hair rendering

[Mario Reitbauer]

Hey guys

Got a question about hair rendering.
Anyone knows why hair rendering looks different when rendered in user view
compared to rendering in camera view ?

Got a hairy animal and the hair rendering looks more blury in the userview.

So maybe someone allready stunbled upon this.

cheers
Mario

Re: hair rendering

[Andreas Bystrom]

which renderer? if it's arnold it has the min pixel width enabled for hair
by default, this will scale hairs up in screen space to avoid flickering
when the hair strands are far away, it's 0.25 by default in sitoa, and it
might be what's causing the different look..




On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:13 PM, Mario Reitbauer
wrote:

> Hey guys
>
> Got a question about hair rendering.
> Anyone knows why hair rendering looks different when rendered in user view
> compared to rendering in camera view ?
>
> Got a hairy animal and the hair rendering looks more blury in the userview.
>
> So maybe someone allready stunbled upon this.
>
> cheers
> Mario
>

Re: hair rendering

[Stefan Kubicek]

Same Render (Region) Settings for both views? Any lens shaders?



Hey guys

Got a question about hair rendering.
Anyone knows why hair rendering looks different when rendered in user  
view compared to rendering in camera view ?


Got a hairy animal and the hair rendering looks more blury in the  
userview.


So maybe someone allready stunbled upon this.

cheers
Mario




--
---
Stefan Kubicek
---
keyvis digital imagery
Alfred Feierfeilstraße 3
A-2380 Perchtoldsdorf bei Wien
Phone: +43/699/12614231
www.keyvis.at ste...@keyvis.at
-- This email and its attachments are --
--confidential and for the recipient only--

Re: hair rendering

[Mario Reitbauer]

Sry, missed to mention that ;)

Yes its Arnold. No lens shaders, same render settings in all regions.


2014-05-05 10:21 GMT+02:00 Andreas Bystrom :

> which renderer? if it's arnold it has the min pixel width enabled for hair
> by default, this will scale hairs up in screen space to avoid flickering
> when the hair strands are far away, it's 0.25 by default in sitoa, and it
> might be what's causing the different look..
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:13 PM, Mario Reitbauer  > wrote:
>
>> Hey guys
>>
>> Got a question about hair rendering.
>> Anyone knows why hair rendering looks different when rendered in user
>> view compared to rendering in camera view ?
>>
>> Got a hairy animal and the hair rendering looks more blury in the
>> userview.
>>
>> So maybe someone allready stunbled upon this.
>>
>> cheers
>> Mario
>>
>
>

Re: hair rendering

[Andreas Bystrom]

then it does sound like min pixel width, it could be a refresh problem
also, try doing a destroyScene inbetween the renders, it might be that
arnold uses the data from the render camera when rendering in the user view
and vice versa.


On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:24 PM, Mario Reitbauer
wrote:

> Sry, missed to mention that ;)
>
> Yes its Arnold. No lens shaders, same render settings in all regions.
>
>
> 2014-05-05 10:21 GMT+02:00 Andreas Bystrom :
>
> which renderer? if it's arnold it has the min pixel width enabled for hair
>> by default, this will scale hairs up in screen space to avoid flickering
>> when the hair strands are far away, it's 0.25 by default in sitoa, and it
>> might be what's causing the different look..
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:13 PM, Mario Reitbauer <
>> cont...@marioreitbauer.at> wrote:
>>
>>> Hey guys
>>>
>>> Got a question about hair rendering.
>>> Anyone knows why hair rendering looks different when rendered in user
>>> view compared to rendering in camera view ?
>>>
>>> Got a hairy animal and the hair rendering looks more blury in the
>>> userview.
>>>
>>> So maybe someone allready stunbled upon this.
>>>
>>> cheers
>>> Mario
>>>
>>
>>
>

Re: hair rendering

[Mario Reitbauer]

Ty guys, looks like it's rly about the min pixel width.

I don't rly understand why that could cause a different result if I got the
same size of the object in the userview and the camera.

So even without an arnold parameter it shouldn't matter should it ?
How isthe min pixel width calculated ?
What is it using to calculate ?


2014-05-05 10:34 GMT+02:00 Andreas Bystrom :

> then it does sound like min pixel width, it could be a refresh problem
> also, try doing a destroyScene inbetween the renders, it might be that
> arnold uses the data from the render camera when rendering in the user view
> and vice versa.
>
>
> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:24 PM, Mario Reitbauer  > wrote:
>
>> Sry, missed to mention that ;)
>>
>> Yes its Arnold. No lens shaders, same render settings in all regions.
>>
>>
>> 2014-05-05 10:21 GMT+02:00 Andreas Bystrom :
>>
>> which renderer? if it's arnold it has the min pixel width enabled for
>>> hair by default, this will scale hairs up in screen space to avoid
>>> flickering when the hair strands are far away, it's 0.25 by default in
>>> sitoa, and it might be what's causing the different look..
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:13 PM, Mario Reitbauer <
>>> cont...@marioreitbauer.at> wrote:
>>>
 Hey guys

 Got a question about hair rendering.
 Anyone knows why hair rendering looks different when rendered in user
 view compared to rendering in camera view ?

 Got a hairy animal and the hair rendering looks more blury in the
 userview.

 So maybe someone allready stunbled upon this.

 cheers
 Mario

>>>
>>>
>>
>

Re: hair rendering

[Andreas Bystrom]

like I said the min pixel width is 0.25 by default, even without the arnold
parameters property.

0.25 means that no hair strand will be thinner than 0.25 pixels in screen
space, how much the hair gets scaled up depends on how far away your camera
is, and at what resolution you render at.
I'm not sure how it's calculated exactly, but obviously the camera distance
is taken into account, which must be why you're seeing different results
between the camera view and the user view.




On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:47 PM, Mario Reitbauer
wrote:

> Ty guys, looks like it's rly about the min pixel width.
>
> I don't rly understand why that could cause a different result if I got
> the same size of the object in the userview and the camera.
>
> So even without an arnold parameter it shouldn't matter should it ?
> How isthe min pixel width calculated ?
> What is it using to calculate ?
>
>
> 2014-05-05 10:34 GMT+02:00 Andreas Bystrom :
>
> then it does sound like min pixel width, it could be a refresh problem
>> also, try doing a destroyScene inbetween the renders, it might be that
>> arnold uses the data from the render camera when rendering in the user view
>> and vice versa.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:24 PM, Mario Reitbauer <
>> cont...@marioreitbauer.at> wrote:
>>
>>> Sry, missed to mention that ;)
>>>
>>> Yes its Arnold. No lens shaders, same render settings in all regions.
>>>
>>>
>>> 2014-05-05 10:21 GMT+02:00 Andreas Bystrom :
>>>
>>> which renderer? if it's arnold it has the min pixel width enabled for
 hair by default, this will scale hairs up in screen space to avoid
 flickering when the hair strands are far away, it's 0.25 by default in
 sitoa, and it might be what's causing the different look..




