working... not good. - does anyone else get some strange script error popup opening the backup link in Netview? I have to click continue script execution, then it works nonetheless. - when dd-ing an addon, it always gets installed into xx:\Users\xxx\Autodesk\Softimage_xxx\Addons. There ain't no way to re-route this to a workgroup, is there? I'd say the last version of the xsiaddon could reside directly on the blog entry, for convenience. So basically rray.de might be the place to go, since it's the most complete addon collection out there, right? Maybe the usual suspect plugin writers can get access to the blog to post their stuff themselves, so the admin has less work?
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
In Linux, it's the Internet Explorer 5 engine. Making anything modern work on that is borderline masochistic. Any kind soul wanna build a Chromium netview? :p On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: It would be handy if we could also be able to zoom-out, Since it's IE based I would have thought that it could but it can't.. pity. On 18/01/2013 3:48 AM, Eugen Sares wrote: rray.de/xsi inside Netview already works. Open local backup, dd an xsiaddon into a viewport. Nice! Some problems, though: - some addons are zipped or rared, so the poor site admin would have to go through the whole bunch and unzip them. - the search field seems not to be working... not good. - does anyone else get some strange script error popup opening the backup link in Netview? I have to click continue script execution, then it works nonetheless. - when dd-ing an addon, it always gets installed into xx:\Users\xxx\Autodesk\**Softimage_xxx\Addons. There ain't no way to re-route this to a workgroup, is there? I'd say the last version of the xsiaddon could reside directly on the blog entry, for convenience. So basically rray.de might be the place to go, since it's the most complete addon collection out there, right? Maybe the usual suspect plugin writers can get access to the blog to post their stuff themselves, so the admin has less work?
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
i am thinking more like a pyqt app which is a portal to rray.de/xsi (or any other database of content) rather than a generic web browser. just dreaming ;) On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 7:10 AM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.comwrote: Any kind soul wanna build a Chromium netview? :p
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
And in the case of FTP, one cannot undelete. At least in Dropbox you have 30 days to restore deleted files. It's bad either way. Also I think it's unwise to divulge ftp details on a public mailing list. All it takes is 1 jerk to ruin it for everybody. (I don't think anyone on the list would, but if it shows up in google searches, which it will because this is public, any noob hacker could probably come and ruin the fun.) On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 7:34 AM, Gustavo Eggert Boehs gustav...@gmail.comwrote: One could also upload malicious files up to Dropbox and they would spread to all those who share the folder, right? Does not sound very safe. 2013/1/17 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at If we use dropbox we have to make damn sure nobody removes items others might be needing, which can happen by accident (I don't expect acts of sabotage). Also, what if someone updates his own tools, with some changes in functionality that break downward compatibility? Oder versions must remain accessible. We can't afford f*ing up other people's production pipelines. We could create another workgroup folder for every version that gets uploaded, inside the uploader's personal folder. Use the newer version? Disconnect from the old, connect to the new folder. But maybe it would be better to copy the stuff we need to some local offline workgroup. Might be too risky otherwise. Btw., does dropbox have any options to set write permissions? Am 17.01.2013 10:22, schrieb Thomas Volkmann: A dropbox-workgroup (or a workgroup on a FTP) that you can just connect to (or make a local copy and get updates every now and then) would be awesome. I think just having tools on a FTP is not a real advantage over rray.de, because you don't have any previews or descriptions for the tools (other than just to connect to a workgroup, where you can just try stuff, because it's already installed). A community workgroup could add a community menu where you select users to see their tools... like this: user-tools - userFoo - exporters - rigging stuff - - userBar - exporters - animation helpers - whatever - userFnord - curve tools - make-awesome tools - whatever And maybe a similar structure for ICE/Render compounds. That way a user can maintain his own section and will probably not break some other stuff. Since I never created any AddOns: is it enough to have a folder structure inside the addon-folder of the workgroup and place stuff there, or is a file in InstalledAddons where you register all that stuff necessary as well? Anyway, I think if we could get something like that going, it would be the shit! Personally I would probably connect to it every now and then, check some stuff and take the tools I like into my personal workgroup. And of course upload some of my new tools to the community workgroup. cheers, Thomas Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.comemailgeneonthel...@gmail.comhat am 17. Januar 2013 um 09:07 geschrieben: Why not just a good ol fashioned FTP? I'll offer one up to *this* list and 3DPro (Be careful who you give it to. Adults get access): host: genecrucean.com user: softimage pass: Add0n555 I have lots of space and unlimited bandwidth... but if it gets abused, I'll just take it down. What do you guys think about this? It would need a decent naming/directory structure so it didn't become a huge mess. Maybe something like: - Task - Author - Addon/Plugin/Script - Versions On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:41 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: Don't know why I often put extra buts in my sentances, in this case we were essentially saying the same thing :) On 16/01/2013 11:42 PM, Jason S wrote: Ya! but maybe like a common XSI_SAMPLES_DUMP Database, to which we could then make like a more refined/finished DB out of that, -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** *Freelance for hire* ** www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.com for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~ -- Gustavo E Boehs http://www.gustavoeb.com.br/blog
