RE: Softimage 2015 SDK help not working

[Songqiong Yang]

Can you open this link 
http://docs.autodesk.com/SI/2015/ENU/Softimage-Developer-Help/ ?
It works in my site.


Thanks,
Joany
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Nuno Conceicao
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2014 2:09 AM
To: No name
Subject: Softimage 2015 SDK help not working

Is it just me or the online sdk help for Softimage 2015 is not working?
<>

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Raffaele Fragapane]

Having done, at this point, bats, dragons, flying dinos, and other types of
membranes all over the place, not if you're after anything realistic
looking even quarter field.

SSS, translucency, occlusion, edge specs and all just don't work out. There
is also a massive difference in texture between the inside of a membrane
and the outside, and displacement rarely, if ever, plays well with single
sided surfaces.

You get at best crowd quality levels of look-dev out of one sided membranes.

As for Maya's wrap deformer, it's pretty embarassing. You are usually
better off with rivets on a deforming surface and using NGSkin to make the
weighting bearable (it has some decent tools to deal with those cases).
If you can write your own, and even that is a pain given Maya is
considerably deficient in dealing with point subsets access and pairing,
do, if not, the wrap deformer is like rolling the dice against bad odds.
You will occasionally win, most of the time you won't.


On Wed, Jul 2, 2014 at 7:52 AM, Matt Lind  wrote:

> If the surface is thin, why do you need a backside at all?  Can't you just
> use two-sided shading?
>
>
> Matt
>
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge
> Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 2:47 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Best Modeling Practices question
>
> It's just not the same... :(
>
> not to mention you can't edit the deformer for fringe cases of bad
> deformation.
>
> On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 5:16:44 PM, Sebastien Sterling wrote:
> > you can do this in maya, with the wrap deformer ... i feel so cheap
> > now :(
>
>
>


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

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Ben Barker]

The maya wrap has serious deficiencies. We were stuck in hell with this at
Blizzard until RnD created a wrap deformer with editable weights per point.
The SS shaders required two sided surfaces, but Ambocc shader would return
black spots if the sides got too close. We would have to assign two-color
shaders in the viewport and paint push deformers on many shots. Often times
on cloth, if the back wasn't visible, we would just inflate the crap out of
them. I got pretty good at animating clusters.


On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 5:54 PM, Meng-Yang Lu  wrote:

> Could depend on the renderer.  Some shaders work better with thickness
> when it comes to SS or translucency.
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 2:52 PM, Matt Lind 
> wrote:
>
>> If the surface is thin, why do you need a backside at all?  Can't you
>> just use two-sided shading?
>>
>>
>> Matt
>>
>>
>>
>> -Original Message-
>> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 2:47 PM
>> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>> Subject: Re: Best Modeling Practices question
>>
>> It's just not the same... :(
>>
>> not to mention you can't edit the deformer for fringe cases of bad
>> deformation.
>>
>> On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 5:16:44 PM, Sebastien Sterling wrote:
>> > you can do this in maya, with the wrap deformer ... i feel so cheap
>> > now :(
>>
>>
>>
>

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Meng-Yang Lu]

Could depend on the renderer.  Some shaders work better with thickness when
it comes to SS or translucency.


On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 2:52 PM, Matt Lind  wrote:

> If the surface is thin, why do you need a backside at all?  Can't you just
> use two-sided shading?
>
>
> Matt
>
>
>
> -Original Message-
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge
> Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 2:47 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Best Modeling Practices question
>
> It's just not the same... :(
>
> not to mention you can't edit the deformer for fringe cases of bad
> deformation.
>
> On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 5:16:44 PM, Sebastien Sterling wrote:
> > you can do this in maya, with the wrap deformer ... i feel so cheap
> > now :(
>
>
>

RE: Best Modeling Practices question

[Matt Lind]

If the surface is thin, why do you need a backside at all?  Can't you just use 
two-sided shading?


Matt



-Original Message-
From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com 
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Eric Thivierge
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 2:47 PM
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
Subject: Re: Best Modeling Practices question

It's just not the same... :(

not to mention you can't edit the deformer for fringe cases of bad deformation.

On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 5:16:44 PM, Sebastien Sterling wrote:
> you can do this in maya, with the wrap deformer ... i feel so cheap 
> now :(

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Eric Thivierge]

It's just not the same... :(

not to mention you can't edit the deformer for fringe cases of bad 
deformation.


