Re: Intro to the new team (was RE: Softimage development)
And apparently Maya still needs lots of help. It sounds like the entire SI team has been dissolved. On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 10:29 PM, Jason Brynford-Jones jason.brynford-jo...@autodesk.com wrote: Softimage is mature enough now and in very capable hands.
Re: Intro to the new team (was RE: Softimage development)
You've made your point a billion times over, and I'm quite sick of it to be honest. I think we all know by now that you go with the flow in your company and don't have any issues with these other applications. I do, so please stop telling me how wonderful the world outside of SI is. I go there every day for at least 15 to 30 minutes, and I'm always glad when I'm back in SI territory. On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 11:13 PM, Stefan Andersson ste...@madcrew.sewrote: But good news everyone! There are actually a lot of softwares out there which is just longing for your expertise and knowledge. And lots of black frames that needs content, and the frames doesn't give a what kind of software you used :)
Divide one big texture into smaller pieces
Hi list, We are dealing with a gigantic piece of environment. The ground has a texture of about 18,000x18,000 pixels applied to it. We are now in the process of dividing the entire area up into 200 quadratic segments. Thankfully, Softimage has allowed me to select all 10,000 objects at once and dice them up into quadratic segments, which I have then detached. All is good on that front. However, we would now like the 18K ground texture to be divided up into smaller segments as well. Currently all the quadratic cutouts have the same 18K texture applied but only use a fraction of their UV space. I want them all to use UV space 0 to 1 and have a matching texture. This is what I tried: I rendermapped the segments (again I'm glad to be able to rendermap everything at once) and ticked the Coverage in Alpha checkbox. I can then use a Photoshop action to select the files' alpha channel, crop down to that selection and save the file. Then I can apply the new texture to a segment, delete its old UVs and add a new 0 to 1 projection. This works, however I end up with seams of about 1 pixel width at the segment edges. Probably because the alpha coverage is not detailed enough, and Photoshop then crops incorrectly. The cropped files also have slightly different image sizes. Or maybe the rendermapping is not accurate enough? Has anybody ever done something like this? I feel like I'm 90% there, but those seams are a bit of a problem.
Re: ICE: Profile Curve for Apply Extrude Polygon Along Axis?
The compounds that have been posted have probably answered this already, but just to point it out: To get a random integer array, you plug an array (e.g. via the Build Index Array node) into the ID port of the Random Value node. On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 10:22 PM, Byron Nash byronn...@gmail.com wrote: I'm new to ICE modeling so forgive me if I ask some n00b questions here. I'd like to randomly extrude polygons and control the extrusion with a fcurve. I'm not sure how to create a controllable random array of integers for starters. I keep trying different combinations and haven't quite got it yet. After I get my array of integers to extrude with, how can I attach an fcurve to the extrude and control the shape? Thanks! See attached WIP.
Re: [ICE] random tip about array-per-array ops
Ww! This looks super useful, and I've been wanting to do this kind of thing many times before. Particularly the Find in Array has made me use Repeat loops way too often. Thank you for discovering and sharing! On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 5:35 PM, Oleg Bliznuk gbo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi list, I am digging at this time into the topic of array-per-array operations without while\repeat nodes and trying to avoid building a custom node for each op that I perform, so I have found one handy tip how to perform some of these op - we can only use Generate Sample set ( witout any geo on input ) in any place with exact count of required element to select data from first ( or second ) array and do something with it, thus we can get a set-context without generating a real geometry ( and as I understood we also involve multithreading this way ). I hope this can help someone. regards, Oleg
ICE modeling destroys UVs
Hello list, I am slicing a terrain mesh into a square, then delete all polygons outside the square. If I do this with standard modeling operations, my pre-existing UV mapping is fine. If I do it with ICE it gets all jumbled up. What's the standard way to deal with this? Do I really have to fix the UVs in ICE myself? I'm not too excited about overwriting the existing UV set in ICE, also because it may not always have the same name on all objects that receive my compound.
Re: ICE modeling destroys UVs
Thank you, I'll see if I can find that message. @Fabricio: Thank you for the tip. My UVs are regular non-ICE UVs. I'm pretty sure I can repair the UVs using ICE, but I'm worried that overwriting the existing UV set with ICE might make things unstable. And I don't want to make a new ICE UV set. On Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 3:13 PM, Ben Houston b...@exocortex.com wrote: Oleg implemented a work around in ImplosiaFX to maintain UVs when modelling with ICE. I think he has detailed it before on this list... -ben On Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 9:02 AM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Hello list, I am slicing a terrain mesh into a square, then delete all polygons outside the square. If I do this with standard modeling operations, my pre-existing UV mapping is fine. If I do it with ICE it gets all jumbled up. What's the standard way to deal with this? Do I really have to fix the UVs in ICE myself? I'm not too excited about overwriting the existing UV set in ICE, also because it may not always have the same name on all objects that receive my compound. -- Best regards, Ben Houston Voice: 613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals.
Parenting to model branch selects it
Hi list, Is there a way to stop SI from branch-selecting a model after I parent something to it? It annoys me every single time. I just want the parented object to remain selected.
Re: Parenting to model branch selects it
Yes, I was hoping there might be a preference somewhere for when you use the Parent button :-/ On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 2:30 PM, patrick nethercoat patr...@brandtanim.co.uk wrote: the only way I think is to drag + drop the child. On 2 July 2012 11:49, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi list, Is there a way to stop SI from branch-selecting a model after I parent something to it? It annoys me every single time. I just want the parented object to remain selected.
Re: Parenting to model branch selects it
Thank you very much! That sounds like it'll do the trick. On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 4:03 PM, Martin furik...@gmail.com wrote: You can use the Parent Objects command and assign it to a key in your keyboard layout. I think it isn't asigned by default. You could create a button for this command if you don't want to change your keyboard. ParentObjects(null); It parents your objects (can be multiple objs) to the last selected one. I almost never use the Parent button (ParentObj command). M.Yara On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 10:07 PM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Yes, I was hoping there might be a preference somewhere for when you use the Parent button :-/ On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 2:30 PM, patrick nethercoat patr...@brandtanim.co.uk wrote: the only way I think is to drag + drop the child. On 2 July 2012 11:49, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi list, Is there a way to stop SI from branch-selecting a model after I parent something to it? It annoys me every single time. I just want the parented object to remain selected.
ICE Deform: Rotate polygons
Hi list, I want to animate a road building itself by scaling its polygons from 0 to 1. I've already got this done. But I also want to rotate the polygons 180 degrees around their local axes. Can someone explain the math behind this? Thank you!
Re: ICE Deform: Rotate polygons
I have a road whose polygons are upside down. One by one, I want the polygons to rotate 180 degrees so that the polygon normals point upwards. This is part of an animation, so the rotation must be gradual. And I can't just rotate around some global axis because the road has curves and turns. On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 9:26 AM, Simon Anderson simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com wrote: hey, you will have to look into Matrix's, global Matrix's to be exact and then do a Invert to and multiply, to get one matrix into its parents space. Its not as insane as it sounds. i would suggest creating two nulls, get there globla kinematics(Matrix) then do a invert on the one matrix(A) and multiply it by the other Matrix(B), and pipe that back into the global kinematics. That would give you a better understanding or matrix's and there space, and then you can mess around with the rotations of the local matrix. Hope that helps, also im not 100% sure what kind of rotation effect your trying to achieve? On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi list, I want to animate a road building itself by scaling its polygons from 0 to 1. I've already got this done. But I also want to rotate the polygons 180 degrees around their local axes. Can someone explain the math behind this? Thank you! -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
Growing the Turbulize node to 1
Hi list, My brain is fried. I want a Turbulize node to output values that grow to 1. So at the beginning all values would be turbulized, and over time the holes (values between 0 and 1) would close. I'm not simulating, so I want to convert the Current Frame into a value that can be put into the Turbulize. I thought I'd spend a minute to do this effect, and after half an hour I still don't have it working. Thank you
Re: Growing the Turbulize node to 1
Thank you, I ended up having to plug some strange values into the start and end of a Turbulize by range and clamp at the end. I've got it working how I want it now even though I'm not entirely sure what's going on with the values. On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 8:19 AM, ThomasV li...@thomasvolkmann.com wrote: ** You could maybe multiply your turbulence by an increasing value (current frame/10 or whatever) and clamp at 1? /Thomas Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com hat am 4. September 2012 um 08:01 geschrieben: Hi list, My brain is fried. I want a Turbulize node to output values that grow to 1. So at the beginning all values would be turbulized, and over time the holes (values between 0 and 1) would close. I'm not simulating, so I want to convert the Current Frame into a value that can be put into the Turbulize. I thought I'd spend a minute to do this effect, and after half an hour I still don't have it working. Thank you
Re: JScript - Find out if an object has a texture
Thank you for the quick help Eric, it works great! On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 9:44 AM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.comwrote: You need to see if there are any image clips on the material. On the material object you can use the .ImageClips which returns the collection of image clips connected to the material. Then test the collection to see if there are any in it using the Property Count. # Python oMatLib = Application.Selection(0).Library # Material Library oMat =Application.Selection(0) # Material collImageClips = oMat.ImageClips # Collection of image clips if collImageClips.Count 0: oClipName = collImageClips(0).Name # Pick first image clip found oMat.Name = oClipName.Name.replace(_tif, _Sh) else: # code to create new diffuse texture and connect it You should be able to convert to jscript rather painlessly. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 7:28 PM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi list, Beginner stuff here. I want to test whether an object's material has a texture. If it has a texture, the material should be named like the texture source. If the material has no texture, a diffuse texture should be applied. This is what I have: var MyMatLibrary = Application.Selection(0).Material.Library; var MyMatName = Application.Selection(0).Material.Name; var MyTextureName = Application.Selection(0). Material.CurrentImageClip.Source.Name; MyTextureName = MyTextureName.replace(_tif,_Sh); SetValue(MyMatLibrary+.+MyMatName+.Name, MyTextureName, null); It renames the material correctly. However, if the material has no texture, line 3 throws an error. How can I test for a texture without the script throwing an error?