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Maybe if we could have something like apt-get or Sublime's Package Control style tool to list, install and update addons? On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 10:38 AM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.comwrote: And in the case of FTP, one cannot undelete. At least in Dropbox you have 30 days to restore deleted files. It's bad either way. Also I think it's unwise to divulge ftp details on a public mailing list. All it takes is 1 jerk to ruin it for everybody. (I don't think anyone on the list would, but if it shows up in google searches, which it will because this is public, any noob hacker could probably come and ruin the fun.) On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 7:34 AM, Gustavo Eggert Boehs gustav...@gmail.com wrote: One could also upload malicious files up to Dropbox and they would spread to all those who share the folder, right? Does not sound very safe. 2013/1/17 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at If we use dropbox we have to make damn sure nobody removes items others might be needing, which can happen by accident (I don't expect acts of sabotage). Also, what if someone updates his own tools, with some changes in functionality that break downward compatibility? Oder versions must remain accessible. We can't afford f*ing up other people's production pipelines. We could create another workgroup folder for every version that gets uploaded, inside the uploader's personal folder. Use the newer version? Disconnect from the old, connect to the new folder. But maybe it would be better to copy the stuff we need to some local offline workgroup. Might be too risky otherwise. Btw., does dropbox have any options to set write permissions? Am 17.01.2013 10:22, schrieb Thomas Volkmann: A dropbox-workgroup (or a workgroup on a FTP) that you can just connect to (or make a local copy and get updates every now and then) would be awesome. I think just having tools on a FTP is not a real advantage over rray.de, because you don't have any previews or descriptions for the tools (other than just to connect to a workgroup, where you can just try stuff, because it's already installed). A community workgroup could add a community menu where you select users to see their tools... like this: user-tools - userFoo - exporters - rigging stuff - - userBar - exporters - animation helpers - whatever - userFnord - curve tools - make-awesome tools - whatever And maybe a similar structure for ICE/Render compounds. That way a user can maintain his own section and will probably not break some other stuff. Since I never created any AddOns: is it enough to have a folder structure inside the addon-folder of the workgroup and place stuff there, or is a file in InstalledAddons where you register all that stuff necessary as well? Anyway, I think if we could get something like that going, it would be the shit! Personally I would probably connect to it every now and then, check some stuff and take the tools I like into my personal workgroup. And of course upload some of my new tools to the community workgroup. cheers, Thomas Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.comemailgeneonthel...@gmail.comhat am 17. Januar 2013 um 09:07 geschrieben: Why not just a good ol fashioned FTP? I'll offer one up to *this* list and 3DPro (Be careful who you give it to. Adults get access): host: genecrucean.com user: softimage pass: Add0n555 I have lots of space and unlimited bandwidth... but if it gets abused, I'll just take it down. What do you guys think about this? It would need a decent naming/directory structure so it didn't become a huge mess. Maybe something like: - Task - Author - Addon/Plugin/Script - Versions On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:41 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.comwrote: Don't know why I often put extra buts in my sentances, in this case we were essentially saying the same thing :) On 16/01/2013 11:42 PM, Jason S wrote: Ya! but maybe like a common XSI_SAMPLES_DUMP Database, to which we could then make like a more refined/finished DB out of that, -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** *Freelance for hire* ** www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.com for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~ -- Gustavo E Boehs http://www.gustavoeb.com.br/blog
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I like the initiative, but what would be the advantage over rray.de? One could also upload malicious files up to Dropbox and they would spread to all those who share the folder, right? Does not sound very safe. 2013/1/17 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at If we use dropbox we have to make damn sure nobody removes items others might be needing, which can happen by accident (I don't expect acts of sabotage). Also, what if someone updates his own tools, with some changes in functionality that break downward compatibility? Oder versions must remain accessible. We can't afford f*ing up other people's production pipelines. We could create another workgroup folder for every version that gets uploaded, inside the uploader's personal folder. Use the newer version? Disconnect from the old, connect to the new folder. But maybe it would be better to copy the stuff we need to some local offline workgroup. Might be too risky otherwise. Btw., does dropbox have any options to set write permissions? Am 17.01.2013 10:22, schrieb Thomas Volkmann: A dropbox-workgroup (or a workgroup on a FTP) that you can just connect to (or make a local copy and get updates every now and then) would be awesome. I think just having tools on a FTP is not a real advantage over rray.de, because you don't have any previews or descriptions for the tools (other than just to connect to a workgroup, where you can just try stuff, because it's already installed). A community workgroup could add a community menu where you select users to see their tools... like this: user-tools - userFoo - exporters - rigging stuff - - userBar - exporters - animation helpers - whatever - userFnord - curve tools - make-awesome tools - whatever And maybe a similar structure for ICE/Render compounds. That way a user can maintain his own section and will probably not break some other stuff. Since I never created any AddOns: is it enough to have a folder structure inside the addon-folder of the workgroup and place stuff there, or is a file in InstalledAddons where you register all that stuff necessary as well? Anyway, I think if we could get something like that going, it would be the shit! Personally I would probably connect to it every now and then, check some stuff and take the tools I like into my personal workgroup. And of course upload some of my new tools to the community workgroup. cheers, Thomas Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.com emailgeneonthel...@gmail.comhat am 17. Januar 2013 um 09:07 geschrieben: Why not just a good ol fashioned FTP? I'll offer one up to *this* list and 3DPro (Be careful who you give it to. Adults get access): host: genecrucean.com user: softimage pass: Add0n555 I have lots of space and unlimited bandwidth... but if it gets abused, I'll just take it down. What do you guys think about this? It would need a decent naming/directory structure so it didn't become a huge mess. Maybe something like: - Task - Author - Addon/Plugin/Script - Versions On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:41 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: Don't know why I often put extra buts in my sentances, in this case we were essentially saying the same thing :) On 16/01/2013 11:42 PM, Jason S wrote: Ya! but maybe like a common XSI_SAMPLES_DUMP Database, to which we could then make like a more refined/finished DB out of that, -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** *Freelance for hire* ** www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.com for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~ -- --- Stefan Kubicek Co-founder --- keyvis digital imagery Wehrgasse 9 - Grüner Hof 1050 Vienna Austria Phone:+43/699/12614231 --- www.keyvis.at ste...@keyvis.at --- -- This email and its attachments are --confidential and for the recipient only--
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I'm with Alan on a package control type setup. But there would need to be a central databaseto maintain the package list. Too bad Autodesk can't find the time and money for something like this.