On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 5:16:44 PM, Sebastien Sterling wrote:

you can do this in maya, with the wrap deformer ... i feel so cheap now :(

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Sebastien Sterling]

you can do this in maya, with the wrap deformer ... i feel so cheap now :(


On 1 July 2014 21:35, Eric Thivierge  wrote:

> *Sad tuba sound...
>
>
> On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 4:32:38 PM, Byron Nash wrote:
>
>> I'm not sure where the animation is taking place, maybe in Maya since
>> that's where the rig exists.
>>
>
>

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Eric Thivierge]

*Sad tuba sound...

On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 4:32:38 PM, Byron Nash wrote:

I'm not sure where the animation is taking place, maybe in Maya since
that's where the rig exists.

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Byron Nash]

I'm not sure where the animation is taking place, maybe in Maya since
that's where the rig exists. I mainly need to get it painted and cleaned up
for now.Thanks for the tips though, they are helpful.


On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 4:27 PM, Eric Turman  wrote:

> What Eric said, with the ICE cage. Alternatively if for some reason ICE is
> not an option for you,you can always GATOR it from a non-double sided,
> weighted wing geometry to ensure that both the top and the bottom are
> weighted the same.
>
> -=Eric Turman
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 3:20 PM, Eric Thivierge 
> wrote:
>
>> What Sebastian said plus you can deform the wing membrane by a non-double
>> sided, rigged wing geometry using the various ICE Cage deformers out there
>> as well. We did this on Walking With Dinosaurs quite a bit.
>>
>> Eric T.
>>
>>
>> On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 4:16:46 PM, Sebastien Sterling wrote:
>>
>>> the wing thickness needs to match up, the verts on both sides need to
>>> match up, this way when weighted identically, the two sides of the
>>> thickness move in unison, this is easily done using the apply
>>> thickness ICE deformer, you could potentially just have that live,
>>> depending on your needs, however i don't think the out of the box ICE
>>> deformer respects uv's. i'd just freeze it, and weight it as such, an
>>> other threat of interpenetration might come from your topology being
>>> inadequate for the deformation you want to perform, mesh density can
>>> also be a big issue. if the topology is to sparse interpenetration
>>> will occur if the mesh is stresed.
>>>
>>> so
>>>
>>>
>>> - make sure both sides match, as close as possible at a vertex level.
>>>
>>> - make sure your weighting is identical on both sides of the thickness
>>>
>>> - try and fix topology if it isn't clean
>>>
>>> - make sure your mesh is dense enough to support the kind of
>>> deformations you need.
>>>
>>> hope this helps.
>>>
>>> good luck
>>>
>>>
>>> On 1 July 2014 20:21, Byron Nash >> > wrote:
>>>
>>> When modeling a thin object like a bat or pterosaur wing, what is
>>> considered the best approach to avoid interpenetration when
>>> rigged? I am cleaning up a purchased model and the wing has no
>>> thickness. I'm sure this will hold up ok on screen but wondering
>>> what an experienced modeler would do? Mudbox seems to hate how
>>> this model is put together and I'm about to add the other wing
>>> side in. My only reserve is that when rigged, we may have issues
>>> keeping the front and back from penetrating.
>>>
>>> I'd love to hear what some practiced riggers and animators think.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Byron
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
>
> -=T=-
>

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Eric Turman]

What Eric said, with the ICE cage. Alternatively if for some reason ICE is
not an option for you,you can always GATOR it from a non-double sided,
weighted wing geometry to ensure that both the top and the bottom are
weighted the same.

-=Eric Turman


On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 3:20 PM, Eric Thivierge 
wrote:

