FCurve Editor SDK?

[Michael Heberlein]

Hey gang,

I would like to write a simple tool that locally scales selected keys from
multiple fcurves (relative to each curve's start/average/end value), as one
of our animators convinced me it would speed up his daily work alot.

Is this possible at all? I could not find a way to get the selected curves
and keys via scripting or the SDK. "Custom Tools" also seem to work in the
3D views only. Am I missing something or is the FCurve Editor just not
customizable?

Another thing is, I'd like to add a custom menu to the FCurve Editor that
provides easy access to features like, for example, absolute/relative
pasting (hidden in the preferences) but had no luck again: There's no
appropriate menu anchor point available.

Thanks,
Michael

Re: FCurve Editor SDK?

[Michael Heberlein]

Eric, yes they know the Q tool but if I got it right, this only works for
one curve at a time and not with multiple curves.

Stephen, I was searching the 2012 docs and it looks like these anchors were
introduced in 2013?
I should have found the FCurveEditor page though ;D thank you!

Cheers,
Michael


On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 4:58 PM, Stephen Blair wrote:

> On 29/08/2013 10:49 AM, Michael Heberlein wrote:
>
>> I'd like to add a custom menu to the FCurve Editor that provides easy
>> access to features like, for example, absolute/relative pasting (hidden in
>> the preferences) but had no luck again: There's no appropriate menu anchor
>> point available.
>>
>
> Wouldn't siMenuFCurveEditorTopLevelID  be appropriate?
>
> siMenuAnchorPoints.**siMenuFCurveEditorTopLevelID // 3500
> siMenuAnchorPoints.**siMenuFCurveEditorFileID // 3501
> siMenuAnchorPoints.**siMenuFCurveEditorEditID // 3502
>  siMenuAnchorPoints.**siMenuFCurveEditorViewID // 3503
> siMenuAnchorPoints.**siMenuFCurveEditorKeysID // 3504
> siMenuAnchorPoints.**siMenuFCurveEditorCurvesID // 3505
>  siMenuAnchorPoints.**siMenuFCurveEditorSelectID
>

Re: FCurve Editor SDK?

[Michael Heberlein]

Here's a dancing fcurve gif of what he wants. Am i an animator now? ;)
If it's already possible and you know the magic button to press, that would
be perfect!

[image: Inline image 3]   [image: Inline image 4]



On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:29 PM, Eric Thivierge wrote:

> Works on multiple for me.
>
>
> On August-29-13 11:16:30 AM, Michael Heberlein wrote:
>
>> Eric, yes they know the Q tool but if I got it right, this only works
>> for one curve at a time and not with multiple curves.
>>
>> Stephen, I was searching the 2012 docs and it looks like these anchors
>> were introduced in 2013?
>> I should have found the FCurveEditor page though ;D thank you!
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Michael
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 4:58 PM, Stephen Blair
>> > <mailto:stephenrblair@gmail.**com>>
>> wrote:
>>
>> On 29/08/2013 10:49 AM, Michael Heberlein wrote:
>>
>> I'd like to add a custom menu to the FCurve Editor that
>> provides easy access to features like, for example,
>> absolute/relative pasting (hidden in the preferences) but had
>> no luck again: There's no appropriate menu anchor point available.
>>
>>
>> Wouldn't siMenuFCurveEditorTopLevelID  be appropriate?
>>
>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__**siMenuFCurveEditorTopLevelID // 3500
>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__**siMenuFCurveEditorFileID // 3501
>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__**siMenuFCurveEditorEditID // 3502
>>  siMenuAnchorPoints.__**siMenuFCurveEditorViewID // 3503
>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__**siMenuFCurveEditorKeysID // 3504
>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__**siMenuFCurveEditorCurvesID // 3505
>>  siMenuAnchorPoints.__**siMenuFCurveEditorSelectID
>>
>>
>>
>
<><>

Re: FCurve Editor SDK?