Re: Offtopic: Python in Maya
Thank you for the link Eric, I'll check it out. We're not trying to do anything crazy, so in case someone here has been to the dark side and knows the answer please let me know :-) Cheers, Christian On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 10:32 AM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.comwrote: Maybe this list may be more helpful: http://groups.google.com/group/python_inside_maya Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 8:21 PM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi list, I'm rather new to Python, and while I've got many things worked out nicely in SI already, we are trying to implement some of this stuff in Maya as well. Sorry for this simple question, but could somebody tell me the Maya equivalent for this? for i in range(5): MySphere = Application.CreatePrim(Sphere, MeshSurface, , ) MySphere.PosY = i I want to set attributes without having to move and rotate commands. Thank you!
Re: Offtopic: Python in Maya
Thank you very much! This will get us started.
On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Daniel Harjanto miste...@cbn.net.idwrote:
in standard python:
import maya.cmds as cmds
for i in range(5):
MySphere = cmds.polySphere()
cmds.setAttr(%s.translateY % MySphere[0], i)
in pyMel:
import pymel.core as pm;
for i in range(5):
MySphere = pm.PyNode(pm.polySphere()[0])
MySphere.setAttr('translateY', i)
Cheers,
On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 4:21 PM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com
wrote:
Hi list,
I'm rather new to Python, and while I've got many things worked out
nicely in SI already, we are trying to implement some of this stuff in Maya
as well.
Sorry for this simple question, but could somebody tell me the Maya
equivalent for this?
for i in range(5):
MySphere = Application.CreatePrim(Sphere, MeshSurface, , )
MySphere.PosY = i
I want to set attributes without having to move and rotate commands.
Thank you!
--
Daniel Harjanto
Infinite Frameworks Studios
TD
http://misterdi.cgpot.com
Python: Getting and setting view visibility
Hi list, I don't understand why this won't work. Consider the following 1-liner: *print Application.Selection(0).Properties(Visibility).viewvis.Value* This works as expected. But when I try this: *for obj in Application.Selection: print obj.Properties(Visibility).viewvis.Value* I get an attribute error?? I only have one or multiple polygon meshes selected, so the attribute is there. Christian
Re: Python: Getting and setting view visibility
Thank you for the explanations Stephen and César!
Re: FBXImport Materials
Thank you Ivan! I mean curves. Would be really cool if we could get them into and out of Softimage with FBX. Christian On Mon, Jan 28, 2013 at 10:07 AM, ivan t ivansoftim...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Christian I have filed your request for FBX layering under SOFT-8222. When you mention spline / curve support, do you mean surface or curve ? Regards Ivan
Re: Octane render
Nice job there! I find that it doesn't match the Octane version in terms of quality (not your fault): a) It looks floaty. That's just the problem with FG. You'd need insane settings to get the flawless contact shadows of an unbiased renderer. People like to combat that by using ambient occlusion, but usually the result looks terrible to me, with dark corners everywhere. b) Sampling noise of a biased renderer looks unnatural (see the reflection on the table at the very left). Unbiased renderers otoh have very organic noise, so often it's fine for there to be some. I've used Octane many times for still shots and even for animations. Setup times are short, render speed is good and the quality is great. Plenty of features are still missing (such as motion blur), but once the Softimage integration is ready it should become a real option for those who don't like to use an external renderer. On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 5:44 PM, Massimo Galluzzo mass...@massimogalluzzo.it wrote: Didnt have much time to play with FG [image: Occhiolino] Here is Mental 9 mins and 30 seconds 4 mins fg precalc http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/3408/classmr.jpg wlEmoticon-winkingsmile[1].png
Re: Octane render
When using high AA samples (which is necessary for DOF or motion blur) I believe you can pretty much keep diffuse samples down to 1 or 2. You have to oversample a lot for the DOF, and this AA oversampling takes care of diffuse areas as well. Also, for this scene with the large windows you may get away with 2 or 3 bounces. On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 8:26 PM, Toonafish ron...@toonafish.nl wrote: scene file : https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4271217/Arnold_Classroom.rar I'm rendering on a 6 core i7 3930 overclocked to 4 Ghz, so Arnold is using 12 threads. With AA set lower the DOF is very noisy. But you're right, maybe I could lower the diffuse samples a little. - Ronald
Custom importer workflow
Hi list, I am writing a custom format and was wondering about the proper way to generate geometry in Softimage. As a proof of concept I've used an ICE tree with the Create Topo node. I parse my text file and input all data into String to Array nodes to feed the Create Topo. To my surprise, this even worked for a very complicated and large mesh (1.3 million triangles) and didn't take particularly long. How would I go about doing this using a regular workflow? Do I have to use commands (ConnectNewPolygonToEdge, AddPointToNewPolygon and whatnot) or is there an object model way to do it? Python btw Thank you, Christian
Re: Custom importer workflow
Ah, thank you! That sounds just like what I needed. Sometimes I have a bit of a hard time finding the methods and parameters I'm interested in. But the list always comes to the rescue :-) Christian On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 11:33 AM, Ciaran Moloney moloney.cia...@gmail.comwrote: The Python OM way of doing this is to use the polygonmesh.Set method, to which you provide lists of vertices and polygon definitions. IIRC this uses the same format as the ICE polygon description attribute. Ciaran
Re: SI 2014 sneak peek
I don't quite follow the concept of you don't edit in 3d. Editing real life footage is a different story since you usually have tons and tons of footage. But where I come from, we don't animate and render tons and tons of footage unnecessarily, just so we can cut it all out later. We only model, animate, render what we'll most likely use in a final edit. Therefore, many editing decisions are being made way before the actual editing stage. I've been in several situations where I really would have liked to have a sequencer.
Re: SDK: Preserve selection
Hi Mihail, Using the GetAsString and SetAsString is bad whenever you add, reparent or delete objects - it tends to break because the selection is stored according to the object names. Here's how I usually do it (not sure if there is a better way), Python: preselection = [s for s in Application.Selection] # This list now includes all objects you had selected (the objects, not just their names!) # When you're done with the script, this brings back the original selection: Application.Selection.Clear() for obj in preselection: Application.Selection.Add(obj)
Re: SDK: Preserve selection
P.S.: It also respects branch selections.
Re: Maya realtime viewport
Our High Quality Viewport in its current state is complete and utter trash. I've attempted to use it a few times, but it's so incredibly slow that it's unusable. I just wanted anti-aliasing and trees to show alpha-mapped leaves. HQV does give me those options, but the performance is so bad it's impossible to work with. Whereas in Maya viewport 2.0 or whatever it's called is really fast. I hope the new team has worked on this. I don't need my viewport to look and perform like a game, but some basic features with reasonable performance can't be too much to ask. On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 9:05 AM, Szabolcs Matefy szabol...@crytek.comwrote: What I wanted to point out that once glorious Gigacore and superb viewport in Softimage is now mediocre. Our HQV is nothing close to what I see on these videos. As a game artist, it’s quite important to me to preview the assets I am creating.
Re: Maya realtime viewport
Very cool clip there. It says that HQV was used to render certain elements, so that doesn't negate my own experiences: good quality but horrible realtime performance. May I ask how and on what content you use HQV? On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 5:11 PM, Greg Punchatz g...@janimation.com wrote: I have found the HQV useful ... and so has Jason Stambollianhttp://user860220 https://vimeo.com/groups/ice/videos/60198312
Re: Announcing Redshift - Biased GPU Renderer
Excuse the language, but: Holy shit! Mighty impressive stuff! On Fri, Mar 15, 2013 at 3:35 AM, Nicolas Burtnyk nico...@redshift3d.comwrote: Hey guys, I'm going to respond to the last few messages regarding the importance of speed later, but in the meantime here is a video of some live rendering in Softimage. http://youtu.be/fjCguRdSlV0 -Nicolas
Re: User data within an exported FBX model?
We ran some tests a while back and were able to import and export custom attributes from Softimage to Maya and vice versa. 3ds max did not play along with either of the two applications. If I remember correctly, you must create a custom property set and add a custom parameter. I seem to recall that strings didn't work in one or both directions. All tests were done in Softimage 2012 and Maya 2012. On Tue, Mar 19, 2013 at 7:42 PM, François Painchaud fpainch...@gmail.comwrote: In Softimage 2011 or 2013, is there a way to include some user data (in my case, a single ID string) within an exported FBX model? Thanks, François
Render a single frame without frame number in file name
Hi list, Is there a way to set up a pass such that the rendered file does not contain the frame number? I want my file to be called filename.png, not filename.1.png. Thank you Christian
No anti aliasing while navigating?
