Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[Adam Sale]

here here

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 5:18 PM, Eric Thivierge wrote:

> Its been a request for a few betas now. Not sure how they prioritize this
> stuff (south park family guy manatees style?) but this would open up so
> many doors. The legacy syflex system supports weight maps if I remember
> correctly so I'm not sure where the hang up is.
>
> Hey Stephen, Chris Chia, Grahame you reading? Fire this one up the chain
> as a much sought after enhancement.
>
> 
> Eric Thivierge
> http://www.ethivierge.com
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 23, 2012 at 2:26 AM, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>
>> That's the problem!  It's the speed that draws you in!  But then the
>> total lack of control sends you away screaming!
>>
>> Don't look at the liiight...
>>
>>
>>  On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:10 PM, olivier jeannel <
>> olivier.jean...@noos.fr> wrote:
>>
>>>  Isn't the Ice-Syflex faster than the "legacy" Syflex ?
>>>
>>> Le 22/06/2012 17:37, Adam Sale a écrit :
>>>
>>> I put in a request for per point control in the last beta.. I hope the
>>> devs prioritize this one, because realistically, without ICE syflex, the
>>> internal options aren't all that appealing OTB.
>>> We still obviously have legacy Syflex, but the ICE framework for Syflex
>>> was such a big step forward in terms of simplification..
>>>
>>>  Please, Please, please... Per point control... .V. 2014.
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:02 AM, Dan Yargici wrote:
>>>
 Hi Matt.

  In my experience Lagoa, for all it's cool potential, is just sooo slow
 and unstable.

  On the last job I did I went through Lagoa, Momentum and Syflex.
  Lagoa was dropped very early on because of it's instability.

  Momentum is great but has the limitation I mention in this thread.
  Syflex handles that limitation with ease and is also amazingly fast and
 robust.  But ultimately it's a poisoned chalice as it gives you no control
 whatsoever other than 'wind' or 'damp'...  Basically Syflex speaks in
 caveman terms when it comes to simulation!

  DAN

 On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Matt Morris  wrote:

> Have you thought about lagoa cloth? Setup is a bit finnicky but I have
> had some decent results and has all the point control you could ask for.
>
>  I completely second what you're saying about syflex ice integration
> though, it sucks big sucky balls.
>
>
> On 22 June 2012 14:18, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>
>> Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back to Syflex
>> but the lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex is INFURIATING! it 
>> renders
>> %90 of what Ice is good for TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.
>>
>>  I know there have been discussions mentioning that there were
>> reasons it couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex, but I'd really like to
>> hear them.  Right now I'm just calling it out as laziness...
>>
>>  Having a bad day right now.
>>
>>  DAN
>>
>>
>>  On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel  wrote:
>>
>>> While we are at it:
>>> Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with GImpact actual shape?
>>> Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because bullet didn't
>>> support it.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Leo
>>>
>>>
>>>  Original-Nachricht 
>>> > Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
>>> > Von: Helge Mathee 
>>> > An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>>> > Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!
>>>
>>> > Sure, find it here.
>>> >
>>> >
>>> https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
>>> >
>>> > Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape though. Bullet
>>> > Physic's
>>> > GImpact collision configuration doesn't support collision against
>>> > softbodies, which
>>> > means that your scenario won't be possible other than
>>> decomposition.
>>> >
>>> > This feature has just been added to the latest version of Bullet
>>> > Physics, and
>>> > hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
>>> >
>>> > Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario, so I think you
>>> are
>>> > hitting
>>> > an edge case here.
>>> >
>>> > -H
>>> >
>>> > On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
>>> > > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the Momentum-Users group last
>>> night
>>> > > but it told be I had to wait to have my post approved
>>> > >
>>> > > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where this works?
>>> > >
>>> > > DAN
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston >>  > > > wrote:
>>> > >
>>> > > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a Momentum expert
>>> in terms
>>> > of
>>> > > usage.  It should all be possible because all collision
>>> items ar

Re: Finding custom operators in a scene

[Bradley Gabe]

I'm pretty sure there's code in there that finds operators living on
clusters and such, outside the scope of the stack.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 9:30 PM, Matt Lind  wrote:

> Correct me if I’m wrong, but it appears your code only deals with the
> construction history.  It doesn’t consider cases where the custom operator
> lives elsewhere such as my example.
>
> ** **
>
> Matt
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Bradley Gabe
> *Sent:* Friday, June 22, 2012 6:22 PM
> *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> *Subject:* Re: Finding custom operators in a scene
>
> ** **
>
> You might find some utility in the subroutines inside the Sanity Checker
> Plugin:
>
>
> https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1YpeWdrXDofNDE0NGY0ZWMtNjZkNC00YTYxLTkyMDUtZTY5YjQyYWU5M2Y3
> 
>
> ** **
>
> It's in Python, but OM is OM.
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 8:37 PM, Matt Lind 
> wrote:
>
> Tricky problem I’m trying to solve.  
>
>  
>
> I know I can find all the custom operators in the scene with FindObjects()
> and traverse operator output ports to find out where the operator is
> connected, but in this particular case I need to go the opposite direction.
> 
>
>  
>
> The problem I need to solve is:
>
> Given an arbitrary object in the scene, determine if it has a custom
> operator applied to it.
>
>  
>
>  
>
> In my test cases I have used FindObjects() to locate the custom operators
> and print out their output port connections.  In nearly all instances the
> custom operator doesn’t show up in the scene explorer where the output port
> claims it should be.
>
>  
>
> Example:
>
>  
>
> A custom operator which drives the translation U and V
> (projtrsu, projtrsv) parameters of a texture projection Def property.  When
> I query those parameters for their sources, they return a reference to the
> custom operator driving them.  When I query the custom operator’s output
> ports, they say the operator lives on the texture projection def property.
> Yet when I open the scene explorer and navigate to the texture projection
> def property, no operator is found.  Instead an instance is nested below
> each parameter connected to the output ports.  Illustration from scene
> explorer:
>
>  
>
> PolygonMesh
>
> Primitive
>
> Clusters
>
> SampleCluster
>
> Texture_Projection
>
> Texture_Projection_Def
>
> (CustomOperator.FullName points here)
>
> Projscl
>
> Projrot
>
> Projtrs
>
> Projtrsu
>
> CustomOperator (actual location)
>
> Projtrsv
>
> CustomOperator (actual location)
>
>  
>
> When I query the Texture Projection Def’s various collections (Properties,
> NestedObjects, …), the custom operator is nowhere to be found.
>
>  
>
> So given an arbitrary scene object, how do I determine if it has a custom
> operator other than resorting to FindObjects()?
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
> Matt
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
> ** **
>

RE: Finding custom operators in a scene

[Matt Lind]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it appears your code only deals with the 
construction history.  It doesn't consider cases where the custom operator 
lives elsewhere such as my example.

Matt




From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Bradley Gabe
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 6:22 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Finding custom operators in a scene

You might find some utility in the subroutines inside the Sanity Checker Plugin:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1YpeWdrXDofNDE0NGY0ZWMtNjZkNC00YTYxLTkyMDUtZTY5YjQyYWU5M2Y3

It's in Python, but OM is OM.
On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 8:37 PM, Matt Lind 
mailto:ml...@carbinestudios.com>> wrote:
Tricky problem I'm trying to solve.

I know I can find all the custom operators in the scene with FindObjects() and 
traverse operator output ports to find out where the operator is connected, but 
in this particular case I need to go the opposite direction.

The problem I need to solve is:
Given an arbitrary object in the scene, determine if it has a custom operator 
applied to it.


In my test cases I have used FindObjects() to locate the custom operators and 
print out their output port connections.  In nearly all instances the custom 
operator doesn't show up in the scene explorer where the output port claims it 
should be.

Example:

A custom operator which drives the translation U and V 
(projtrsu, projtrsv) parameters of a texture projection Def property.  When I 
query those parameters for their sources, they return a reference to the custom 
operator driving them.  When I query the custom operator's output ports, they 
say the operator lives on the texture projection def property.  Yet when I open 
the scene explorer and navigate to the texture projection def property, no 
operator is found.  Instead an instance is nested below each parameter 
connected to the output ports.  Illustration from scene explorer:

PolygonMesh
Primitive
Clusters
SampleCluster
Texture_Projection
Texture_Projection_Def
(CustomOperator.FullName points here)
Projscl
Projrot
Projtrs
Projtrsu
CustomOperator (actual location)
Projtrsv
CustomOperator (actual location)

When I query the Texture Projection Def's various collections (Properties, 
NestedObjects, ...), the custom operator is nowhere to be found.

So given an arbitrary scene object, how do I determine if it has a custom 
operator other than resorting to FindObjects()?



Matt

Re: Finding custom operators in a scene

[Bradley Gabe]

You might find some utility in the subroutines inside the Sanity Checker
Plugin:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1YpeWdrXDofNDE0NGY0ZWMtNjZkNC00YTYxLTkyMDUtZTY5YjQyYWU5M2Y3

It's in Python, but OM is OM.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 8:37 PM, Matt Lind  wrote:

> Tricky problem I’m trying to solve.  
>
> ** **
>
> I know I can find all the custom operators in the scene with FindObjects()
> and traverse operator output ports to find out where the operator is
> connected, but in this particular case I need to go the opposite direction.
> 
>
> ** **
>
> The problem I need to solve is:
>
> Given an arbitrary object in the scene, determine if it has a custom
> operator applied to it.
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> In my test cases I have used FindObjects() to locate the custom operators
> and print out their output port connections.  In nearly all instances the
> custom operator doesn’t show up in the scene explorer where the output port
> claims it should be.
>
> ** **
>
> Example:
>
> ** **
>
> A custom operator which drives the translation U and V
> (projtrsu, projtrsv) parameters of a texture projection Def property.  When
> I query those parameters for their sources, they return a reference to the
> custom operator driving them.  When I query the custom operator’s output
> ports, they say the operator lives on the texture projection def property.
> Yet when I open the scene explorer and navigate to the texture projection
> def property, no operator is found.  Instead an instance is nested below
> each parameter connected to the output ports.  Illustration from scene
> explorer:
>
> ** **
>
> PolygonMesh
>
> Primitive
>
> Clusters
>
> SampleCluster
>
> Texture_Projection
>
> Texture_Projection_Def
>
> (CustomOperator.FullName points here)
>
> Projscl
>
> Projrot
>
> Projtrs
>
> Projtrsu
>
> CustomOperator (actual location)
>
> Projtrsv
>
> CustomOperator (actual location)
>
> ** **
>
> When I query the Texture Projection Def’s various collections (Properties,
> NestedObjects, …), the custom operator is nowhere to be found.
>
> ** **
>
> So given an arbitrary scene object, how do I determine if it has a custom
> operator other than resorting to FindObjects()?
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Matt
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>

Finding custom operators in a scene

[Matt Lind]

Tricky problem I'm trying to solve.

I know I can find all the custom operators in the scene with FindObjects() and 
traverse operator output ports to find out where the operator is connected, but 
in this particular case I need to go the opposite direction.

The problem I need to solve is:
Given an arbitrary object in the scene, determine if it has a custom operator 
applied to it.


In my test cases I have used FindObjects() to locate the custom operators and 
print out their output port connections.  In nearly all instances the custom 
operator doesn't show up in the scene explorer where the output port claims it 
should be.

Example:

A custom operator which drives the translation U and V 
(projtrsu, projtrsv) parameters of a texture projection Def property.  When I 
query those parameters for their sources, they return a reference to the custom 
operator driving them.  When I query the custom operator's output ports, they 
say the operator lives on the texture projection def property.  Yet when I open 
the scene explorer and navigate to the texture projection def property, no 
operator is found.  Instead an instance is nested below each parameter 
connected to the output ports.  Illustration from scene explorer:

PolygonMesh
Primitive
Clusters
SampleCluster
Texture_Projection
Texture_Projection_Def
(CustomOperator.FullName points here)
Projscl
Projrot
Projtrs
Projtrsu
CustomOperator (actual location)
Projtrsv
CustomOperator (actual location)

When I query the Texture Projection Def's various collections (Properties, 
NestedObjects, ...), the custom operator is nowhere to be found.

So given an arbitrary scene object, how do I determine if it has a custom 
operator other than resorting to FindObjects()?



Matt

Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[Eric Thivierge]

Its been a request for a few betas now. Not sure how they prioritize this
stuff (south park family guy manatees style?) but this would open up so
many doors. The legacy syflex system supports weight maps if I remember
correctly so I'm not sure where the hang up is.

Hey Stephen, Chris Chia, Grahame you reading? Fire this one up the chain as
a much sought after enhancement.


Eric Thivierge
http://www.ethivierge.com


On Sat, Jun 23, 2012 at 2:26 AM, Dan Yargici  wrote:

> That's the problem!  It's the speed that draws you in!  But then the total
> lack of control sends you away screaming!
>
> Don't look at the liiight...
>
>
>  On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:10 PM, olivier jeannel  > wrote:
>
>>  Isn't the Ice-Syflex faster than the "legacy" Syflex ?
>>
>> Le 22/06/2012 17:37, Adam Sale a écrit :
>>
>> I put in a request for per point control in the last beta.. I hope the
>> devs prioritize this one, because realistically, without ICE syflex, the
>> internal options aren't all that appealing OTB.
>> We still obviously have legacy Syflex, but the ICE framework for Syflex
>> was such a big step forward in terms of simplification..
>>
>>  Please, Please, please... Per point control... .V. 2014.
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:02 AM, Dan Yargici wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Matt.
>>>
>>>  In my experience Lagoa, for all it's cool potential, is just sooo slow
>>> and unstable.
>>>
>>>  On the last job I did I went through Lagoa, Momentum and Syflex.
>>>  Lagoa was dropped very early on because of it's instability.
>>>
>>>  Momentum is great but has the limitation I mention in this thread.
>>>  Syflex handles that limitation with ease and is also amazingly fast and
>>> robust.  But ultimately it's a poisoned chalice as it gives you no control
>>> whatsoever other than 'wind' or 'damp'...  Basically Syflex speaks in
>>> caveman terms when it comes to simulation!
>>>
>>>  DAN
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Matt Morris  wrote:
>>>
 Have you thought about lagoa cloth? Setup is a bit finnicky but I have
 had some decent results and has all the point control you could ask for.

  I completely second what you're saying about syflex ice integration
 though, it sucks big sucky balls.


 On 22 June 2012 14:18, Dan Yargici  wrote:

> Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back to Syflex
> but the lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex is INFURIATING! it renders
> %90 of what Ice is good for TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.
>
>  I know there have been discussions mentioning that there were
> reasons it couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex, but I'd really like to
> hear them.  Right now I'm just calling it out as laziness...
>
>  Having a bad day right now.
>
>  DAN
>
>
>  On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel  wrote:
>
>> While we are at it:
>> Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with GImpact actual shape?
>> Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because bullet didn't
>> support it.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Leo
>>
>>
>>  Original-Nachricht 
>> > Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
>> > Von: Helge Mathee 
>> > An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>> > Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!
>>
>> > Sure, find it here.
>> >
>> >
>> https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
>> >
>> > Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape though. Bullet
>> > Physic's
>> > GImpact collision configuration doesn't support collision against
>> > softbodies, which
>> > means that your scenario won't be possible other than decomposition.
>> >
>> > This feature has just been added to the latest version of Bullet
>> > Physics, and
>> > hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
>> >
>> > Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario, so I think you
>> are
>> > hitting
>> > an edge case here.
>> >
>> > -H
>> >
>> > On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
>> > > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the Momentum-Users group last
>> night
>> > > but it told be I had to wait to have my post approved
>> > >
>> > > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where this works?
>> > >
>> > > DAN
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston >  > > > wrote:
>> > >
>> > > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a Momentum expert in
>> terms
>> > of
>> > > usage.  It should all be possible because all collision items
>> are
>> > put
>> > > into the same Bullet space.
>> > >
>> > > I figure your setup should just be a Momentum Passive Rigid
>> Body on
>> > > the sphere.  When I tried to do that I got this message:
>> > >
>> > >

Re: Evalution outside simulation

[Alan Fregtman]

Depending what you're after post-sim might work if you think of Simulation
as storage of values to use and process in post-sim.