[Michael Heberlein]

Hey Walt! Cool, I didn't know this mode. It looks more like a lattice
effect but may be handy in some cases. Cheers :)



On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 6:10 PM, wavo  wrote:

>  Hello Michael :-)
>
> Its not exactly what you need and I guess your version will be smarter but
> did you also try the HLC(HighLevelEditing)
>
> Select the Curves then change in Fcurve-editor to "Absolute Scaling" and
> now you got a New Fcurve ,controlling the others (Lord of the Fcurves)
>
> bin Raus...
>
>
> Walt
>
> Am 8/29/2013 5:56 PM, schrieb Michael Heberlein:
>
>  Here's a dancing fcurve gif of what he wants. Am i an animator now? ;)
> If it's already possible and you know the magic button to press, that
> would be perfect!
>
>  [image: Inline image 3]   [image: Inline image 4]
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:29 PM, Eric Thivierge wrote:
>
>> Works on multiple for me.
>>
>>
>> On August-29-13 11:16:30 AM, Michael Heberlein wrote:
>>
>>>  Eric, yes they know the Q tool but if I got it right, this only works
>>> for one curve at a time and not with multiple curves.
>>>
>>> Stephen, I was searching the 2012 docs and it looks like these anchors
>>> were introduced in 2013?
>>> I should have found the FCurveEditor page though ;D thank you!
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Michael
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 4:58 PM, Stephen Blair
>>>  mailto:stephenrbl...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 29/08/2013 10:49 AM, Michael Heberlein wrote:
>>>
>>> I'd like to add a custom menu to the FCurve Editor that
>>> provides easy access to features like, for example,
>>> absolute/relative pasting (hidden in the preferences) but had
>>> no luck again: There's no appropriate menu anchor point
>>> available.
>>>
>>>
>>> Wouldn't siMenuFCurveEditorTopLevelID  be appropriate?
>>>
>>>  siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorTopLevelID // 3500
>>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorFileID // 3501
>>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorEditID // 3502
>>>  siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorViewID // 3503
>>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorKeysID // 3504
>>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorCurvesID // 3505
>>>  siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorSelectID
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
>
> *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
> *
>
>  
> ESC*58*
> Eine Kooperation der escape GmbH und der FIFTYEIGHT3D GmbH
>
> *http://www.ESC58.de
> *
>  **
>
<><>

Re: FCurve Editor SDK?

[Michael Heberlein]

The siFCurveCategory way this is what I'm doing now.
I'll post the plugin here if I get everything working. Thanks all!



On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 8:46 PM, Michael Heberlein
wrote:

> Hey Walt! Cool, I didn't know this mode. It looks more like a lattice
> effect but may be handy in some cases. Cheers :)
>
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 6:10 PM, wavo  wrote:
>
>>  Hello Michael :-)
>>
>> Its not exactly what you need and I guess your version will be smarter
>> but did you also try the HLC(HighLevelEditing)
>>
>> Select the Curves then change in Fcurve-editor to "Absolute Scaling" and
>> now you got a New Fcurve ,controlling the others (Lord of the Fcurves)
>>
>> bin Raus...
>>
>>
>> Walt
>>
>> Am 8/29/2013 5:56 PM, schrieb Michael Heberlein:
>>
>>  Here's a dancing fcurve gif of what he wants. Am i an animator now? ;)
>> If it's already possible and you know the magic button to press, that
>> would be perfect!
>>
>>  [image: Inline image 3]   [image: Inline image 4]
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:29 PM, Eric Thivierge 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Works on multiple for me.
>>>
>>>
>>> On August-29-13 11:16:30 AM, Michael Heberlein wrote:
>>>
>>>>  Eric, yes they know the Q tool but if I got it right, this only works
>>>> for one curve at a time and not with multiple curves.
>>>>
>>>> Stephen, I was searching the 2012 docs and it looks like these anchors
>>>> were introduced in 2013?
>>>> I should have found the FCurveEditor page though ;D thank you!
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Michael
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 4:58 PM, Stephen Blair
>>>>  mailto:stephenrbl...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On 29/08/2013 10:49 AM, Michael Heberlein wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I'd like to add a custom menu to the FCurve Editor that
>>>> provides easy access to features like, for example,
>>>> absolute/relative pasting (hidden in the preferences) but had
>>>> no luck again: There's no appropriate menu anchor point
>>>> available.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Wouldn't siMenuFCurveEditorTopLevelID  be appropriate?
>>>>
>>>>  siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorTopLevelID // 3500
>>>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorFileID // 3501
>>>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorEditID // 3502
>>>>  siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorViewID // 3503
>>>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorKeysID // 3504
>>>> siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorCurvesID // 3505
>>>>  siMenuAnchorPoints.__siMenuFCurveEditorSelectID
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> *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
>> *
>>
>>  
>> ESC*58*
>> Eine Kooperation der escape GmbH und der FIFTYEIGHT3D GmbH
>>
>> *http://www.ESC58.de
>> *
>>  **
>>
>
>
<><>