Hi list, I turned on the High Quality viewport in SI 2014 in my scene to get anti-aliasing. But the anti-aliasing only works when the camera is stationary. As soon as start navigating, I get the old pixelated mess. I want it to be enabled all the time, not just when I stop navigating. What gives? Thank you
Re: Raycast by camera instead of direction
As the direction you vector you can use the vector from your camera position to the object. You simply subtract one position from the other: yourobject.kine.global.pos MINUS camera.kine.global.pos (and plug the result into the raycast) On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 5:26 PM, Jimmy Marrero jimmymarr...@gmail.comwrote: Hey guys I am using the footprint deformation in ICE and was wondering if there is a way to align the Raycast to match the direction of my camera. I am testing it currently on a sphere, I want to be able to rotate around the sphere and have the deformation appear consistent around the object instead of the current way of just deforming on a particular axis. Any help appreciated. Thanks Jimmy
Re: Poly islands in ICE
Hi, I'm practically in the weekend, but here's a super quick compound. Probably not perfectly laid out, but I tried it on an example and it works. Christian On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 9:30 PM, Mario Domingos mdomingos.p...@gmail.comwrote: Hi list! I hope you can help me here. Please refer to the attached image. Is there a way to disconnect the edges as outline instead of disconnecting all of them? At the right side of the image I show an example of what I want to achieve. I hope I was clear. :P Tks M Click to view 'islands.PNG' on Dropboxhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/h7qjrrfjsr1b554/islands.PNG — Sent from Mailbox https://www.dropbox.com/mailbox for iPhone DisconnectOutline.xsicompound Description: Binary data
Re: Poly islands in ICE
Oh, I forgot. This works based on a polygon cluster. So you'll need a cluster for the compound to work. Sorry no time to fix, haha On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 9:30 PM, Mario Domingos mdomingos.p...@gmail.comwrote: Hi list! I hope you can help me here. Please refer to the attached image. Is there a way to disconnect the edges as outline instead of disconnecting all of them? At the right side of the image I show an example of what I want to achieve. I hope I was clear. :P Tks M Click to view 'islands.PNG' on Dropboxhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/h7qjrrfjsr1b554/islands.PNG — Sent from Mailbox https://www.dropbox.com/mailbox for iPhone
Re: Poly islands in ICE
The basic idea is to check for every edge that's part of the selection whether both its polygons are also part of the selection. For the edge to be an outline edge, only one of its polygons may be part of the selection. Looking at it again, I noticed that the two Filter nodes behind EdgeToCWPolygon and EdgeToCCWPolygon are unnecessary (both pipes can plug directly into Find in Array without a Filter), which makes the compound a bit easier to understand. On Mon, Sep 2, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Mario Domingos mdomingos.p...@gmail.comwrote: Ok guys, both work but the Disconnect Compound from Cristian is faster. I'm now trying to indestand how it works, a bit more complex then Vincent's idea. Tks!! — Sent from Mailbox https://www.dropbox.com/mailbox for iPhone On Mon, Sep 2, 2013 at 3:04 AM, Vincent Ullmann vincent.ullm...@googlemail.com wrote: You could try to use a Delete-Polygon-Node to split your Mesh into 2 Parts, and then merge them Back Am 29.08.2013 22:29, schrieb Mario Domingos: Tks Alan I'll take a look at it! — Sent from Mailbox https://www.dropbox.com/mailbox for iPhone On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 9:07 PM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.comwrote: Maybe this will get you closer to your goal: https://vimeo.com/11558894 On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 3:30 PM, Mario Domingos mdomingos.p...@gmail.com wrote: Hi list! I hope you can help me here. Please refer to the attached image. Is there a way to disconnect the edges as outline instead of disconnecting all of them? At the right side of the image I show an example of what I want to achieve. I hope I was clear. :P Tks M Click to view 'islands.PNG' on Dropboxhttps://www.dropbox.com/s/h7qjrrfjsr1b554/islands.PNG — Sent from Mailbox https://www.dropbox.com/mailbox for iPhone ** CutAPart.JPG**
Re: scale relative to camera
You'll have to adjust for the shift from the camera center. Instead of using the camera-to-object distance as your multiplier, you should use (I haven't tried it, so hopefully the math is right): (cosine alpha) * (distance camera-to-object) alpha is the angle between your camera-to-object-vector and your camera-to-camerainterest-vector On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 5:25 PM, Ponthieux, Joseph G. (LARC-E1A)[LITES] j.ponthi...@nasa.gov wrote: Hello, ** ** I have a situation where I would like an object to remain the same size relative to the camera. Think in terms of “pixel width” for example. I managed to accomplish this through ICE by using the distance between the camera and the object to manage the scale for the object. ** ** The problem is this. If the object is in the center of the viewport and I move the camera towards or away from the object, its perfect. The scale remains constant relative to the viewport. But if the object is on the periphery of the viewport, it is slightly larger than in the center of the viewport. The object scale still remains relative if the camera moves, the problem is that the scale is different than in the center. I assume this has something to do with forced perspective having an affect on the scaling? ** ** Has anyone tried this before? I haven’t a clue how to correct this at the moment. Any ideas would be appreciated. ** ** -- Joey Ponthieux LaRC Information Technology Enhanced Services (LITES) Mymic Technical Services NASA Langley Research Center __ Opinions stated here-in are strictly those of the author and do not represent the opinions of NASA or any other party. ** **
Re: Poly islands in ICE
Exactly right. On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 11:30 PM, Mario Domingos mdomingos.p...@gmail.comwrote: This is great Christian, thank you for your patience. I knew that I had to change the context and tried several things but with no luck. Ok, so you get all the vertices ids on the the polys of the object (arrays of ids per poly) then get the weightmap scalar values (per point) witch you pack into an Array per object. Then you find witch scalar values (from the weight map) belong to each vertices with the Find in Array node, here the context is Array per polygon and what we need is scalar or integer per poly so you used Get Array Average for that Am i right? Just want to be sure that I understand this. — Sent from Mailbox https://www.dropbox.com/mailbox for iPhone On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 5:00 PM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: It's all about getting the right context. Weight maps are scalar values per point. The compound requires a boolean per polygon. I've attached an example of how you can do it (and added every node's ouput context as text into the image). I recommend visualizing every single pipe one after another so you can see what happens. contexts.jpg
Re: Navigating relationships in Softimage (new to the software)
Just a quick tip: you can also press Ctrl+A, which always respects your selection filter. If the filter is set to lattice, Ctrl+A selects all lattices in the scene. For example, if you want to find all lattices in the scene, you can set the selection filter to lattice then do a rectangular selection around the entire scene (or in schematic view). -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email.
Re: ICETree symbol with a B?
Yes, that's actually it. Must be a little mistake in the script then probably, as nothing should have been applied in branch. On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 10:24 AM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frwrote: Do you mean like a branch select ? For example when you branch select and apply a deformer operator ? Le 08/10/2013 10:16, Christian Gotzinger a écrit : Hi list, I have a script that generates a new pointcloud, an ICE tree and adds a few nodes to the ICE tree. When I check in the Explorer, the little symbol to the left of the ICETree has a bold B in front of it. What does this mean? If I select the point cloud and update an ICE Tree view, nothing comes up. I have to select the ICETree itself, then update the ICE Tree view to see it. That's quite annoying. Christian -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email. -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email. -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email.
Re: ICETree symbol with a B?
I found it, the connect type in the ApplyOp was set incorrectly. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Olivier. On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 10:33 AM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.comwrote: Yes, that's actually it. Must be a little mistake in the script then probably, as nothing should have been applied in branch. On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 10:24 AM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frwrote: Do you mean like a branch select ? For example when you branch select and apply a deformer operator ? Le 08/10/2013 10:16, Christian Gotzinger a écrit : Hi list, I have a script that generates a new pointcloud, an ICE tree and adds a few nodes to the ICE tree. When I check in the Explorer, the little symbol to the left of the ICETree has a bold B in front of it. What does this mean? If I select the point cloud and update an ICE Tree view, nothing comes up. I have to select the ICETree itself, then update the ICE Tree view to see it. That's quite annoying. Christian -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email. -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email. -- To unsubscribe: mail softimage-requ...@listproc.autodesk.com with subject unsubscribe and reply to the confirmation email.
Re: SI selections driving me nuts...