 On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 8:13 PM, Mario Reitbauer <
 cont...@marioreitbauer.at> wrote:

> Hey guys
>
> Got a question about hair rendering.
> Anyone knows why hair rendering looks different when rendered in user
> view compared to rendering in camera view ?
>
> Got a hairy animal and the hair rendering looks more blury in the
> userview.
>
> So maybe someone allready stunbled upon this.
>
> cheers
> Mario
>


>>>
>>
>

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[Eric Turman]

I was revulsion to when I tried Blender a couple of months ago; I was
horrified that the direction they went in interface revamp was to choose
inspiration from 3Ds Max.  Lots of icon tab deck and drilling down through
menus...Max has one of the worst interfaces that I can think of .


On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 11:57 PM, Halim Negadi  wrote:

> The major issue is a non-negociable Z-Up which makes it very difficult to
> integrate within any existing animation pipeline.
>
>
> On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 10:41 PM, Dan Yargici  wrote:
>
>> It's strange, I heard that also but I've not really found that to be the
>> case.  It's different, but so's Maya, Modo and Houdini.  It's certainly not
>> as slick as Softimage in that regard, but perfectly easy to get on with
>> IMO.  At least I think the complaints regarding interaction, while not
>> totally undeserved are somewhat exaggerated.
>>
>> DAN
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 9:30 PM, Mirko Jankovic > > wrote:
>>
>>> From what I saw Blender's one of biggest problem is UI and inconsistency
>>> through out tools.
>>> One thing do something in one tool, and completely different in another
>>> tool and window.. making HUGE hit on workflow and learning curve.
>>> That is for me it feels like a bunch of good ideas duck-taped together :(
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 10:11 PM, Dan Yargici wrote:
>>>
 I've just slapped together this video to really quickly run through a
 few of the features of Blender for those that might not know anything about
 it.  I find it can be quite an eye-opener for people when they first see
 these things that we've been longing for for so long in Softimage.

 https://vimeo.com/93749156

 Forgive my seemingly clumsy navigation at points.  I'm using it on a
 6yr old laptop with no numpad (big disadvantage!) on top of a chest of
 drawers while sitting on the edge of a bed!

 Just throwing it out there.  Perhaps it'll persuade a few people to
 spend less time bashing it and more time using and hopefully shaping it. :)

 It definitely feels like we're made up of two camps here, that's for
 sure... Frankly, I can't comprehend the passion with which some people bash
 something as good as this.

 DAN

>>>
>>>
>>
>


-- 




-=T=-

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[Eric Turman]

Blarg...I was "repulsed" :P not "revulsion"


On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 5:45 AM, Eric Turman  wrote:

> I was revulsion to when I tried Blender a couple of months ago; I was
> horrified that the direction they went in interface revamp was to choose
> inspiration from 3Ds Max.  Lots of icon tab deck and drilling down through
> menus...Max has one of the worst interfaces that I can think of .
>
>
> On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 11:57 PM, Halim Negadi  wrote:
>
>> The major issue is a non-negociable Z-Up which makes it very difficult to
>> integrate within any existing animation pipeline.
>>
>>
>> On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 10:41 PM, Dan Yargici wrote:
>>
>>> It's strange, I heard that also but I've not really found that to be the
>>> case.  It's different, but so's Maya, Modo and Houdini.  It's certainly not
>>> as slick as Softimage in that regard, but perfectly easy to get on with
>>> IMO.  At least I think the complaints regarding interaction, while not
>>> totally undeserved are somewhat exaggerated.
>>>
>>> DAN
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 9:30 PM, Mirko Jankovic <
>>> mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
 From what I saw Blender's one of biggest problem is UI and
 inconsistency through out tools.
 One thing do something in one tool, and completely different in another
 tool and window.. making HUGE hit on workflow and learning curve.
 That is for me it feels like a bunch of good ideas duck-taped together
 :(


 On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 10:11 PM, Dan Yargici wrote:

> I've just slapped together this video to really quickly run through a
> few of the features of Blender for those that might not know anything 
> about
> it.  I find it can be quite an eye-opener for people when they first see
> these things that we've been longing for for so long in Softimage.
>
> https://vimeo.com/93749156
>
> Forgive my seemingly clumsy navigation at points.  I'm using it on a
> 6yr old laptop with no numpad (big disadvantage!) on top of a chest of
> drawers while sitting on the edge of a bed!
>
> Just throwing it out there.  Perhaps it'll persuade a few people to
> spend less time bashing it and more time using and hopefully shaping it. 
> :)
>
> It definitely feels like we're made up of two camps here, that's for
> sure... Frankly, I can't comprehend the passion with which some people 
> bash
> something as good as this.
>
> DAN
>


>>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
>
> -=T=-
>



-- 




-=T=-

A bit of help for anyone transitioning to C4D

[Matthew ONeill]

I’ve been keeping an eye on a few threads, let me first just say that it’s a 
bit sad to see SI going. I almost ended up making some training videos for it 
back in the XSI days but never got around to it (Still have my blue usb 
dongle!). What I can do though is maybe help some people who are looking to 
make a move elsewhere.

For the next couple of weeks, if anyone would like some quick and to the point 
training videos, you can use the code ‘softlysoftly’ to get anything half price 
at 3dfluff.com. For anyone that wants to get awesome in 60 minutes, may I 
suggest the 1 hour crash course, It was made specifically for people moving 
from one 3D app to another and just tells you how to do the things you already 
know, in c4d. 

--  
Matthew ONeill
m...@3dfluff.com

Re: Communication between C4D and XSI

[Ben Houston]

If the camera transfered between Softimage and 3DS Max correctly but
didn't import into C4D correctly, it is likely a C4D bug I would guess
and probably should be reported to them with an example file.  Given
how much work has been done with Exocortex Crate, I would think that
the camera transforms, at least if they aren't very unique setups,
should transfer correctly.
-ben

On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 5:33 PM, Artur Woźniak  wrote:
> I used crate Alembic to move things from C4D as well as 3ds Max and camera
> is always fd. I needed FBX to move camera. No problems the other way
> around.
>
> Artur
>
>
> 2014-05-02 20:30 GMT+02:00 olivier jeannel :
>
>> Ok, so the answer is : Yes, Mom4 include a complete Crate (Alembic i/o)
>> license.
>>
>>
>>
>> Le 02/05/2014 19:26, olivier jeannel a écrit :
>>
>> Halucinatingly good ! W !
>>
>> Yes C4d has out of the box Alembic import/export.
>> I was wonderig if Momentum4 was offering that option, or if Exocortex
>> Crate was an obligation.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Le 02/05/2014 19:12, Simon Reeves a écrit :
>>
>> I was talking about exocortex's alembic for xsi by the way  - native
>> alembic in C4D I think?
>>
>> This is the job I meant, we mostly moved around cameras and particles
>> http://analogstudio.co.uk/work/meridian I forget now even which shots are
>> C4D and which are xsi (and which are max) ;)
>>
>> Olivier Momentum 4's standard way to cache is alembic isn't it? As it's
>> all exocortex software, annoying if you don't have it, good if you do.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 12:31 PM, olivier jeannel
>>>  wrote:

 So, is the Momentum4 integrated Alembic enough ?imon Reeves
>>
>>
>>
>>
>



-- 
Best regards,
Ben Houston
Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom
http://Clara.io - Professional-Grade WebGL-based 3D Content Creation

Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Leendert A. Hartog]

Is there any good tutorial on Maya Python from a Softimage Python 
perspective?