Re: FaceRobot

[Michael Heberlein]

If deleting the property is enough, you could do this in an
"siOnBeginSceneSave[As]" event.
Am 26.10.2013 21:06 schrieb "Ognjen Vukovic" :

> Hi Philipp,
>
> Not having much luck, the number of scenes is already in the triple digits
> so maybe some automation would solve everything but i have to take into
> account that the deadline is in three days so i think it would be to risky
> now to try anything, i contemplated seriously deleting it from disk while
> the project was running but im going to wait a couple more days and nuke it
> from orbit the day we hand over the final.
>
> Ogi.
>
>
> On Sat, Oct 26, 2013 at 8:47 PM, philipp seis  wrote:
>
>> hello Ognjen...yup thats nasty. Could you fix it already ? If not: We
>> batched all infected scenes: opening it, disabling facerobot by deleting
>> the facerobot custom property, saving and closing it. voila. I recall, that
>> my first approach was also fiddeling with the workgroup, but with not much
>> success. Good luck !
>>
>>
>> 2013/10/26 Ognjen Vukovic 
>>
>>> I was considering it but we are in the middle of a project, what are the
>>> chances it will botch something up?
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Oct 26, 2013 at 6:16 PM, Luc-Eric Rousseau 
>>> wrote:
>>>
 Try deleting the face robot workgroup from.disk
 Le 2013-10-26 07:40, "Ognjen Vukovic"  a écrit :

 Is there a way to remove face Robot from a work-group and generally
> from existence?
>
> We are having a awesome time as someone in the early phases of the
> project had it open somewhere in their scene and now it has reared its 
> ugly
> tentacles into the whole project, literally every model, scene and project
> have been infected, in all this chaos i am sure i even saw it initialize
> once when someone opened up after effects...
>
> Is there a way to exorcise face robot from this project without
> offering a sacrifice to Cthulhu?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Ogi.
>

>>>
>>
>

Re: Whiskeytree Athens tech demo

[Michael Heberlein]

Looks really cool, thanks for sharing!
 Am 23.11.2013 08:13 schrieb "Alok Gandhi" :

> Very impressive indeed! Bravo Whiskeytree!
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Nov 22, 2013, at 11:58 PM, Frederic Servant 
> wrote:
>
> nice work
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 10:29 PM, Votch  wrote:
>
>> We did build some tools for auto aligning objects (non particles) to
>> surfaces though it's not in that demo :)
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Simon van de Lagemaat <
>> si...@theembassyvfx.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Ya I realize that demo was sped up... I guess I let my mind run away a
>>> little :-)
>>>
>>> I was thinking you had done some sort of mesh drop using a constrained
>>> null or something.  Then I started thinking you could switch between normal
>>> constraints or just axis constraints i.e. align to ground or just Y up and
>>> slide the mesh around.  You can show us that demo when you've implemented
>>> those features ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Steven Caron  wrote:
>>>
 i think the speed of the demo and clever use of interactive snapping
 might be fooling you ;)

 but you give me an idea for a custom tool plugin like piotrek's mesh
 paint plugin but for our pipeline.