I don't know what the shortcuts are for the Maya layout, but I would assume that there are two different shortcuts for the polygon selection tools. By SI defaults, Y is polygon rectangle, U is polygon raycast, E is edge rectangle, I is edge raycast, T is point rectangle, and I have never in my life used point raycast so I don't know the shortcut :-) On Tue, Oct 29, 2013 at 5:10 PM, Sergio Mucino sergio.muc...@modusfx.comwrote: Okay. I'm not sure if there's a preference for this, but I REALLY want to turn it off. This is what I'm doing... 1. Go into Polygon selection mode. For some reason, the selection tool is set to Raycast, so I'll switch it back to Rectangle. 2. Select some polygons. 3. Select Adjacent - Points 4. Smooth Envelope Weights on the selected points. 5. Go back to Polygon selection mode. The select tool is set back to Raycast!! I have to change it with EVERY CHANGE I do! And I have to repeat this operation several dozens of times. SI is driving me crazy with this. Is there a preference somewhere to NEVER change the selection tool unless I explicitly do it? Thanks for any help! -- Sergio Mucino_Signature_email.gif
Controlling a parameter live via slider through scripting
Hi list, My script generates a bevel operator on an object. I then want a PPG to pop up that allows the user to change certain parameters of the bevel operator. These parameters should update whenever the values in the PPG are changed. However, they only update after the PPG is closed via OK. Can someone point me in the right direction here? Script is roughly as follows: # Lots of stuff after which a bevel operator (op) is generated MyPSet = A.ActiveSceneRoot.AddProperty(CustomProperty, False, Bevel_Options) MyLayout = MyPSet.PPGLayout MyPSet.AddParameter3(PBevelRatio, c.siFloat, 10, 0.01, 100) MySlider = MyLayout.AddItem(PBevelRatio, Ratio, c.siControlNumber) A.InspectObj(MyPSet, , Choose Bevel Options, c.siModal, False) op.Parameters(ratio).Value = MyPSet.Parameters(PBevelRatio).Value Thank you Christian
Re: Controlling a parameter live via slider through scripting
I may be doing it wrong because I've never used this, but I don't seem to be able to access the operator by doing this? The operator is defined outside the injected script. On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 12:37 PM, gareth bell garethb...@outlook.com wrote: I think you need some PPG.Logic http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112id=14003709linkID=12544120 using an _OnChanged callback -- Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2013 12:29:57 +0100 Subject: Controlling a parameter live via slider through scripting From: cgo...@googlemail.com To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Hi list, My script generates a bevel operator on an object. I then want a PPG to pop up that allows the user to change certain parameters of the bevel operator. These parameters should update whenever the values in the PPG are changed. However, they only update after the PPG is closed via OK. Can someone point me in the right direction here? Script is roughly as follows: # Lots of stuff after which a bevel operator (op) is generated MyPSet = A.ActiveSceneRoot.AddProperty(CustomProperty, False, Bevel_Options) MyLayout = MyPSet.PPGLayout MyPSet.AddParameter3(PBevelRatio, c.siFloat, 10, 0.01, 100) MySlider = MyLayout.AddItem(PBevelRatio, Ratio, c.siControlNumber) A.InspectObj(MyPSet, , Choose Bevel Options, c.siModal, False) op.Parameters(ratio).Value = MyPSet.Parameters(PBevelRatio).Value Thank you Christian
Re: Controlling a parameter live via slider through scripting
No, it's not Immediate Mode. After the PPG is closed, the operator values update correctly. But they don't update when changing the slider value while the PPG is open. I will delete the custom property once the user closes the PPG, so I think it's not too important where it's stored. On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Stefan Kubicek s...@tidbit-images.comwrote: Could it be that you have immediate mode enabled? Also, why do you store the parameters in a global PPG in the SceneRoot rather than on the actual operator per object? Hi list, My script generates a bevel operator on an object. I then want a PPG to pop up that allows the user to change certain parameters of the bevel operator. These parameters should update whenever the values in the PPG are changed. However, they only update after the PPG is closed via OK. Can someone point me in the right direction here? Script is roughly as follows: # Lots of stuff after which a bevel operator (op) is generated MyPSet = A.ActiveSceneRoot.AddProperty(CustomProperty, False, Bevel_Options) MyLayout = MyPSet.PPGLayout MyPSet.AddParameter3(PBevelRatio, c.siFloat, 10, 0.01, 100) MySlider = MyLayout.AddItem(PBevelRatio, Ratio, c.siControlNumber) A.InspectObj(MyPSet, , Choose Bevel Options, c.siModal, False) op.Parameters(ratio).Value = MyPSet.Parameters(PBevelRatio).Value Thank you Christian -- --- 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: Controlling a parameter live via slider through scripting
Thank you for the links, I think these contain what I need. What would be the standard way for controlling operators? I'm not trying to do anything special, really just looking for the most straightforward way to: 1) Add a bevel operator 2) Allow the user to change settings of the bevel operator 3) Freeze the object 4) Perform additional modeling operations Step 2) is the only part where I need interactive user input. Once the user is happy and clicks OK, steps 3) and 4) must be automatically performed by the script. On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 1:12 PM, Stefan Kubicek s...@tidbit-images.com wrote: It is quite unusual to update operators based on another global PPG's parameter I think, though theoretically it should work if the operator uses the Property's relevant parameters as an input. Check out http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2014/en_us/sdkguide/si_om/CustomOperator.html and in particular: http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2014/en_us/sdkguide/si_om/CustomOperator.AddInputPort.html No, it's not Immediate Mode. After the PPG is closed, the operator values update correctly. But they don't update when changing the slider value while the PPG is open. I will delete the custom property once the user closes the PPG, so I think it's not too important where it's stored. On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Stefan Kubicek s...@tidbit-images.comwrote: Could it be that you have immediate mode enabled? Also, why do you store the parameters in a global PPG in the SceneRoot rather than on the actual operator per object? Hi list, My script generates a bevel operator on an object. I then want a PPG to pop up that allows the user to change certain parameters of the bevel operator. These parameters should update whenever the values in the PPG are changed. However, they only update after the PPG is closed via OK. Can someone point me in the right direction here? Script is roughly as follows: # Lots of stuff after which a bevel operator (op) is generated MyPSet = A.ActiveSceneRoot.AddProperty(CustomProperty, False, Bevel_Options) MyLayout = MyPSet.PPGLayout MyPSet.AddParameter3(PBevelRatio, c.siFloat, 10, 0.01, 100) MySlider = MyLayout.AddItem(PBevelRatio, Ratio, c.siControlNumber) A.InspectObj(MyPSet, , Choose Bevel Options, c.siModal, False) op.Parameters(ratio).Value = MyPSet.Parameters(PBevelRatio).Value Thank you Christian -- --- 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-- -- --- 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: Controlling a parameter live via slider through scripting
Thank you everyone for the additional tips! On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 8:20 AM, Stefan Kubicek s...@tidbit-images.com wrote: The cleanest way I suppose would be to have the PPG reside on the operator directly. Write a command to apply the op and display its PPG (points 1 and 2 in your list), then on the PPG there could be a button (calling a second command for instance) that freezes the object and performs your additional modeling operations (points 3 and 4). That's what I'd do. You could even create menu items for your command(s) and anchor them in one of the existing menus so you can call the operation(s) from there. Thank you for the links, I think these contain what I need. What would be the standard way for controlling operators? I'm not trying to do anything special, really just looking for the most straightforward way to: 1) Add a bevel operator 2) Allow the user to change settings of the bevel operator 3) Freeze the object 4) Perform additional modeling operations Step 2) is the only part where I need interactive user input. Once the user is happy and clicks OK, steps 3) and 4) must be automatically performed by the script. On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 1:12 PM, Stefan Kubicek s...@tidbit-images.comwrote: It is quite unusual to update operators based on another global PPG's parameter I think, though theoretically it should work if the operator uses the Property's relevant parameters as an input. Check out http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2014/en_us/sdkguide/si_om/CustomOperator.html and in particular: http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2014/en_us/sdkguide/si_om/CustomOperator.AddInputPort.html No, it's not Immediate Mode. After the PPG is closed, the operator values update correctly. But they don't update when changing the slider value while the PPG is open. I will delete the custom property once the user closes the PPG, so I think it's not too important where it's stored. On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Stefan Kubicek s...@tidbit-images.comwrote: Could it be that you have immediate mode enabled? Also, why do you store the parameters in a global PPG in the SceneRoot rather than on the actual operator per object? Hi list, My script generates a bevel operator on an object. I then want a PPG to pop up that allows the user to change certain parameters of the bevel operator. These parameters should update whenever the values in the PPG are changed. However, they only update after the PPG is closed via OK. Can someone point me in the right direction here? Script is roughly as follows: # Lots of stuff after which a bevel operator (op) is generated MyPSet = A.ActiveSceneRoot.AddProperty(CustomProperty, False, Bevel_Options) MyLayout = MyPSet.PPGLayout MyPSet.AddParameter3(PBevelRatio, c.siFloat, 10, 0.01, 100) MySlider = MyLayout.AddItem(PBevelRatio, Ratio, c.siControlNumber) A.InspectObj(MyPSet, , Choose Bevel Options, c.siModal, False) op.Parameters(ratio).Value = MyPSet.Parameters(PBevelRatio).Value Thank you Christian -- --- 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-- -- --- 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-- -- --- 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: Controlling a parameter live via slider through scripting
Oh wow, thank you so much for pointing this out! It all makes sense now. On Thu, Nov 7, 2013 at 2:59 AM, Benjamin Paschke ben.pasc...@rsp.com.auwrote: I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, but I think it's because you are inspecting the PPG in siModal mode. siModal will give you a box to say OK or Cancel, but yes, changes are not reflected live in the scene. This is what modal means. On 05/11/13 21:59, Christian Gotzinger wrote: Hi list, My script generates a bevel operator on an object. I then want a PPG to pop up that allows the user to change certain parameters of the bevel operator. These parameters should update whenever the values in the PPG are changed. However, they only update after the PPG is closed via OK. Can someone point me in the right direction here? Script is roughly as follows: # Lots of stuff after which a bevel operator (op) is generated MyPSet = A.ActiveSceneRoot.AddProperty(CustomProperty, False, Bevel_Options) MyLayout = MyPSet.PPGLayout MyPSet.AddParameter3(PBevelRatio, c.siFloat, 10, 0.01, 100) MySlider = MyLayout.AddItem(PBevelRatio, Ratio, c.siControlNumber) A.InspectObj(MyPSet, , Choose Bevel Options, c.siModal, False) op.Parameters(ratio).Value = MyPSet.Parameters(PBevelRatio).Value Thank you Christian
Re: positivity