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
A survival kit à Rray.de sounds better imho. That's where we all go, no ? Le 17/01/2013 16:45, Stefan Kubicek a écrit : I like the initiative, but what would be the advantage over rray.de? One could also upload malicious files up to Dropbox and they would spread to all those who share the folder, right? Does not sound very safe. 2013/1/17 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at If we use dropbox we have to make damn sure nobody removes items others might be needing, which can happen by accident (I don't expect acts of sabotage). Also, what if someone updates his own tools, with some changes in functionality that break downward compatibility? Oder versions must remain accessible. We can't afford f*ing up other people's production pipelines. We could create another workgroup folder for every version that gets uploaded, inside the uploader's personal folder. Use the newer version? Disconnect from the old, connect to the new folder. But maybe it would be better to copy the stuff we need to some local offline workgroup. Might be too risky otherwise. Btw., does dropbox have any options to set write permissions? Am 17.01.2013 10:22, schrieb Thomas Volkmann: A dropbox-workgroup (or a workgroup on a FTP) that you can just connect to (or make a local copy and get updates every now and then) would be awesome. I think just having tools on a FTP is not a real advantage over rray.de, because you don't have any previews or descriptions for the tools (other than just to connect to a workgroup, where you can just try stuff, because it's already installed). A community workgroup could add a community menu where you select users to see their tools... like this: user-tools - userFoo - exporters - rigging stuff - - userBar - exporters - animation helpers - whatever - userFnord - curve tools - make-awesome tools - whatever And maybe a similar structure for ICE/Render compounds. That way a user can maintain his own section and will probably not break some other stuff. Since I never created any AddOns: is it enough to have a folder structure inside the addon-folder of the workgroup and place stuff there, or is a file in InstalledAddons where you register all that stuff necessary as well? Anyway, I think if we could get something like that going, it would be the shit! Personally I would probably connect to it every now and then, check some stuff and take the tools I like into my personal workgroup. And of course upload some of my new tools to the community workgroup. cheers, Thomas Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.com emailgeneonthel...@gmail.comhat am 17. Januar 2013 um 09:07 geschrieben: Why not just a good ol fashioned FTP? I'll offer one up to *this* list and 3DPro (Be careful who you give it to. Adults get access): host: genecrucean.com user: softimage pass: Add0n555 I have lots of space and unlimited bandwidth... but if it gets abused, I'll just take it down. What do you guys think about this? It would need a decent naming/directory structure so it didn't become a huge mess. Maybe something like: - Task - Author - Addon/Plugin/Script - Versions On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:41 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: Don't know why I often put extra buts in my sentances, in this case we were essentially saying the same thing :) On 16/01/2013 11:42 PM, Jason S wrote: Ya! but maybe like a common XSI_SAMPLES_DUMP Database, to which we could then make like a more refined/finished DB out of that, -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** *Freelance for hire* ** www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.com for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I think the dump would be mostly for collection convenience purposes, or for browsing while knowing it's a raw dump with some things unfinished yet potentially still useful. But we could then go through all that and pick-out / organize and make available in a neat way on RRay.de the specially selected potatoes :) On 17/01/2013 11:22 AM, olivier jeannel wrote: A survival kit à Rray.de sounds better imho. That's where we all go, no ? Le 17/01/2013 16:45, Stefan Kubicek a écrit : I like the initiative, but what would be the advantage over rray.de?
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
The nice thing about a workgroup is you can connect to it whenever/wherever, without picking thru items and installing stuff. You just connect, see what's there, give it a try. But such a thing would have to be moderated and maintained, plus secure. This kind of sharing is one of the untapped advantages of Softimage, it drives me crazy that netview is just sitting there unused... On Jan 17, 2013, at 11:22 AM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.fr wrote: A survival kit à Rray.de sounds better imho. That's where we all go, no ? Le 17/01/2013 16:45, Stefan Kubicek a écrit : I like the initiative, but what would be the advantage over rray.de? One could also upload malicious files up to Dropbox and they would spread to all those who share the folder, right? Does not sound very safe. 2013/1/17 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at If we use dropbox we have to make damn sure nobody removes items others might be needing, which can happen by accident (I don't expect acts of sabotage). Also, what if someone updates his own tools, with some changes in functionality that break downward compatibility? Oder versions must remain accessible. We can't afford f*ing up other people's production pipelines. We could create another workgroup folder for every version that gets uploaded, inside the uploader's personal folder. Use the newer version? Disconnect from the old, connect to the new folder. But maybe it would be better to copy the stuff we need to some local offline workgroup. Might be too risky otherwise. Btw., does dropbox have any options to set write permissions? Am 17.01.2013 10:22, schrieb Thomas Volkmann: A dropbox-workgroup (or a workgroup on a FTP) that you can just connect to (or make a local copy and get updates every now and then) would be awesome. I think just having tools on a FTP is not a real advantage over rray.de, because you don't have any previews or descriptions for the tools (other than just to connect to a workgroup, where you can just try stuff, because it's already installed). A community workgroup could add a community menu where you select users to see their tools... like this: user-tools - userFoo - exporters - rigging stuff - - userBar - exporters - animation helpers - whatever - userFnord - curve tools - make-awesome tools - whatever And maybe a similar structure for ICE/Render compounds. That way a user can maintain his own section and will probably not break some other stuff. Since I never created any AddOns: is it enough to have a folder structure inside the addon-folder of the workgroup and place stuff there, or is a file in InstalledAddons where you register all that stuff necessary as well? Anyway, I think if we could get something like that going, it would be the shit! Personally I would probably connect to it every now and then, check some stuff and take the tools I like into my personal workgroup. And of course upload some of my new tools to the community workgroup. cheers, Thomas Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.com emailgeneonthel...@gmail.comhat am 17. Januar 2013 um 09:07 geschrieben: Why not just a good ol fashioned FTP? I'll offer one up to *this* list and 3DPro (Be careful who you give it to. Adults get access): host: genecrucean.com user: softimage pass: Add0n555 I have lots of space and unlimited bandwidth... but if it gets abused, I'll just take it down. What do you guys think about this? It would need a decent naming/directory structure so it didn't become a huge mess. Maybe something like: - Task - Author - Addon/Plugin/Script - Versions On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:41 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: Don't know why I often put extra buts in my sentances, in this case we were essentially saying the same thing :) On 16/01/2013 11:42 PM, Jason S wrote: Ya! but maybe like a common XSI_SAMPLES_DUMP Database, to which we could then make like a more refined/finished DB out of that, -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** *Freelance for hire* ** www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.com for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Wow major gmail fail. Lots of new replies and non of them showed up before I replied. Sorry about that folks. On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 8:40 AM, Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.comwrote: Yeah count me *out* of any dropbox solution. 3 main reasons... 1: I would go freaking MAD if anyone could add, remove or change versions of addon's from my working setup. 2000% deal breaker. 2: Space is limited with the free accounts and I don't want just anyone being able to use my space however they feel is necessary. 