The pitfalls, the gotchas, that sort of thing...

Greetz
Leendert

--

Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com

Aw: Re: Communication between C4D and XSI

[Leo Quensel]

We just had a project involving C4D, Maya and Softimage. C4D hat massive trouble importing our alembic files from either package exported by crate - all transforms

were completely messed.

The C4D downloaded the latest version (beta or nightly - don't really know) which fixed the problem, so there was a C4D bug.

Maybe that helps.

 

Gesendet: Montag, 05. Mai 2014 um 14:36 Uhr
Von: "Ben Houston" 
An: "softimage@listproc.autodesk.com" 
Betreff: Re: Communication between C4D and XSI

If the camera transfered between Softimage and 3DS Max correctly but
didn't import into C4D correctly, it is likely a C4D bug I would guess
and probably should be reported to them with an example file. Given
how much work has been done with Exocortex Crate, I would think that
the camera transforms, at least if they aren't very unique setups,
should transfer correctly.
-ben

On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 5:33 PM, Artur Woźniak  wrote:
> I used crate Alembic to move things from C4D as well as 3ds Max and camera
> is always fd. I needed FBX to move camera. No problems the other way
> around.
>
> Artur
>
>
> 2014-05-02 20:30 GMT+02:00 olivier jeannel :
>
>> Ok, so the answer is : Yes, Mom4 include a complete Crate (Alembic i/o)
>> license.
>>
>>
>>
>> Le 02/05/2014 19:26, olivier jeannel a écrit :
>>
>> Halucinatingly good ! W !
>>
>> Yes C4d has out of the box Alembic import/export.
>> I was wonderig if Momentum4 was offering that option, or if Exocortex
>> Crate was an obligation.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Le 02/05/2014 19:12, Simon Reeves a écrit :
>>
>> I was talking about exocortex's alembic for xsi by the way - native
>> alembic in C4D I think?
>>
>> This is the job I meant, we mostly moved around cameras and particles
>> http://analogstudio.co.uk/work/meridian I forget now even which shots are
>> C4D and which are xsi (and which are max) ;)
>>
>> Olivier Momentum 4's standard way to cache is alembic isn't it? As it's
>> all exocortex software, annoying if you don't have it, good if you do.
>>
>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 12:31 PM, olivier jeannel
>>>  wrote:

 So, is the Momentum4 integrated Alembic enough ?imon Reeves
>>
>>
>>
>>
>



--
Best regards,
Ben Houston
Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom
http://Clara.io - Professional-Grade WebGL-based 3D Content Creation
 

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[Halim Negadi]

GUI is not that bad, just a few hints helps going through like setting
input preferences to "maya mode" so you go back to select using lmb rather
than rmb. GUI is very smart and you can very easlily split and merge views
which makes layout customization very fast. The major issue remains a
non-negociable Z-Up.


On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 12:46 PM, Eric Turman  wrote:

> Blarg...I was "repulsed" :P not "revulsion"
>
>
> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 5:45 AM, Eric Turman  wrote:
>
>> I was revulsion to when I tried Blender a couple of months ago; I was
>> horrified that the direction they went in interface revamp was to choose
>> inspiration from 3Ds Max.  Lots of icon tab deck and drilling down through
>> menus...Max has one of the worst interfaces that I can think of .
>>
>>
>> On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 11:57 PM, Halim Negadi  wrote:
>>
>>> The major issue is a non-negociable Z-Up which makes it very difficult
>>> to integrate within any existing animation pipeline.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 10:41 PM, Dan Yargici wrote:
>>>
 It's strange, I heard that also but I've not really found that to be
 the case.  It's different, but so's Maya, Modo and Houdini.  It's certainly
 not as slick as Softimage in that regard, but perfectly easy to get on with
 IMO.  At least I think the complaints regarding interaction, while not
 totally undeserved are somewhat exaggerated.

 DAN



 On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 9:30 PM, Mirko Jankovic <
 mirkoj.anima...@gmail.com> wrote:

> From what I saw Blender's one of biggest problem is UI and
> inconsistency through out tools.
> One thing do something in one tool, and completely different in
> another tool and window.. making HUGE hit on workflow and learning curve.
> That is for me it feels like a bunch of good ideas duck-taped together
> :(
>
>
> On Sat, May 3, 2014 at 10:11 PM, Dan Yargici wrote:
>
>> I've just slapped together this video to really quickly run through a
>> few of the features of Blender for those that might not know anything 
>> about
>> it.  I find it can be quite an eye-opener for people when they first see
>> these things that we've been longing for for so long in Softimage.
>>
>> https://vimeo.com/93749156
>>
>> Forgive my seemingly clumsy navigation at points.  I'm using it on a
>> 6yr old laptop with no numpad (big disadvantage!) on top of a chest of
>> drawers while sitting on the edge of a bed!
>>
>> Just throwing it out there.  Perhaps it'll persuade a few people to
>> spend less time bashing it and more time using and hopefully shaping it. 
>> :)
>>
>> It definitely feels like we're made up of two camps here, that's for
>> sure... Frankly, I can't comprehend the passion with which some people 
>> bash
>> something as good as this.
>>
>> DAN
>>
>
>

>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -=T=-
>>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
>
> -=T=-
>

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[Leendert A. Hartog]

I don't think Blenders GUI is the big problem either.
The big problem would seem to be the somewhat rigid thinking behind it,
as demonstrated by mister Roosendaals rebuttal of Andrew Price's 
criticism of Blenders GUI.

Ton Roosendaals comments can be found here, BTW: http://waa.ai/44Gx

Greetz
Leendert

--

Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[Thomas Volkmann]

The crtiticism of Blenders UI had some valid points, but his proposals to make
it better were horrible as hell.
The UI isn't really that bad! Differen't but not (that) bad.

As for the non-negotiable z-up axis:  3dsMax is z-up as well  (wich really isn't
a plus for either Blender or Max, but it shows that's not a showstopper).

cheers,
Thomas


> "Leendert A. Hartog"  hat am 5. Mai 2014 um 15:51
> geschrieben:
>
>
> I don't think Blenders GUI is the big problem either.
> The big problem would seem to be the somewhat rigid thinking behind it,
> as demonstrated by mister Roosendaals rebuttal of Andrew Price's
> criticism of Blenders GUI.
> Ton Roosendaals comments can be found here, BTW: http://waa.ai/44Gx
>
> Greetz
> Leendert
>
> --
>
> Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
> Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com
>
>

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[Leendert A. Hartog]

Thomas Volkmann schreef op 5-5-2014 16:07:
The crtiticism of Blenders UI had some valid points, but his proposals 
to make it better were horrible as hell.


True, but I wanted to address mister Roosendaals response, not the 
original critique,

as I found mister Roosendaals response rather telling in all this.