Thank you, finally some positivity! I never participate in all the rants because they annoy me to no end. On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 12:50 PM, adrian wyer adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.com wrote: Hey guys, just wanted to raise some points regarding the general mood of users and the future of our little group Lately the list has been falling into the habit of turning many threads into a doom saying, end-of-the-world kind of vibe (not discounting my self here) When i first joined this list (and the much missed Discussion list) it was an invaluable resource for shared knowledge, instruction, encouragement and feedback (both positive and negative) also it was great place to find out about cheese and monkeys! (i'm looking at you Ed) While i still find the list to be a hugely valuable resource for techniques and news, we are occasionally running into the doom laden tech equivalent of Godwin's law! This list is a gift, as many of you know, when compared with other online forums/mailing lists, in that it's mostly self moderated and, on the whole, a nice place to hang out. There's obviously been some doubt and uncertainty regarding the future of our software (no different from many other package's forums, the industry IS constantly shifting), and believe me i have a VERY vested interest in the continued use of Soft, i have NO intention of abandoning ship at the first sign of choppy waters. (frankly i'd rather step away from the computer, than be forced to learn an older/inferior application) But there IS a future, the app isn't dead, the community might be smaller, but there is still a wealth of skill and experience here, and i hope, by force of will, we'll be able to keep the fires burning! If anything is going to bring about the end of Softimage as we know it, it won't be some bean counter in an office at Autodyne (cyberdesk?) it will be the lack of users While we can't 'make' autodesk push soft, our work speaks volumes for it's quality, and that work is getting better and more high profile than it's been in ages. What we CAN do is tell people in the industry how enabling the software is, how it helps us hit deadlines, create amazing imagery and break technical boundaries that other DCC apps really do struggle with. By spreading the word other software users and students get to hear what a great app it is, they might try it, they might get hooked, and then we benefit by having a new talent pool. If there's demand, then more courses will be taught using the app and as long as freelancers keep coming up through the ranks, there'll be a demand for new versions of the software (and new innovations and features) I have friends who've come across from other apps to use Soft, primarily for ICE, but then have realised what a great all round app it is come for the ICE, stay for the object model/rendertree/passes etc, etc, etc! I'm not preaching/ranting (much) i just want to put it on a public space that i love my software, i believe we are empowered to help keep it alive, and they'll get it off me when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!! oh and merry christmas, you cheesy monkey boys (and girls) a Adrian Wyer Fluid Pictures 75-77 Margaret St. London W1W 8SY ++44(0) 207 580 0829 adrian.w...@fluid-pictures.com www.fluid-pictures.com Fluid Pictures Limited is registered in England and Wales. Company number:5657815 VAT number: 872 6893 71
OT: Organizing files that belong together
Hi list, We have a digital city model that's divided up into several hundred squares. Our projects require us to make different versions of these squares for planning purposes. So for any given square, we may have 4 or 5 different versions. The more projects we do, the more complicated it gets for us to keep track of what belongs (and what fits) together. When we need to quickly prepare a file that contains City model with Project X + Project Y, we have two main problems: a) For squares with multiple versions we need to figure out which of these versions are part of Project X and which are Project Y. b) We need to figure out how squares may be combined. Let's say that the square F003_C belongs to Project X, but square G003 is not part of Project X. We now can't be sure which version(s) of G003 properly match(es) F003_C at the seam. I'm unsure how common a problem this is and whether I explained it properly. Does anybody have any pointers as to what may be a good way to tackle this? Maybe some kind of specialized software? Thank you Christian
Re: OT: Organizing files that belong together
Thank you for the response, Angus. I need to expand a bit on what I wrote already. The files are all MAX files (we use Soft, Maya and Max and store final files in MAX format), but we're looking for an external tool to help us with the organizing. What I'd really like is this: I pick a file, and the tool tells me which projects this file belongs to (some square versions fit multiple projects) and which neighboring squares match at the edges. So I pick file F003_C, and the tool tells me that this is a square of Project X and Project Z, and that fitting neighbor squares are G003_C, G003_D, F004_A, E003_A, F002_A and F002_D We do work off of base squares and edit those, but projects overlap, some square versions are used in multiple projects, so it's rather complicated. For instance, I can't be sure that G003_C fits G004_C. On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 12:24 PM, Angus Davidson angus.david...@wits.ac.zawrote: My way of thinking of this would be to do it with versioning. Ie for each city square you have a base mesh possibly as emdl to be referenced in. e.g. square_001_base In your first project you will pull those in and place via reference so their edges are correct. Once you have that you can then create different versions of the base squares wether its by naming convention i.e. square_001_x, square_001_y or something like Git / mercurial Then in order to change which squares you pull into the project you can just edit the scntoc file for file bases versioning , or the files will be replaced by the correct ones if you use some form of source control. You could also possibly do it via Level of detail proxies (they will be about the same amount of detail but that’s not really an issue for this) I am sure there is also likely a scripting way to do this easily as well. Kind regards Angus From: Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com Reply-To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Date: Tuesday 07 January 2014 at 12:56 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: OT: Organizing files that belong together Hi list, We have a digital city model that's divided up into several hundred squares. Our projects require us to make different versions of these squares for planning purposes. So for any given square, we may have 4 or 5 different versions. The more projects we do, the more complicated it gets for us to keep track of what belongs (and what fits) together. When we need to quickly prepare a file that contains City model with Project X + Project Y, we have two main problems: a) For squares with multiple versions we need to figure out which of these versions are part of Project X and which are Project Y. b) We need to figure out how squares may be combined. Let's say that the square F003_C belongs to Project X, but square G003 is not part of Project X. We now can't be sure which version(s) of G003 properly match(es) F003_C at the seam. I'm unsure how common a problem this is and whether I explained it properly. Does anybody have any pointers as to what may be a good way to tackle this? Maybe some kind of specialized software? Thank you Christian This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary.
Re: OT: Organizing files that belong together
Hi Angus, All versions of a square have the same grid coordinates, yes. We can't generate an entire grid for each project because the amount of data would be through the roof. We have over 200 squares and to date more than 30 projects. Therefore, we only edit those squares that are relevant to a given project. The rest of the squares are then loaded either from our base squares or from another project if multiple projects must be displayed. But we never know whether the squares of one project can be mixed and matched with neighboring squares from another project. I know that we will have to make sure that the file information or database is constantly updated, but we would simply make this part of our checklist when wrapping up a project. Let's say we've output five new squares for a new project. We would then ensure that the information for those squares and all neighbors is updated before moving on. You do have a point though, in that if we ever forget about this it'll be bad :-/ The problem is that the scope is ever increasing. So far we've been able to keep track of things manually, but lately it's been getting harder and harder, and we absolutely need a solution soon. On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 2:39 PM, Angus Davidson angus.david...@wits.ac.zawrote: Hi Christian a few questions then ;) Will the square and its versions always be at the same coordinates on the grid? In the scenario that a square fits multiple projects is it not possible to just have multiple copies of the same file (or can max do standins ? That way you have a grid for each project where you will be sure that the edges match. the problem is once you go past 5 or so iterations the number of variables is going to make it nearly impossible to keep all of the edges matching up. Think of a chess board. If you click and set a project , say X to a square it should be able to tell you which adjoining squares should be loaded. If you right click on the square you can get a list of the various versions which still have matching edges Then you generate a file list and import those into max. I think trying to keep that information on each file just needs one person to forget to update and your screwed. You need to abstract the physical file and the overall grid data. -- *From:* Christian Gotzinger [cgo...@googlemail.com] *Sent:* 07 January 2014 02:36 PM *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com *Subject:* Re: OT: Organizing files that belong together Thank you for the response, Angus. I need to expand a bit on what I wrote already. The files are all MAX files (we use Soft, Maya and Max and store final files in MAX format), but we're looking for an external tool to help us with the organizing. What I'd really like is this: I pick a file, and the tool tells me which projects this file belongs to (some square versions fit multiple projects) and which neighboring squares match at the edges. So I pick file F003_C, and the tool tells me that this is a square of Project X and Project Z, and that fitting neighbor squares are G003_C, G003_D, F004_A, E003_A, F002_A and F002_D We do work off of base squares and edit those, but projects overlap, some square versions are used in multiple projects, so it's rather complicated. For instance, I can't be sure that G003_C fits G004_C. On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 12:24 PM, Angus Davidson angus.david...@wits.ac.za wrote: My way of thinking of this would be to do it with versioning. Ie for each city square you have a base mesh possibly as emdl to be referenced in. e.g. square_001_base In your first project you will pull those in and place via reference so their edges are correct. Once you have that you can then create different versions of the base squares wether its by naming convention i.e. square_001_x, square_001_y or something like Git / mercurial Then in order to change which squares you pull into the project you can just edit the scntoc file for file bases versioning , or the files will be replaced by the correct ones if you use some form of source control. You could also possibly do it via Level of detail proxies (they will be about the same amount of detail but that’s not really an issue for this) I am sure there is also likely a scripting way to do this easily as well. Kind regards Angus From: Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com Reply-To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Date: Tuesday 07 January 2014 at 12:56 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: OT: Organizing files that belong together Hi list, We have a digital city model that's divided up into several hundred squares. Our projects require us to make different versions of these squares for planning purposes. So for any given square, we may have 4 or 5 different versions. The more projects we do, the more complicated
Re: OT: Organizing files that belong together
Thank you for the input, Angus. I like your idea of tracking edges, that makes a lot of sense and is something that I'll definitely look into. Regarding a tool that might help with organizing this, I take it there may not be anything out there that applies to our needs. We use Perforce, and that seems to have a new utility called Git Fusion, but the whole thing scares me somewhat because it looks extremely complex (and none of us even have any clue about Git itself). Maybe I can write a little Python thingy that does what we need. Of course we could also just create some sort of spreadsheet, but the usability of a spreadsheet is crap. On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 11:40 AM, Angus Davidson angus.david...@wits.ac.zawrote: Ugg Ascii art didn’t come out right A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B3 C1 C2 C3 Hopefully this come out This communication is intended for the addressee only. It is confidential. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately and destroy the original message. You may not copy or disseminate this communication without the permission of the University. Only authorised signatories are competent to enter into agreements on behalf of the University and recipients are thus advised that the content of this message may not be legally binding on the University and may contain the personal views and opinions of the author, which are not necessarily the views and opinions of The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. All agreements between the University and outsiders are subject to South African Law unless the University agrees in writing to the contrary.