3: A lot of studios don't allow you to install 3rd party software, but * especially* things like dropbox that tunnel through firewalls and generally disregard network safety. @Thomas: If descriptions are the main reason that you prefer rray, then why not make a small text file a requirement for submitting? Same level as addon/plugin/script that contains a short description. Also it does have advantages. First of all it's instant availability for everyone, don't forget, the second you upload something, it's available to all. Also don't forget that *you* have read/write access to it. Here's another idea which has been one that I've been tinkering around with the concept for a while now. I've had this idea to create a full blown package manager for Soft for a long time now. Think of a full GUI that lets you browse all available packages (addon's, plugins, scripts) and their versions and also prompts you to update your local copy when a new version gets published. It would be crowd sourced, meaning everyone would have read/write access. If I had extra time... hah, I could create a whole user account system where users create accounts to manager their own packages, but only have read access to everyone else's. Another advantage is that anything uploaded would also be available via http: http://www.genecrucean.com/softimageRepo/Rendering/GeneCrucean/AddonName/v001/TestAddon.zip I also have a small utility I built that lets me recursively create xml files that describe the folder contents and structure: http://www.genecrucean.com/softimageRepo/Rendering/GeneCrucean/contents.xml-- this file could exist in every level of the directory. It's parseable ;) Or if someone that knows PHP and has more time than I do wants to write a proper api endpoint, well then things get really cool. Until then, xml it is. -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** *Freelance for hire* ** www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.com for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~ -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** *Freelance for hire* ** www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.com for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I'm not sure that concept scales... I don't wanna load a crapton of addons I don't know the purpose of. What if some of them conflict with each other? What if someone poorly coded a few events? Hell naw! Besides, with something like Package Control, you gotta be savvy enough to put up a repo and that weeds out complete beginners from litterring the package universe. A shared folder is too easy to litter. Here's a nice overview of how Package Control does things: http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/package_control/package_developers On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Andy Moorer andymoo...@gmail.com wrote: The nice thing about a workgroup is you can connect to it whenever/wherever, without picking thru items and installing stuff. You just connect, see what's there, give it a try. But such a thing would have to be moderated and maintained, plus secure. This kind of sharing is one of the untapped advantages of Softimage, it drives me crazy that netview is just sitting there unused... On Jan 17, 2013, at 11:22 AM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.fr wrote: A survival kit à Rray.de sounds better imho. That's where we all go, no ? Le 17/01/2013 16:45, Stefan Kubicek a écrit : I like the initiative, but what would be the advantage over rray.de? One could also upload malicious files up to Dropbox and they would spread to all those who share the folder, right? Does not sound very safe. 2013/1/17 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at If we use dropbox we have to make damn sure nobody removes items others might be needing, which can happen by accident (I don't expect acts of sabotage). Also, what if someone updates his own tools, with some changes in functionality that break downward compatibility? Oder versions must remain accessible. We can't afford f*ing up other people's production pipelines. We could create another workgroup folder for every version that gets uploaded, inside the uploader's personal folder. Use the newer version? Disconnect from the old, connect to the new folder. But maybe it would be better to copy the stuff we need to some local offline workgroup. Might be too risky otherwise. Btw., does dropbox have any options to set write permissions? Am 17.01.2013 10:22, schrieb Thomas Volkmann: A dropbox-workgroup (or a workgroup on a FTP) that you can just connect to (or make a local copy and get updates every now and then) would be awesome. I think just having tools on a FTP is not a real advantage over rray.de, because you don't have any previews or descriptions for the tools (other than just to connect to a workgroup, where you can just try stuff, because it's already installed). A community workgroup could add a community menu where you select users to see their tools... like this: user-tools - userFoo - exporters - rigging stuff - - userBar - exporters - animation helpers - whatever - userFnord - curve tools - make-awesome tools - whatever And maybe a similar structure for ICE/Render compounds. That way a user can maintain his own section and will probably not break some other stuff. Since I never created any AddOns: is it enough to have a folder structure inside the addon-folder of the workgroup and place stuff there, or is a file in InstalledAddons where you register all that stuff necessary as well? Anyway, I think if we could get something like that going, it would be the shit! Personally I would probably connect to it every now and then, check some stuff and take the tools I like into my personal workgroup. And of course upload some of my new tools to the community workgroup. cheers, Thomas Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.com emailgeneonthel...@gmail.comhat am 17. Januar 2013 um 09:07 geschrieben: Why not just a good ol fashioned FTP? I'll offer one up to *this* list and 3DPro (Be careful who you give it to. Adults get access): host: genecrucean.com user: softimage pass: Add0n555 I have lots of space and unlimited bandwidth... but if it gets abused, I'll just take it down. What do you guys think about this? It would need a decent naming/directory structure so it didn't become a huge mess. Maybe something like: - Task - Author - Addon/Plugin/Script - Versions On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:41 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: Don't know why I often put extra buts in my sentances, in this case we were essentially saying the same thing :) On 16/01/2013 11:42 PM, Jason S wrote: Ya! but maybe like a common XSI_SAMPLES_DUMP Database, to which we could then make like a more refined/finished DB out of that, -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
+1 On Thu, Jan 17, 2013 at 6:04 PM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.comwrote: I'm not sure that concept scales... I don't wanna load a crapton of addons I don't know the purpose of. What if some of them conflict with each other? What if someone poorly coded a few events? Hell naw! Besides, with something like Package Control, you gotta be savvy enough to put up a repo and that weeds out complete beginners from litterring the package universe. A shared folder is too easy to litter. Here's a nice overview of how Package Control does things: http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/package_control/package_developers
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I have always thought there great assets/plugins/ code snippets. a marketplace/databank could be a simple solution to easily find things on the web for softimage. On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Simon Anderson simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com wrote: I was thinking a while back, why not make like a market place, there so many hosting options for people to put there files where ever, then you have one database, that has the link to that file, a description and maybe a pic or link to a video. users could also easily edit the urls, in case a tool or site goes down, someone else can host the file. That way all you need is someone to host the SQL database or xml file, depending on what the market place will use to serialise information. thats my mind bubble thought could be a soft plugin or Qt plugin. On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 12:57 PM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: and/or perhaps a JPG? Gene Crucean wrote: @Thomas: If descriptions are the main reason that you prefer rray, then why not make a small text file a requirement for submitting? Same level as addon/plugin/script that contains a short description. -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/ -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