> What Sebastian said plus you can deform the wing membrane by a non-double
> sided, rigged wing geometry using the various ICE Cage deformers out there
> as well. We did this on Walking With Dinosaurs quite a bit.
>
> Eric T.
>
>
> On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 4:16:46 PM, Sebastien Sterling wrote:
>
>> the wing thickness needs to match up, the verts on both sides need to
>> match up, this way when weighted identically, the two sides of the
>> thickness move in unison, this is easily done using the apply
>> thickness ICE deformer, you could potentially just have that live,
>> depending on your needs, however i don't think the out of the box ICE
>> deformer respects uv's. i'd just freeze it, and weight it as such, an
>> other threat of interpenetration might come from your topology being
>> inadequate for the deformation you want to perform, mesh density can
>> also be a big issue. if the topology is to sparse interpenetration
>> will occur if the mesh is stresed.
>>
>> so
>>
>>
>> - make sure both sides match, as close as possible at a vertex level.
>>
>> - make sure your weighting is identical on both sides of the thickness
>>
>> - try and fix topology if it isn't clean
>>
>> - make sure your mesh is dense enough to support the kind of
>> deformations you need.
>>
>> hope this helps.
>>
>> good luck
>>
>>
>> On 1 July 2014 20:21, Byron Nash > > wrote:
>>
>> When modeling a thin object like a bat or pterosaur wing, what is
>> considered the best approach to avoid interpenetration when
>> rigged? I am cleaning up a purchased model and the wing has no
>> thickness. I'm sure this will hold up ok on screen but wondering
>> what an experienced modeler would do? Mudbox seems to hate how
>> this model is put together and I'm about to add the other wing
>> side in. My only reserve is that when rigged, we may have issues
>> keeping the front and back from penetrating.
>>
>> I'd love to hear what some practiced riggers and animators think.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Byron
>>
>>
>>
>


-- 




-=T=-

Re: OT: walking city

[Sebastien Sterling]

made with 3ds max ?


On 1 July 2014 15:51, philipp seis  wrote:

> slightly OT, but i love this Houdini piece from
>
> Matt Pyke and Chris Perry. Made me watch a walk for 8 minutes !
>
> http://www.universaleverything.com/projects/walking-city/
>

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Eric Thivierge]

What Sebastian said plus you can deform the wing membrane by a 
non-double sided, rigged wing geometry using the various ICE Cage 
deformers out there as well. We did this on Walking With Dinosaurs 
quite a bit.


Eric T.

On Tuesday, July 01, 2014 4:16:46 PM, Sebastien Sterling wrote:

the wing thickness needs to match up, the verts on both sides need to
match up, this way when weighted identically, the two sides of the
thickness move in unison, this is easily done using the apply
thickness ICE deformer, you could potentially just have that live,
depending on your needs, however i don't think the out of the box ICE
deformer respects uv's. i'd just freeze it, and weight it as such, an
other threat of interpenetration might come from your topology being
inadequate for the deformation you want to perform, mesh density can
also be a big issue. if the topology is to sparse interpenetration
will occur if the mesh is stresed.

so


- make sure both sides match, as close as possible at a vertex level.

- make sure your weighting is identical on both sides of the thickness

- try and fix topology if it isn't clean

- make sure your mesh is dense enough to support the kind of
deformations you need.

hope this helps.

good luck


On 1 July 2014 20:21, Byron Nash mailto:byronn...@gmail.com>> wrote:

When modeling a thin object like a bat or pterosaur wing, what is
considered the best approach to avoid interpenetration when
rigged? I am cleaning up a purchased model and the wing has no
thickness. I'm sure this will hold up ok on screen but wondering
what an experienced modeler would do? Mudbox seems to hate how
this model is put together and I'm about to add the other wing
side in. My only reserve is that when rigged, we may have issues
keeping the front and back from penetrating.

I'd love to hear what some practiced riggers and animators think.

Thanks,
Byron

Re: Best Modeling Practices question

[Sebastien Sterling]

the wing thickness needs to match up, the verts on both sides need to match
up, this way when weighted identically, the two sides of the thickness move
in unison, this is easily done using the apply thickness ICE deformer, you
could potentially just have that live, depending on your needs, however i
don't think the out of the box ICE deformer respects uv's. i'd just freeze
it, and weight it as such, an other threat of interpenetration might come
from your topology being inadequate for the deformation you want to
perform, mesh density can also be a big issue. if the topology is to sparse
interpenetration will occur if the mesh is stresed.

so


- make sure both sides match, as close as possible at a vertex level.