 On Fri, Nov 22, 2013 at 11:15 AM, Simon van de Lagemaat <
 si...@theembassyvfx.com> wrote:

>
> I love how when you drop a ref model down on the ground it's just a
> select and click to drop, sweet.
>
>
>>>
>>
>

SI2012 crash on scene close: access violation in dsprsr.dll

[Michael Heberlein]

Hey list,

We have many Softimage 2012 crashes, even with very simple scenes. The
debugger identified "dsprsr.dll" as where an access violation happens, so I
copied the same file from newer Softimage versions and with 2013 or later
it works.

So the question is, will it be safe to use this newer DLL or is it a bad
idea? I could not find anything related in the release notes or knowledge
base but on my local machine everything looks good so far. :)

I also sent an official error report but was curious if anyone else
experienced this or knows what "dsprsr.dll" is used for?

Link: repro scene and call
stack

Cheers,
Michael

Re: SI2012 crash on scene close: access violation in dsprsr.dll

[Michael Heberlein]

Ok thanks everyone, looks like it was a good idea to be cautious about
mixing versions.. ;)
I had previously removed all images/clips from the scene but didn't notice
they were still in that repro file.
It was a Quicktime MOV that caused the crash and knowing this is great news
for the render farm!

We're also going to switch to 2014 SP2 soon but have to migrate a few
scripts and plugins first.

Thanks again,
Michael


On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 5:37 PM, Angus Davidson
wrote:

> The dont call it dll hell for nothing. To many unknowns appear when you
> just copy across dlls. It might fix your current issue but chances are you
> will get other possibly unfixable errors down the line.
>
>
> 
> From: Luc-Eric Rousseau [luceri...@gmail.com]
> Sent: 11 December 2013 03:51 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: SI2012 crash on scene close: access violation in dsprsr.dll
>
> I find the thought of randomly copying a dll from another build of XSI
> revolting.
> it's crashing loading one of the images, as you can tell.
>
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 8:22 AM, Stephen Blair 
> wrote:
> > That scene doesn't crash Softimage 2012 SP1.
> > But I don't have all the textures, or emFluid.
> >
> > dsprsr = ds parser
> > for image file parsing
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 11, 2013 at 7:52 AM, Eric Mootz  wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Michael,
> >>
> >> what version of SI 2012 are you using exactly? SP1, SAP, none of them..?
> >> SI 2012 (no SP1, SAP) had quite a few bugs, that's why.
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Eric
> >>
> >>
> >> - Original Message -
> >> From: Michael Heberlein
> >> To: Softimage List
> >> Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 1:48 PM
> >> Subject: SI2012 crash on scene close: access violation in dsprsr.dll
> >>
> >> Hey list,
> >>
> >> We have many Softimage 2012 crashes, even with very simple scenes. The
> >> debugger identified "dsprsr.dll" as where an access violation happens,
> so I
> >> copied the same file from newer Softimage versions and with 2013 or
> later it
> >> works.
> >>
> >> So the question is, will it be safe to use this newer DLL or is it a bad
> >> idea? I could not find anything related in the release notes or
> knowledge
> >> base but on my local machine everything looks good so far. :)
> >>
> >> I also sent an official error report but was curious if anyone else
> >> experienced this or knows what "dsprsr.dll" is used for?
> >>
> >> Link: repro scene and call stack
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >> Michael
> >
> >
> =
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> 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: Anyone got a tip to convert a customproperty to a regular customparamset?

[Michael Heberlein]

Last week I also stumbled upon Daniele's "persistent layouts" blog post. To
do exactly the "quick and dirty end-user stuff" and store PPG layouts per
scene or per model, to me it looks like a good solution to use just one
self-installed "GenericProperty" instead of many.