There should have been more partition tools in Soft from day one IMO - most obviously a tool to match partitions. As with all these things, they're simple to script, but that's not the point. The glaringly obvious ones should be integrated eventually. Another thing that's missing that I've had to make myself is a Render - Current Frame (Selected Passes) command. Why was that one missed out?! DAN On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 8:16 AM, Martin furik...@gmail.com wrote: I guess It will depend on what you are doing. I usually carry always my own modeling tools to do simple things like merge and separate, separate clusters and preserve weights in one click symetrize polygon and weights clean Scene and objects according to the project Mirror and flip FCurves Copy Animation Branches Copy Weights (through Gator) Select mirror components Align center, objects and components change image clips and paths reload scene lock points round weights etc, etc. Very simple things that I do a lot when I'm modeling or animating and it really speeds up my workflow. Some other tools I use: Eric T.'s ET Naming , RCTools, MX_Roundish, Taut, blr vertex color, Gear, Ahmidou Lyazidi UVStamp, Incremental Save UVConnectFace http://www.ceres.dti.ne.jp/xb1080/script/UV/UV6.html and a bunch of basic scripts I customize according to my current project. I also use a modified version of Gotetz's Non Registered Script to organize scripts that I don't use all the time. http://artifacts.sakura.ne.jp/sakanaya/2009/08/softimagenonregistered_script.htm M.Yara
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
That's an awesome idea. Maybe start by asking users to send in their most useful customizations or personal compounds etc to a public collection on si-community or rray? Most of us tend to keep those kind of things privately, but we shouldn't... Anything which makes the Softimage community as a whole more productive will advance the interests of anyone who wants SI to thrive/grow/not be declared a damn particle system lol. Our competition is the maya community who we want to win over to soft, not each other, after all. I'll put my $ where my mouth is and start sharing personal good stuff that I find useful on my blog. :D BTW that list is fantastic On Jan 16, 2013, at 9:33 AM, Jason S jasonsta...@gmail.com wrote: In the same spirit of this thread, would it be conceivable (with the accordance of the authors) or what would you guys think of some kind of a SI Power Tool Master Addon Collection Essentials thing ? Would it slow down (X)SI or startup times? Would it be hard to maintain/update? Would XSI become too cluttered? Perhaps 1 per dicipline? (1 Modeling Pack, 1 Rendering Pack) What do you think? Cause I think it would be the next best thing to actually having certain things factory. And the fact of having some things standard, can also help alot in the usage of those things, not only by having them right there, but by then being much more widely used and well known. Things which could be commonly considered useful/amazing which would otherwise not have been (very much) used or tried unless people knew they existed, or knew how it would have made their lives easier.
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
- dual monitor scripts: ctrl+ [shortcut] opens a window maximized on the second monitor. ex: ctrl+alt+9 opens icetree, ctrl+alt+9 opens rendertree Slaps forehead how totally useful, can't believe I never thought of that.
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I wonder if it would be possible to share some Workgroups via Dropbox or maybe just a set of installers grouped in various ways. Might allow for one person to damage the whole thing though. :-/ -- Best regards, Ben Houston Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals.
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Let's share the good stuff, definitely! Which reminds me: shouldn't ol' Netview be the easy-to-access repository we all would like to have? What happened to it, and why? Am 16.01.2013 18:07, schrieb Ben Houston: I wonder if it would be possible to share some Workgroups via Dropbox or maybe just a set of installers grouped in various ways. Might allow for one person to damage the whole thing though. :-/
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Nice stuff guys! I have plenty of little scripts here and there too,
probably similar to ones already mentioned, or ones i used at various
studios and had to rewrite for myself. Anyway I'm not sure the best way to
organise it all online, but fortunately with soft workgroups make life so
easy at work... Compared to wanting to be organised in max, I usually just
give up :)
On Wednesday, 16 January 2013, Andy Moorer wrote:
Cool, thanks for sharing that Fabricio, it's brilliant.
Here's one I have in my personal menu - creates an annotation log of
distance measurements. Select two objects and run, places the distance
between the two in an annotation, or adds to an existing annotation.
I made it during a time when I was doing a lot of DoF work, and it's
turned out handy ever since.
Not packaged up in any particular way, pretty much ripped right out of my
menu ;)
On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 1:27 PM, Fabricio Chamon
xsiml...@gmail.comjavascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'xsiml...@gmail.com');
wrote:
For what's worth, here's my CVO (Custom view opener) dual monitor script
for the icetree.
Rename to CVO.js (can't attach js files!) Copy to
application\plugins Map it to any key combination (mine is always
ctrl+[original shortcut]).
- Screen resolution must be set inside the file (currently is 1920x1080).
- you may also adjust some pixel offsets to better accomodate for your OS
layout.
- viewname has to match any file from the application\views folder
You can register more commands to it, I always do:
- icetree
- rendertree
- script editor
- object view (ctrl+alt+1)
- fx tree (ctrl+alt+2): opens fxtree maximized at monitor 1 and fxviewer
at monitor 2
2013/1/16 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
'softim...@keyvis.at');
Let's share the good stuff, definitely!
Which reminds me: shouldn't ol' Netview be the easy-to-access repository
we all would like to have?
What happened to it, and why?
Am 16.01.2013 18:07, schrieb Ben Houston:
I wonder if it would be possible to share some Workgroups via Dropbox
or maybe just a set of installers grouped in various ways. Might
allow for one person to damage the whole thing though. :-/
--
Simon Reeves
Freelance 3D VFX Artist
London, UK
*email: si...@simonreeves.com*
*website: http://www.simonreeves.com*
*
*
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Yeah workgroups really help. I'm a hack when it comes to python scripting, so most of the stuff I end up writing for myself I shoehorn into a few custom menus that live in a workgroup, which also contains assets like models and rigs. I've never even explored packaging stuff as addons (I should). I just carry the workgroup around... :P On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 2:48 PM, Simon Reeves si...@simonreeves.com wrote: Nice stuff guys! I have plenty of little scripts here and there too, probably similar to ones already mentioned, or ones i used at various studios and had to rewrite for myself. Anyway I'm not sure the best way to organise it all online, but fortunately with soft workgroups make life so easy at work... Compared to wanting to be organised in max, I usually just give up :) On Wednesday, 16 January 2013, Andy Moorer wrote: Cool, thanks for sharing that Fabricio, it's brilliant. Here's one I have in my personal menu - creates an annotation log of distance measurements. Select two objects and run, places the distance between the two in an annotation, or adds to an existing annotation. I made it during a time when I was doing a lot of DoF work, and it's turned out handy ever since. Not packaged up in any particular way, pretty much ripped right out of my menu ;) On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 1:27 PM, Fabricio Chamon xsiml...@gmail.comwrote: For what's worth, here's my CVO (Custom view opener) dual monitor script for the icetree. Rename to CVO.js (can't attach js files!) Copy to application\plugins Map it to any key combination (mine is always ctrl+[original shortcut]). - Screen resolution must be set inside the file (currently is 1920x1080). - you may also adjust some pixel offsets to better accomodate for your OS layout. - viewname has to match any file from the application\views folder You can register more commands to it, I always do: - icetree - rendertree - script editor - object view (ctrl+alt+1) - fx tree (ctrl+alt+2): opens fxtree maximized at monitor 1 and fxviewer at monitor 2 2013/1/16 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at Let's share the good stuff, definitely! Which reminds me: shouldn't ol' Netview be the easy-to-access repository we all would like to have? What happened to it, and why? Am 16.01.2013 18:07, schrieb Ben Houston: I wonder if it would be possible to share some Workgroups via Dropbox or maybe just a set of installers grouped in various ways. Might allow for one person to damage the whole thing though. :-/ -- Simon Reeves Freelance 3D VFX Artist London, UK *email: si...@simonreeves.com* *website: http://www.simonreeves.com* * *
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
...another one: Rename Chain
select any chain element (bone/root/effector) run. Type chain preffix.