--

Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[philipp.oeser]

agree that AndrewPrices suggestions were valid in some scenarios but not the
ideal solution in many scenarios...
agree on z-up as well (has its origins in OpenGL I think), BUT: where exactly
can this not be worked around? IO addons/functionality in blender usually comes
with an option for "which axis UP" (at least this is the case for OBJ, FBX, pc2,
meshcache modifier...)

Greetz
Philipp


> Thomas Volkmann  hat am 5. Mai 2014 um 16:07
> geschrieben:
> 
>  The crtiticism of Blenders UI had some valid points, but his proposals to
> make it better were horrible as hell.
>  The UI isn't really that bad! Differen't but not (that) bad.
> 
>  As for the non-negotiable z-up axis:  3dsMax is z-up as well  (wich really
> isn't a plus for either Blender or Max, but it shows that's not a
> showstopper).
> 
>  cheers,
>  Thomas
> 
> 
>  > "Leendert A. Hartog"  hat am 5. Mai 2014 um 15:51
>  > geschrieben:
>  >
>  >
>  > I don't think Blenders GUI is the big problem either.
>  > The big problem would seem to be the somewhat rigid thinking behind it,
>  > as demonstrated by mister Roosendaals rebuttal of Andrew Price's
>  > criticism of Blenders GUI.
>  > Ton Roosendaals comments can be found here, BTW: http://waa.ai/44Gx
>  >
>  > Greetz
>  > Leendert
>  >
>  > --
>  >
>  > Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
>  > Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com
>  >
>  >
> 

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[philipp.oeser]

Hi Leendert, what exactly is his response telling you?


> "Leendert A. Hartog"  hat am 5. Mai 2014 um 16:12
> geschrieben:
> 
>  Thomas Volkmann schreef op 5-5-2014 16:07:
> 
>  > >  The crtiticism of Blenders UI had some valid points, but his
>  > > proposals to make it better were horrible as hell.
> > 
> >  > True, but I wanted to address mister Roosendaals response, not the
> >  > original critique,
>  as I found mister Roosendaals response rather telling in all this.
> 
>  --
> 
>  Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
>  Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com
> 
> 
















































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Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[Leendert A. Hartog]

Well, basically a lack of flexibility, which he attributes to the 
software/code itself,
while the way the article is written seems to point more at a lack of 
flexibility of the people "making" Blender.


Greetz
Leendert

--

Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com

Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Siew Yi Liang]

Hi Hirazi:

http://www.amazon.com/Maya-Python-Games-Film-Reference/dp/0123785782

It's not really from a "XSI perspective", but it's the most useful 
resource I have among all the Maya python tutorials I've come across so 
far. But most people I think will advise switching to PyMEL these days.


If you've got any specific questions I could try to answer them as well, 
like command equivalents, how-I-do-specific-thing etc. (and I'm sure 
there are tons of people here smarter than me anyway in both DCCs who 
would be happy to help out too!) I started learning with Maya for python 
first before XSI, so I guess I would be considered a heretic :P


Yours sincerely,
Siew Yi Liang

On 5/5/2014 5:46 AM, Leendert A. Hartog wrote:
Is there any good tutorial on Maya Python from a Softimage Python 
perspective?

The pitfalls, the gotchas, that sort of thing...

Greetz
Leendert

Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Leendert A. Hartog]

Thanks for the kind offer, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you up 
on that... ;)


On the CGTalk the book you mention was said to be somewhat outdated,
which I cannot really judge for myself, lacking the necessary Maya 
experience,
they advised me to wait for "Practical Maya Programming with Python" by 
Robert Galanakis
but looking at the website of the publisher it is somewhat of a mystery 
when it will actually be released.

And I am terrible at waiting... :D

Greetz
Leendert

--

Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com

Re: [OT] Regarding Blender

[philipp.oeser]

I kinda get what you mean (although I am unsure of how to judge this -  as the
same thing ['lack of flexibility'] could also be phrased 'exactly know what you
(dont) want')

Still, I am pretty sure having implemented any of the photoshopish UI
suggestions would
(a) not have solved the most itching problems blender _users_ have
(b) not have convinced more people that blender is a capable program
(c) would have eaten up precious resources/developer time

As a part-time blender user (who admits to _not_ have a huge problem with the
UI) I'd rather see time spent on the dependency-graph than on UI [if there is
only time/resources for one of the two...]. Hopefully things dont come across
wrong, but I still see the blender community functioning alright as in taking
care of the userbase-needs first

Regards
Philipp

> "Leendert A. Hartog"  hat am 5. Mai 2014 um 16:30
> geschrieben:
>
>
> Well, basically a lack of flexibility, which he attributes to the
> software/code itself,
> while the way the article is written seems to point more at a lack of
> flexibility of the people "making" Blender.
>
> Greetz
> Leendert
>
> --
>
> Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
> Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com
>














































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Pipeline Engineer
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www.nhb.de 


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Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Siew Yi Liang]

Hi Hirazi:

It doesn't talk about PyMEL, and yes it's super-old, and it's written in 
a very non-pythonic manner, but it's still a good resouce imho.


Still, for what it is (and its price) it's about the most comprehensive 
beginner's intro guide to working with Maya (and some API stuff as 
well!) that I know of for now. :D


If you prefer video tutorials, Chad Vernon's stuff on CGCircuit is 
pretty nice, and he has some basic stuff on his site, too:

http://www.chadvernon.com/blog/resources/python-scripting-for-maya-artists/python-in-maya/

HTH!

Yours sincerely,
Siew Yi Liang

On 5/5/2014 8:47 AM, Leendert A. Hartog wrote:
Thanks for the kind offer, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you up 
on that... ;)


On the CGTalk the book you mention was said to be somewhat outdated,
which I cannot really judge for myself, lacking the necessary Maya 
experience,
they advised me to wait for "Practical Maya Programming with Python" 
by Robert Galanakis
but looking at the website of the publisher it is somewhat of a 
mystery when it will actually be released.

And I am terrible at waiting... :D

Greetz
Leendert

Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Leendert A. Hartog]

I think you've got me convinced. I'll be ordering the book soon. Thanks.

--

Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com

Alembic export in 2015 not exporting attibutes

[Arvid Björn]

Hey folks,

I'm trying to export an Alembic with some custom properties, Exocortex
Crate doesn't seem to export anything other than the usual attributes, and
there are no options for it. Then I noticed that the new built-in exporter
has options for this, but when I export, I get this for just about every
attribute in the list:

// WARNING : Attribute not exported: AngularVelocity
// WARNING : Attribute not exported: ColorAlongStrands
// WARNING : Attribute not exported: MaterialID
// WARNING : Attribute not exported: Materials
etc..

What's up what that? There are not clues as to why they aren't exported. Is
there anything I need to do to get this to work?

Cheers!