Re: Survey - how would you do this?
Here's my take on it (will take an hour or so before the link shows up) https://vimeo.com/86461624 7 minutes to set up, but no collision avoidance. Not sure how best to automate collision avoidance without ICE or scripting. Maybe rigid body dynamics with a big convex hull? But that's not allowed I suppose ;-) Christian On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 8:23 PM, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.com wrote: An artist came to my desk yesterday asking how to do what I felt was a simple task, but after getting 80% through it I ran into a speed bump realizing it needed custom scripting or other advanced tools to fully resolve to satisfaction. I had to give him a procedure that was 'good enough'. This problem has multiple solutions, but I am curious how others would solve it: The problem: Artist must create an asteroid belt around a planet. The asteroids are likely 2D sprites which must face the camera and tumble as they orbit, but could be 3D objects as well. Asteroids must vary in size, shape, and animation speed (linear as well as rotational). Asteroids cannot collide with anything. Movement is generally slow - like a screen saver for your computer desktop. Asteroid positions are jittered within the belt. The question: Dispersing objects into a ring is fairly straightforward through a number of techniques, but how do you apply the random jitter to the object positions? The rules: - Cannot use ICE - Cannot use custom scripts, custom operators, or shaders. - Must only use tools out of the box that a junior or staff level artist would know how to use. - Must be able to create the asteroid belt, from scratch to completion, in less than 30 minutes - and be iteration friendly to react to art director feedback. - Ideally, the belt could be made a child of the planet in encompasses so it can be reoriented with respect to changes in the planet's size/shape/tilt/orbit. - Final output must be able to exist with full integrity on its own in a vacuum. Cannot not have dependencies on custom code, external assets, or special case logic. - Asteroid belt fits within the default grid as seen in the scene camera. Think torus with diameter 40 SI units, and cross section of roughly 3 SI Units diameter Ready.GO! Matt
Re: Survey - how would you do this?
Vimeo tells me that the video starts converting in 35 minutes. Link should work then, sorry about the inconvenience. On Wed, Feb 12, 2014 at 12:03 AM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frwrote: Link not working here.. Le 11/02/2014 23:58, Christian Gotzinger a écrit : Here's my take on it (will take an hour or so before the link shows up) https://vimeo.com/86461624 7 minutes to set up, but no collision avoidance. Not sure how best to automate collision avoidance without ICE or scripting. Maybe rigid body dynamics with a big convex hull? But that's not allowed I suppose ;-) Christian On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 8:23 PM, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.comwrote: An artist came to my desk yesterday asking how to do what I felt was a simple task, but after getting 80% through it I ran into a speed bump realizing it needed custom scripting or other advanced tools to fully resolve to satisfaction. I had to give him a procedure that was 'good enough'. This problem has multiple solutions, but I am curious how others would solve it: The problem: Artist must create an asteroid belt around a planet. The asteroids are likely 2D sprites which must face the camera and tumble as they orbit, but could be 3D objects as well. Asteroids must vary in size, shape, and animation speed (linear as well as rotational). Asteroids cannot collide with anything. Movement is generally slow - like a screen saver for your computer desktop. Asteroid positions are jittered within the belt. The question: Dispersing objects into a ring is fairly straightforward through a number of techniques, but how do you apply the random jitter to the object positions? The rules: - Cannot use ICE - Cannot use custom scripts, custom operators, or shaders. - Must only use tools out of the box that a junior or staff level artist would know how to use. - Must be able to create the asteroid belt, from scratch to completion, in less than 30 minutes - and be iteration friendly to react to art director feedback. - Ideally, the belt could be made a child of the planet in encompasses so it can be reoriented with respect to changes in the planet's size/shape/tilt/orbit. - Final output must be able to exist with full integrity on its own in a vacuum. Cannot not have dependencies on custom code, external assets, or special case logic. - Asteroid belt fits within the default grid as seen in the scene camera. Think torus with diameter 40 SI units, and cross section of roughly 3 SI Units diameter Ready.GO! Matt
Re: Survey - how would you do this?
Whoops, while cleaning up my account I managed to delete the video. The correct (and now working) link is: https://vimeo.com/86464710 On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 11:58 PM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Here's my take on it (will take an hour or so before the link shows up)
Re: Survey - how would you do this?
I don't think you can compare ICE to those other examples you described. At this point, I think the only way for ICE to go down is for the entire package to be discontinued. We are tiny compared to your place, but we also need to build assets that last us for a long time. I use ICE for a lot of these things without hesitation because I really don't see it being ripped out or becoming unsupported at any point. Also, I find it very stable; I've done many crazy things with it, and while it can sometimes be slow, it does not crash pretty much ever. Granted, kinematics is an area where I've seen some flaky behavior, but this may be from back when they weren't officially supported as I don't need kinematics much these days. On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 12:01 AM, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.comwrote: Part of it is circumstance, as in we only have so many resources. For example, our art department is 100+, but I'm the only one in the department who writes code and I'm currently tasked with significantly higher priority issues helping out an under staffed engineering department than writing one-offs for every artist who needs a button. The other part is pipeline management of a large scale software development effort. We have a feature film sized team working to build a high profile AAA title. With an engine and tools under constant evolution, and life expectancy of 15+ years, you must choose methods of content creation which can withstand changes to the software, such as Softimage, as well as changes to the game itself. An asset created today must expect to live for 10+ years without any further maintenance. If given the choice between creating an asteroid belt using constraints vs. ICE, we'll probably opt for constraints because we know it's a fairly stable and mature system, which cannot be said for ICE. We've been bitten many times already such as when we created a number of simulations back in XSI 5 using the Softimage particle system only for the particle system to be ripped out and replaced with ICE. We can no longer open those assets in Softimage. Same happened again with updates to the realtime shader APIs. So now we must either live with their current state of dysfunction, or rebuild from scratch. On projects of this magnitude, risk assessment has a very high priority and taken extremely seriously because one bad move can literally sink the project if the ripple effect is large enough. While we do take measures to abstract data from commercial tools, we only have so much programming power in house to do so. The point is we cannot subscribe to workflows which are prone to human error. Creating temporary data and expecting the artist to clean up after himself has proven to not be reliable as assets are referenced by other assets all the time. If crap is left around, then anybody referencing that asset also inherits the crap which results in bugs in game. In film/video you can sweep things under the carpet if they aren't perfect as long as the problem doesn't show up on camera. We don't have that luxury. What you make has to be functional and optimal for a live game environment, conservative on resources, and not make any assumptions how it will be used. Function has higher priority than looking pretty. There's a lot more to it, but I think you get the gist of it. Matt -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Ponthieux, Joseph G. (LARC-E1A)[LITES] Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 10:59 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Survey - how would you do this? So cheese and monkeys aside. After 25 years as a 3D animator I've never worked in games. So from a serious perspective I simply don't understand. It's not clear to me why you aren't able to use ICE or scripts and freeze those construction connections sending only the raw assets over without ICE or scripting. What is it about this pipeline which makes that difficult? -- Joey Ponthieux LaRC Information Technology Enhanced Services (LITES) Mymic Technical Services NASA Langley Research Center __ Opinions stated here-in are strictly those of the author and do not represent the opinions of NASA or any other party. -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Matt Lind Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2014 1:35 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Survey - how would you do this? We'd have to add support for ICE in our exporter and pipeline management tools. We don't have resources to do that at present. If the artist doesn't clean up after himself responsibly, it creates a lot of problems. Matt -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
Re: Python and PPG
This should do: parentObject = ppgObject.Parent On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 10:51 AM, Szabolcs Matefy szabol...@crytek.comwrote: Meanwhile I resolved this...but another issue. How can I refer to the object to which the PPG is attached? Cheers *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Szabolcs Matefy *Sent:* Friday, February 28, 2014 10:23 AM *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com *Subject:* Python and PPG Hey guys I have to create a dialog to manage some actions. I want to load the actions from the mixer into a listbox, but I really can't manage it in Python. I would like to learn Python, but it seems that it'll be a hard beginning... So, I've created the property using the waizard, and now I'd like to edit the code. I've replaced the DefineLAyout function oLayout.AddItem(Actions) to oList = oLayout.AddItem(Actions,A, C.siControlListBox) oList.UIItems = [One,One,Two,Two] but nothing really happens...SDK docs has not much sample for PPG in Python ___ 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: ICE migration thread. no tears here )))