myChain will create: myChain_root, myChain_Bone1, myChain_Bone2,
myChain_eff
2013/1/16 Andy Moorer andymoo...@gmail.com
Yeah workgroups really help. I'm a hack when it comes to python scripting,
so most of the stuff I end up writing for myself I shoehorn into a few
custom menus that live in a workgroup, which also contains assets like
models and rigs. I've never even explored packaging stuff as addons (I
should). I just carry the workgroup around... :P
On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 2:48 PM, Simon Reeves si...@simonreeves.comwrote:
Nice stuff guys! I have plenty of little scripts here and there too,
probably similar to ones already mentioned, or ones i used at various
studios and had to rewrite for myself. Anyway I'm not sure the best way to
organise it all online, but fortunately with soft workgroups make life so
easy at work... Compared to wanting to be organised in max, I usually
just give up :)
On Wednesday, 16 January 2013, Andy Moorer wrote:
Cool, thanks for sharing that Fabricio, it's brilliant.
Here's one I have in my personal menu - creates an annotation log of
distance measurements. Select two objects and run, places the distance
between the two in an annotation, or adds to an existing annotation.
I made it during a time when I was doing a lot of DoF work, and it's
turned out handy ever since.
Not packaged up in any particular way, pretty much ripped right out of
my menu ;)
On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 1:27 PM, Fabricio Chamon xsiml...@gmail.comwrote:
For what's worth, here's my CVO (Custom view opener) dual monitor
script for the icetree.
Rename to CVO.js (can't attach js files!) Copy to
application\plugins Map it to any key combination (mine is always
ctrl+[original shortcut]).
- Screen resolution must be set inside the file (currently is
1920x1080).
- you may also adjust some pixel offsets to better accomodate for your
OS layout.
- viewname has to match any file from the application\views folder
You can register more commands to it, I always do:
- icetree
- rendertree
- script editor
- object view (ctrl+alt+1)
- fx tree (ctrl+alt+2): opens fxtree maximized at monitor 1 and
fxviewer at monitor 2
2013/1/16 Eugen Sares softim...@keyvis.at
Let's share the good stuff, definitely!
Which reminds me: shouldn't ol' Netview be the easy-to-access
repository we all would like to have?
What happened to it, and why?
Am 16.01.2013 18:07, schrieb Ben Houston:
I wonder if it would be possible to share some Workgroups via Dropbox
or maybe just a set of installers grouped in various ways. Might
allow for one person to damage the whole thing though. :-/
--
Simon Reeves
Freelance 3D VFX Artist
London, UK
*email: si...@simonreeves.com*
*website: http://www.simonreeves.com*
*
*
if (selection.count0){
var nome = XSIInputBox(Chain Prefix, Rename Chain, );
var temp = selection(0);
for (i=0;itemp.root.bones.count;i++){
temp.root.bones( i ).Parameters(name).value = nome+_bone1;
}
temp.root.Parameters(name).value = nome+_root;
temp.root.effector.Parameters(name).value = nome+_eff;
}
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Ben Houston wrote: I wonder if it would be possible to share some Workgroups via Dropbox or maybe just a set of installers grouped in various ways. Might allow for one person to damage the whole thing though. :-/ Ya! but maybe like a common XSI_SAMPLES_DUMP Database, to which we could then make like a more refined/finished DB out of that, like an updated XSI_SAMPLES_DB with a selection of peoples' tricks up sleeves, a few good textures and HDR Maps. (while leaving the public dump public for references to pick out or start from) Rray already started something like that over at SI-Community here http://www.si-community.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=27t=3205sid=b8855afd0a18b1578ca5038fa1997f1a (with a really great start by the way! ) for unfinished (and often almost finished or finished) scripts or tools. (which included an actual renderer intergration (lol) for LuxRender GPL Unbiased Render among other things) But I think this could really include like scenes from our personal labs database (made of spheres boxes and grids, with a few ICE or RT nodes strigned in a certain way, showing tricks (or attempts) for acheiving certain looks/shortcuts/effects. (and not just be like a passing thread) So what would be Ideal? If I setup a DropBox Folder, would a standard SI DB be sufficient? With perhaps a few subfolders for scripts scenes ? Is dropbox Ideal? (going to everyones drives?) Oh that's what you meant by one person could damage.. .. if anyone deletes a file, everyone's file gets deleted. And what size could this folder become for scripts scenes? But it would seem at first glance tho be the most convenient .. no uploading, zipping.. we could give a guideline to avoid dropping huge textures, but normally should not become so heavy.. Or I (or RRay?) could reretreive them (taking them out of the drop box) I wouldnt mind making an organized folder out of that dump, to then make that available online. Any suggestions Ideas? I'll have to ask RRay what he has in mind.. Eugen Sares wrote: shouldn't ol' Netview be the easy-to-access repository we all would like to have? I agree that the NetView could be harnessed for some of this, perhaps for the Cleaned DB? But anyway .. Got Junk ? :) @Andy I'm not sure about Our competition is the maya community who we want to win over to soft I dont think winning-over the Maya community would/should be the ideal situation (Maya community which I think has it's place, while not necessarily seeing it as competition) But I most definitly agree with .. Anything which makes the Softimage community as a whole more productive will advance the interests of anyone who wants SI to thrive/grow/not be declared a damn particle system lol. .. thinking that the SI-Community absolutely *also* has it's place :) cheers
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
What is Ciaran's distance field emitter ? Sounds good... Le 15/01/2013 04:38, Andy Moorer a écrit : Hi all. I'm interested in what people consider as the essentials for a small studio Softimage pipeline, in terms of essential tools, scripts and customization. I have my own ideas and opinions but want to get a sanity check in case I'm missing some cool workflow or toolset, and just out of interest. I'd also be interested in hearing what people have in their personal toolkits. For instance wherever I bring along a personal workgroup which contains a plethora of ICE nodes, a small script library of example code and esoteric tools, a set of useful addons by others, and a custom menu with a set of more personal tools, mostly little time savers, things like general purpose models and lighting rigs, etc. A lot of these things are little but I'd hate to be without 'em. For instance a simple menu command which removes screen widgets and makes the BG dark grey is so trivial but I'd really miss it. Same goes for Ciaran's signed distance field emitter, I love that thing...