Re: Alembic export in 2015 not exporting attibutes

[Ben Houston]

Exocortex Crate supports custom ICE attributes -- here are some details:

http://exocortex.com/blog/crate_custom_attribute_softimage

-ben

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Arvid Björn  wrote:
> Hey folks,
>
> I'm trying to export an Alembic with some custom properties, Exocortex Crate
> doesn't seem to export anything other than the usual attributes, and there
> are no options for it. Then I noticed that the new built-in exporter has
> options for this, but when I export, I get this for just about every
> attribute in the list:
>
> // WARNING : Attribute not exported: AngularVelocity
> // WARNING : Attribute not exported: ColorAlongStrands
> // WARNING : Attribute not exported: MaterialID
> // WARNING : Attribute not exported: Materials
> etc..
>
> What's up what that? There are not clues as to why they aren't exported. Is
> there anything I need to do to get this to work?
>
> Cheers!



-- 
Best regards,
Ben Houston
Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom
http://Clara.io - Professional-Grade WebGL-based 3D Content Creation

Re: Alembic export in 2015 not exporting attibutes

[Arvid Björn]

Thanks Ben :) I didn't know that! What's the latest version of Crate btw?
Can't seem to find any version numbers or release info on your site.


On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 7:26 PM, Ben Houston  wrote:

> Exocortex Crate supports custom ICE attributes -- here are some details:
>
> http://exocortex.com/blog/crate_custom_attribute_softimage
>
> -ben
>
> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Arvid Björn  wrote:
> > Hey folks,
> >
> > I'm trying to export an Alembic with some custom properties, Exocortex
> Crate
> > doesn't seem to export anything other than the usual attributes, and
> there
> > are no options for it. Then I noticed that the new built-in exporter has
> > options for this, but when I export, I get this for just about every
> > attribute in the list:
> >
> > // WARNING : Attribute not exported: AngularVelocity
> > // WARNING : Attribute not exported: ColorAlongStrands
> > // WARNING : Attribute not exported: MaterialID
> > // WARNING : Attribute not exported: Materials
> > etc..
> >
> > What's up what that? There are not clues as to why they aren't exported.
> Is
> > there anything I need to do to get this to work?
> >
> > Cheers!
>
>
>
> --
> Best regards,
> Ben Houston
> Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom
> http://Clara.io - Professional-Grade WebGL-based 3D Content Creation
>
>

RE: Overrides in Maya

[Sofronis Efstathiou]

Ok,

Fantastic, thank you. I'll try and figure out some of workarounds as suggested. 
Shame it's not as flexible as Soft's.

Cheers

Sofronis Efstathiou

Postgraduate Framework Leader and BFX Competition and Festival Director
Computer Animation Academic Group
National Centre for Computer Animation

Email: sefstath...@bournemouth.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 965805

Profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sofronisefstathiou

Student Work:
http://www.youtube.com/NCCA3DAnimation
http://www.youtube.com/NCCADigitalFX
http://www.youtube.com/NCCAAnimation

[cid:image001.jpg@01CF68A4.13C1D8B0]

[cid:image002.jpg@01CF68A4.13C1D8B0]  
[cid:image003.png@01CF68A4.13C1D8B0] 


[cid:image004.jpg@01CF68A4.13C1D8B0]

Awarded for world-class computer animation teaching
with wide scientific and creative applications

From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Siew Yi Liang
Sent: 05 May 2014 06:03
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Overrides in Maya

Hi Sofronis:

It depends. As far as subdivision settings etc. go, not natively within mental 
ray that I know of: Arnold supports adding arnold-specific overrides to sets, 
though, and subdivision level is one of them. Otherwise, the easiest way is to 
arrange your objects into render layers, and then right click the attribute you 
want to override from the Attribute Editor, and choose Create Layer Override. 
Most attrs can be overriden this way for a group of objects, though some 
cannot, and in the case of material overrides, those can (and should!) be 
assigned to the render layer itself. Doing this on a reference/scene level 
afaik is not possible, unless you assign a dedicated renderLayer for the 
referenced scene/character itself.

Yes, it's a little different from how XSI handles it, and not always easy to 
pick through, so make sure however you assign your overrides, that you're at 
least doing it in a consistent manner...


Yours sincerely,

Siew Yi Liang
On 5/4/2014 2:39 PM, Sofronis Efstathiou wrote:
Hi,

Can anyone tell me if there is something similar to Softimage Overrides in 
Maya? I've seen Render Sets, but nothing with the flexibility that allows me to 
override a number of attributes/parameters such as Subdivision Level, Display 
Options, Material etc on a per Group/Character/Scene basis.

Any help much appreciated. I'm sensing Maya doesn't work like this - a 
colleague said there isn't an equivalent feature in Maya. Does anyone know of a 
workaround?

Cheers

Sofronis Efstathiou

Postgraduate Framework Leader and BFX Competition and Festival Director
Computer Animation Academic Group
National Centre for Computer Animation

[http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/Images/QueensAwardLogo.jpg]

BU is a Disability Two Ticks Employer and has signed up to the Mindful Employer 
charter. Information about the accessibility of University buildings can be 
found on the BU DisabledGo 
webpages

This email is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and may 
contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error, 
please notify the sender and delete this email, which must not be copied, 
distributed or disclosed to any other person.

Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not 
necessarily represent those of Bournemouth University or its subsidiary 
companies. Nor can any contract be formed on behalf of the University or its 
subsidiary companies via email.

Re: Overrides in Maya

[Jordi Bares]

I am afraid you are going to resort to many different tricks and prone to human 
mistakes as they are very involved… this is something us XSI users are going to 
be suffering for years to come.

Jordi Bares
jordiba...@gmail.com

On 5 May 2014, at 20:53, Sofronis Efstathiou  
wrote:

> Ok,
>  
> Fantastic, thank you. I’ll try and figure out some of workarounds as 
> suggested. Shame it’s not as flexible as Soft’s.
>  
> Cheers
>  
> Sofronis Efstathiou
>  
> Postgraduate Framework Leader and BFX Competition and Festival Director
> Computer Animation Academic Group
> National Centre for Computer Animation
> 
> Email: sefstath...@bournemouth.ac.uk
>  
> Tel: +44 (0) 1202 965805
>  
> Profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sofronisefstathiou
> 
> Student Work:
> http://www.youtube.com/NCCA3DAnimation
> http://www.youtube.com/NCCADigitalFX
> http://www.youtube.com/NCCAAnimation
>  
> 
>  
>   
>  
>  
> 
>  
> Awarded for world-class computer animation teaching
> with wide scientific and creative applications
>  
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com]On Behalf Of Siew Yi Liang
> Sent: 05 May 2014 06:03
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Overrides in Maya
>  
> Hi Sofronis:
> 
> It depends. As far as subdivision settings etc. go, not natively within 
> mental ray that I know of: Arnold supports adding arnold-specific overrides 
> to sets, though, and subdivision level is one of them. Otherwise, the easiest 
> way is to arrange your objects into render layers, and then right click the 
> attribute you want to override from the Attribute Editor, and choose Create 
> Layer Override. Most attrs can be overriden this way for a group of objects, 
> though some cannot, and in the case of material overrides, those can (and 
> should!) be assigned to the render layer itself. Doing this on a 
> reference/scene level afaik is not possible, unless you assign a dedicated 
> renderLayer for the referenced scene/character itself.
> 
> Yes, it's a little different from how XSI handles it, and not always easy to 
> pick through, so make sure however you assign your overrides, that you're at 
> least doing it in a consistent manner...
> 
> Yours sincerely,
> Siew Yi Liang
> On 5/4/2014 2:39 PM, Sofronis Efstathiou wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> Can anyone tell me if there is something similar to Softimage Overrides in 
> Maya? I’ve seen Render Sets, but nothing with the flexibility that allows me 
> to override a number of attributes/parameters such as Subdivision Level, 
> Display Options, Material etc on a per Group/Character/Scene basis.
>  
> Any help much appreciated. I’m sensing Maya doesn’t work like this – a 
> colleague said there isn’t an equivalent feature in Maya. Does anyone know of 
> a workaround?
>  
> Cheers
>  
> Sofronis Efstathiou
>  
> Postgraduate Framework Leader and BFX Competition and Festival Director
> Computer Animation Academic Group
> National Centre for Computer Animation
> 
> 
> BU is a Disability Two Ticks Employer and has signed up to the Mindful 
> Employer charter. Information about the accessibility of University buildings 
> can be found on the BU DisabledGo webpages
> 
> This email is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and may 
> contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error, 
> please notify the sender and delete this email, which must not be copied, 
> distributed or disclosed to any other person.
> 
> Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not 
> necessarily represent those of Bournemouth University or its subsidiary 
> companies. Nor can any contract be formed on behalf of the University or its 
> subsidiary companies via email.
> 