Michael


On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 10:47 PM, Matt Lind wrote:

> If you store the PPGLogic externally in a file, you can dynamically call
> different logic files depending on what you want to display.  The callbacks
> can then be married to what is displayed.  This is useful for one-to-many
> relationships like this or in cases where the data gets embedded into
> assets and you don’t want to have to run a batch process to update them
> each time the custom property is revised.  Modify the external logic file
> and the next time the asset is loaded and viewing content, it’ll use the
> latest version of the logic file to display the information.
>
> ** **
>
> The code to choose what to display can be provided as a function/callback
> embedded in the external logic file and called from _OnInit().  Just make
> sure to call PPG.Refresh() at the end.
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Matt
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Alan Fregtman
> *Sent:* Thursday, June 13, 2013 12:09 PM
>
> *To:* XSI Mailing List
> *Subject:* Re: Anyone got a tip to convert a customproperty to a regular
> customparamset?
>
> ** **
>
> In retrospect, I worded my thread wrong. I meant converting one
> customproperty to another. I guess it's too much to ask of the software.**
> **
>
> ** **
>
> I don't need Logic. I just want a way to make logic-free ppgs with
> infinitely different persistent layouts. The SI Blog post is what I'm after
> (unless there's some trick I've overlooked.)
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 2:38 PM, Matt Lind 
> wrote:
>
> In that case you definitely don’t want to migrate to a customparamset.
> You want to convert to a more intelligently designed custom property.
>
>  
>
> I don’t see the need for storing the PPGLayout code as a string as
> _DefineLayout() or _OnInit() could house that code.  You can also load
> PPGLogic from an external file, so really no need to go the generic
> property route in terms of implementation.
>
>  
>
> Matt
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Alan Fregtman
> *Sent:* Thursday, June 13, 2013 11:24 AM
> *To:* XSI Mailing List
> *Subject:* Re: Anyone got a tip to convert a customproperty to a regular
> customparamset?
>
>  
>
> Well, *somebody* thought it was a *brilliant* idea to be making whole new
> plugins for character-specific rig properties, just because they wanted a
> ppglayout. (None of these properties had any logic whatsoever.)
>
>  
>
> I'm looking to migrate those to a GenericProperty property like:
>
> http://www.softimageblog.com/archives/172
>
> so it only relies on 1 plugin instead of 6 or 7.
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
> On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 2:07 PM, Matt Lind 
> wrote:
>
> Once you’ve deployed the custom property, it needs to be supported until
> you’ve removed it from all content which uses it.
>
>  
>
> The primary difference between a custom property and a customparamset is
> structure.  Customparamsets are a generic custom property for end users to
> do quick and dirty stuff.  They have very little support for PPGLayouts and
> cannot be identified from script code as all CustomParamSets have the same
> ‘type’ (customparamset).  The only way you can identify them is by name or
> by comparing parameters.  That is why the self installing CustomProperty
> was invented.
>
>  
>
> I’ve never heard of wanting to migrate from CustomProperty to
> CustomParamSet, so this is a bit odd.
>
>  
>
>  
>
> Matt
>
>  
>
>  
>
>  
>
> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Alan Fregtman
> *Sent:* Thursday, June 13, 2013 11:00 AM
> *To:* XSI Mailing List
> *Subject:* Anyone got a tip to convert a customproperty to a regular
> customparamset?
>
>  
>
> Hey guys,
>
>  
>
> I have a customproperty defined in a plugin and it is used in a few
> assets, but I no longer care for the plugin and just want it to be a
> regular customparamset, however, Softimage complains that the plugin
> doesn't exist.
>
>  
>
> Is there a trick to converting a customproperty to a paramset without
> having to recreate parameters one by one?
>
>  
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Cheers,
>
>  
>
>-- Alan
>
>  
>
>  
>
> ** **
>

Re: [plug]Creation:Splice - coming soon for Softimage

[Michael Heberlein]

You guys rock! This looks like a very simple way to get in touch with KL
and share operators across applications.