- make sure your weighting is identical on both sides of the thickness

- try and fix topology if it isn't clean

- make sure your mesh is dense enough to support the kind of deformations
you need.

hope this helps.

good luck


On 1 July 2014 20:21, Byron Nash  wrote:

> When modeling a thin object like a bat or pterosaur wing, what is
> considered the best approach to avoid interpenetration when rigged? I am
> cleaning up a purchased model and the wing has no thickness. I'm sure this
> will hold up ok on screen but wondering what an experienced modeler would
> do? Mudbox seems to hate how this model is put together and I'm about to
> add the other wing side in. My only reserve is that when rigged, we may
> have issues keeping the front and back from penetrating.
>
> I'd love to hear what some practiced riggers and animators think.
>
> Thanks,
> Byron
>

Re: creative meeting

[Alok Gandhi]

Very monty pythonish!

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 1, 2014, at 9:46 PM, pedro santos  wrote:
> 
> Orignial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06de7wIM_9E
> 
> Maybe not so universal, but some nice twists here and there.
> 
> Cheers

Best Modeling Practices question

[Byron Nash]

When modeling a thin object like a bat or pterosaur wing, what is
considered the best approach to avoid interpenetration when rigged? I am
cleaning up a purchased model and the wing has no thickness. I'm sure this
will hold up ok on screen but wondering what an experienced modeler would
do? Mudbox seems to hate how this model is put together and I'm about to
add the other wing side in. My only reserve is that when rigged, we may
have issues keeping the front and back from penetrating.

I'd love to hear what some practiced riggers and animators think.

Thanks,
Byron

Softimage 2015 SDK help not working

[Nuno Conceicao]

Is it just me or the online sdk help for Softimage 2015 is not working?

Re: creative meeting

[pedro santos]

Orignial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06de7wIM_9E

Maybe not so universal, but some nice twists here and there.

Cheers

Re: creative meeting

[Nuno Conceicao]

And I though we only got to deal with this crap here in Portugal!!



On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 4:44 PM, Andi Farhall  wrote:

> it would be funny. if it weren't so close to the truth!
>
>
> ...
> http://www.hackneyeffects.com/
> https://vimeo.com/user4174293
> http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andi-farhall/b/496/b21
>
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/lord_hackney/
> http://spylon.tumblr.com/
>
> This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended
> solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or
> opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
> represent those of Hackney Effects Ltd.
>
> If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take
> any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone.
>
> Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in
> error.
> 
>
>
> --
> Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2014 11:26:13 -0400
> Subject: creative meeting
> From: magic...@bellsouth.net
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>
>
> enjoy
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg
>
> --
>
> Best Regards,
> *  Stephen P. Davidson*
>
> *(954) 552-7956 <%28954%29%20552-7956> *sdavid...@3danimationmagic.com
> *Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic*
>
>- Arthur C. Clarke
>  
>
>

RE: creative meeting

[Andi Farhall]

it would be funny. if it weren't so close to the truth!

...
http://www.hackneyeffects.com/https://vimeo.com/user4174293http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andi-farhall/b/496/b21

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lord_hackney/
http://spylon.tumblr.com/
This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended 
solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or 
opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily 
represent those of Hackney Effects Ltd.If you are not the intended recipient of 
this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy 
or show it to anyone.Please contact the sender if you believe you have received 
this email in error.

Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2014 11:26:13 -0400
Subject: creative meeting
From: magic...@bellsouth.net
To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com

enjoyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

-- 

Best Regards,
  Stephen P. Davidson 

   (954) 552-7956
sdavid...@3danimationmagic.com

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic
 - 
Arthur C. Clarke




  

creative meeting

[Stephen Davidson]

enjoy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

-- 

Best Regards,
*  Stephen P. Davidson*

*(954) 552-7956*sdavid...@3danimationmagic.com

*Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic*


 - Arthur C. Clarke

OT: walking city

[philipp seis]

slightly OT, but i love this Houdini piece from

Matt Pyke and Chris Perry. Made me watch a walk for 8 minutes !

http://www.universaleverything.com/projects/walking-city/

Re: Maya 2015 Bifrost to Softimage

[Nuno Conceicao]

I don't think there is a file description of .bif out there, maybe Autodesk
could confirm that if they check this thread, hopefully...

Yeah, maybe I could getting a .mc (actually I think is .mcc) from
Maya/bifrost, but our attempts to get that cache from bifrost didnt worked
out.



On Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 7:55 PM, Eric Mootz  wrote:

> Hey Nuno,
>
> No, it doesn't read .bif, sorry.
> Here the supported formats:
>
> * bgeo(Houdini format prior to version 12)
> * bhclassic (Houdini format prior to version 12)
> * geo  (Houdini format prior to version 12)
> * hclassic   (Houdini format prior to version 12)
> * pdb32 (Maya)
> * pdb64 (Maya)
> * mc   (3ds max / Maya)
> * ptc   (RenderMan)
> * bin   (RealFlow particle format)
> * pts   (3D Points File)
> * ptf(Maya)
> * itbl   (Houdini)
> * atbl  (Houdini)
>
> Is there a format file description of .bif somehwhere?
> If there is I could take a look at it and check whether the format is
> quickly implementable.
>
> Cheers,
> Eric
>
>
>

Re: Maya 2015 Bifrost to Softimage

[Nuno Conceicao]

Actually we managed to get the bifrost meshed geometry out into Softimage
using Alembic, the only thing is that we couldn't import the bifrost CAVs
(vorticity and velocity) into Softimage.
Maya does export those CAVs into the Alembic though (we checked by
importing the same alembic file back into maya), we just cant access the
CAVs in Softimage. Maybe someone could give a hint on how to do that...

We are also trying to use Mtoa to export a .ass file from Maya/Bifrost, but
at this point we are still trying to work out how to shade the water
properly by accessing the bifrost mesh vorticity and velocity...

I would prefer if we could access the bifrost particle cache straight in
Softimage and then mesh it there and access the particle data to drive
whatever we need, but I think that is not possible imo.



On Tue, Jul 1, 2014 at 7:16 AM, Markus Cermak  wrote:

> I don´t thing that you can get anything out of Bitfrost (export ) atm.
>
> I tried every export option , Alembic with attributes,Geo Cache, etc. and
> couldn´t get a thing out, actually I hoped it´s just me not knowing Maya
> well.
>
> Even the Bitfrost "Display Particles" would have been enough but no luck
> there.
>
> I would love to polygonize in SI and not in Maya.
>
> If u find anything pls let us know. :)
>
> Stupid Plugin when you can´t export stuff   :D
>
> mfg
> Markus
>
>  01.07.2014 00:25, Jason S wrote:
>
>>
>> I meant Bifrost as a plugin for SI, interesting :]
>>
>>
>>
>> On 06/30/14 18:12, Jason S wrote:
>>
>>> Particle plugin for Softimage :]
>>>
>>>
>>> On 06/30/14 8:43, Nuno Conceicao wrote:
>>>
 Anyone out there doing this particular workflow?
 We are animating in Softimage 2014, point cache to Maya where the fluid
 simulation is done using Maya's Bifrost new feature set, then we need to
 render this out back in Sitoa/Softimage 2014.
 What should be the best procedure to transfer the fluid data between
 the 2 apps?
 Meshing in Maya or in Softimage?
 What about particular data attributes like vorticity?
 Can it be done using the native Alembic format in 2015? Or other
 export/import alternatives?
 Any pointers and/or tested workflow examples would be really appreciated

 Cheers

 Nuno



>>>
>>
>>
> --
> mfg
>
> Markus Cermak
> 3D-Animation Compositing
>
> Leiss Postproduction GmbH
> Adresse: Zirkusgasse 13/4 A-1020 Wien
> Tel: +43/1/218 96 48
> Fax: +43/1/218 96 48/10
> Mail: off...@leiss.at
>
>

Re: SI and Houdini

[Jordi Bares]

Count me in!

Jordi Bares
jordiba...@gmail.com

On 1 Jul 2014, at 07:57, wavo  wrote:

> are even more from the softimage-list in la Coruna?!
> Would be nice to "meet" and drink some beers with other "classical" 
> Softimage-user!(non-softimage-user allowed)
> 
> 
> http://www.mundosdigitales.org/es/festival.html
> 
> Walter
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> Walter Volbers 
> Senior Animator
> 
> FIFTYEIGHT 3D
> Animation & Digital Effects GmbH
> 
> Kontorhaus Osthafen
> Lindleystraße 12
> 60314 Frankfurt am Main
> Germany
> 
> Telefon +49 (0) 69.48 000 55.50
> Telefax +49 (0) 69.48 000 55.15 
> 
> mailto:w...@fiftyeight.com
> http://www.fiftyeight.com
> 
> 
>  
> ESC58 
> Eine Kooperation der escape GmbH und der FIFTYEIGHT3D GmbH
> 
> http://www.ESC58.de 
>