I recently did a sim of falling money bills. I drove ICE-modeling-instanced
meshes with particles and to deform them I only needed to know the velocity
difference between frames so I stored that stuff in Simulation and in
Post-Sim I could interactively adjust the bend intensity and such, without
resimulating completely.


On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Gustavo Eggert Boehs
wrote:

> I understand your point, but since the idea is to stack a bunch of
> diferent modifications on top of eachother they always rely on point
> position. So I am always doing something like self.pointposition + x,y,z...
> therefore cumulating values. Thinking harder about it, if I relied on emit
> location instead of point position, that might work...
>
> Having two clouds sounds like it could really work. Will try that.
> I did a quick test using post-sim Fabricio. I felt like it had limitaions,
> but since I am not in front of Si right now I cant really describe it.
>
> Thanks for all the good insights guys, ill do some tests and post back
> with the pros and cons of each approach.
>
> Chears
> Em 22/06/2012 16:54, "Grahame Fuller" 
> escreveu:
>
>  The point that Steven and I were getting at is that simulations don't
>> need to be cumulative. For example if you plug (0,0,0) into Set
>> PointPosition, it's not going anywhere. So, you might be able to accomplish
>> what you want to do with states.
>>
>> Another approach that might work is to have multiple point clouds, e.g.,
>> one for display and rendering, one for animation, and one for simulation,
>> and then use a Boolean to control whether the display cloud reads its
>> poistion from the animation or simulation cloud.
>>
>> gray
>>
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Gustavo Eggert
>> Boehs
>> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 03:37 PM
>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>> Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation
>>
>> It is simple stuff like transformations, randomizations, sin functions
>> and all that. Problem is I am trying to reproduce the (perceived) "ease of
>> use" from moGraph.
>> In it MOST things happen in a unsimulated envoiroment, as it is a lot
>> faster to work in this fashion. You can work and scrub through the timeline
>> interactivly. But then it allows you to trigger simulation at some point or
>> event, which is nice.
>>
>> I could even try to re-work most of my nodes to have a simulated and
>> unsimulated version, as the cumulative effect of simulation will break most
>> of them, as they are right now. But fact is, it is a goal to be as
>> non-simulated as possible.
>>
>> I understand it is an uncommon request, a bit of overkill really, and
>> people can achieve the effect they want in other ways... I just wanted to
>> double check if there was any undocumented way of doing this.
>>
>> 2012/6/22 Steven Caron mailto:car...@gmail.com>>
>> also, can you just branch and set point position on those particles
>> instead?
>>
>> s
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Grahame Fuller <
>> grahame.ful...@autodesk.com> wrote:
>> What sort of procedural animation? Can it not be expressed as a
>> simulation? Do you have an example of what you mean?
>>
>> gray
>>
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>] On Behalf Of Leonard Koch
>> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 02:17 PM
>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com> softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
>> Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation
>>
>>
>> You can disable behaviours on a per particle basis, but everything will
>> have to be simulated at all times. The thing you described is at the core
>> of how ice works and there is no way around that as far as I know.
>> On Jun 22, 2012 8:01 PM, "Gustavo Eggert Boehs" >  gustav...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
>> Hey there list!
>>
>> Trying to go further in my efforts of reproducing much of the
>> functionallity found in C4Ds moGraph I´ve hit a wall. The problem is trying
>> to mix procedural animation with simulations. When a pointcloud has a
>> simulation in its stack, as we all know, everything which is underneath
>> this point wont be evaluated. My question is: is it possible to trigger in
>> and out of a state of simulation with a per point boolean?
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Gustavo E Boehs
>> 3d Artist
>> http://www.gustavoeb.com.br/blog
>>
>

Re: Evalution outside simulation

[Bradley Gabe]

1) I typically cache the sim out, then read the cache into a new, non-sim
cloud and apply an ICE operator above the read cache op.

You can get great, real time control over various attributes of what
originally came out of your sim, like using distance to camera to control
particle size, or other attributes on the second setup.

2) Something else that might intrigue you is using a sim to generate paths,
which are then fed into a real time op.

Example:

   - Generate a particle sim
   - Use the particle's point position per frame to set the point position
   on a curve (You set up a simulated ICE op on the curve that tests the
   current frame against its vertex ID and sets its own point positions)
   - Use the curve procedurally in a different live ICE operator


3) Another technique that allows you to use real time controls to drive
something that looks like a simulation can be found in this vimeo tutorial
about animation tricks using bezier curves .

The gist is, you can use duplicates of the same geometry source objects to
define multiple simultaneous curves, then drive animation on those curves
using linear interpolation (similar to animating along a path sliding from
0 to 100 percent)

-Bradley

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 6:21 PM, Gustavo Eggert Boehs
wrote:

> I understand your point, but since the idea is to stack a bunch of
> diferent modifications on top of eachother they always rely on point
> position. So I am always doing something like self.pointposition + x,y,z...
> therefore cumulating values. Thinking harder about it, if I relied on emit
> location instead of point position, that might work...
>
> Having two clouds sounds like it could really work. Will try that.
> I did a quick test using post-sim Fabricio. I felt like it had limitaions,
> but since I am not in front of Si right now I cant really describe it.
>
> Thanks for all the good insights guys, ill do some tests and post back
> with the pros and cons of each approach.
>
> Chears
> Em 22/06/2012 16:54, "Grahame Fuller" 
> escreveu:
>
>  The point that Steven and I were getting at is that simulations don't
>> need to be cumulative. For example if you plug (0,0,0) into Set
>> PointPosition, it's not going anywhere. So, you might be able to accomplish
>> what you want to do with states.
>>
>> Another approach that might work is to have multiple point clouds, e.g.,
>> one for display and rendering, one for animation, and one for simulation,
>> and then use a Boolean to control whether the display cloud reads its
>> poistion from the animation or simulation cloud.
>>
>> gray
>>
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Gustavo Eggert
>> Boehs
>> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 03:37 PM
>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>> Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation
>>
>> It is simple stuff like transformations, randomizations, sin functions
>> and all that. Problem is I am trying to reproduce the (perceived) "ease of
>> use" from moGraph.
>> In it MOST things happen in a unsimulated envoiroment, as it is a lot
>> faster to work in this fashion. You can work and scrub through the timeline
>> interactivly. But then it allows you to trigger simulation at some point or
>> event, which is nice.
>>
>> I could even try to re-work most of my nodes to have a simulated and
>> unsimulated version, as the cumulative effect of simulation will break most
>> of them, as they are right now. But fact is, it is a goal to be as
>> non-simulated as possible.
>>
>> I understand it is an uncommon request, a bit of overkill really, and
>> people can achieve the effect they want in other ways... I just wanted to
>> double check if there was any undocumented way of doing this.
>>
>> 2012/6/22 Steven Caron mailto:car...@gmail.com>>
>> also, can you just branch and set point position on those particles
>> instead?
>>
>> s
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Grahame Fuller <
>> grahame.ful...@autodesk.com> wrote:
>> What sort of procedural animation? Can it not be expressed as a
>> simulation? Do you have an example of what you mean?
>>
>> gray
>>
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>] On Behalf Of Leonard Koch
>> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 02:17 PM
>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com> softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
>> Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation
>>
>>
>> You can disable behaviours on a per particle basis, but everything will
>> have to be simulated at all times. The thing you described is at the core
>> of how ice works and there is no way around that as far as I know.
>> On Jun 22, 2012 8:01 PM, "Gustavo Eggert Boehs" >  gustav...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
>> Hey there list!
>>
>> Trying to go further in my efforts 

RE: Evalution outside simulation

[Gustavo Eggert Boehs]

I understand your point, but since the idea is to stack a bunch of diferent
modifications on top of eachother they always rely on point position. So I
am always doing something like self.pointposition + x,y,z... therefore
cumulating values. Thinking harder about it, if I relied on emit location
instead of point position, that might work...

Having two clouds sounds like it could really work. Will try that.
I did a quick test using post-sim Fabricio. I felt like it had limitaions,
but since I am not in front of Si right now I cant really describe it.

Thanks for all the good insights guys, ill do some tests and post back with
the pros and cons of each approach.

Chears
Em 22/06/2012 16:54, "Grahame Fuller" 
escreveu:

> The point that Steven and I were getting at is that simulations don't need
> to be cumulative. For example if you plug (0,0,0) into Set PointPosition,
> it's not going anywhere. So, you might be able to accomplish what you want
> to do with states.
>
> Another approach that might work is to have multiple point clouds, e.g.,
> one for display and rendering, one for animation, and one for simulation,
> and then use a Boolean to control whether the display cloud reads its
> poistion from the animation or simulation cloud.
>
> gray
>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Gustavo Eggert Boehs
> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 03:37 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation
>
> It is simple stuff like transformations, randomizations, sin functions and
> all that. Problem is I am trying to reproduce the (perceived) "ease of use"
> from moGraph.
> In it MOST things happen in a unsimulated envoiroment, as it is a lot
> faster to work in this fashion. You can work and scrub through the timeline
> interactivly. But then it allows you to trigger simulation at some point or
> event, which is nice.
>
> I could even try to re-work most of my nodes to have a simulated and
> unsimulated version, as the cumulative effect of simulation will break most
> of them, as they are right now. But fact is, it is a goal to be as
> non-simulated as possible.
>
> I understand it is an uncommon request, a bit of overkill really, and
> people can achieve the effect they want in other ways... I just wanted to
> double check if there was any undocumented way of doing this.
>
> 2012/6/22 Steven Caron mailto:car...@gmail.com>>
> also, can you just branch and set point position on those particles
> instead?
>
> s
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Grahame Fuller <
> grahame.ful...@autodesk.com> wrote:
> What sort of procedural animation? Can it not be expressed as a
> simulation? Do you have an example of what you mean?
>
> gray
>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>] On Behalf Of Leonard Koch
> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 02:17 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com >
> Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation
>
>
> You can disable behaviours on a per particle basis, but everything will
> have to be simulated at all times. The thing you described is at the core
> of how ice works and there is no way around that as far as I know.
> On Jun 22, 2012 8:01 PM, "Gustavo Eggert Boehs"  >> wrote:
> Hey there list!
>
> Trying to go further in my efforts of reproducing much of the
> functionallity found in C4Ds moGraph I´ve hit a wall. The problem is trying
> to mix procedural animation with simulations. When a pointcloud has a
> simulation in its stack, as we all know, everything which is underneath
> this point wont be evaluated. My question is: is it possible to trigger in
> and out of a state of simulation with a per point boolean?
>
> Best regards
>
>
>
>
> --
> Gustavo E Boehs
> 3d Artist
> http://www.gustavoeb.com.br/blog
>

Re: Evalution outside simulation

[Fabricio Chamon]

just a quick thought: couldn't you always have a simulated
icetree..then for simulation stuff put the icetree on the simulation
stack, and for non-simulation just use the post sim stack as a way to
bypass/override particle attributes ?

Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?

[Steven Caron]

absolutely! there are downsides to both but both are very capable. i would
prefer to use either over mental ray.

i have been using arnold and sitoa for a while now and really enjoy it, but
i think vray provides a better balance for a smaller studio or one without
a technical staff.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Vladimir Koylazov wrote:

>
> 5. I don't know anything about V-Ray but I love Arnold!
>
>  Arnold certainly is a very capable renderer. Nevertheless, I'm
> sure that many people will find V-Ray useful as well.
>
>

Re: Friday Flashback

[Alan Fregtman]

I always wondered what the heck that jelly-like graphic was about. The more
you know! :)


On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 2:47 PM, Stephen Blair
wrote:

> Friday Flashback #75
> Email blast for an "Experience Softimage XSI 5.1 and Face Robot 1.0" event
> in Orlando, June 2006.
> And the jellyfish solver.
> http://wp.me/powV4-1VQ
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Michal Doniec
> Sent: June-18-12 5:20 AM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Friday Flashback
>
> I've learned how to model faces from one nurbs surface from this one.
>
> On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 4:07 PM, Stephen Blair
>  wrote:
> > Friday Flashback #74
> > Secrets of Softimage 3D from 1997
> > http://wp.me/powV4-1V1
> >
> >
> > From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Blair
> > Sent: June-08-12 12:21 PM
> > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> > Subject: RE: Friday Flashback
> >
> > Friday Flashback #73
> > Customer spotlight from 2007
> > http://wp.me/powV4-1U0
> >
> >
> > From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Matt Lind
> > Sent: June-01-12 4:44 PM
> > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> > Subject: RE: Friday Flashback
> >
> > Never did understand the logo for behavior.
> >
> >
> > Matt
> >
> >
> >
> > From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Blair
> > Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 8:15 AM
> > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> > Subject: RE: Friday Flashback
> >
> > Friday Flashback #72
> > MOVE
> > ...Creativity without limits...
> > ...the first scalable, fully programmable crowd simulation and
> behavioral animation system...
> > http://wp.me/powV4-1T2
> >
> >
> > From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com> [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
> > Sent: May-25-12 2:11 PM
> > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
> > Subject: Re: Friday Flashback
> >
> > thats hilarious
> > On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 9:13 AM, Grahame Fuller <
> grahame.ful...@autodesk.com> wrote:
> > XSI got a couple of things out of its development, including the Fold
> operator and the Drag & drop models at cursor location preference.
>
>
>
> --
> --
> Michal
> http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mdoniec
>

Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?

[Vladimir Koylazov]

I'd like to comment on some of the items that invariably come up in any 
discussion of V-Ray for Softimage. Hopefully they will shed some light 
on the thinking behind the product. (Disclaimer: I don't mean to offend 
anyone :))


0. You must have interactive progressive re-rendering!

Yes, of course, and we are actively working on it.

1. There are a lot of options!

This is true and is due to the fact that V-Ray must work efficiently in 
many different scenarios. The approach for efficient rendering of an 
architectural interior is vastly different from that of rendering a few 
characters with IBL. If choosing the right GI engine reduces the render 
times by an order of magnitude, would you not want to have that option?


2. I must spend a lot of time tweaking all the options!

Only if you want to. Just because there are all these options, doesn't 
mean you have to go change every single one of them. Most settings have 
good defaults. Additionally, there are brute force settings that work 
almost always. They might not be the fastest ones, but they usually get 
the job done in reasonable time. So if you prefer to spend time 
rendering, rather than trying to speed up the render, this is entirely 
up to you. In any case, most people quickly find a set of settings that 
work well for their particular workflows and they soon learn what would 
be appropriate settings for a given scene. After that, the time spent on 
render set up is actually not that long.


3. You should just remove all the options so as not to scare new users, 
and instead give them an SDK to access extra features that they need! I 
can't imagine why anyone would need all that stuff anyways!


Most of the V-Ray users are not programmers; they don't have the 
ability, time or desire to deal with an SDK to get their job done. This 
is somewhat related to item #1 - if the users don't want (or don't know 
how) to deal with an SDK, we must still give them ways to do what they 
need. With that said, access to the V-Ray SDK in Maya and 3ds Max is 
quite advanced, and I hope we'll get to that point with V-Ray for 
Softimage as well.


4. You should just do what Arnold does, it's so much better!

Implementation differences aside, I really don't think an Arnold 
approach to V-Ray as a product would have been successful. Solid Angle 
has a good strategy for Arnold, but it won't work for us in the same way.


5. I don't know anything about V-Ray but I love Arnold!

 Arnold certainly is a very capable renderer. Nevertheless, I'm 
sure that many people will find V-Ray useful as well.


Best regards,
Vlado

?? 6/21/2012 10:11 PM, Marc-Andre Carbonneau ??:


Hi,

I'm wondering who has switched to VRay for Softimage completely and 
loves it.


I don't seem to see much commercials or movies stating they have used 
Vray for Softimage. Has it picked up?


Now, after a few months now, how does it compare to Arnold? Why have 
you picked VRay instead of Arnold?


How's Vray's "buy one get 5 free for your farm" working for you?

Thanks.

Marc-Andre

RE: Evalution outside simulation

[Grahame Fuller]

The point that Steven and I were getting at is that simulations don't need to 
be cumulative. For example if you plug (0,0,0) into Set PointPosition, it's not 
going anywhere. So, you might be able to accomplish what you want to do with 
states.