That's precisely what I intend to do. Mix Houdini with Modo for modeling and throw Fabric Splice on top, and I think you've got a pretty solid replacement for Soft. Of course I say all this without every having tried Houdini or Modo myself because I had had no need. If Autodesk kills Soft, I just hope that many, many users and studios switch to non-Autodesk software. Unfortunately, I believe that most will (have to) switch to Maya, which seems to be Autodesk's plan. This whole thing almost makes me angry. I see images of Charlton Heston in the sand, staring in disbelief at the statue of liberty. What have you done, Autodesk? On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 6:18 PM, Maurício PC goneba...@gmail.com wrote: I asked Arman Yahin from Main Road|Post and he said it was all Houdini except modeling, which was done in Maya. Since we can easily switch Maya modeling for Softimage or Modo modeling it's all good
Re: ICE migration thread. no tears here )))
Of course, I will stick with SI for as long as possible. But in parallel I'll have to look at the road ahead and figure out where I'll go. Ideally, SideFX will realize that SI has left a gap and step up its game in the areas that are lacking (modeling and animation from what I gather), so that it does not need a companion app. On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 7:23 PM, olivier jeannel olivier.jean...@noos.frwrote: I just wouldn't like to need 2 packages to suit my needs. It complicate the pipe, and in small small company it's a pain. Not all of us are doing supa-dupa vfx movies... Will stick to SI as long as possible (hold my breath). Le 01/03/2014 18:59, Christian Gotzinger a écrit : That's precisely what I intend to do. Mix Houdini with Modo for modeling and throw Fabric Splice on top, and I think you've got a pretty solid replacement for Soft. Of course I say all this without every having tried Houdini or Modo myself because I had had no need. If Autodesk kills Soft, I just hope that many, many users and studios switch to non-Autodesk software. Unfortunately, I believe that most will (have to) switch to Maya, which seems to be Autodesk's plan. This whole thing almost makes me angry. I see images of Charlton Heston in the sand, staring in disbelief at the statue of liberty. What have you done, Autodesk? On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 6:18 PM, Maurício PC goneba...@gmail.com wrote: I asked Arman Yahin from Main Road|Post and he said it was all Houdini except modeling, which was done in Maya. Since we can easily switch Maya modeling for Softimage or Modo modeling it's all good
Re: render flavor for architecture rendering
If I had to do an architectural walkthrough right now, I'd use Redshift for sure. That thing is incredible, you may not even need a farm. On Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 12:32 PM, Rob Wuijster r...@casema.nl wrote: V-Ray? RedShift is very interesting too, but not sure if that will work properly on a farm.. Rob \/-\/\/ On 2-8-2012 20:15, Sandy Sutherland wrote: Cough..ARNOLD.cough...without a doubt.. Speaking from experience. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ -- *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [ softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Kris Rivel [ krisri...@gmail.com] *Sent:* 02 August 2012 19:56 *To:* Softimage List *Subject:* render flavor for architecture rendering Quick question..what's the flavor of choice for rendering architectural walk-throughs in Soft these days? I may be doing a few of them. I'm thinking of just man-handling MR into submission but wondering if Arnold, 3Delight or whatever may have a few more easy options for doing some great bounce lighting, GI, etc. Its not just stills so it needs to be render farm and sequence friendly. Thanks for any opinions or suggestions. Kris No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2197 / Virus Database: 2437/5173 - Release Date: 08/02/12
Ridiculous: Some great ICE improvements
I'm only half-way through the What's New list, and it seems there are a ton of useful ICE additions. All sorts of improvements regarding attributes, the ability to drag-and-drop reorder ports etc. These are things I've wanted for a long time. They would improve my everyday workflow considerably... if SI had a future. F U too Autodesk, I've already visited SideFX's homepage, am about to download the Apprentice edition and will start learning within the next few days. Christian
Re: Softimage transition audience poll
Thank you for this detailed insight, Vincent. This makes me feel better, and almost eager to try Houdini now. I know it's very powerful, just a little worried about the day-to-day workflow. On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 8:10 PM, Vincent Fortin vfor...@gmail.com wrote: This is just my 0.02c regarding Houdini pricing... You can always negociate with SideFX. They are a very open company driven by passion. Studios interested in making a transition should discuss with Janet Fraser ja...@sidefx.com Yes the extra $$$ for the floating license is weird. IMHO they should revise that pricing. But otherwise, workstation license is 4,495$. Autodesk users are often hesitant to pay for upgrades because they don't feel like they're getting much in return. With Houdini you get blown away every release. And your studio can have its say in the development roadmap. Mantra is a very solid renderer, actively developed by SideFX. I wonder how much studios pay for their rendering needs? Mantra rendering is FREE (aka unlimited). It's both REYES and Physical. How much do studios pay for FumeFX (and Max and Vray when you don't wan't to render in scanline), render layers that don't match and need to be fixed in comp, cloth in Maya and issues related to supporting multiple softwares/plugins, licenses or upgrades that IT needs to keep track of. Yes ICE is an awesome little creation platform but has never reached maturity. It can all be done in Houdini + more. Man time is often wasted in studios, Houdini has that philosophy that everything can be offloaded to the farm, easily, without any or very little development. How much time wasted with finding the right format for storing your things on disk? XSI Models, pc2, collada, point oven, fbx, realflow .bin. I'm sure you too have tried them all! Houdini's .bgeo stores everything from points to volumes, nurbs, metaballs, custom attributes and has always supported geometry with changing topology. Can be compressed, or not. Can be made ascii. They have a standalone geometry viewer that is pretty cool. Any data stored in a .bgeo can be used as rendering proxies. But if you prefer Alembic, it is also fully integrated in the software/renderer as well as out of the box Open VDB, Open Subdivs, EXR2 and DEEP COMPOSITING (hello modernity!). How much time wasted opening 2GB scene files in Softimage or Maya? A Houdini scene is always lightweight because of its referencing philosophy. In fact , a Houdini scene is based on the UNIX file system. You can unpack a full scene on your hard drive as a directory structure. It is true when they say Houdini is a pipeline on its own. With built-in environment variables, you can set up a small pipeline very easily. Often times I find myself doing a full project within the same scene. Never had any instabilities in years with Houdini. Never needed to merge in an empty scene to fix some random scene corruption. They support every Linux flavors or Windows, or Mac. They have daily builds and a 100% free learning edition with no time limitation. I see a lot of potential in Houdini Engine for games or even for film if Bifrost fails to deliver in a reasonable time frame. In fact I have become such a Houdini fanboy that every time I finish a project I'm tempted to send flowers and chocolate to Toronto. Of course your mileage may vary but overall I don't think Houdini is so overpriced considering all the problems you'll skip with it. I choose to stick with the real passionate people, not the greedy blood suckers. All the insecurity Autodesks generates regarding its development roadmap and licensing schemes has been doing too much damage in its user base (includes Maya for the last 10 years). Incidentally, if you visit the Houdini forums, you'll find a community that is very mature, positive and helpful. Vincent On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Angus Davidson angus.david...@wits.ac.za wrote: Mostly a lack of respect. -- *From:* Ben Rogall [xsi_l...@shaders.moederogall.com] *Sent:* 04 March 2014 07:42 PM *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com *Subject:* Re: Softimage transition audience poll Yep. Or $4495 for a workstation license and then $2495 per year. For a minute there it looked like Autodesk was doing something half reasonable with the free transition offer to Softimage + Maya. But then I saw that accepting that means that I would not be allowed to use Softimage at all after February 2016. I'm not even sure what Autodesk gains from that. Ben On 3/4/2014 11:00 AM, Francois Lord wrote: What I find interesting in the fact that people want to jump the Autodesk boat is that they seem to forget they have to buy a new software. For a company that relies entirely on Softimage, that decision is not a cheap one. Houdini is 7000$ for a floating license plus 4000$ per year! http://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_contenttask=viewid=385Itemid=190 In two
Re: Let's Rock Soft with more love
I'm with Raffaele, I think it doesn't make much sense to cling to SI when it comes to developing tools. I've built a ton of custom Soft and ICE tools that help us in our workflow, but ever since the news has been dropped I don't intend to spend much more time developing them further. This is a dead end, and I'd rather spend time porting these tools to another application, be that Maya or Houdini, than pour even more time into something that's not coming back to life. I'm not sure at what point in life I learned how to move on, but that learning process had nothing to do with software. And nowadays, even as one of the greatest SI fanboys out there, I have a very sober, matter-of-fact-ish point of view on events such as this. On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 4:18 AM, Raffaele Fragapane raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote: Can I humbly suggest TDs spend their time more productively instead, for both themselves and the community, and start looking at other vendors? We can wish upon a star all we want, but, as hurtful as it might be, Soft is dead and will not be brought back to life. You can tazer the corpse until it spasms, but it won't be life.
Re: Scrub timeline while mouse is in viewport?