Re: Overrides in Maya

[Meng-Yang Lu]

Yeah, not nearly as safe or robust.

Something that MIGHT help thought.  If you are in a render layer that you
created, and go into the Attribute Spreadsheet to mass change a value on an
attribute, Maya will create an attribute override for that attribute
automatically for that render layer.

Honestly, try to leverage Framebuffers or AOVs in your renderer to assist
you in managing your passes.  But Jordi's right.  It's gonna be a messy
collection of tricks to get what you need at the end of the day.

-Lu

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Jordi Bares  wrote:

> I am afraid you are going to resort to many different tricks and prone to
> human mistakes as they are very involved… this is something us XSI users
> are going to be suffering for years to come.
>
>  Jordi Bares
> jordiba...@gmail.com
>
>
>
>

softimage help files online

[Francisco Criado]

Well,

it seems our dear friends of Autodesk removed online help files from their
site for Softimage 2013...
so anyone could share help installer for this version?
Thanks in advance and special thanks to Autodesk for being such a lovely
company!

F.

Re: Overrides in Maya

[Siew Yi Liang]

Hi Sofronis:

Actually I was wrong about the subdivisions thing (since I was curious I 
went to take a closer look), you can override it on a per-shape node 
basis for mental ray. Select your object, and in its shape node, go to 
the Subdivision Levels tab, and uncheck 'use Preview level for 
rendering'. You'll need to turn on Smooth Mesh preview (2, 3 hotkeys) 
for this to work though, which is why I usually don't make use of this 
override; I just use polySmooth nodes on my objects and connect them to 
a control manually to handle rendering subdivision levels, which isn't 
as elegant.


Last note: be careful when assigning all sorts of overrides, because the 
only real way to check what's been assigned to a render layer that I 
know of is graphing that layer in the Node Editor, which can get very 
messy very quickly!


HTH!

Yours sincerely,
Siew Yi Liang

On 5/5/2014 2:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu wrote:

Yeah, not nearly as safe or robust.

Something that MIGHT help thought.  If you are in a render layer that 
you created, and go into the Attribute Spreadsheet to mass change a 
value on an attribute, Maya will create an attribute override for that 
attribute automatically for that render layer.


Honestly, try to leverage Framebuffers or AOVs in your renderer to 
assist you in managing your passes.  But Jordi's right.  It's gonna be 
a messy collection of tricks to get what you need at the end of the day.


-Lu

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Jordi Bares > wrote:


I am afraid you are going to resort to many different tricks and
prone to human mistakes as they are very involved… this is
something us XSI users are going to be suffering for years to come.

Jordi Bares
jordiba...@gmail.com 

RE: Overrides in Maya

[Sofronis Efstathiou]

Thanks guys..yep. .its already becoming frustrating. Propagation of materials, 
parameters and visibility options is very different, I was hoping methodology 
from Soft would be transferable. ..not so. I'll have to dig deeper into the 
documents and start from scratch. God knows if there is a Model node system for 
transferring assets across scenes, as well comparable groups...I'll need to 
check how Maya deals with assets sets. Feels pretty clunky so far. Christ I 
feel like a complete newbie!

Thanks again for the heads up!

Sofronis Efstathiou

Postgraduate Framework Leader and BFX Festival Director
Computer Animation Academic Group
National Centre for Computer Animation

Email: sefstath...@bournemouth.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 1202 965805

Profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sofronisefstathiou

Student Work:
http://www.youtube.com/NCCA3DAnimation
http://www.youtube.com/NCCADigitalFX
http://www.youtube.com/NCCAAnimation




-Original Message-
From: Siew Yi Liang [soni...@gmail.com]
Received: Monday, 05 May 2014, 11:00PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage@listproc.autodesk.com]
Subject: Re: Overrides in Maya

Hi Sofronis:

Actually I was wrong about the subdivisions thing (since I was curious I went 
to take a closer look), you can override it on a per-shape node basis for 
mental ray. Select your object, and in its shape node, go to the Subdivision 
Levels tab, and uncheck 'use Preview level for rendering'. You'll need to turn 
on Smooth Mesh preview (2, 3 hotkeys) for this to work though, which is why I 
usually don't make use of this override; I just use polySmooth nodes on my 
objects and connect them to a control manually to handle rendering subdivision 
levels, which isn't as elegant.

Last note: be careful when assigning all sorts of overrides, because the only 
real way to check what's been assigned to a render layer that I know of is 
graphing that layer in the Node Editor, which can get very messy very quickly!

HTH!

Yours sincerely,
Siew Yi Liang

On 5/5/2014 2:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu wrote:
Yeah, not nearly as safe or robust.

Something that MIGHT help thought.  If you are in a render layer that you 
created, and go into the Attribute Spreadsheet to mass change a value on an 
attribute, Maya will create an attribute override for that attribute 
automatically for that render layer.

Honestly, try to leverage Framebuffers or AOVs in your renderer to assist you 
in managing your passes.  But Jordi's right.  It's gonna be a messy collection 
of tricks to get what you need at the end of the day.

-Lu

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Jordi Bares 
mailto:jordiba...@gmail.com>> wrote:
I am afraid you are going to resort to many different tricks and prone to human 
mistakes as they are very involved… this is something us XSI users are going to 
be suffering for years to come.

Jordi Bares
jordiba...@gmail.com






[http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/Images/QueensAwardLogo.jpg]

BU is a Disability Two Ticks Employer and has signed up to the Mindful Employer 
charter. Information about the accessibility of University buildings can be 
found on the BU DisabledGo 
webpages

This email is intended only for the person to whom it is addressed and may 
contain confidential information. If you have received this email in error, 
please notify the sender and delete this email, which must not be copied, 
distributed or disclosed to any other person.

Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not 
necessarily represent those of Bournemouth University or its subsidiary 
companies. Nor can any contract be formed on behalf of the University or its 
subsidiary companies via email.

Re: Overrides in Maya

[Chris Gardner]

Yeah, maya doesn't really have much of a system for propagating
attributes or materials (nowhere near as elegantly as soft). *some*
things will propagate down a hierarchy (vis for instance), but other
than that, you need to think quite differently.

Maya's renderlayers are, behind the scenes, brute force changing
attributes and set memberships (fair to say that soft does this too),
but it's quite error prone if, for instance, something coming in from
a reference is missing.

it's a good system for slapping an override or two on really quickly
on a limited number of objects, but it doesn't scale well beyond that.

quite frankly, here be dragons. about 11pm on the night before the job
is due, renderlayers will often freak out and leave your scene in an
unstable state. sooo, just be careful in there. keep a fire
extinguisher handy.

cheers,
chrisg



On 6 May 2014 08:25, Sofronis Efstathiou  wrote:
> Thanks guys..yep. .its already becoming frustrating. Propagation of 
> materials, parameters and visibility options is very different, I was hoping 
> methodology from Soft would be transferable. ..not so. I'll have to dig 
> deeper into the documents and start from scratch. God knows if there is a 
> Model node system for transferring assets across scenes, as well comparable 
> groups...I'll need to check how Maya deals with assets sets. Feels pretty 
> clunky so far. Christ I feel like a complete newbie!

Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Raffaele Fragapane]

My personal recommendation when it comes to Python and Maya is to learn
C++. I wish I was kidding.


On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 10:46 PM, Leendert A. Hartog wrote:

> Is there any good tutorial on Maya Python from a Softimage Python
> perspective?
> The pitfalls, the gotchas, that sort of thing...
>
> Greetz
> Leendert
>
> --
>
> Leendert A. Hartog AKA Hirazi Blue
> Administrator NOT the owner of si-community.com
>
>


-- 
Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it
and let them flee like the dogs they are!

Re: Alembic export in 2015 not exporting attibutes

[Leoung O'Young]

Hi Ben,

I watch the video, quite impressive, can the same workflow  work with 
XSI and MODO.


Thanks,
Leoung

On 05/05/2014 1:26 PM, Ben Houston wrote:

Exocortex Crate supports custom ICE attributes -- here are some details:

http://exocortex.com/blog/crate_custom_attribute_softimage

-ben

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 1:21 PM, Arvid Björn  wrote:

Hey folks,

I'm trying to export an Alembic with some custom properties, Exocortex Crate
doesn't seem to export anything other than the usual attributes, and there
are no options for it. Then I noticed that the new built-in exporter has
options for this, but when I export, I get this for just about every
attribute in the list:

// WARNING : Attribute not exported: AngularVelocity
// WARNING : Attribute not exported: ColorAlongStrands
// WARNING : Attribute not exported: MaterialID
// WARNING : Attribute not exported: Materials
etc..

What's up what that? There are not clues as to why they aren't exported. Is
there anything I need to do to get this to work?

Cheers!

Re: softimage help files online

[jentzen mooney]

Stephen Blair has some nice ones

http://xsisupport.com/2012/06/26/searching-the-sdk-docs/

On Monday, May 5, 2014, Francisco Criado  wrote:

> Well,
>
> it seems our dear friends of Autodesk removed online help files from their
> site for Softimage 2013...
> so anyone could share help installer for this version?
> Thanks in advance and special thanks to Autodesk for being such a lovely
> company!
>
> F.
>
>

Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Cesar Saez]

I totally agree, when it comes to custom nodes just skip python, but for
general purposes pymel is not that bad (actually python seems way faster on
maya than in softimage).

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 6:41 PM, Raffaele Fragapane <
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com> wrote:

> My personal recommendation when it comes to Python and Maya is to learn
> C++. I wish I was kidding.
>

Re: Overrides in Maya

[Jordi Bares]

We need to invite Ricky Gervais to the list.

Jordi Bares
jordiba...@gmail.com

On 5 May 2014, at 23:25, Sofronis Efstathiou  
wrote:

> Thanks guys..yep. .its already becoming frustrating. Propagation of 
> materials, parameters and visibility options is very different, I was hoping 
> methodology from Soft would be transferable. ..not so. I'll have to dig 
> deeper into the documents and start from scratch. God knows if there is a 
> Model node system for transferring assets across scenes, as well comparable 
> groups...I'll need to check how Maya deals with assets sets. Feels pretty 
> clunky so far. Christ I feel like a complete newbie!
> 
> Thanks again for the heads up!
> 
> Sofronis Efstathiou
> 
> Postgraduate Framework Leader and BFX Festival Director
> Computer Animation Academic Group
> National Centre for Computer Animation
> 
> Email: sefstath...@bournemouth.ac.uk
> 
> Tel: +44 (0) 1202 965805
> 
> Profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/sofronisefstathiou
> 
> Student Work:
> http://www.youtube.com/NCCA3DAnimation
> http://www.youtube.com/NCCADigitalFX
> http://www.youtube.com/NCCAAnimation
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: Siew Yi Liang [soni...@gmail.com]
> Received: Monday, 05 May 2014, 11:00PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage@listproc.autodesk.com]
> Subject: Re: Overrides in Maya
> 
> Hi Sofronis:
> 
> Actually I was wrong about the subdivisions thing (since I was curious I went 
> to take a closer look), you can override it on a per-shape node basis for 
> mental ray. Select your object, and in its shape node, go to the Subdivision 
> Levels tab, and uncheck 'use Preview level for rendering'. You'll need to 
> turn on Smooth Mesh preview (2, 3 hotkeys) for this to work though, which is 
> why I usually don't make use of this override; I just use polySmooth nodes on 
> my objects and connect them to a control manually to handle rendering 
> subdivision levels, which isn't as elegant.
> 
> Last note: be careful when assigning all sorts of overrides, because the only 
> real way to check what's been assigned to a render layer that I know of is 
> graphing that layer in the Node Editor, which can get very messy very quickly!
> 
> HTH!
> 
> Yours sincerely,
> Siew Yi Liang
> 
> On 5/5/2014 2:11 PM, Meng-Yang Lu wrote:
> Yeah, not nearly as safe or robust.
> 
> Something that MIGHT help thought.  If you are in a render layer that you 
> created, and go into the Attribute Spreadsheet to mass change a value on an 
> attribute, Maya will create an attribute override for that attribute 
> automatically for that render layer.
> 
> Honestly, try to leverage Framebuffers or AOVs in your renderer to assist you 
> in managing your passes.  But Jordi's right.  It's gonna be a messy 
> collection of tricks to get what you need at the end of the day.
> 
> -Lu
> 
> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Jordi Bares 
> mailto:jordiba...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> I am afraid you are going to resort to many different tricks and prone to 
> human mistakes as they are very involved… this is something us XSI users are 
> going to be suffering for years to come.
> 
> Jordi Bares
> jordiba...@gmail.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/Images/QueensAwardLogo.jpg]
> 
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> 

Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Serguei Kalentchouk]

That certainly holds true if you intend to do any plugin development.
For all the pipeline / glew / build code you will still need to operate
within Maya Python unfortunately.