Another approach that might work is to have multiple point clouds, e.g., one 
for display and rendering, one for animation, and one for simulation, and then 
use a Boolean to control whether the display cloud reads its poistion from the 
animation or simulation cloud.

gray

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Gustavo Eggert 
Boehs
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 03:37 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation

It is simple stuff like transformations, randomizations, sin functions and all 
that. Problem is I am trying to reproduce the (perceived) "ease of use" from 
moGraph.
In it MOST things happen in a unsimulated envoiroment, as it is a lot faster to 
work in this fashion. You can work and scrub through the timeline interactivly. 
But then it allows you to trigger simulation at some point or event, which is 
nice.

I could even try to re-work most of my nodes to have a simulated and 
unsimulated version, as the cumulative effect of simulation will break most of 
them, as they are right now. But fact is, it is a goal to be as non-simulated 
as possible.

I understand it is an uncommon request, a bit of overkill really, and people 
can achieve the effect they want in other ways... I just wanted to double check 
if there was any undocumented way of doing this.

2012/6/22 Steven Caron mailto:car...@gmail.com>>
also, can you just branch and set point position on those particles instead?

s

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Grahame Fuller 
mailto:grahame.ful...@autodesk.com>> wrote:
What sort of procedural animation? Can it not be expressed as a simulation? Do 
you have an example of what you mean?

gray

From: 
softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com]
 On Behalf Of Leonard Koch
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 02:17 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation


You can disable behaviours on a per particle basis, but everything will have to 
be simulated at all times. The thing you described is at the core of how ice 
works and there is no way around that as far as I know.
On Jun 22, 2012 8:01 PM, "Gustavo Eggert Boehs" 
mailto:gustav...@gmail.com>>>
 wrote:
Hey there list!

Trying to go further in my efforts of reproducing much of the functionallity 
found in C4Ds moGraph I´ve hit a wall. The problem is trying to mix procedural 
animation with simulations. When a pointcloud has a simulation in its stack, as 
we all know, everything which is underneath this point wont be evaluated. My 
question is: is it possible to trigger in and out of a state of simulation with 
a per point boolean?

Best regards




--
Gustavo E Boehs
3d Artist
http://www.gustavoeb.com.br/blog
<>

Re: Multi inspectOBJ via script

[Sam Cuttriss]

oh nice, you are correct.
i was put off by the docs:

"Default Value: Current selection. Note: if the selection contains more
than one object then only the first appears."

thanks
_sam

Re: Evalution outside simulation

[Gustavo Eggert Boehs]

It is simple stuff like transformations, randomizations, sin functions and
all that. Problem is I am trying to reproduce the (perceived) "ease of use"
from moGraph.
In it MOST things happen in a unsimulated envoiroment, as it is a lot
faster to work in this fashion. You can work and scrub through the timeline
interactivly. But then it allows you to trigger simulation at some point or
event, which is nice.

I could even try to re-work most of my nodes to have a simulated and
unsimulated version, as the cumulative effect of simulation will break most
of them, as they are right now. But fact is, it is a goal to be as
non-simulated as possible.

I understand it is an uncommon request, a bit of overkill really, and
people can achieve the effect they want in other ways... I just wanted to
double check if there was any undocumented way of doing this.

2012/6/22 Steven Caron 

> also, can you just branch and set point position on those particles
> instead?
>
> s
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Grahame Fuller <
> grahame.ful...@autodesk.com> wrote:
>
>> What sort of procedural animation? Can it not be expressed as a
>> simulation? Do you have an example of what you mean?
>>
>> gray
>>
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Leonard Koch
>> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 02:17 PM
>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>> Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation
>>
>>
>> You can disable behaviours on a per particle basis, but everything will
>> have to be simulated at all times. The thing you described is at the core
>> of how ice works and there is no way around that as far as I know.
>> On Jun 22, 2012 8:01 PM, "Gustavo Eggert Boehs" > > wrote:
>> Hey there list!
>>
>> Trying to go further in my efforts of reproducing much of the
>> functionallity found in C4Ds moGraph I´ve hit a wall. The problem is trying
>> to mix procedural animation with simulations. When a pointcloud has a
>> simulation in its stack, as we all know, everything which is underneath
>> this point wont be evaluated. My question is: is it possible to trigger in
>> and out of a state of simulation with a per point boolean?
>>
>> Best regards
>>
>>
>


-- 
Gustavo E Boehs
3d Artist
http://www.gustavoeb.com.br/blog

Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?

[Len Krenzler]

The absolute number 1 issue for me is no volume rendering.  That's a 
show stopper for me.  Hope to see this in the future.


Len - www.actionart.ca

On 6/21/2012 4:03 PM, Kamen Lilov wrote:


I'd like to chime in to this discussion.

What are the things in VRay/XSI you hate most? A missing feature, 
clumsy configuration, poor documentation, any kinds of instabilities, etc?


Disclosure: I run the XSI integration team at ChaosGroup so, 
obviously, I am not impartial to this discussion. But I am keen on 
making the product work well for all you VFX folks out there :) and I 
can take criticism. Shoot at will :)

RE: Multi inspectOBJ via script

[Stephen Blair]

// Jscript
SelectObj("*.polymsh.ICETree.RandomValueNode", null, null);
InspectObj();

// or

InspectObj("*.polymsh.ICETree.RandomValueNode");


Opens a PPG in multi edit mode, for me.

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sam Cuttriss
Sent: June-22-12 3:02 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Multi inspectOBJ via script

i have a tool that generates a tonne of geo all with ice trees attached.
how do i do the equivalent interface operation of multi selecting and 
manipulating  at once with python?

inspectobj seems to be limited to one item?

this multi selects the nodes, but doesnt open the panel
Application.SelectObj(".[obj].*.*.ICENODE","" )

ideas?

_sam
<>

Multi inspectOBJ via script

[Sam Cuttriss]

i have a tool that generates a tonne of geo all with ice trees attached.
how do i do the equivalent interface operation of multi selecting and
manipulating  at once with python?

inspectobj seems to be limited to one item?

this multi selects the nodes, but doesnt open the panel
Application.SelectObj(".[obj].*.*.ICENODE","" )

ideas?

_sam

Re: price increases?

[peter_b]

thanks Graham for the clear information.
it beats rumours, and this doesn’t sound like 'evil coorporation' schemes to 
me,

more like standardization of policies.

can you find out which the oldest upgradeable version is?


-Original Message- 
From: Graham Bell

Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 9:53 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: RE: price increases?

Ok, so after following this thread, I met with some of my colleagues and we 
sat down to go through the recent pricing announcements and perhaps try and 
make it clearer, the best that we can. So here goes, however this is just 
from a Europe/EMEA view. Also to the best of my knowledge this applies to 
the majority of Autodesk software, not just M&E, though there are some 
exceptions, I don't know them all.


Changes to the upgrade model for Autodesk software:
Basically for those who don't know, Autodesk has pricing models for when 
someone wants to upgrade an old version of software to the current version, 
if they haven't been on Subscription (for whatever reason). From February 
1st 2013, these models are changing


On February 1st 2013, the upgrade pricing model will change so that upgrades 
from 1 - 3 versions back will increase from 50% of the new licence SRP to 
70% of the new licence SRP.


Upgrades from 4 - 6 versions back will remain at 70% of the new licence SRP.

Upgrades from versions older than 6 releases back will not be upgradeable.

Many customers are actually on subscription already, and this continues to 
be the most cost effective way to keep your software current.



Subscription price changes:

Autodesk has recently increased the cost of new subscriptions across many 
product lines - these changes apply to subscription renewals from February 
1st 2013.


However, there is an exception for Softimage which wasn't mentioned because 
at this time it is not confirmed. As previously discussed on this list and 
other forums the Softimage subscription price has changed within the last 
year, and is only available as a gold subscription (not wanting to open this 
debate here). The subscription price for Softimage is not expected to 
increase further and in many cases might reduce back to a previous price. I 
do not know exact details, but information on local prices is expected soon. 
And again, I must state that I'm talking from a Europe/EMEA view. I don't 
have any information outside of that.


Multi-year subscription discounts to be phased out:

On August 1st 2012, the discounts for multi-year subscription will reduce 
from 10% to 5% for 3 year contracts and from 5% to 0% for 2 year contracts


On February 1st 2013, the discount for a 3 year renewal will reduce from 5% 
to 0%



So that's basically the pricing announcements that Autodesk recently made 
which were only focused around the upgrade models and Subscriptions.



As for anything else, and to the best of my knowledge, there are no further 
price changes planned at this time in EMEA. Unfortunately I cannot 
absolutely state that this won't change in the future or that there will not 
be some exceptions.





From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Thomas Cannell

Sent: 19 June 2012 21:50
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: price increases?

Modo does in fact have the ability to edit and build materials with nodes. 
Just add them into the Schematic view and connect away.  You will still have 
to use it in conjunction with the tree for certain effects as it won't 
support everything you can do with tree.


On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 1:32 PM, Thomas Helzle 
mailto:thomashel...@gmail.com>> wrote:

Steffen, sorry for the confusion - they call it Rendertree as well ;-)
While it's not node based (and I really am a node addict myself) this is 
much less of a problem than I thought, in some areas it's even better. Now 
that I used it for a while, my old impression (not so different from yours, 
Steffen) has changed a lot.


BTW. Lightwave isn't "layerbased" and never really was, Ronald? Current 
versions of Lightwave (for many years now actually) have full blown node 
shading which is in some areas better than XSI (no conversion nodes, yay 
;-) ) and less good in others (some factory shaders are a bit simple). But I 
think the Lightwave Renderer is still top notch and GI is very fast.


Again, I don't think modo is for everybody, but IMO it's more artist 
friendly and -centered approach goes a long way towards getting stuff done 
fast where the big packages can be a bit long in the tooth.


Regarding the price: 20 years ago even a rotating cube was considered 
awesome and you needed a lot of special knowledge, gear and patience for 
even the most simple stuff. Been there, done that.

But the times are changing and today 3D is no longer something special.
I see an inflation happening: falling rates, cheaper, better and faster 
gear, more people wanting "in" etc.
The big tools are up against Blend

RE: Friday Flashback

[Stephen Blair]

Friday Flashback #75 
Email blast for an "Experience Softimage XSI 5.1 and Face Robot 1.0" event in 
Orlando, June 2006.
And the jellyfish solver.
http://wp.me/powV4-1VQ


-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Michal Doniec
Sent: June-18-12 5:20 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Friday Flashback

I've learned how to model faces from one nurbs surface from this one.

On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 4:07 PM, Stephen Blair
 wrote:
> Friday Flashback #74
> Secrets of Softimage 3D from 1997
> http://wp.me/powV4-1V1
>
>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Blair
> Sent: June-08-12 12:21 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: RE: Friday Flashback
>
> Friday Flashback #73
> Customer spotlight from 2007
> http://wp.me/powV4-1U0
>
>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Matt Lind
> Sent: June-01-12 4:44 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: RE: Friday Flashback
>
> Never did understand the logo for behavior.
>
>
> Matt
>
>
>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Blair
> Sent: Friday, June 01, 2012 8:15 AM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: RE: Friday Flashback
>
> Friday Flashback #72
> MOVE
> ...Creativity without limits...
> ...the first scalable, fully programmable crowd simulation and behavioral 
> animation system...
> http://wp.me/powV4-1T2
>
>
> From: 
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
>  [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Steven Caron
> Sent: May-25-12 2:11 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Friday Flashback
>
> thats hilarious
> On Fri, May 25, 2012 at 9:13 AM, Grahame Fuller 
> mailto:grahame.ful...@autodesk.com>> wrote:
> XSI got a couple of things out of its development, including the Fold 
> operator and the Drag & drop models at cursor location preference.



-- 
--
Michal
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/mdoniec
<>

Re: attribute propagation across topo operators

[Sam Cuttriss]

I think its a problem with my initial calculating of the uvs,
im assigning the uv data to points,
then from nodes context fetching the uv data via locations.
ill keep digging

Re: Evalution outside simulation

[Steven Caron]

also, can you just branch and set point position on those particles instead?

s

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Grahame Fuller <
grahame.ful...@autodesk.com> wrote:

> What sort of procedural animation? Can it not be expressed as a
> simulation? Do you have an example of what you mean?
>
> gray
>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Leonard Koch
> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 02:17 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation
>
>
> You can disable behaviours on a per particle basis, but everything will
> have to be simulated at all times. The thing you described is at the core
> of how ice works and there is no way around that as far as I know.
> On Jun 22, 2012 8:01 PM, "Gustavo Eggert Boehs"  > wrote:
> Hey there list!
>
> Trying to go further in my efforts of reproducing much of the
> functionallity found in C4Ds moGraph I´ve hit a wall. The problem is trying
> to mix procedural animation with simulations. When a pointcloud has a
> simulation in its stack, as we all know, everything which is underneath
> this point wont be evaluated. My question is: is it possible to trigger in
> and out of a state of simulation with a per point boolean?
>
> Best regards
>
>

RE: Evalution outside simulation

[Grahame Fuller]

What sort of procedural animation? Can it not be expressed as a simulation? Do 
you have an example of what you mean?

gray

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Leonard Koch
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 02:17 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Evalution outside simulation


You can disable behaviours on a per particle basis, but everything will have to 
be simulated at all times. The thing you described is at the core of how ice 
works and there is no way around that as far as I know.
On Jun 22, 2012 8:01 PM, "Gustavo Eggert Boehs" 
mailto:gustav...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hey there list!

Trying to go further in my efforts of reproducing much of the functionallity 
found in C4Ds moGraph I´ve hit a wall. The problem is trying to mix procedural 
animation with simulations. When a pointcloud has a simulation in its stack, as 
we all know, everything which is underneath this point wont be evaluated. My 
question is: is it possible to trigger in and out of a state of simulation with 
a per point boolean?

Best regards

<>

Re: Evalution outside simulation

[Leonard Koch]

You can disable behaviours on a per particle basis, but everything will
have to be simulated at all times. The thing you described is at the core
of how ice works and there is no way around that as far as I know.
On Jun 22, 2012 8:01 PM, "Gustavo Eggert Boehs"  wrote:

> Hey there list!
>
> Trying to go further in my efforts of reproducing much of the
> functionallity found in C4Ds moGraph I´ve hit a wall. The problem is trying
> to mix procedural animation with simulations. When a pointcloud has a
> simulation in its stack, as we all know, everything which is underneath
> this point wont be evaluated. My question is: is it possible to trigger in
> and out of a state of simulation with a per point boolean?
>
> Best regards
>
>

RE: Double edges

[Matt Lind]

I wouldn't trust that plugin.

The reason it doesn't weld is because you have coincident polygons all over 
place (two polygons in exactly the same place sharing the same vertices).  
That's why you see the bold highlighted edges.

Delete the coincident polygons and your regular filter tools should work as 
expected.


Matt




From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of olivier jeannel
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 8:01 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Double edges

Hello list,

I have a city generated by Cityengine (exported as obj), and some of the houses 
are exported with double edges.
2 houses exported on top of each other(now merged because the exported meshe 
was fully polygon disconnected).
[cid:image001.jpg@01CD5065.98E759B0]
I'm looking for a simple way to remove the double polygons. I tried the classic 
filter edges/poly/vertex, but with no luck.

Any idea ? Ice maybe ?

Thanks :)
<>

Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?

[Adam Sale]

The main thing I am looking for is the RT capability VRay currently has
with Maya / Max. Love it. Without it, a lot of the quick iteration gets
lost..
The last I heard from Chaos Group, this was a priority for V2.