It may be the hard way, but finding out about this neat trick was worth it. I had no idea you could do that. On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 3:50 PM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.comwrote: You guys are doing it the hard way. There's already a tool for this! Been there forever: *Application.TimeSliderTool()* (You can map a key to it in the Keyboard Mapping window, in the XSI section, it's called *Time Slider Tool*.) On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 9:41 AM, Arvid Björn arvidbj...@gmail.com wrote: Nice, I learned a new trick today =) On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 12:26 PM, Luc-Eric Rousseau luceri...@gmail.comwrote: That's a cool trick Cesar. Thanks to Brent, Softimage already has that Maya tool built-in; you'll have to map it in your keymap, it's called Time Slider Tool In the Maya keymap, it's already mapped to the K key On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 12:16 AM, Siew Yi Liang soni...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Cesar: Ha, really nice! Never thought of doing it that way, here I was looking at trying to grab mouse position! :P Thanks again for coming to the rescue! Yours sincerely, Siew Yi Liang On 3/6/2014 8:42 PM, Cesar Saez wrote: Hi Siew, It's a bit of a hack but works ;) Application.SelectObj(Application) Application.SetMarking(PlayControl.Current) Application.VirtualSliderTool() Cheers!
Re: Scrub timeline while mouse is in viewport?
Maybe this works too, it's worth a try. Application.SelectObj(Autodesk.ShotCallers) Application.DeleteObj() On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 5:42 AM, Cesar Saez cesa...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Siew, It's a bit of a hack but works ;) Application.SelectObj(Application) Application.SetMarking(PlayControl.Current) Application.VirtualSliderTool() Cheers!
Re: A germ of an idea.
I think the video has got to be visually stunning. Short (i.e. doable) but very epic, and Paul's idea fits the bill. Also, I completely hate the thought of doing a documentary with interviews. How do you feel about the discontinuation of Softimage? - Well, it certainly has affected us a lot, and... *YWWWN* Seriously, who'd watch that? I'm willing to put aside time for Paul's idea. If nothing else, at least we go out with a bang. I have been using SI for around 9 years. These days I mostly do modeling, texturing, lighting and build lots of ICE tools. But in the past I've also been paid to rig, animate, matchmove and comp. So I qualify for the generalist category. Hopefully Paul can pull off the coordination of this. Christian On Wed, Mar 12, 2014 at 4:37 PM, p...@bustykelp.com wrote: Wow so that's 41 people so far!! I never imagined this would happen. Its also rather intimidating. I certainly can't lead this on my own, so who would like to help coordinate it? I'd also like to nail the basis for the idea down soon or we'll be all over the place. This is my idea, cleaned up a bit, with suggestions from Doeke Wartena who aptly likened it to Forest Gump's running sequence. I thought Greg would be a good start, as he still has a lot of followers on you-tube and is kind of known. I had a big response from the VFX industry when I made it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o9Fod9KigU We start with Greg Mutt (see above) doing a video blog about Soft being killed.. He suddenly jumps up and says You know what? Screw this!! and stomps off screen. We cut to him walking down a street with purpose. Then we cut to various other CGI characters or entities, leaving buildings, walking, running. making their way somewhere. The shots get bigger as more and more CGI things join the walking groups. Its starts getting Epic. Godzilla Stomps through times Square as a bunch of Lego-like characters run beneath him etc We see Greg again, riding on a Trex, past Mount Rushmore, as helicopters fly past . George Washington's stone face says 'Go for it Greg!' Tokyo and a bunch of Manga characters strut down the neon streets looking mean and others looking Cute join them. Paris and a bunch of Monsters stick out their thumbs to hitch a ride. a massive spaceship descends. etc ( increasingly epic ideas along these lines are up for grabs.) Eventually an awesome throng of CGI characters, and entities gather at the HQ of Autodesk.. (this could be CGI and Stylised. Black and Imposing) They are carrying banners, such as 'make Softimage not war'. They stop.. Greg hesitates, from behind him, a character walks to the door. It is a little cute Manga girl . she presses the buzzer a reply comes. 'Hello, this is Autodesk. Press 1 if you want information on Maya. Press 2 if you want information on Max, press...' (this bit needs more thought) She leans in and whispers 'Please don't kill us' SAVE SOFTIMAGE slams onto screen I don't want to force anyone to do this idea, but if the general consensus is that its a decent start then its worth building on I think. I think the good thing about it is that its a simple premise, yet allows for great creative freedom.
Re: Wise up
On Sun, Mar 16, 2014 at 2:30 AM, David Saber davidsa...@sfr.fr wrote: If Ad asks you to leave your young beautiful wife, and choose your fat ugly mother in law instead, would you accept? Well, to be fair, Autodesk are promising to apply many layers of makeup to her face and make her use the treadmill twice a week. Also, many many older men are lusting after the rich in-law. Can't you see that she's better for you?
Re: Houdini Weaknesses
From everything I've seen so far, Houdini is built in a very logical fashion, and I'm not under the impression that it's so much harder to learn than other applications. My experience with it has been very positive so far. I haven't had much time to put aside for learning Houdini yet, I'd say I've spent about 8 hours watching tutorials and about 25 hours getting to know Houdini. When working with the application myself, I exclusively looked at procedural modeling because that's what I'll need it to do first and foremost. The first steps were difficult, but once I grasped some general concepts I got up to speed rather quickly. My main issue right now is not knowing all the nodes and attributes there are. I discover new things every day, and I enjoy the experience a lot. Things I've been wanting out of ICE for a long time (support for generating curves, basic modeling operators like bevel, support for strings and text, a symbiosis between ICE tree, render tree and FX tree) are all built into Houdini. It feels like a paradise, the possibilites seem endless. Today I put together my first reasonably complex digital asset, and even though I don't know Houdini well at all yet and ICE extremely well, I'd say that it would have taken me longer to build the asset in ICE! On top of that, in ICE I would have had to jump through several hoops due to lack of curve support, the resulting tree would be a mess due to all the low level nodes it would have required, and the resulting compound would not be as easy to put together and turn into an artist-friendly UI. I know that Houdini is not the greatest viewport modeler and probably has some other shortcomings, but with regards to procedural modeling the transition from ICE has been easy and pleasurable so far. Christian On Wed, May 21, 2014 at 8:58 PM, Artur Woźniak artur.w...@gmail.com wrote: Learning Curve Wysłane z iPhone'a Dnia 21 maj 2014 o godz. 20:42 Francois Lord flordli...@gmail.com napisał(a): So... What are houdini weaknesses? What is missing in Houdini compared to Softimage? Would you run a company only using Houdini as 3D app? Why not?
Help with FBX SDK (FbxProperty)
Hi list, Does anybody have some experience with the FBX SDK? I'm writing an external Python application to analyze FBX files. Everything has worked well so far, but here's where I'm stuck: I need to read shader information, such as diffuse color or specular color. The core code inside my loop looks like this: prop_new = node.GetNextProperty(prop) if prop_new.GetName() == DiffuseColor: castProperty = fbx.FbxPropertyDouble3(prop_new) But now I can't figure out how to extract the three float values from castProperty. print castProperty.Get() tells me fbx.FbxDouble3 object at 0x000 print castProperty.Get().mData[0] tells me FbxDouble3 object has no attribute mdata Maybe I'm unable to read the documentation correctly. FbxProperty: http://docs.autodesk.com/FBX/2014/ENU/FBX-SDK-Documentation/index.html?url=cpp_ref/class_fbx_property.html,topicNumber=cpp_ref_class_fbx_property_htmlb0f98359-b7ce-427b-b82e-dff4d47ce167 FbxVectorTemplate3: http://docs.autodesk.com/FBX/2014/ENU/FBX-SDK-Documentation/index.html?url=cpp_ref/class_fbx_vector_template3.html,topicNumber=cpp_ref_class_fbx_vector_template3_htmle8f366ab-3383-4598-9d16-4a44516cf62d
Re: Help with FBX SDK (FbxProperty)
Well, of course I figure it out 3 minutes after I sent the question. castProperty.Get()[0] gives me the first of the three values. Problem solved. On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 4:26 PM, Christian Gotzinger cgo...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi list, Does anybody have some experience with the FBX SDK? I'm writing an external Python application to analyze FBX files. Everything has worked well so far, but here's where I'm stuck: I need to read shader information, such as diffuse color or specular color. The core code inside my loop looks like this: prop_new = node.GetNextProperty(prop) if prop_new.GetName() == DiffuseColor: castProperty = fbx.FbxPropertyDouble3(prop_new) But now I can't figure out how to extract the three float values from castProperty. print castProperty.Get() tells me fbx.FbxDouble3 object at 0x000 print castProperty.Get().mData[0] tells me FbxDouble3 object has no attribute mdata Maybe I'm unable to read the documentation correctly. FbxProperty: http://docs.autodesk.com/FBX/2014/ENU/FBX-SDK-Documentation/index.html?url=cpp_ref/class_fbx_property.html,topicNumber=cpp_ref_class_fbx_property_htmlb0f98359-b7ce-427b-b82e-dff4d47ce167 FbxVectorTemplate3: http://docs.autodesk.com/FBX/2014/ENU/FBX-SDK-Documentation/index.html?url=cpp_ref/class_fbx_vector_template3.html,topicNumber=cpp_ref_class_fbx_vector_template3_htmle8f366ab-3383-4598-9d16-4a44516cf62d