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
http://blog.blackredking.org/?p=47 Here you go! On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 1:26 PM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frwrote: What is Ciaran's distance field emitter ? Sounds good... Le 15/01/2013 04:38, Andy Moorer a écrit : Hi all. I'm interested in what people consider as the essentials for a small studio Softimage pipeline, in terms of essential tools, scripts and customization. I have my own ideas and opinions but want to get a sanity check in case I'm missing some cool workflow or toolset, and just out of interest. I'd also be interested in hearing what people have in their personal toolkits. For instance wherever I bring along a personal workgroup which contains a plethora of ICE nodes, a small script library of example code and esoteric tools, a set of useful addons by others, and a custom menu with a set of more personal tools, mostly little time savers, things like general purpose models and lighting rigs, etc. A lot of these things are little but I'd hate to be without 'em. For instance a simple menu command which removes screen widgets and makes the BG dark grey is so trivial but I'd really miss it. Same goes for Ciaran's signed distance field emitter, I love that thing...
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Funnily enough the ones I'm most attached to aren't the big asset management tools; it's my 'Select All Children/Immediate Children/Parents', 'Create Control Root Target', 'Reset Control Root' and 'Parent like Maya' plugins which take the most use. I think the most complicated one there is about 5 lines long... On 15 January 2013 18:35, Daniel Brassard dbrassar...@gmail.com wrote: http://blog.blackredking.org/?p=47 Here you go! On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 1:26 PM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frwrote: What is Ciaran's distance field emitter ? Sounds good... Le 15/01/2013 04:38, Andy Moorer a écrit : Hi all. I'm interested in what people consider as the essentials for a small studio Softimage pipeline, in terms of essential tools, scripts and customization. I have my own ideas and opinions but want to get a sanity check in case I'm missing some cool workflow or toolset, and just out of interest. I'd also be interested in hearing what people have in their personal toolkits. For instance wherever I bring along a personal workgroup which contains a plethora of ICE nodes, a small script library of example code and esoteric tools, a set of useful addons by others, and a custom menu with a set of more personal tools, mostly little time savers, things like general purpose models and lighting rigs, etc. A lot of these things are little but I'd hate to be without 'em. For instance a simple menu command which removes screen widgets and makes the BG dark grey is so trivial but I'd really miss it. Same goes for Ciaran's signed distance field emitter, I love that thing...
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I know, same here... The best scripts I use are tiny, like one that parents offset nulls on every object selected. And a 1-line script that cycles viewport background colors is great for making particles easier to see. Same goes for ice compounds, the simple ones are often the most useful, I have one which mimics Maya's sphRand function and I use it all the time. On Jan 15, 2013, at 1:40 PM, Peter Agg peter@googlemail.com wrote: Funnily enough the ones I'm most attached to aren't the big asset management tools; it's my 'Select All Children/Immediate Children/Parents', 'Create Control Root Target', 'Reset Control Root' and 'Parent like Maya' plugins which take the most use. I think the most complicated one there is about 5 lines long...
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
-Zip constrain tool, select 10 objects (A) then select 10 objects (B) and every object gets constrained to there significant other, A1 const B1, A2 const B2. just speeds things up so much. - create cluster with null on each point from a selection of points. On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:51 AM, Andy Moorer andymoo...@gmail.com wrote: I know, same here... The best scripts I use are tiny, like one that parents offset nulls on every object selected. And a 1-line script that cycles viewport background colors is great for making particles easier to see. Same goes for ice compounds, the simple ones are often the most useful, I have one which mimics Maya's sphRand function and I use it all the time. On Jan 15, 2013, at 1:40 PM, Peter Agg peter@googlemail.com wrote: Funnily enough the ones I'm most attached to aren't the big asset management tools; it's my 'Select All Children/Immediate Children/Parents', 'Create Control Root Target', 'Reset Control Root' and 'Parent like Maya' plugins which take the most use. I think the most complicated one there is about 5 lines long... -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
jep, the small tools are essential for day to day work. like: -creating a point cloud with an ice tree (!!!) -selection sensitive parenting primitive creation. -all kinds of transform tools. switch transforms, add object(s) under srt at transform or component selection … -uncountable compounds. -pass/ partition helpers -utility shader creation I've wrote so many small tools, that i need a pipeline just for organizing them ;) Am 16.01.2013 um 00:50 schrieb Simon Anderson simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com: -Zip constrain tool, select 10 objects (A) then select 10 objects (B) and every object gets constrained to there significant other, A1 const B1, A2 const B2. just speeds things up so much. - create cluster with null on each point from a selection of points. On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 9:51 AM, Andy Moorer andymoo...@gmail.com wrote: I know, same here... The best scripts I use are tiny, like one that parents offset nulls on every object selected. And a 1-line script that cycles viewport background colors is great for making particles easier to see. Same goes for ice compounds, the simple ones are often the most useful, I have one which mimics Maya's sphRand function and I use it all the time. On Jan 15, 2013, at 1:40 PM, Peter Agg peter@googlemail.com wrote: Funnily enough the ones I'm most attached to aren't the big asset management tools; it's my 'Select All Children/Immediate Children/Parents', 'Create Control Root Target', 'Reset Control Root' and 'Parent like Maya' plugins which take the most use. I think the most complicated one there is about 5 lines long... -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
That happens too! A centralized launcher and some coding standards helps a lot, otherwise everything will be a chaos sooner than later. On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 1:25 AM, Sebastian Kowalski l...@sekow.com wrote: I've wrote so many small tools, that i need a pipeline just for organizing them ;)
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
For the quick everyday tools I make strictly for personal use by myself they often end up in my personal toolbar and it's been growing, and growing, and growing... On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 7:56 PM, César Sáez cesa...@gmail.com wrote: That happens too! A centralized launcher and some coding standards helps a lot, otherwise everything will be a chaos sooner than later. On Wed, Jan 16, 2013 at 1:25 AM, Sebastian Kowalski l...@sekow.comwrote: I've wrote so many small tools, that i need a pipeline just for organizing them ;)
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