On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 10:01 AM, Serguei Kalentchouk <
serguei.kalentch...@gmail.com> wrote:

> My two cents:
> VRay was used very successfully for Tron and Real Steel. It was easy
> to set up and manage the VRay pipeline. The turnaround time was really
> fast and results were consistently good.
> The support we got from the Chaos Group was good as well. And finally
> the transition for most lighters and TDs from Renderman to VRay was
> pretty smooth.
>
> Arnold proved to be much more problematic from both pipeline and
> artist adoption. It was difficult to get the results we were looking
> for with displacement, which caused us to increase the resolution of
> our models that was a hit across all departments.
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 9:01 AM, Marc-Andre Carbonneau
>  wrote:
> > Thank you all for your time and answers!
> >
> > About the complexity of the parameters in VRay, I find it cynical that a
> guy has released a plug-in to ease the tweaking of them! LOL! Some sort of
> presets. But it's only for MAX.
> > It's called SolidRocks. http://solidrocks.subburb.com/
> >
> > The problem is exactly as some pointed before; the Vray business model
> is smooth talking the wallet of my bosses. ;)
> > Cheers,
> > Marc-Andre
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stefan Kubicek
> > Sent: 22 juin 2012 05:08
> > To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> > Subject: Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?
> >
> > We've been using Vray for almost ten years, we started using it in
> version 0.74 beta in 3dsMax and the first image I rendered had GI and DOF
> enabled, and it came out in PAL resolution in under a minute with superb
> quality on a 700mhz AMD Athlon back then. I was blown away, bought a 1.0
> license the minute it was released and never regretted it.
> >
> > XSI integration is pretty good for a first release, bug fixes come in
> quickly, and the dev team is responding to bug reports and feature requests
> on the forum usually within the day.
> >
> > As a long time user I must admit that it does have more settings than
> Arnold, but those only play a role once you start using the various GI
> cheats, like Light Cache and Irradiance Map, which are nowadays, with fast
> computers, pretty much obsolete (I find myself brute force raytracing  GI
> for the most part) except for interior shots where they allow you to get
> really fast render times, often 3-4 times faster than with Arnold/brute
> force for the same quality on the exact same shot.
> >
> > Things I miss in Vray:
> >
> > - A bug tracker thats open to paying customers and beta testers. Bugs
> are being reported on the forum, some double and triple, and it's hard for
> a single individual keeping track of what's already fixed and what not, as
> well as knowing what priority the bug currently has, etc.
> >
> > - Better support of ICE. I haven't used the daily builds in a while so
> this might have become better, but last time I checked (2-3 montsh ago)
> strand renders looked quite different (sometimes wrong) compared to what
> you get with MR, 3Delight and Arnold ootb. Sometimes it didn't render at
> all, depending on what compounds were used.
> >
> > - As Eugen said, progressive refinement of the render region. I find
> myself continuously switching between AA settings just to get a quick
> preview (AA = 0), and higher settings. I suggested this a few months ago in
> their forum, but since there is no bug tracker I can't check if I was
> heard. If that was there I would not crave for VRayRT so much. Like Eugen,
> I believe that time spent on VrayRT should rather be invested in making the
> Vray core faster, but I understand that the RT branch might become the next
> big hit once GPU and CPU are truly merged and use unified memory, or the
> memory bottleneck of GPU is somehow solved differently.
> > Is that on any CPU makers disclosed road map?
> >
> > - Faster hair rendering. Quality is good, but Arnold was still faster
> last time I played with it.
> >
> > -Faster export times, especially with ICE. Again, this might have been
> improved with later nigthly builds.
> >
> >
> > What I really like about Vray:
> >
> > - Fast interior GI rendering is possible.
> > - A clear shader strategy, it comes with pretty much anything you could
> need out of the box. With Arnold, you very much need to resort to third
> party shaders (e.g. Kettle Uber).
> > - Similar controls and output across different 3D packages.
> >
> >
> > What I miss in Arnold:
> > -Light portals (if they'd help any in bringing render times down),
> better light transport for interiors.
> > -A feature complete "standard" shader.
> > -I was tempted to write "Nightly builds",

Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?

[Serguei Kalentchouk]

My two cents:
VRay was used very successfully for Tron and Real Steel. It was easy
to set up and manage the VRay pipeline. The turnaround time was really
fast and results were consistently good.
The support we got from the Chaos Group was good as well. And finally
the transition for most lighters and TDs from Renderman to VRay was
pretty smooth.

Arnold proved to be much more problematic from both pipeline and
artist adoption. It was difficult to get the results we were looking
for with displacement, which caused us to increase the resolution of
our models that was a hit across all departments.


On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 9:01 AM, Marc-Andre Carbonneau
 wrote:
> Thank you all for your time and answers!
>
> About the complexity of the parameters in VRay, I find it cynical that a guy 
> has released a plug-in to ease the tweaking of them! LOL! Some sort of 
> presets. But it's only for MAX.
> It's called SolidRocks. http://solidrocks.subburb.com/
>
> The problem is exactly as some pointed before; the Vray business model is 
> smooth talking the wallet of my bosses. ;)
> Cheers,
> Marc-Andre
>
> -Original Message-
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stefan Kubicek
> Sent: 22 juin 2012 05:08
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?
>
> We've been using Vray for almost ten years, we started using it in version 
> 0.74 beta in 3dsMax and the first image I rendered had GI and DOF enabled, 
> and it came out in PAL resolution in under a minute with superb quality on a 
> 700mhz AMD Athlon back then. I was blown away, bought a 1.0 license the 
> minute it was released and never regretted it.
>
> XSI integration is pretty good for a first release, bug fixes come in 
> quickly, and the dev team is responding to bug reports and feature requests 
> on the forum usually within the day.
>
> As a long time user I must admit that it does have more settings than Arnold, 
> but those only play a role once you start using the various GI cheats, like 
> Light Cache and Irradiance Map, which are nowadays, with fast computers, 
> pretty much obsolete (I find myself brute force raytracing  GI for the most 
> part) except for interior shots where they allow you to get really fast 
> render times, often 3-4 times faster than with Arnold/brute force for the 
> same quality on the exact same shot.
>
> Things I miss in Vray:
>
> - A bug tracker thats open to paying customers and beta testers. Bugs are 
> being reported on the forum, some double and triple, and it's hard for a 
> single individual keeping track of what's already fixed and what not, as well 
> as knowing what priority the bug currently has, etc.
>
> - Better support of ICE. I haven't used the daily builds in a while so this 
> might have become better, but last time I checked (2-3 montsh ago) strand 
> renders looked quite different (sometimes wrong) compared to what you get 
> with MR, 3Delight and Arnold ootb. Sometimes it didn't render at all, 
> depending on what compounds were used.
>
> - As Eugen said, progressive refinement of the render region. I find myself 
> continuously switching between AA settings just to get a quick preview (AA = 
> 0), and higher settings. I suggested this a few months ago in their forum, 
> but since there is no bug tracker I can't check if I was heard. If that was 
> there I would not crave for VRayRT so much. Like Eugen, I believe that time 
> spent on VrayRT should rather be invested in making the Vray core faster, but 
> I understand that the RT branch might become the next big hit once GPU and 
> CPU are truly merged and use unified memory, or the memory bottleneck of GPU 
> is somehow solved differently.
> Is that on any CPU makers disclosed road map?
>
> - Faster hair rendering. Quality is good, but Arnold was still faster last 
> time I played with it.
>
> -Faster export times, especially with ICE. Again, this might have been 
> improved with later nigthly builds.
>
>
> What I really like about Vray:
>
> - Fast interior GI rendering is possible.
> - A clear shader strategy, it comes with pretty much anything you could need 
> out of the box. With Arnold, you very much need to resort to third party 
> shaders (e.g. Kettle Uber).
> - Similar controls and output across different 3D packages.
>
>
> What I miss in Arnold:
> -Light portals (if they'd help any in bringing render times down), better 
> light transport for interiors.
> -A feature complete "standard" shader.
> -I was tempted to write "Nightly builds", but updates do come pretty 
> frequently, and one can compile the latest sources if he dares to.
>
>
> What I miss in both renderers:
> -Volumetrics!
> -Rendertime Marching Cube/Blobbies (or similar) effect for particles. I don't 
> always want to mesh my particles first, generating gigabytes of mesh data.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> With increasing hardware speed
>
>> I'd like to chime in to this discussio

Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[Dan Yargici]

That's the problem!  It's the speed that draws you in!  But then the total
lack of control sends you away screaming!

Don't look at the liiight...


On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:10 PM, olivier jeannel wrote:

>  Isn't the Ice-Syflex faster than the "legacy" Syflex ?
>
> Le 22/06/2012 17:37, Adam Sale a écrit :
>
> I put in a request for per point control in the last beta.. I hope the
> devs prioritize this one, because realistically, without ICE syflex, the
> internal options aren't all that appealing OTB.
> We still obviously have legacy Syflex, but the ICE framework for Syflex
> was such a big step forward in terms of simplification..
>
>  Please, Please, please... Per point control... .V. 2014.
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:02 AM, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>
>> Hi Matt.
>>
>>  In my experience Lagoa, for all it's cool potential, is just sooo slow
>> and unstable.
>>
>>  On the last job I did I went through Lagoa, Momentum and Syflex.  Lagoa
>> was dropped very early on because of it's instability.
>>
>>  Momentum is great but has the limitation I mention in this thread.
>>  Syflex handles that limitation with ease and is also amazingly fast and
>> robust.  But ultimately it's a poisoned chalice as it gives you no control
>> whatsoever other than 'wind' or 'damp'...  Basically Syflex speaks in
>> caveman terms when it comes to simulation!
>>
>>  DAN
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Matt Morris  wrote:
>>
>>> Have you thought about lagoa cloth? Setup is a bit finnicky but I have
>>> had some decent results and has all the point control you could ask for.
>>>
>>>  I completely second what you're saying about syflex ice integration
>>> though, it sucks big sucky balls.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 22 June 2012 14:18, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>>>
 Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back to Syflex but
 the lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex is INFURIATING! it renders %90
 of what Ice is good for TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.

  I know there have been discussions mentioning that there were reasons
 it couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex, but I'd really like to hear
 them.  Right now I'm just calling it out as laziness...

  Having a bad day right now.

  DAN


  On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel  wrote:

> While we are at it:
> Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with GImpact actual shape?
> Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because bullet didn't
> support it.
>
> Cheers,
> Leo
>
>
>  Original-Nachricht 
> > Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
> > Von: Helge Mathee 
> > An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> > Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!
>
> > Sure, find it here.
> >
> >
> https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
> >
> > Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape though. Bullet
> > Physic's
> > GImpact collision configuration doesn't support collision against
> > softbodies, which
> > means that your scenario won't be possible other than decomposition.
> >
> > This feature has just been added to the latest version of Bullet
> > Physics, and
> > hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
> >
> > Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario, so I think you
> are
> > hitting
> > an edge case here.
> >
> > -H
> >
> > On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
> > > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the Momentum-Users group last
> night
> > > but it told be I had to wait to have my post approved
> > >
> > > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where this works?
> > >
> > > DAN
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston   > > > wrote:
> > >
> > > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a Momentum expert in
> terms
> > of
> > > usage.  It should all be possible because all collision items
> are
> > put
> > > into the same Bullet space.
> > >
> > > I figure your setup should just be a Momentum Passive Rigid
> Body on
> > > the sphere.  When I tried to do that I got this message:
> > >
> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
> > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # 

RE: Braids with ICE

[Grahame Fuller]

You might be able to get some ideas or adapt stuff from this:

http://www.si-community.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=68
http://www.si-community.com/download/models_scenes/knit-the-strand.zip

gray

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Bradley Gabe
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:04 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Braids with ICE

Does it all have to be done with a single cloud/operator?

It's much easier to accomplish by breaking into phases:
1-Generate knot curves using particle sim
2-Extrude along curves

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 8:18 AM, Szabolcs Matefy 
mailto:szabol...@crytek.com>> wrote:
Hey guys,

I'm thinking on creating braids with ICE modeling...does anybody have any idea 
how to do this? Just experimenting...



Cheers,

Szabolcs
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<>

Re: Double edges

[Guillaume Laforge]

I noticed some missing double edges on the base of the model, so just in
case, apply the compound twice (plug it in two execute ports of the ICETree
node)

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 12:14 PM, Guillaume Laforge <
guillaume.laforge...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Try to apply this compound :
> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5533643/Softimage/Compounds/Delete%20Double%20Edges.xsicompound
>
> It worked for me with the crappy mode you just sent :)
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 12:08 PM, olivier jeannel  > wrote:
>
>>  Sure !
>> Here's something crapy ;)
>>
>> https://www.dropbox.com/s/9xpipkn9dddhe3l/DoubleEdge.emdl
>>
>>
>> Le 22/06/2012 17:36, Guillaume Laforge a écrit :
>>
>> It is maybe possible using ICE Modeling. Can you send me a mesh to test ?
>>
>>  Bise,
>>
>>  Guillaume
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:00 AM, olivier jeannel <
>> olivier.jean...@noos.fr> wrote:
>>
>>>  Hello list,
>>>
>>> I have a city generated by Cityengine (exported as obj), and some of the
>>> houses are exported with double edges.
>>> 2 houses exported on top of each other(now merged because the exported
>>> meshe was fully polygon disconnected).
>>>
>>> I'm looking for a simple way to remove the double polygons. I tried the
>>> classic filter edges/poly/vertex, but with no luck.
>>>
>>> Any idea ? Ice maybe ?
>>>
>>> Thanks :)
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>

Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[Adam Sale]

Hey Olivier..
Yes on two fronts, setting values is way easier with the ICE
implementation.. no need for that sy calculator anymore to figure out unit
values.
And faster to sim as well, though I find the per point context issue with
ICE leaves me fuming more often than not, and I end up wasting time using
all manner of workaround.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 9:10 AM, olivier jeannel wrote:

>  Isn't the Ice-Syflex faster than the "legacy" Syflex ?
>
> Le 22/06/2012 17:37, Adam Sale a écrit :
>
> I put in a request for per point control in the last beta.. I hope the
> devs prioritize this one, because realistically, without ICE syflex, the
> internal options aren't all that appealing OTB.
> We still obviously have legacy Syflex, but the ICE framework for Syflex
> was such a big step forward in terms of simplification..
>
>  Please, Please, please... Per point control... .V. 2014.
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:02 AM, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>
>> Hi Matt.
>>
>>  In my experience Lagoa, for all it's cool potential, is just sooo slow
>> and unstable.
>>
>>  On the last job I did I went through Lagoa, Momentum and Syflex.  Lagoa
>> was dropped very early on because of it's instability.
>>
>>  Momentum is great but has the limitation I mention in this thread.
>>  Syflex handles that limitation with ease and is also amazingly fast and
>> robust.  But ultimately it's a poisoned chalice as it gives you no control
>> whatsoever other than 'wind' or 'damp'...  Basically Syflex speaks in
>> caveman terms when it comes to simulation!
>>
>>  DAN
>>
>> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Matt Morris  wrote:
>>
>>> Have you thought about lagoa cloth? Setup is a bit finnicky but I have
>>> had some decent results and has all the point control you could ask for.
>>>
>>>  I completely second what you're saying about syflex ice integration
>>> though, it sucks big sucky balls.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 22 June 2012 14:18, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>>>
 Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back to Syflex but
 the lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex is INFURIATING! it renders %90
 of what Ice is good for TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.

  I know there have been discussions mentioning that there were reasons
 it couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex, but I'd really like to hear
 them.  Right now I'm just calling it out as laziness...

  Having a bad day right now.