On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 10:13 PM, Alan Fregtman wrote:

> Neat fabrication, Paul! :D
>
> Looking forward to see how you integrate the Soft version. I can imagine
> it allowing KL-coded ICE ops, which could be like having scripted ice
> operators, which would be amazing.
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 20, 2013 at 4:03 PM, Paul Doyle  wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone – I’m very excited to be able to share the first look at this
>> project.
>>
>> **As you know, Creation Platform is an extremely powerful framework that
>> can be used to build a wide range of applications. However, in many cases
>> studios have been telling us that the basic performance of our core
>> processing engine would be of value within their existing tools. Splice
>> offers TDs and programmers an easy way to start working with our core in a
>> highly integrated manner, making it easier to move to building full-blow
>> applications once they are familiar with the major components of the
>> framework.
>>
>> **
>>
>> http://fabricengine.com/creation/splice/
>>
>> **Link to Splice for Maya video: https://vimeo.com/68789512
>>
>> **
>>
>> ** Our first implementation of Splice is for Maya, and we’re excited to
>> start the beta testing for this soon. If you’d like to join the testing
>> group, please email b...@fabricengine.com and we’ll get you on the list.
>> We aim to add Splice for Softimage soon after Siggraph, so you might want
>> to get on board now and get familiar with KL (since the code will port
>> between Spliced applications).
>>
>> **
>>
>> Thanks,
>> **
>>
>> **
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> CEO at Fabric Engine Inc
>>
>
>

Child objects not following animation (GEAR?)

[Michael Heberlein]

Hey gang,

I have a GEAR rig here (hats off to Jeremie for this great tool) that's not
very complex but some child objects are not updating when their parent
control is animated. However, they follow when I move the parent by hand.

Making all children visible all the time or adding local transform
expressions, pose constraints, etc. didn't help.

After I also moved one of the children manually, their evaluation "wakes
up" and everything works fine for the current session. It falls back to the
odd behavoir when I reload the scene or model (tested on different
machines).

Has anyone experienced this before and am I missing something obvious? I
could not reproduce the problem in a simple scene so it may be related to
some GEAR magic.

Thanks,
Michael

Re: Child objects not following animation (GEAR?)

[Michael Heberlein]

Thanks, I checked the schematic but could not find anything special.
It's still randomly working or not. I can work around it by waking up the
evaluation (move child and undo) but will also rebuild the rig to see if it
happens again.

Michael


On Fri, Jul 5, 2013 at 4:42 PM, Manny Papamanos <
manny.papama...@autodesk.com> wrote:

> I can't say I've ever had issues with this and I have quite an elaborate
> rig added to a GEAR rig.
> The schematic helps me to quickly discover unusual problems like..
> enveloped deformers.. or something...
> In the Shematic, enable Show>'Operator links' and 'Associated Model links'
> and perhaps disable 'Links on selected'
>
>
> Manny Papamanos
> Autodesk Softimage and MotionBuilder Support
>
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Michael Heberlein
> Sent: Thursday, July 04, 2013 6:46 AM
> To: Softimage List
> Subject: Child objects not following animation (GEAR?)
>
> Hey gang,
>
> I have a GEAR rig here (hats off to Jeremie for this great tool) that's
> not very complex but some child objects are not updating when their parent
> control is animated. However, they follow when I move the parent by hand.
>
> Making all children visible all the time or adding local transform
> expressions, pose constraints, etc. didn't help.
>
> After I also moved one of the children manually, their evaluation "wakes
> up" and everything works fine for the current session. It falls back to the
> odd behavoir when I reload the scene or model (tested on different
> machines).
>
> Has anyone experienced this before and am I missing something obvious? I
> could not reproduce the problem in a simple scene so it may be related to
> some GEAR magic.
>
> Thanks,
> Michael
>
>

Re: Open source json camera I/O platform

[Michael Heberlein]

Sounds like a good idea. There are a few things I would like to add:

I'd prefer one common class/module for file IO and all the necessary
conversions like millimeters <--> inches, focal length <--> horizontal view
angle, picture ratio <--> film aperture, etc. so each application module
can derive from this and stay as lightweight as possible.

