Another update:
I installed Softimage|3D 3.9.2 on windows 7 along with SDK 1.9.2 and MSVC++.
Everything seems to work except for FlexLM (v6.1f). I can start the FlexLM
server, validate my license file, and checkout SI_TOOLS successfully, but
the FlexLM server then automatically shuts off. I'm wondering if installing
FlexLM in XP compatibility mode will make any difference. I am not familiar
with that procedure, so I've moved onto plan B for now.
I installed Softimage|3D 3.9.2 and MSVC++ 6.0 Professional on my old Dell
precision workstation running 32 bit Windows XP. I cannot compile plugins
using the IDE, however I can compile successfully using make files via Nmake
which basically reduces visual studio to a syntax highlighter and editor
while I work from the command line (haven't done that since writing code in
jot on IRIX). A simple test plugin embedded into the tools menu with a
dialog box appears to work and not crash.
it's amazing how far we've come in the past 15 years. SAAphire has much
less coverage than any of the XSI APIs. SAAphire is also a bit of a pain in
the butt to use as it's laborious to get simple things done. I'm writing 5x
more code to do the same work in SAAphire that I can do in XSI either
through the C++ API or scripting. On the flipside, I do find setting up a
plugin's definitions and features a little easier in SAAphire as you have
more freedom to pick and choose without having other stuff piggy backed on
top.
I did more SI3D --> XSI tests using dotXSI v3.0 which came with SI3D 3.9.2.
Everything exports just fine, but I cannot find a single version of XSI 7.5
or later that will import the generated .xsi files. Even a file containing
nothing but a cube crashes XSI. I've tried both dotXSI importers (the
original and crosswalk versions). As a test, I wrote my own dotXSI importer
in XSI, and further inspection indicates dotXSI won't serve my needs as all
polygonal geometry is triangulated and many features native to SI3D are
stripped out upon export to .xsi. I looked into the GDK dotXSI ASCII
Import/Export examples, but the templates, even if modified, still won't
support everything. So, taking on this assignment is the right move as the
only other option is to do it all by hand again. ugh.
On the plus side, I discovered a better way to get BSpline patches into XSI
faithfully. Instead of converting to a NURBS Surface like the SI3D --> XSI
importer does, I convert the BSpline patch hull to a polygon mesh, hide the
first/last row of polygons where the phantom points would normally be, then
apply subdivision smoothing to the hull to get the curvature back (The
first/last row of polygons must be retained to properly guide the smoothing
along open edges of the surface). As far as I can tell, the results are
identical to the original BSpline patch. Even the bad artifacts, such as
pinching at the poles, looks *exactly* the same. the only caveat is the U
and V step of the Patch must the same degree because subdivision smoothing
algorithm cannot operate on U and V independently.
Alright, now to get something useful done.
Matt