  DAN


  On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel  wrote:

> While we are at it:
> Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with GImpact actual shape?
> Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because bullet didn't
> support it.
>
> Cheers,
> Leo
>
>
>  Original-Nachricht 
> > Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
> > Von: Helge Mathee 
> > An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> > Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!
>
> > Sure, find it here.
> >
> >
> https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
> >
> > Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape though. Bullet
> > Physic's
> > GImpact collision configuration doesn't support collision against
> > softbodies, which
> > means that your scenario won't be possible other than decomposition.
> >
> > This feature has just been added to the latest version of Bullet
> > Physics, and
> > hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
> >
> > Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario, so I think you
> are
> > hitting
> > an edge case here.
> >
> > -H
> >
> > On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
> > > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the Momentum-Users group last
> night
> > > but it told be I had to wait to have my post approved
> > >
> > > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where this works?
> > >
> > > DAN
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston   > > > wrote:
> > >
> > > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a Momentum expert in
> terms
> > of
> > > usage.  It should all be possible because all collision items
> are
> > put
> > > into the same Bullet space.
> > >
> > > I figure your setup should just be a Momentum Passive Rigid
> Body on
> > > the sphere.  When I tried to do that I got this message:
> > >
> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
> > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinem

Re: Double edges

[Guillaume Laforge]

Try to apply this compound :
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5533643/Softimage/Compounds/Delete%20Double%20Edges.xsicompound

It worked for me with the crappy mode you just sent :)


On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 12:08 PM, olivier jeannel
wrote:

>  Sure !
> Here's something crapy ;)
>
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/9xpipkn9dddhe3l/DoubleEdge.emdl
>
>
> Le 22/06/2012 17:36, Guillaume Laforge a écrit :
>
> It is maybe possible using ICE Modeling. Can you send me a mesh to test ?
>
>  Bise,
>
>  Guillaume
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:00 AM, olivier jeannel  > wrote:
>
>>  Hello list,
>>
>> I have a city generated by Cityengine (exported as obj), and some of the
>> houses are exported with double edges.
>> 2 houses exported on top of each other(now merged because the exported
>> meshe was fully polygon disconnected).
>>
>> I'm looking for a simple way to remove the double polygons. I tried the
>> classic filter edges/poly/vertex, but with no luck.
>>
>> Any idea ? Ice maybe ?
>>
>> Thanks :)
>>
>
>
>
>

Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[olivier jeannel]

Isn't the Ice-Syflex faster than the "legacy" Syflex ?

Le 22/06/2012 17:37, Adam Sale a écrit :
I put in a request for per point control in the last beta.. I hope the 
devs prioritize this one, because realistically, without ICE syflex, 
the internal options aren't all that appealing OTB.
We still obviously have legacy Syflex, but the ICE framework for 
Syflex was such a big step forward in terms of simplification..


Please, Please, please... Per point control... .V. 2014.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:02 AM, Dan Yargici > wrote:


Hi Matt.

In my experience Lagoa, for all it's cool potential, is just sooo
slow and unstable.

On the last job I did I went through Lagoa, Momentum and Syflex.
 Lagoa was dropped very early on because of it's instability.

Momentum is great but has the limitation I mention in this thread.
 Syflex handles that limitation with ease and is also amazingly
fast and robust.  But ultimately it's a poisoned chalice as it
gives you no control whatsoever other than 'wind' or 'damp'...
 Basically Syflex speaks in caveman terms when it comes to simulation!

DAN

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Matt Morris mailto:matt...@gmail.com>> wrote:

Have you thought about lagoa cloth? Setup is a bit finnicky
but I have had some decent results and has all the point
control you could ask for.

I completely second what you're saying about syflex ice
integration though, it sucks big sucky balls.


On 22 June 2012 14:18, Dan Yargici mailto:danyarg...@gmail.com>> wrote:

Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back
to Syflex but the lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex
is INFURIATING! it renders %90 of what Ice is good for
TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.

I know there have been discussions mentioning that there
were reasons it couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex,
but I'd really like to hear them.  Right now I'm just
calling it out as laziness...

Having a bad day right now.

DAN


On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel mailto:le...@gmx.de>> wrote:

While we are at it:
Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with
GImpact actual shape?
Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because
bullet didn't support it.

Cheers,
Leo


 Original-Nachricht 
> Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
> Von: Helge Mathee mailto:helge.mat...@gmx.net>>
> An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

> Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

> Sure, find it here.
>
>

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
>
> Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape
though. Bullet
> Physic's
> GImpact collision configuration doesn't support
collision against
> softbodies, which
> means that your scenario won't be possible other
than decomposition.
>
> This feature has just been added to the latest
version of Bullet
> Physics, and
> hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
>
> Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario,
so I think you are
> hitting
> an edge case here.
>
> -H
>
> On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
> > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the
Momentum-Users group last night
> > but it told be I had to wait to have my post
approved
> >
> > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where
this works?
> >
> > DAN
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston
mailto:b...@exocortex.com>
> > >> wrote:
> >
> > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a
Momentum expert in terms
> of
> > usage.  It should all be possible because all
collision items are
> put
> > into the same Bullet space.
> >
> > I figure your setup should just be a Momentum
 

RE: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?

[Marc-Andre Carbonneau]

Thank you all for your time and answers!

About the complexity of the parameters in VRay, I find it cynical that a guy 
has released a plug-in to ease the tweaking of them! LOL! Some sort of presets. 
But it's only for MAX. 
It's called SolidRocks. http://solidrocks.subburb.com/

The problem is exactly as some pointed before; the Vray business model is 
smooth talking the wallet of my bosses. ;)
Cheers,
Marc-Andre

-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stefan Kubicek
Sent: 22 juin 2012 05:08
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?

We've been using Vray for almost ten years, we started using it in version 0.74 
beta in 3dsMax and the first image I rendered had GI and DOF enabled, and it 
came out in PAL resolution in under a minute with superb quality on a 700mhz 
AMD Athlon back then. I was blown away, bought a 1.0 license the minute it was 
released and never regretted it.

XSI integration is pretty good for a first release, bug fixes come in quickly, 
and the dev team is responding to bug reports and feature requests on the forum 
usually within the day.

As a long time user I must admit that it does have more settings than Arnold, 
but those only play a role once you start using the various GI cheats, like 
Light Cache and Irradiance Map, which are nowadays, with fast computers, pretty 
much obsolete (I find myself brute force raytracing  GI for the most part) 
except for interior shots where they allow you to get really fast render times, 
often 3-4 times faster than with Arnold/brute force for the same quality on the 
exact same shot.

Things I miss in Vray:

- A bug tracker thats open to paying customers and beta testers. Bugs are being 
reported on the forum, some double and triple, and it's hard for a single 
individual keeping track of what's already fixed and what not, as well as 
knowing what priority the bug currently has, etc.

- Better support of ICE. I haven't used the daily builds in a while so this 
might have become better, but last time I checked (2-3 montsh ago) strand 
renders looked quite different (sometimes wrong) compared to what you get with 
MR, 3Delight and Arnold ootb. Sometimes it didn't render at all, depending on 
what compounds were used.

- As Eugen said, progressive refinement of the render region. I find myself 
continuously switching between AA settings just to get a quick preview (AA = 
0), and higher settings. I suggested this a few months ago in their forum, but 
since there is no bug tracker I can't check if I was heard. If that was there I 
would not crave for VRayRT so much. Like Eugen, I believe that time spent on 
VrayRT should rather be invested in making the Vray core faster, but I 
understand that the RT branch might become the next big hit once GPU and CPU 
are truly merged and use unified memory, or the memory bottleneck of GPU is 
somehow solved differently.
Is that on any CPU makers disclosed road map?

- Faster hair rendering. Quality is good, but Arnold was still faster last time 
I played with it.

-Faster export times, especially with ICE. Again, this might have been improved 
with later nigthly builds.


What I really like about Vray:

- Fast interior GI rendering is possible.
- A clear shader strategy, it comes with pretty much anything you could need 
out of the box. With Arnold, you very much need to resort to third party 
shaders (e.g. Kettle Uber).
- Similar controls and output across different 3D packages.


What I miss in Arnold:
-Light portals (if they'd help any in bringing render times down), better light 
transport for interiors.
-A feature complete "standard" shader.
-I was tempted to write "Nightly builds", but updates do come pretty 
frequently, and one can compile the latest sources if he dares to.


What I miss in both renderers:
-Volumetrics!
-Rendertime Marching Cube/Blobbies (or similar) effect for particles. I don't 
always want to mesh my particles first, generating gigabytes of mesh data.






With increasing hardware speed

> I'd like to chime in to this discussion.
>
> What are the things in VRay/XSI you hate most? A missing feature, 
> clumsy configuration, poor documentation, any kinds of instabilities, etc?
>
> Disclosure: I run the XSI integration team at ChaosGroup so, 
> obviously, I am not impartial to this discussion. But I am keen on 
> making the product work well for all you VFX folks out there :) and I 
> can take criticism. Shoot at will :)
>
>
> On 6/21/2012 10:11 PM, Marc-Andre Carbonneau wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm wondering who has switched to VRay for Softimage completely and 
>> loves it.
>>
>> I don't seem to see much commercials or movies stating they have used 
>> Vray for Softimage. Has it picked up?
>>
>> Now, after a few months now, how does it compare to Arnold? Why have 
>> you picked VRay instead of Arnold?
>>
>> How's Vray's "buy one get 5 free for your 

RE: OT: anything like Generations?

[Paul Griswold]

Unfortunately the Windows beta is closed.  If anyone here knows someone at
The Foundry who could put me in touch with the beta team (other than just
the online form), I’d love to chat.

Thanks!

Paul


 *From:* Stefan Kubicek 
*Sent:* Friday, June 22, 2012 11:52:35 AM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: OT: anything like Generations?

According to The Foundry Hiero is Mac & Linux, With a Win7 port currently
in beta:
http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/**products/hiero/system-**requirements/

Maybe worth a look?


 Hi guys,
>
> I’m working on a music video at the moment and the team involved is spread
> all over the world.  I’m doing my comp work in Eyeon Fusion and other guys
> are working in After Effects, Illustrator, etc.  I was hoping by now that
> Eyeon would have Generations AM available because it seems perfect for this
> project, but I spoke with them and it’s still in private beta.
>
> Is there anything out there that runs on Windows with a Flame Desktop-like
> interface?  I know Arvid has VFXDesktop, but it can’t handle MOV files and
> all the footage I have is AVCHD.
>
> It’s really hard to collaborate right now unless I decide to give up on
> working in Fusion and just do everything in Adobe products.  But I really
> need a node-based compositor for these shots, and AE just isn’t going to do
> it.
>
> Is there anything else out there that might work?  Hiero is Mac only, so
> that’s out.  Scratch maybe?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul
>
>

-- 
--**-
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: OT: anything like Generations?

[Stefan Kubicek]

According to The Foundry Hiero is Mac & Linux, With a Win7 port currently in 
beta:
http://www.thefoundry.co.uk/products/hiero/system-requirements/

Maybe worth a look?



Hi guys,

I’m working on a music video at the moment and the team involved is spread
all over the world.  I’m doing my comp work in Eyeon Fusion and other guys
are working in After Effects, Illustrator, etc.  I was hoping by now that
Eyeon would have Generations AM available because it seems perfect for this
project, but I spoke with them and it’s still in private beta.

Is there anything out there that runs on Windows with a Flame Desktop-like
interface?  I know Arvid has VFXDesktop, but it can’t handle MOV files and
all the footage I have is AVCHD.

It’s really hard to collaborate right now unless I decide to give up on
working in Fusion and just do everything in Adobe products.  But I really
need a node-based compositor for these shots, and AE just isn’t going to do
it.

Is there anything else out there that might work?  Hiero is Mac only, so
that’s out.  Scratch maybe?



Thanks,

Paul




--
---
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--

OT: anything like Generations?

[Paul Griswold]

Hi guys,

I’m working on a music video at the moment and the team involved is spread
all over the world.  I’m doing my comp work in Eyeon Fusion and other guys
are working in After Effects, Illustrator, etc.  I was hoping by now that
Eyeon would have Generations AM available because it seems perfect for this
project, but I spoke with them and it’s still in private beta.

Is there anything out there that runs on Windows with a Flame Desktop-like
interface?  I know Arvid has VFXDesktop, but it can’t handle MOV files and
all the footage I have is AVCHD.

It’s really hard to collaborate right now unless I decide to give up on
working in Fusion and just do everything in Adobe products.  But I really
need a node-based compositor for these shots, and AE just isn’t going to do
it.

Is there anything else out there that might work?  Hiero is Mac only, so
that’s out.  Scratch maybe?



Thanks,

Paul

Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[Adam Sale]

I put in a request for per point control in the last beta.. I hope the devs
prioritize this one, because realistically, without ICE syflex, the
internal options aren't all that appealing OTB.
We still obviously have legacy Syflex, but the ICE framework for Syflex was
such a big step forward in terms of simplification..

Please, Please, please... Per point control... .V. 2014.

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 7:02 AM, Dan Yargici  wrote:

> Hi Matt.
>
> In my experience Lagoa, for all it's cool potential, is just sooo slow and
> unstable.
>
> On the last job I did I went through Lagoa, Momentum and Syflex.  Lagoa
> was dropped very early on because of it's instability.
>
> Momentum is great but has the limitation I mention in this thread.  Syflex
> handles that limitation with ease and is also amazingly fast and robust.
>  But ultimately it's a poisoned chalice as it gives you no control
> whatsoever other than 'wind' or 'damp'...  Basically Syflex speaks in
> caveman terms when it comes to simulation!
>
> DAN
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Matt Morris  wrote:
>
>> Have you thought about lagoa cloth? Setup is a bit finnicky but I have
>> had some decent results and has all the point control you could ask for.
>>
>> I completely second what you're saying about syflex ice integration
>> though, it sucks big sucky balls.
>>
>>
>> On 22 June 2012 14:18, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>>
>>> Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back to Syflex but
>>> the lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex is INFURIATING! it renders %90
>>> of what Ice is good for TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.
>>>
>>> I know there have been discussions mentioning that there were reasons it
>>> couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex, but I'd really like to hear them.
>>>  Right now I'm just calling it out as laziness...
>>>
>>> Having a bad day right now.
>>>
>>> DAN
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel  wrote:
>>>
 While we are at it:
 Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with GImpact actual shape?
 Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because bullet didn't support
 it.

 Cheers,
 Leo


  Original-Nachricht 
 > Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
 > Von: Helge Mathee 
 > An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
 > Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

 > Sure, find it here.
 >
 > https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
 >
 > Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape though. Bullet
 > Physic's
 > GImpact collision configuration doesn't support collision against
 > softbodies, which
 > means that your scenario won't be possible other than decomposition.
 >
 > This feature has just been added to the latest version of Bullet
 > Physics, and
 > hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
 >
 > Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario, so I think you are
 > hitting
 > an edge case here.
 >
 > -H
 >
 > On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
 > > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the Momentum-Users group last night
 > > but it told be I had to wait to have my post approved
 > >
 > > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where this works?
 > >
 > > DAN
 > >
 > >
 > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston >>> > > > wrote:
 > >
 > > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a Momentum expert in
 terms
 > of
 > > usage.  It should all be possible because all collision items
 are
 > put
 > > into the same Bullet space.
 > >
 > > I figure your setup should just be a Momentum Passive Rigid
 Body on
 > > the sphere.  When I tried to do that I got this message:
 > >
 > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
 > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
 > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
 > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
 > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
 > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
 > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
 > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
 > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
 > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
 > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
 > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
 > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
 > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
 > >
 > > If I add another object into the scene and I add a Momentum
 Passive
 > > Rigid Body operator on it seems to work.  Just check "Keep Shape
 > > Updated" if the object is deforming.
 > >
 > > Just be aware that there are +250 people on the Momentum user's
 > > list here:
 > >
 > > https://groups.google.com/gro

Re: Double edges

[Guillaume Laforge]

It is maybe possible using ICE Modeling. Can you send me a mesh to test ?

Bise,

Guillaume

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 11:00 AM, olivier jeannel
wrote:

>  Hello list,
>
> I have a city generated by Cityengine (exported as obj), and some of the
> houses are exported with double edges.
> 2 houses exported on top of each other(now merged because the exported
> meshe was fully polygon disconnected).
>
> I'm looking for a simple way to remove the double polygons. I tried the
> classic filter edges/poly/vertex, but with no luck.
>
> Any idea ? Ice maybe ?
>
> Thanks :)
>
<>

Double edges

[olivier jeannel]

  
  
Hello list,

I have a city generated by Cityengine (exported as obj), and some of
the houses are exported with double edges.
2 houses exported on top of each other(now merged because the
exported meshe was fully polygon disconnected).

I'm looking for a simple way to remove the double polygons. I tried
the classic filter edges/poly/vertex, but with no luck.

Any idea ? Ice maybe ?

Thanks :)
  

Re: Braids with ICE

[Bradley Gabe]

Does it all have to be done with a single cloud/operator?