I guess It will depend on what you are doing. I usually carry always my own modeling tools to do simple things like merge and separate, separate clusters and preserve weights in one click symetrize polygon and weights clean Scene and objects according to the project Mirror and flip FCurves Copy Animation Branches Copy Weights (through Gator) Select mirror components Align center, objects and components change image clips and paths reload scene lock points round weights etc, etc. Very simple things that I do a lot when I'm modeling or animating and it really speeds up my workflow. Some other tools I use: Eric T.'s ET Naming , RCTools, MX_Roundish, Taut, blr vertex color, Gear, Ahmidou Lyazidi UVStamp, Incremental Save UVConnectFace http://www.ceres.dti.ne.jp/xb1080/script/UV/UV6.html and a bunch of basic scripts I customize according to my current project. I also use a modified version of Gotetz's Non Registered Script to organize scripts that I don't use all the time. http://artifacts.sakura.ne.jp/sakanaya/2009/08/softimagenonregistered_script.htm M.Yara
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
number one would be a decent Folder strucure, and naming conventions, and some tools to help make this a little bit more automated, have seen and heard of many small studios just passing folders and files around and then you start losing track of which is the latest, or where was that file that Jo was working on and hes now sick. I think If you have a solid folder structure then you can work from there with plugins and things to help out. incrememntal save tools, and simple compare size of the file tool onSaveComplete to test if a file is dramatically a different size, was caught out a few times on the last production from corrupt scene files. I have always liked a simple ToDo tool, allowing you to quickly jot down what you have done on a model or scene, still need to do and ideas for what you are still thinking about, same goes for a save with memo script, sometimes you want to remember a specific save as this save was the one when you decided to change something drastic, its nice to have all your files neatly versioned, and then have a simple xml of json file that can be read to allow you to quickly remember where a file was that you signifacantly changed. Weight painter, and some shape scripts for quickly sorting out weight maps and altering shapes( can save many a headache) I have a few of those viewport setup scripts, and I used to have a isolate object tool for whichly cycling between groups/models that I was working with, to make viewport interaction as light as possible. I can go on and on about tools and small pipeline things, have been scribbling up ideas for last 3 years, about what cool pipeline tools and things could be implemeneted to make the life of a studio run better and faster. I was lucky enough to put a few of them into play at Triggerfish. It worked really well for a team of about 100. Trying to find the time to start making some more pipeline stuff's. but only time will tell ;) Even if a studio had no tools at all, the project folder structure is number one. a MUST! :D haha.. it will save lives and sanity, well documented guide On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Andy Moorer andymoo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi all. I'm interested in what people consider as the essentials for a small studio Softimage pipeline, in terms of essential tools, scripts and customization. I have my own ideas and opinions but want to get a sanity check in case I'm missing some cool workflow or toolset, and just out of interest. I'd also be interested in hearing what people have in their personal toolkits. For instance wherever I bring along a personal workgroup which contains a plethora of ICE nodes, a small script library of example code and esoteric tools, a set of useful addons by others, and a custom menu with a set of more personal tools, mostly little time savers, things like general purpose models and lighting rigs, etc. A lot of these things are little but I'd hate to be without 'em. For instance a simple menu command which removes screen widgets and makes the BG dark grey is so trivial but I'd really miss it. Same goes for Ciaran's signed distance field emitter, I love that thing... -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
Thanks for the fast reply Simon, very interesting post. I totally agree about the importance of file structure and conventions, asset management is another big one. What brings this up... Partly I've been thinking about this stuff for years, but recently I began sorting thru scenes to put examples up on my site for newer ICE artists and have been re-organizing a lot of my assets, compounds etc with an eye for isolating out the good stuff and sharing it. I also had an experience not too long ago with a smallish studio (30-40 people) which has bought a few seats of Softimage and is setting up a beginners Softimage pipeline alongside their regular Maya one (which is also getting an overhaul) with an eye towards bringing their artists up to speed with ICE etc. Part of that involved setting up Alembic for asset exchange, some scene saving automation (enforcing file names) and the like. So it got me thinking in terms of what small enhancements bring the most bang for the buck and what exactly constitutes pipeline... With big facilities its a bit easier, because at a certain scale it makes sense to build significant structure, and needs are usually readily apparent. But an idealized pipeline/toolset gets a little vague when you are talking smaller teams and facilities, or even the single artist. Yet when I look at my own setup at home, there's a fair bit of customization. It would be interesting to try to identify the things pretty much every user ends up making for themselves, like rename scripts and similar tools, or assets like light rigs, staging scenes, camera rigs and the like.
Re: Pipes and tools u can't live without
IF I were a freelancer, I'd sort out my I/O first and foremost. Basically have the ability to take in commonly exported formats like .bgeo/partio/alembic/.skp plus the occasional 2D formats for camera and pCloud stuff and have it so that these span a few versions back. I feel like once this is established, you're free to use the best tool for the job or leverage the resources already in place at the facility. The real value of a freelancer comes from being able to integrate seamlessly into a pipeline while providing value via your expertise. The ability to break off your work so others can pick it up as well as take on where others have left off while still using the tools you're most adept with is incredibly useful. -Lu On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 7:38 PM, Andy Moorer andymoo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi all. I'm interested in what people consider as the essentials for a small studio Softimage pipeline, in terms of essential tools, scripts and customization. I have my own ideas and opinions but want to get a sanity check in case I'm missing some cool workflow or toolset, and just out of interest. I'd also be interested in hearing what people have in their personal toolkits. For instance wherever I bring along a personal workgroup which contains a plethora of ICE nodes, a small script library of example code and esoteric tools, a set of useful addons by others, and a custom menu with a set of more personal tools, mostly little time savers, things like general purpose models and lighting rigs, etc. A lot of these things are little but I'd hate to be without 'em. For instance a simple menu command which removes screen widgets and makes the BG dark grey is so trivial but I'd really miss it. Same goes for Ciaran's signed distance field emitter, I love that thing...