Otherwise the Python implementation in Maya is very straight forward but
you have to make your piece with the fact that it is not OOP (not
considering PyMel).
So without any custom involvement on your end it's basically just
functional programming with logs of string manipulation.
On the bright side Maya's command module is pretty substantial in terms of
its breadth and depth so you have little limitations in terms of what you
can do.

If you want to get back some OOP sanity then you're welcome to try PyMel
although it has it's own issues and quirks.
I've ended up writing my own wrapper that covers 90% of my use cases.

On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 3:41 PM, Raffaele Fragapane <
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com> wrote:

> My personal recommendation when it comes to Python and Maya is to learn
> C++. I wish I was kidding.
>
>
-- 
Technical Director @ DreamWorks Animation

Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Raffaele Fragapane]

Python in Maya is generally a good deal faster, at least through OpenMaya.
That's largely due to the fact that it's a fairly 1:1 wrap (SWIG on headers
I believe) of the C++ API.
Sadly, you pay a price for that in how you have to write it, which is a
crapload of explicitly typed work that clashes with pythonic style a lot,
and you do bump into an unholy amount of unimplemented methods that really,
really should have been offered.


On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 9:04 AM, Cesar Saez  wrote:

> I totally agree, when it comes to custom nodes just skip python, but for
> general purposes pymel is not that bad (actually python seems way faster on
> maya than in softimage).
>
> On Mon, May 5, 2014 at 6:41 PM, Raffaele Fragapane <
> raffsxsil...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>> My personal recommendation when it comes to Python and Maya is to learn
>> C++. I wish I was kidding.
>>
>


-- 
Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it
and let them flee like the dogs they are!

Re: Softimage Python versus Maya Python

[Raffaele Fragapane]

Yeah, I can agree with pretty much all of it.
It's a shame, because coverage and performance are very good, but the fact
there is no hand crafting of a higher thin layer makes it horrendously
clunky.

With just a little bit of additional effort it could actually be very
suitable for a lot more than it is suitable for now, but there doesn't seem
to be a lot of interest in improving and extending the bindings, which
ironically leaves the Python wrapper less friendly to read and operate than
the C++ equivalent.

I think I officially hit breaking point a few weeks ago at the hundredth
(literally) time in what should have been a simple script I had to
explicitly cast and recast across multiple variables the same damn data,
and then handle every-single-F'ing-instance of a return explicitly.
God forbid various adaptive set and get methods and constructors that work
perfectly in C++ are wrapped, you can only use the explicitly type handling
ones instead in Python, which makes any upstream change of a type combined
with Python's eco system an absolute nightmare.

If you're mostly doing pipe work that's far enough removed from the scene
data and the DG, or has only minimal and simple interaction, you're mostly
OK though.

On Tue, May 6, 2014 at 9:12 AM, Serguei Kalentchouk <
serguei.kalentch...@gmail.com> wrote:

> That certainly holds true if you intend to do any plugin development.
> For all the pipeline / glew / build code you will still need to operate
> within Maya Python unfortunately.
>
> Otherwise the Python implementation in Maya is very straight forward but
> you have to make your piece with the fact that it is not OOP (not
> considering PyMel).
> So without any custom involvement on your end it's basically just
> functional programming with logs of string manipulation.
> On the bright side Maya's command module is pretty substantial in terms of
> its breadth and depth so you have little limitations in terms of what you
> can do.
>
> If you want to get back some OOP sanity then you're welcome to try PyMel
> although it has it's own issues and quirks.
> I've ended up writing my own wrapper that covers 90% of my use cases.
>
>

Re: softimage help files online

[Francisco Criado]

My mistake, don't know why seems some parts of the documentation cannot be
found online, but for other stuff works okay...already found the installer
and done.

F.


On Monday, May 5, 2014, jentzen mooney  wrote:

> Stephen Blair has some nice ones
>
> http://xsisupport.com/2012/06/26/searching-the-sdk-docs/
>
> On Monday, May 5, 2014, Francisco Criado 
> >
> wrote:
>
>> Well,
>>
>> it seems our dear friends of Autodesk removed online help files from
>> their site for Softimage 2013...
>> so anyone could share help installer for this version?
>> Thanks in advance and special thanks to Autodesk for being such a lovely
>> company!
>>
>> F.
>>
>>

RE: softimage help files online

[Matt Lind]

I recommend downloading the documentation and installing it locally on a server 
and have your users point to that via user preference settings.  Not only does 
it put you in control of the situation, but improves performance too.


Matt





From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Francisco Criado
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 6:28 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: softimage help files online

My mistake, don't know why seems some parts of the documentation cannot be 
found online, but for other stuff works okay...already found the installer and 
done.

F.


On Monday, May 5, 2014, jentzen mooney 
mailto:jentzen.b...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Stephen Blair has some nice ones

http://xsisupport.com/2012/06/26/searching-the-sdk-docs/

On Monday, May 5, 2014, Francisco Criado 
> 
wrote:
Well,

it seems our dear friends of Autodesk removed online help files from their site 
for Softimage 2013...
so anyone could share help installer for this version?
Thanks in advance and special thanks to Autodesk for being such a lovely 
company!

F.

RE: softimage help files online

[Hsiao Ming Chia]

Hi Francisco,

Sorry that the online help is not working for you.

Can I check with you if you are using the following help links for 2013?
http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2013/en_us/userguide/index.html
http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2013/en_us/sdkguide/index.html
They should still be working.

Thanks,
Hsiao Ming


From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Francisco Criado
Sent: Tuesday, May 06, 2014 5:51 AM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: softimage help files online

Well,

it seems our dear friends of Autodesk removed online help files from their site 
for Softimage 2013...
so anyone could share help installer for this version?
Thanks in advance and special thanks to Autodesk for being such a lovely 
company!

F.

<>

Re: Alembic export in 2015 not exporting attibutes

[Ho Chung Nguyen]

Those attributes were not found or defined on the exported objects.

It's not a problem if you don't use those attributes in your scene.

The default list is comprehensive, including necessary attributes for the 
built-in renderers and sample scenes. Therefore you sometimes gets these 
warning if you don't use as many attributes.
Just remove those attributes from the list in the export dialogue if you don't 
want to see the warnings.


Sent

> On May 6, 2014, at 1:22 AM, "Arvid Björn"  wrote:
> 
> Hey folks,
> 
> I'm trying to export an Alembic with some custom properties, Exocortex Crate 
> doesn't seem to export anything other than the usual attributes, and there 
> are no options for it. Then I noticed that the new built-in exporter has 
> options for this, but when I export, I get this for just about every 
> attribute in the list:
> 
> // WARNING : Attribute not exported: AngularVelocity
> // WARNING : Attribute not exported: ColorAlongStrands
> // WARNING : Attribute not exported: MaterialID
> // WARNING : Attribute not exported: Materials
> etc..
> 
> What's up what that? There are not clues as to why they aren't exported. Is 
> there anything I need to do to get this to work?
> 
> Cheers!
<>