It's much easier to accomplish by breaking into phases:
1-Generate knot curves using particle sim
2-Extrude along curves


On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 8:18 AM, Szabolcs Matefy wrote:

> Hey guys,
>
> ** **
>
> I’m thinking on creating braids with ICE modeling…does anybody have any
> idea how to do this? Just experimenting…
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Cheers,
>
> ** **
>
> Szabolcs
> ___
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> DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli
>

Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[Dan Yargici]

Hi Matt.

In my experience Lagoa, for all it's cool potential, is just sooo slow and
unstable.

On the last job I did I went through Lagoa, Momentum and Syflex.  Lagoa was
dropped very early on because of it's instability.

Momentum is great but has the limitation I mention in this thread.  Syflex
handles that limitation with ease and is also amazingly fast and robust.
 But ultimately it's a poisoned chalice as it gives you no control
whatsoever other than 'wind' or 'damp'...  Basically Syflex speaks in
caveman terms when it comes to simulation!

DAN

On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Matt Morris  wrote:

> Have you thought about lagoa cloth? Setup is a bit finnicky but I have had
> some decent results and has all the point control you could ask for.
>
> I completely second what you're saying about syflex ice integration
> though, it sucks big sucky balls.
>
>
> On 22 June 2012 14:18, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>
>> Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back to Syflex but
>> the lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex is INFURIATING! it renders %90
>> of what Ice is good for TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.
>>
>> I know there have been discussions mentioning that there were reasons it
>> couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex, but I'd really like to hear them.
>>  Right now I'm just calling it out as laziness...
>>
>> Having a bad day right now.
>>
>> DAN
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel  wrote:
>>
>>> While we are at it:
>>> Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with GImpact actual shape?
>>> Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because bullet didn't support
>>> it.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Leo
>>>
>>>
>>>  Original-Nachricht 
>>> > Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
>>> > Von: Helge Mathee 
>>> > An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>>> > Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!
>>>
>>> > Sure, find it here.
>>> >
>>> > https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
>>> >
>>> > Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape though. Bullet
>>> > Physic's
>>> > GImpact collision configuration doesn't support collision against
>>> > softbodies, which
>>> > means that your scenario won't be possible other than decomposition.
>>> >
>>> > This feature has just been added to the latest version of Bullet
>>> > Physics, and
>>> > hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
>>> >
>>> > Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario, so I think you are
>>> > hitting
>>> > an edge case here.
>>> >
>>> > -H
>>> >
>>> > On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
>>> > > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the Momentum-Users group last night
>>> > > but it told be I had to wait to have my post approved
>>> > >
>>> > > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where this works?
>>> > >
>>> > > DAN
>>> > >
>>> > >
>>> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston >> > > > wrote:
>>> > >
>>> > > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a Momentum expert in
>>> terms
>>> > of
>>> > > usage.  It should all be possible because all collision items are
>>> > put
>>> > > into the same Bullet space.
>>> > >
>>> > > I figure your setup should just be a Momentum Passive Rigid Body
>>> on
>>> > > the sphere.  When I tried to do that I got this message:
>>> > >
>>> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
>>> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
>>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
>>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
>>> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
>>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
>>> > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
>>> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
>>> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
>>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
>>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
>>> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
>>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
>>> > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
>>> > >
>>> > > If I add another object into the scene and I add a Momentum
>>> Passive
>>> > > Rigid Body operator on it seems to work.  Just check "Keep Shape
>>> > > Updated" if the object is deforming.
>>> > >
>>> > > Just be aware that there are +250 people on the Momentum user's
>>> > > list here:
>>> > >
>>> > > https://groups.google.com/group/momentum-users
>>> > >
>>> > > -ben
>>> > >
>>> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 6:40 AM, Dan Yargici <
>>> danyarg...@gmail.com
>>> > > > wrote:
>>> > > > One final caveat... it needs to be an Actual Shape collision
>>> > > >
>>> > > >
>>> > > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Dan Yargici
>>> > > mailto:danyarg...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> > > >>
>>> > > >> Here is a small quicktime of the setup if you just want to
>>> take
>>> > > a quick
>>> > > >> look and get an idea of what I mean.
>>> > >  

RE: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input...

[Sandy Sutherland]

Yep - otherwise it would be a nightmare - as have had other server issues - 
this show is MUCH bigger than our previous one and we are learning a lot about 
what you DO need in a server now.

Hope you sort it out.

Cheers

Sandy

_
Sandy Sutherland
Technical Supervisor
sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za
_





From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Martin Chatterjee 
[martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com]
Sent: 22 June 2012 15:40
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical 
MessageBox waiting for user input...

Sandy,

yeah, the problem appears only appears on our farm nodes still running XP.

Windows 7 seems to be fine and I'm quite confident that no linux executable 
will ever show such a bizarre behaviour... :-/

Nonetheless the chance of getting such a collision should be fairly small 
anyway (unless your workgroup lives on a file server that does not perform well 
with loads of read calls on loads of tiny files at the same time - and a lot of 
blades are starting to render more or less simultaniously...)

Cheers, Martin
--
Martin Chatterjee

[ Freelance Technical Director ]
[http://www.chatterjee.de]



On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:50 PM, Sandy Sutherland 
mailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za>> 
wrote:
We do not have this here - our setup is Win7 64 workstations with FC15 Farm 
nodes.

S.

_
Sandy Sutherland
Technical Supervisor
sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za
_





From: 
softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
 
[softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com]
 on behalf of Martin Chatterjee 
[martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com]
Sent: 22 June 2012 13:36
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical 
MessageBox waiting for user input...

Hi Stephen,

thanks for confirming and bumping up the bug.

Yeah, getting rid of the graphical messageBox would be key.

Although personally I don't understand the reason for the whole locking 
mechanism in the first place - my tests indicate that self-installing scripted 
plugins living in Application/Plugins do not get locked that way, for 
instance...

But I don't mind it at all as long as we can get rid of the messageBox(es).

By the way, my gut feeling is that this might only an issue on XP 64 - I will 
try to repro on Windows 7 in a bit and will let you know.

Thanks, Martin
--
Martin Chatterjee

[ Freelance Technical Director ]
[http://www.chatterjee.de]



On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Stephen Blair 
mailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.com>> wrote:
Hi Martin

Yes, this has been reported and logged before.
I repro it simply by starting many xsibatch sessions, eventually you'll get an 
Unable to access error.
It could be for a compound, or for a toolbar, or some other file.

I'll log it again to bump it back up. At the very least, xsibatch should not 
display a message requiring use interaction.


Stephen Blair
Softimage Support Specialist
Premium Support Services

Autodesk, Inc.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Blog: http://xsisupport.com




From: 
softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com]
 On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee
Sent: June-22-12 7:19 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox 
waiting for user input...

Hi List, hi Support,

we are experiencing a bit of an annoying issue regarding access collisions on 
workgroups.

Bear with me - it'll take a few lines to explain:


When a workgroup is loaded (or refreshed from within an open Softimage session) 
its subdirectories get scanned and all self-installing plugins, shaders and ICE 
compounds get registered accordingly.

During this scan Softimage will take over exclusive access for every ICE 
compound in /Data/Compounds. It will do this by creating a .lock file (e.g. 
MyCompound.xsicompound.lock) to prevent collisions.

Under normal circumstances this lock file will be deleted straight after file 
scan and this lock should only be present for a veeery short time ( < 1ms or 
so...).

However if a second session of Softimage tries to access a locked compound the 
user will get prompted by a messageBox that the compound is not accessible. He 
can then choose to ignore it and proceed.

Through a series of VERY annoying circumnstances (dont't get me start

Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input...

[Martin Chatterjee]

Sandy,

yeah, the problem appears only appears on our farm nodes still running XP.

Windows 7 seems to be fine and I'm quite confident that no linux executable
will ever show such a bizarre behaviour... :-/

Nonetheless the chance of getting such a collision should be fairly small
anyway (unless your workgroup lives on a file server that does not perform
well with loads of read calls on loads of tiny files at the same time - and
a lot of blades are starting to render more or less simultaniously...)

Cheers, Martin
--
Martin Chatterjee

[ Freelance Technical Director ]
[http://www.chatterjee.de]



On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:50 PM, Sandy Sutherland <
sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za> wrote:

>  We do not have this here - our setup is Win7 64 workstations with FC15
> Farm nodes.
>
> S.
>
> _
> Sandy Sutherland
> Technical Supervisor
> sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za
> _
>
>
>
>
>   --
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Martin Chatterjee [
> martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com]
> *Sent:* 22 June 2012 13:36
> *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> *Subject:* Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical
> MessageBox waiting for user input...
>
>  Hi Stephen,
>
>  thanks for confirming and bumping up the bug.
>
>  Yeah, getting rid of the graphical messageBox would be key.
>
>  Although personally I don't understand the reason for the whole locking
> mechanism in the first place - my tests indicate that self-installing
> scripted plugins living in *Application/Plugins* do not get locked that
> way, for instance...
>
>  But I don't mind it at all as long as we can get rid of the
> messageBox(es).
>
>  By the way, my gut feeling is that this might only an issue on XP 64 - I
> will try to repro on Windows 7 in a bit and will let you know.
>
>  Thanks, Martin
> --
> Martin Chatterjee
>
> [ Freelance Technical Director ]
> [http://www.chatterjee.de]
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Stephen Blair  > wrote:
>
>> Hi Martin
>>
>> Yes, this has been reported and logged before.
>> I repro it simply by starting many xsibatch sessions, eventually you'll
>> get an Unable to access error.
>> It could be for a compound, or for a toolbar, or some other file.
>>
>> I'll log it again to bump it back up. At the very least, xsibatch should
>> not display a message requiring use interaction.
>>
>>
>> Stephen Blair
>> Softimage Support Specialist
>> Premium Support Services
>>
>> Autodesk, Inc.
>> Montreal, Quebec, Canada
>> Blog: http://xsisupport.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee
>> Sent: June-22-12 7:19 AM
>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>> Subject: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical
>> MessageBox waiting for user input...
>>
>> Hi List, hi Support,
>>
>> we are experiencing a bit of an annoying issue regarding access
>> collisions on workgroups.
>>
>> Bear with me - it'll take a few lines to explain:
>>
>>
>> When a workgroup is loaded (or refreshed from within an open Softimage
>> session) its subdirectories get scanned and all self-installing plugins,
>> shaders and ICE compounds get registered accordingly.
>>
>> During this scan Softimage will take over exclusive access for every ICE
>> compound in /Data/Compounds. It will do this by creating a .lock file (e.g.
>> MyCompound.xsicompound.lock) to prevent collisions.
>>
>> Under normal circumstances this lock file will be deleted straight after
>> file scan and this lock should only be present for a veeery short time ( <
>> 1ms or so...).
>>
>> However if a second session of Softimage tries to access a locked
>> compound the user will get prompted by a messageBox that the compound is
>> not accessible. He can then choose to ignore it and proceed.
>>
>> Through a series of VERY annoying circumnstances (dont't get me
>> started... ) these workgroup scans are quite slow on our side right now
>> resulting in quite a few collisions on a regular basis.
>>
>> And here's our problem:  Even an xsibatch session ()  will display
>> the same UI messagebox and will wait until eternity for a user to interact
>> with it. (see attached screenshot)
>> This is on our blades running Windows XP 64  (yeah, I know...)
>>
>> In my humble opinion this is a bug and should be solved - a headless
>> command line application such as xsibatch should NEVER popup graphical
>> messageboxes and wait for user interaction...
>>
>> To make matters worse a xsibatch process controlled through a Renderfarm
>> management software that exists as a windows service will not even display
>> the bloody messagebox (as windows services cannot have desktop UI
>> interaction). Instead the process will sit there forever with 0% CPU load
>> waiting for a mouse klick

Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input...

[Martin Chatterjee]

Stephen, just a quick follow-up:

My tests indicate that the xsibatch under Windows 7 does NOT pop up these
messageBoxes.

Instead it logs a reasonable error to the console and proceeds:

*Unable to access E:\ReproWorkgroup\Data\Compounds\mch_Rpro.xsicompound*
*Another process is currently using it.*

So the problem appears to affect "only" xsibatch on Windows XP. I wonder
what makes xsibatch behave differently depending on the host OS - it's the
same executable after all...

Cheers, Martin
--
Martin Chatterjee

[ Freelance Technical Director ]
[http://www.chatterjee.de]



On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:50 PM, Sandy Sutherland <
sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za> wrote:

>  We do not have this here - our setup is Win7 64 workstations with FC15
> Farm nodes.
>
> S.
>
> _
> Sandy Sutherland
> Technical Supervisor
> sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za
> _
>
>
>
>
>   --
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Martin Chatterjee [
> martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com]
> *Sent:* 22 June 2012 13:36
> *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> *Subject:* Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical
> MessageBox waiting for user input...
>
>  Hi Stephen,
>
>  thanks for confirming and bumping up the bug.
>
>  Yeah, getting rid of the graphical messageBox would be key.
>
>  Although personally I don't understand the reason for the whole locking
> mechanism in the first place - my tests indicate that self-installing
> scripted plugins living in *Application/Plugins* do not get locked that
> way, for instance...
>
>  But I don't mind it at all as long as we can get rid of the
> messageBox(es).
>
>  By the way, my gut feeling is that this might only an issue on XP 64 - I
> will try to repro on Windows 7 in a bit and will let you know.
>
>  Thanks, Martin
> --
> Martin Chatterjee
>
> [ Freelance Technical Director ]
> [http://www.chatterjee.de]
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Stephen Blair  > wrote:
>
>> Hi Martin
>>
>> Yes, this has been reported and logged before.
>> I repro it simply by starting many xsibatch sessions, eventually you'll
>> get an Unable to access error.
>> It could be for a compound, or for a toolbar, or some other file.
>>
>> I'll log it again to bump it back up. At the very least, xsibatch should
>> not display a message requiring use interaction.
>>
>>
>> Stephen Blair
>> Softimage Support Specialist
>> Premium Support Services
>>
>> Autodesk, Inc.
>> Montreal, Quebec, Canada
>> Blog: http://xsisupport.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee
>> Sent: June-22-12 7:19 AM
>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>> Subject: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical
>> MessageBox waiting for user input...
>>
>> Hi List, hi Support,
>>
>> we are experiencing a bit of an annoying issue regarding access
>> collisions on workgroups.
>>
>> Bear with me - it'll take a few lines to explain:
>>
>>
>> When a workgroup is loaded (or refreshed from within an open Softimage
>> session) its subdirectories get scanned and all self-installing plugins,
>> shaders and ICE compounds get registered accordingly.
>>
>> During this scan Softimage will take over exclusive access for every ICE
>> compound in /Data/Compounds. It will do this by creating a .lock file (e.g.
>> MyCompound.xsicompound.lock) to prevent collisions.
>>
>> Under normal circumstances this lock file will be deleted straight after
>> file scan and this lock should only be present for a veeery short time ( <
>> 1ms or so...).
>>
>> However if a second session of Softimage tries to access a locked
>> compound the user will get prompted by a messageBox that the compound is
>> not accessible. He can then choose to ignore it and proceed.
>>
>> Through a series of VERY annoying circumnstances (dont't get me
>> started... ) these workgroup scans are quite slow on our side right now
>> resulting in quite a few collisions on a regular basis.
>>
>> And here's our problem:  Even an xsibatch session ()  will display
>> the same UI messagebox and will wait until eternity for a user to interact
>> with it. (see attached screenshot)
>> This is on our blades running Windows XP 64  (yeah, I know...)
>>
>> In my humble opinion this is a bug and should be solved - a headless
>> command line application such as xsibatch should NEVER popup graphical
>> messageboxes and wait for user interaction...
>>
>> To make matters worse a xsibatch process controlled through a Renderfarm
>> management software that exists as a windows service will not even display
>> the bloody messagebox (as windows services cannot have desktop UI
>> interaction). Instead the process will sit there forever with 0% CPU load
>> waiting for a mouse klick.
>>
>> Just a heads up 

Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[Matt Morris]

Have you thought about lagoa cloth? Setup is a bit finnicky but I have had
some decent results and has all the point control you could ask for.

I completely second what you're saying about syflex ice integration though,
it sucks big sucky balls.


On 22 June 2012 14:18, Dan Yargici  wrote:

> Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back to Syflex but
> the lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex is INFURIATING! it renders %90
> of what Ice is good for TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.
>
> I know there have been discussions mentioning that there were reasons it
> couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex, but I'd really like to hear them.
>  Right now I'm just calling it out as laziness...
>
> Having a bad day right now.
>
> DAN
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel  wrote:
>
>> While we are at it:
>> Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with GImpact actual shape?
>> Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because bullet didn't support
>> it.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Leo
>>
>>
>>  Original-Nachricht 
>> > Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
>> > Von: Helge Mathee 
>> > An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>> > Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!
>>
>> > Sure, find it here.
>> >
>> > https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
>> >
>> > Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape though. Bullet
>> > Physic's
>> > GImpact collision configuration doesn't support collision against
>> > softbodies, which
>> > means that your scenario won't be possible other than decomposition.
>> >
>> > This feature has just been added to the latest version of Bullet
>> > Physics, and
>> > hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
>> >
>> > Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario, so I think you are
>> > hitting
>> > an edge case here.
>> >
>> > -H
>> >
>> > On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
>> > > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the Momentum-Users group last night
>> > > but it told be I had to wait to have my post approved
>> > >
>> > > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where this works?
>> > >
>> > > DAN
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston > > > > wrote:
>> > >
>> > > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a Momentum expert in
>> terms
>> > of
>> > > usage.  It should all be possible because all collision items are
>> > put
>> > > into the same Bullet space.
>> > >
>> > > I figure your setup should just be a Momentum Passive Rigid Body
>> on
>> > > the sphere.  When I tried to do that I got this message:
>> > >
>> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
>> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
>> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
>> > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
>> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
>> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
>> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
>> > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
>> > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
>> > >
>> > > If I add another object into the scene and I add a Momentum
>> Passive
>> > > Rigid Body operator on it seems to work.  Just check "Keep Shape
>> > > Updated" if the object is deforming.
>> > >
>> > > Just be aware that there are +250 people on the Momentum user's
>> > > list here:
>> > >
>> > > https://groups.google.com/group/momentum-users
>> > >
>> > > -ben
>> > >
>> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 6:40 AM, Dan Yargici <
>> danyarg...@gmail.com
>> > > > wrote:
>> > > > One final caveat... it needs to be an Actual Shape collision
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Dan Yargici
>> > > mailto:danyarg...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Here is a small quicktime of the setup if you just want to take
>> > > a quick
>> > > >> look and get an idea of what I mean.
>> > > >>
>> > > >>
>> > > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > --
>> > > Best regards,
>> > > Ben Houston
>> > > Voice: 613-762-4113  Skype: ben.exocortex
>> > > Twitter: @exocortexcom
>> > > http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals.
>> > >
>> > >
>> >
>>
>> --
>> Empfehlen Sie GMX DSL Ihren Freunden und Bekannten und wir
>> belohnen Sie mit bis zu 50,- Euro! https://freundschaftswerbung.gmx.de
>>
>
>


-- 
www.matinai.com

Re: Calling all Momentum experts!

[Dan Yargici]

Just want to add that due to this limitation I moved back to Syflex but the
lack of per-point control in Ice Sylfex is INFURIATING! it renders %90 of
what Ice is good for TOTALLY AND UTTERLY redundant.

I know there have been discussions mentioning that there were reasons it
couldn't be implemented for Ice Syflex, but I'd really like to hear them.
 Right now I'm just calling it out as laziness...

Having a bad day right now.

DAN

On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 3:28 PM, Leo Quensel  wrote:

> While we are at it:
> Are there any news of 'Keep shape updated' with GImpact actual shape?
> Last time I needed this I ran into a wall because bullet didn't support it.
>
> Cheers,
> Leo
>
>
>  Original-Nachricht 
> > Datum: Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:08:57 +0100
> > Von: Helge Mathee 
> > An: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> > Betreff: Re: Calling all Momentum experts!
>
> > Sure, find it here.
> >
> > https://dl.dropbox.com/s/b55evi388oezwrt/MOM_collision_issue.scn?dl=1
> >
> > Note that I am using the convex hull collision shape though. Bullet
> > Physic's
> > GImpact collision configuration doesn't support collision against
> > softbodies, which
> > means that your scenario won't be possible other than decomposition.
> >
> > This feature has just been added to the latest version of Bullet
> > Physics, and
> > hasn't been implemented in Momentum yet.
> >
> > Bullet hasn't been built for this kind of scenario, so I think you are
> > hitting
> > an edge case here.
> >
> > -H
> >
> > On 6/19/2012 13:03, Dan Yargici wrote:
> > > Thanks Ben, I actually posted to the Momentum-Users group last night
> > > but it told be I had to wait to have my post approved
> > >
> > > Would mind sharing with me a scene you have where this works?
> > >
> > > DAN
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 2:45 PM, Ben Houston  > > > wrote:
> > >
> > > I had a quick look, but I'm actually not a Momentum expert in terms
> > of
> > > usage.  It should all be possible because all collision items are
> > put
> > > into the same Bullet space.
> > >
> > > I figure your setup should just be a Momentum Passive Rigid Body on
> > > the sphere.  When I tried to do that I got this message:
> > >
> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
> > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
> > > # WARNING : 3000 -  Cycle breaking point
> > > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through sphere.polymsh.clsctr
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - Cycle through
> > sphere.kine.global.MomentumKinematics
> > > # WARNING : 3000 - PROBLEMATIC EVALUATION CYCLES ARE IN THE
> > > SPECIFIED GRAPH
> > >
> > > If I add another object into the scene and I add a Momentum Passive
> > > Rigid Body operator on it seems to work.  Just check "Keep Shape
> > > Updated" if the object is deforming.
> > >
> > > Just be aware that there are +250 people on the Momentum user's
> > > list here:
> > >
> > > https://groups.google.com/group/momentum-users
> > >
> > > -ben
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 6:40 AM, Dan Yargici  > > > wrote:
> > > > One final caveat... it needs to be an Actual Shape collision
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 1:33 PM, Dan Yargici
> > > mailto:danyarg...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >> Here is a small quicktime of the setup if you just want to take
> > > a quick
> > > >> look and get an idea of what I mean.
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Best regards,
> > > Ben Houston
> > > Voice: 613-762-4113  Skype: ben.exocortex
> > > Twitter: @exocortexcom
> > > http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals.
> > >
> > >
> >
>
> --
> Empfehlen Sie GMX DSL Ihren Freunden und Bekannten und wir
> belohnen Sie mit bis zu 50,- Euro! https://freundschaftswerbung.gmx.de
>

Braids with ICE

[Szabolcs Matefy]

Hey guys,

 

I'm thinking on creating braids with ICE modeling...does anybody have
any idea how to do this? Just experimenting...

 

 

 

Cheers,

 

Szabolcs

___
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the 
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this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be 
secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, 
destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore 
does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this 
message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is 
required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - 
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Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: 
Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

RE: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input...

[Sandy Sutherland]

We do not have this here - our setup is Win7 64 workstations with FC15 Farm 
nodes.

S.

_
Sandy Sutherland
Technical Supervisor
sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za
_





From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Martin Chatterjee 
[martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com]
Sent: 22 June 2012 13:36
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical 
MessageBox waiting for user input...

Hi Stephen,

thanks for confirming and bumping up the bug.

Yeah, getting rid of the graphical messageBox would be key.

Although personally I don't understand the reason for the whole locking 
mechanism in the first place - my tests indicate that self-installing scripted 
plugins living in Application/Plugins do not get locked that way, for 
instance...

But I don't mind it at all as long as we can get rid of the messageBox(es).

By the way, my gut feeling is that this might only an issue on XP 64 - I will 
try to repro on Windows 7 in a bit and will let you know.

Thanks, Martin
--
Martin Chatterjee

[ Freelance Technical Director ]
[http://www.chatterjee.de]



On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Stephen Blair 
mailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.com>> wrote:
Hi Martin

Yes, this has been reported and logged before.
I repro it simply by starting many xsibatch sessions, eventually you'll get an 
Unable to access error.
It could be for a compound, or for a toolbar, or some other file.

I'll log it again to bump it back up. At the very least, xsibatch should not 
display a message requiring use interaction.


Stephen Blair
Softimage Support Specialist
Premium Support Services

Autodesk, Inc.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Blog: http://xsisupport.com




From: 
softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com]
 On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee
Sent: June-22-12 7:19 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox 
waiting for user input...

Hi List, hi Support,

we are experiencing a bit of an annoying issue regarding access collisions on 
workgroups.

Bear with me - it'll take a few lines to explain:


When a workgroup is loaded (or refreshed from within an open Softimage session) 
its subdirectories get scanned and all self-installing plugins, shaders and ICE 
compounds get registered accordingly.

During this scan Softimage will take over exclusive access for every ICE 
compound in /Data/Compounds. It will do this by creating a .lock file (e.g. 
MyCompound.xsicompound.lock) to prevent collisions.

Under normal circumstances this lock file will be deleted straight after file 
scan and this lock should only be present for a veeery short time ( < 1ms or 
so...).

However if a second session of Softimage tries to access a locked compound the 
user will get prompted by a messageBox that the compound is not accessible. He 
can then choose to ignore it and proceed.

Through a series of VERY annoying circumnstances (dont't get me started... ) 
these workgroup scans are quite slow on our side right now resulting in quite a 
few collisions on a regular basis.

And here's our problem:  Even an xsibatch session ()  will display the same 
UI messagebox and will wait until eternity for a user to interact with it. (see 
attached screenshot)
This is on our blades running Windows XP 64  (yeah, I know...)

In my humble opinion this is a bug and should be solved - a headless command 
line application such as xsibatch should NEVER popup graphical messageboxes and 
wait for user interaction...

To make matters worse a xsibatch process controlled through a Renderfarm 
management software that exists as a windows service will not even display the 
bloody messagebox (as windows services cannot have desktop UI interaction). 
Instead the process will sit there forever with 0% CPU load waiting for a mouse 
klick.

Just a heads up to any other poor souls out there that might have experienced 
this as well...

And please, if anybody from Autdoesk is still reading: I'd love to get feedback 
if you can repro and fix this. Thanks in advance.

Thanks, Martin


--- REPRO STEPS: ---
(Softimage 2012 SAP x64 @ Windows XP 64 [latest Service Packs and patches] )


1.) link a workgroup containing an .xsicompound file in /Data/Compounds
2.) close Softimage
3.) manually create a lock file and make sure the file handle is kept open
   ... thereby simulating the collision.
   (I did this using a few lines of python code in a shell (attached to this 
mail - please rename to 'lockFile.py' ))

   --> you should now have two files in /Data/Compounds:

   myWickedCompound.xsicompound
   myWickedCompound.x

Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input...

[Martin Chatterjee]

Hi Stephen,

thanks for confirming and bumping up the bug.

Yeah, getting rid of the graphical messageBox would be key.

Although personally I don't understand the reason for the whole locking
mechanism in the first place - my tests indicate that self-installing
scripted plugins living in *Application/Plugins* do not get locked that
way, for instance...

But I don't mind it at all as long as we can get rid of the messageBox(es).

By the way, my gut feeling is that this might only an issue on XP 64 - I
will try to repro on Windows 7 in a bit and will let you know.

Thanks, Martin
--
Martin Chatterjee

[ Freelance Technical Director ]
[http://www.chatterjee.de]



On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Stephen Blair
wrote:

> Hi Martin
>
> Yes, this has been reported and logged before.
> I repro it simply by starting many xsibatch sessions, eventually you'll
> get an Unable to access error.
> It could be for a compound, or for a toolbar, or some other file.
>
> I'll log it again to bump it back up. At the very least, xsibatch should
> not display a message requiring use interaction.
>
>
> Stephen Blair
> Softimage Support Specialist
> Premium Support Services
>
> Autodesk, Inc.
> Montreal, Quebec, Canada
> Blog: http://xsisupport.com
>
>
>
>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee
> Sent: June-22-12 7:19 AM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical
> MessageBox waiting for user input...
>
> Hi List, hi Support,
>
> we are experiencing a bit of an annoying issue regarding access collisions
> on workgroups.
>
> Bear with me - it'll take a few lines to explain:
>
>
> When a workgroup is loaded (or refreshed from within an open Softimage
> session) its subdirectories get scanned and all self-installing plugins,
> shaders and ICE compounds get registered accordingly.
>
> During this scan Softimage will take over exclusive access for every ICE
> compound in /Data/Compounds. It will do this by creating a .lock file (e.g.
> MyCompound.xsicompound.lock) to prevent collisions.
>
> Under normal circumstances this lock file will be deleted straight after
> file scan and this lock should only be present for a veeery short time ( <
> 1ms or so...).
>
> However if a second session of Softimage tries to access a locked compound
> the user will get prompted by a messageBox that the compound is not
> accessible. He can then choose to ignore it and proceed.
>
> Through a series of VERY annoying circumnstances (dont't get me started...
> ) these workgroup scans are quite slow on our side right now resulting in
> quite a few collisions on a regular basis.
>
> And here's our problem:  Even an xsibatch session ()  will display the
> same UI messagebox and will wait until eternity for a user to interact with
> it. (see attached screenshot)
> This is on our blades running Windows XP 64  (yeah, I know...)
>
> In my humble opinion this is a bug and should be solved - a headless
> command line application such as xsibatch should NEVER popup graphical
> messageboxes and wait for user interaction...
>
> To make matters worse a xsibatch process controlled through a Renderfarm
> management software that exists as a windows service will not even display
> the bloody messagebox (as windows services cannot have desktop UI
> interaction). Instead the process will sit there forever with 0% CPU load
> waiting for a mouse klick.
>
> Just a heads up to any other poor souls out there that might have
> experienced this as well...
>
> And please, if anybody from Autdoesk is still reading: I'd love to get
> feedback if you can repro and fix this. Thanks in advance.
>
> Thanks, Martin
>
>
> --- REPRO STEPS: ---
> (Softimage 2012 SAP x64 @ Windows XP 64 [latest Service Packs and patches]
> )
>
>
> 1.) link a workgroup containing an .xsicompound file in /Data/Compounds
> 2.) close Softimage
> 3.) manually create a lock file and make sure the file handle is kept open
>... thereby simulating the collision.
>(I did this using a few lines of python code in a shell (attached to
> this mail - please rename to 'lockFile.py' ))
>
>--> you should now have two files in /Data/Compounds:
>
>myWickedCompound.xsicompound
>myWickedCompound.xsicompound.lock
>
> 4.) Try to delete the lock file by hand in the Windows Explorer
>--> this should NOT work as the file handle is still in use.
>
> 5.) Now start an xsibatch session - simply executing 'xsibatch' in a
> softimage shell without arguments should be enough.
>
> 6.) There you are - after a few secs you will be get the graphical
> MessageBox waiting for a mouse klick
>(at least on Windows XP 64)
>
>
>
>
> --
>Martin Chatterjee
>
> [ Freelance Technical Director ]
> [http://www.chatterjee.de]
>

RE: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input...

[Stephen Blair]

Hi Martin

Yes, this has been reported and logged before.
I repro it simply by starting many xsibatch sessions, eventually you'll get an 
Unable to access error.
It could be for a compound, or for a toolbar, or some other file.

I'll log it again to bump it back up. At the very least, xsibatch should not 
display a message requiring use interaction.


Stephen Blair
Softimage Support Specialist
Premium Support Services

Autodesk, Inc.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Blog: http://xsisupport.com




From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee
Sent: June-22-12 7:19 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox 
waiting for user input...

Hi List, hi Support,

we are experiencing a bit of an annoying issue regarding access collisions on 
workgroups.

Bear with me - it'll take a few lines to explain:


When a workgroup is loaded (or refreshed from within an open Softimage session) 
its subdirectories get scanned and all self-installing plugins, shaders and ICE 
compounds get registered accordingly.

During this scan Softimage will take over exclusive access for every ICE 
compound in /Data/Compounds. It will do this by creating a .lock file (e.g. 
MyCompound.xsicompound.lock) to prevent collisions.

Under normal circumstances this lock file will be deleted straight after file 
scan and this lock should only be present for a veeery short time ( < 1ms or 
so...).

However if a second session of Softimage tries to access a locked compound the 
user will get prompted by a messageBox that the compound is not accessible. He 
can then choose to ignore it and proceed.

Through a series of VERY annoying circumnstances (dont't get me started... ) 
these workgroup scans are quite slow on our side right now resulting in quite a 
few collisions on a regular basis.

And here's our problem:  Even an xsibatch session ()  will display the same 
UI messagebox and will wait until eternity for a user to interact with it. (see 
attached screenshot)
This is on our blades running Windows XP 64  (yeah, I know...)

In my humble opinion this is a bug and should be solved - a headless command 
line application such as xsibatch should NEVER popup graphical messageboxes and 
wait for user interaction...

To make matters worse a xsibatch process controlled through a Renderfarm 
management software that exists as a windows service will not even display the 
bloody messagebox (as windows services cannot have desktop UI interaction). 
Instead the process will sit there forever with 0% CPU load waiting for a mouse 
klick.

Just a heads up to any other poor souls out there that might have experienced 
this as well...

And please, if anybody from Autdoesk is still reading: I'd love to get feedback 
if you can repro and fix this. Thanks in advance.

Thanks, Martin


--- REPRO STEPS: ---
(Softimage 2012 SAP x64 @ Windows XP 64 [latest Service Packs and patches] )


1.) link a workgroup containing an .xsicompound file in /Data/Compounds
2.) close Softimage
3.) manually create a lock file and make sure the file handle is kept open
... thereby simulating the collision.
(I did this using a few lines of python code in a shell (attached to this 
mail - please rename to 'lockFile.py' ))

--> you should now have two files in /Data/Compounds:

myWickedCompound.xsicompound
myWickedCompound.xsicompound.lock

4.) Try to delete the lock file by hand in the Windows Explorer
--> this should NOT work as the file handle is still in use.

5.) Now start an xsibatch session - simply executing 'xsibatch' in a softimage 
shell without arguments should be enough.

6.) There you are - after a few secs you will be get the graphical MessageBox 
waiting for a mouse klick
(at least on Windows XP 64)




--
Martin Chatterjee

[ Freelance Technical Director ]
[http://www.chatterjee.de]
<>

Re: Implosia issue

[Oleg Bliznuk]

Hi Szabolcs,
I am unable to reproduce the issue. Can you send me your problematic model
and\or full error log via PM please ?
regards,
-Oleg

Re: Who has switched to Vray and loves it?

[Stefan Kubicek]

We've been using Vray for almost ten years, we started using it in version 0.74 
beta in 3dsMax
and the first image I rendered had GI and DOF enabled, and it came out in PAL 
resolution in under a minute
with superb quality on a 700mhz AMD Athlon back then. I was blown away, bought 
a 1.0 license the minute it was released and never regretted it.

XSI integration is pretty good for a first release, bug fixes come in quickly, 
and the dev team is
responding to bug reports and feature requests on the forum usually within the 
day.

As a long time user I must admit that it does have more settings than Arnold, 
but those only play a role once you start using the various GI cheats, like 
Light Cache and Irradiance Map, which are nowadays, with fast computers, pretty 
much obsolete (I find myself brute force raytracing  GI for the most part) 
except for interior shots where they allow you to get really fast render times, 
often 3-4 times faster than with Arnold/brute force for the same quality on the 
exact same shot.

Things I miss in Vray:

- A bug tracker thats open to paying customers and beta testers. Bugs are being 
reported on the forum,
some double and triple, and it's hard for a single individual keeping track of 
what's already fixed and what not, as well as knowing what priority the bug 
currently has, etc.

- Better support of ICE. I haven't used the daily builds in a while so this 
might have become better, but last time I checked (2-3 montsh ago) strand 
renders looked quite different (sometimes wrong) compared to what you get with 
MR, 3Delight and Arnold ootb. Sometimes it didn't render at all, depending on 
what compounds were used.

- As Eugen said, progressive refinement of the render region. I find myself 
continuously switching between AA settings just to get a quick preview (AA = 
0), and higher settings. I suggested this a few months ago in their forum, but 
since there is no bug tracker I can't check if I was heard. If that was there I 
would not crave for VRayRT so much. Like Eugen, I believe that time spent on 
VrayRT should rather be invested in making
the Vray core faster, but I understand that the RT branch might become the next 
big hit once GPU and CPU are truly merged and use unified memory, or the memory 
bottleneck of GPU is somehow solved differently.
Is that on any CPU makers disclosed road map?

- Faster hair rendering. Quality is good, but Arnold was still faster last time 
I played with it.

-Faster export times, especially with ICE. Again, this might have been improved 
with later nigthly builds.


What I really like about Vray:

- Fast interior GI rendering is possible.
- A clear shader strategy, it comes with pretty much anything you could need 
out of the box. With Arnold, you very much need to resort to third party 
shaders (e.g. Kettle Uber).
- Similar controls and output across different 3D packages.


What I miss in Arnold:
-Light portals (if they'd help any in bringing render times down), better light 
transport for interiors.
-A feature complete "standard" shader.
-I was tempted to write "Nightly builds", but updates do come pretty 
frequently, and one can compile the latest sources if he dares to.


What I miss in both renderers:
-Volumetrics!
-Rendertime Marching Cube/Blobbies (or similar) effect for particles. I don't 
always want to mesh my particles
first, generating gigabytes of mesh data.






With increasing hardware speed


I'd like to chime in to this discussion.

What are the things in VRay/XSI you hate most? A missing feature, clumsy
configuration, poor documentation, any kinds of instabilities, etc?

Disclosure: I run the XSI integration team at ChaosGroup so, obviously,
I am not impartial to this discussion. But I am keen on making the
product work well for all you VFX folks out there :) and I can take
criticism. Shoot at will :)


On 6/21/2012 10:11 PM, Marc-Andre Carbonneau wrote:


Hi,

I'm wondering who has switched to VRay for Softimage completely and
loves it.

I don't seem to see much commercials or movies stating they have used
Vray for Softimage. Has it picked up?

Now, after a few months now, how does it compare to Arnold? Why have
you picked VRay instead of Arnold?

How's Vray's "buy one get 5 free for your farm" working for you?

Thanks.

Marc-Andre







--
---
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: Implosia issue

[Szabolcs Matefy]

And after restart, it started to annoy me again...so, anybody has some idea??

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Szabolcs Matefy
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:28 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: RE: Implosia issue

 

And after the sending of the previous mail, it started to work perfectly...J

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Szabolcs Matefy
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:21 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Implosia issue

 

Hey guys,

 

I try to test ImplosiaFX shattering tools, and I receive error messages under 
Softimage 2013 SP1

 

Only voronoi seems to work. The error message are mostly due to undefined port 
types, like:

 

The type of port 'Factor' is not defined (following a getData 
self.IFX_PRECISION_SCALE node)

 

Anybody have similar issues?

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Szabolcs

___
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the 
individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not 
disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender 
immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete 
this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be 
secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, 
destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore 
does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this 
message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is 
required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - 
http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322 
Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: 
Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

RE: Implosia issue

[Szabolcs Matefy]

And after the sending of the previous mail, it started to work perfectly...J

 

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Szabolcs Matefy
Sent: Friday, June 22, 2012 10:21 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Implosia issue

 

Hey guys,

 

I try to test ImplosiaFX shattering tools, and I receive error messages under 
Softimage 2013 SP1

 

Only voronoi seems to work. The error message are mostly due to undefined port 
types, like:

 

The type of port 'Factor' is not defined (following a getData 
self.IFX_PRECISION_SCALE node)

 

Anybody have similar issues?

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Szabolcs

___
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the 
individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not 
disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender 
immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete 
this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be 
secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, 
destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore 
does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this 
message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is 
required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - 
http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322 
Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: 
Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

Implosia issue

[Szabolcs Matefy]

Hey guys,

 

I try to test ImplosiaFX shattering tools, and I receive error messages
under Softimage 2013 SP1

 

Only voronoi seems to work. The error message are mostly due to
undefined port types, like:

 

The type of port 'Factor' is not defined (following a getData
self.IFX_PRECISION_SCALE node)

 

Anybody have similar issues?

 

 

Cheers

 

 

Szabolcs

___
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the 
individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not 
disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender 
immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete 
this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be 
secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, 
destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore 
does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this 
message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is 
required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - 
http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322 
Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: 
Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

Re: Rigging or Character TD type courses question

[Morten Bartholdy]

That is one full bag of gold nuggets Brad - thanks for the insight and
thorough walkthrough!

best
Morten Bartholdy



Den 21. juni 2012 kl. 17:53 skrev Bradley Gabe :

> 3-phase process, with the generic, resizeable rig evolved and tuned to
> perform for phase-1.
> 
> Phase-1 is getting your joints placed, defining your volume, and sorting
> out coordinate space and rotation orders:
> * Joint Placement :
>   o I use a technique where I create a temporary deformer where the
> static kinematic state is linked to the parent. This way, you
> can rotate the deformer, then shift the parent around and find
> where the sweet spot of deformation is with real time feedback.
>   o Have tools that help you with this process, but at a more
> atomic level.
>   o I used to have scripts that would generate hand rigs from
> curves, but there was so much variability with fingers from one
> character to the next, and then variability with animator
> control preference, it wasn't saving me any time. I was
> spending more time with weight painting fingers and interactive
> joint placement anyway.
>   o At this point, I have tools that allow me to generate chains
> from curves, but more importantly tools that generate guide
> curves from existing chains. The tools are focused on allowing
> maximum rigging flexibility, but more importantly on speeding
> up the bottlenecks during deformation tuning.
> * Defining Volume :
>   o Assume you are going to be using GATOR to transfer your
> envelope onto other meshes.
>   o If you are lucky enough to have friendly modelers, they might
> do you the favor of always delivering a full, low res, unibody
> cage.
>   o Often, you'll instead get a character mesh that's made of
> pieces of garments, a section of undershirt, the lower segment
> of the arms, a neck that ends under the collar, etc.
>   o If you want to have any hope of using the envelope painting and
> smoothing functionality while keeping all the disconnected
> garments from crashing with the body parts you'll need to
> create a volume mesh for weight painting and transferring.
>   o If you are having trouble getting areas of your character to
> deform properly, try drawing profile curves and experimenting
> with them. It takes far less time to mess around with the
> weighting of a few vertex points, and if you can't get a
> simple, 2D profile curve to deform the way you want with your
> current rig setup, there's no way you'll get a much higher res,
> 3D mesh to do it.
> * Sorting out coordinate space and rotation order:
>   o Extremely important, but often overlooked, even by more
> experienced riggers.
>   o Too many people think that the zero space for animation is
> defined by the envelope rest pose, but there is no reason at
> all for this.
>   o Rather, all animation controls should be set based on the most
> ideal rotational space to avoid gimbal lock in typical
> performance situations. (Example: Use ZXY for the central body
> controls. With XYZ, you hit gimbal lock the moment your
> character turns 90 degrees in world space, which happens all
> the time!)
>   o Rotation order should be thought about for each animation
> control, but it also should not be set in stone. Different
> scenes might call for different settings, and your pipeline
> should allow for this.
>   o Make sure your numerical values for animation controls and
> fcurves make intuitive sense and have some kind of obvious
> alignment with world space, because you never know what
> production is going to throw at you. (Example: I've seen rigs
> where the feet are angled apart in the rest pose, and zeroing
> out the feet animation controls returns to the angled pose. The
> problem is, when moving the feet forward in their local space,
> they spread further and further apart. This was making it
> really tough on animators who were trying to work out walk and
> run cycles, since the characters would end up doing the splits
> the further they cycled through world space.)
>   o Because of this, my Envelope Binding Pose is never the same as
> my Animation Rest Pose
> + Envelope Binding Pose - The rest pose of the mesh as
>   delivered. This Pose establishes the foundation for your
>   volume deformations (If 

RE: price increases?

[Graham Bell]

Ok, so after following this thread, I met with some of my colleagues and we sat 
down to go through the recent pricing announcements and perhaps try and make it 
clearer, the best that we can. So here goes, however this is just from a 
Europe/EMEA view. Also to the best of my knowledge this applies to the majority 
of Autodesk software, not just M&E, though there are some exceptions, I don't 
know them all.

Changes to the upgrade model for Autodesk software:
Basically for those who don't know, Autodesk has pricing models for when 
someone wants to upgrade an old version of software to the current version, if 
they haven't been on Subscription (for whatever reason). From February 1st 
2013, these models are changing

On February 1st 2013, the upgrade pricing model will change so that upgrades 
from 1 - 3 versions back will increase from 50% of the new licence SRP to 70% 
of the new licence SRP.

Upgrades from 4 - 6 versions back will remain at 70% of the new licence SRP.

Upgrades from versions older than 6 releases back will not be upgradeable.

Many customers are actually on subscription already, and this continues to be 
the most cost effective way to keep your software current.


Subscription price changes:

Autodesk has recently increased the cost of new subscriptions across many 
product lines - these changes apply to subscription renewals from February 1st 
2013.

However, there is an exception for Softimage which wasn't mentioned because at 
this time it is not confirmed. As previously discussed on this list and other 
forums the Softimage subscription price has changed within the last year, and 
is only available as a gold subscription (not wanting to open this debate 
here). The subscription price for Softimage is not expected to increase further 
and in many cases might reduce back to a previous price. I do not know exact 
details, but information on local prices is expected soon. And again, I must 
state that I'm talking from a Europe/EMEA view. I don't have any information 
outside of that.

Multi-year subscription discounts to be phased out:

On August 1st 2012, the discounts for multi-year subscription will reduce from 
10% to 5% for 3 year contracts and from 5% to 0% for 2 year contracts

On February 1st 2013, the discount for a 3 year renewal will reduce from 5% to 
0%


So that's basically the pricing announcements that Autodesk recently made which 
were only focused around the upgrade models and Subscriptions.


As for anything else, and to the best of my knowledge, there are no further 
price changes planned at this time in EMEA. Unfortunately I cannot absolutely 
state that this won't change in the future or that there will not be some 
exceptions.




From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Thomas Cannell
Sent: 19 June 2012 21:50
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: price increases?

Modo does in fact have the ability to edit and build materials with nodes.  
Just add them into the Schematic view and connect away.  You will still have to 
use it in conjunction with the tree for certain effects as it won't support 
everything you can do with tree.

On Tue, Jun 19, 2012 at 1:32 PM, Thomas Helzle 
mailto:thomashel...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Steffen, sorry for the confusion - they call it Rendertree as well ;-)
While it's not node based (and I really am a node addict myself) this is much 
less of a problem than I thought, in some areas it's even better. Now that I 
used it for a while, my old impression (not so different from yours, Steffen) 
has changed a lot.

BTW. Lightwave isn't "layerbased" and never really was, Ronald? Current 
versions of Lightwave (for many years now actually) have full blown node 
shading which is in some areas better than XSI (no conversion nodes, yay ;-) ) 
and less good in others (some factory shaders are a bit simple). But I think 
the Lightwave Renderer is still top notch and GI is very fast.

Again, I don't think modo is for everybody, but IMO it's more artist friendly 
and -centered approach goes a long way towards getting stuff done fast where 
the big packages can be a bit long in the tooth.

Regarding the price: 20 years ago even a rotating cube was considered awesome 
and you needed a lot of special knowledge, gear and patience for even the most 
simple stuff. Been there, done that.
But the times are changing and today 3D is no longer something special.
I see an inflation happening: falling rates, cheaper, better and faster gear, 
more people wanting "in" etc.
The big tools are up against Blender - with Cycles, Camera Tracking, 
Volumetrics, Fluids, Compositing etc. today.
Very very different times IMO.

I can't see how Autodesk prices are cost-of-development driven in any 
reasonable way.
The packages they have already exist. They are noodling around with them a bit, 
but the last time I saw something really impressive in a major 3D package was 
ICE in XSI 7.

But anyway, I do