Another module could handle the dialogs but if they're optional, it's
easier to integrate the importer/exporter into a scripted pipeline or
toolbars. Plugins could just use the correct application module but be
separate files again so people don't have to use them.

Also, to make it not just another almost-useful tool, don't forget less
common properties like optical center shift etc. required by stereo setups,
for example. As you already wrote in SPEC.txt, all expected units have to
be defined.

Michael



On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 8:53 AM, Sandy Sutherland  wrote:

>  Gene - this would be of huge interest I think - every studio I have been
> at we have needed to do this, and have always fudged it - never had the
> time to even start looking at creating a tool!
>
> So - a big yes from me!
>
> S.
>
>
> On 2013/07/10 5:09 AM, Gene Crucean wrote:
>
>  Hey folks,
>
>  Who's in the mood for some open-source camera I/O code? I'm kind of
> getting bummed out on having to write the same camera tools at every studio
> just to get a simple, lightweight and most importantly reliable camera
> pushed around from app to app. FBX does *not* cut it, not to mention it's
> not available for all apps that could make use of it. So I thought I would
> whip up a spec based on json and offer it up open source so anyone willing
> to donate some time, could create some simple tools to import/export for
> their favorite app. The spec is VERY lightweight and doesn't include some
> things that I'm sure someone will want... but please let me know your
> thoughts.
>
>  I already have a Softimage plugin working (consider it alpha). At this
> point it only has minor sanity checking and logic tests and I'm sure there
> are a zillion ways to improve it. But it's a start. The goal is to at least
> have plugins that all read and write the same spec from Houdini, Softimage,
> Maya, Max, Blender, Nuke... and more. I've built the Soft one using PyQt
> and it would be nice to maintain some consistency between apps, so I'm
> hopeful that the other versions could be based off of the same .ui file.
>
>  What do you guys think? Any interest in this? I know it's a simple thing
> but I'm sure a lot of you also write these tools at studios quite a bit too
> and could possibly be into something like this.
>
>  Check out the spec and source, and if you have time, play with the Soft
> plugin here: https://bitbucket.org/crewshin/json-cam
>
>
>  If you have completely zero interest in this... no worries. Thanks for
> looking.
>
>
>  --
> -Gene
> www.genecrucean.com
>
>
>

Re: image clip

[Michael Heberlein]

If you have random time offsets for each particle, it will take more time
to load all the different files but maybe you can use time offset groups to
reduce the IO overhead. Just use a limited range of (non-animated) random
integers, scale the result and add it to the current time.


On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 4:49 PM, Jens Lindgren
wrote:

> I see now that you're taliking about MR *facepalm*
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 4:47 PM, Jens Lindgren <
> jens.lindgren@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> If you're using Arnold you're better of asking on the SItoA list.
>>
>> /Jens
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 4:39 PM, Alastair Hearsum <
>> hear...@glassworks.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>>  Here's a funny one:
>>>
>>> I have a bunch of particles representing people in a crowd.
>>> I set an integer attribute called *clip_frame* on these particles.
>>> I have hundred image clips and I set the *time source* of the clip to
>>> be the attribute that I set in the ice tree rather than *scene_time*.
>>>
>>> When all these numbers are the same, MR renders as you'd expect straight
>>> off the bat pretty quickly. When these are all different numbers I get a
>>> helluva slowdown pre-render. It takes an absolute age to get its act
>>> together before it starts rendering.
>>>
>>> Any ideas?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>>
>>> Alastair
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>  Alastair Hearsum
>>>  Head of 3d
>>> [image: GLASSWORKS]
>>>  33/34 Great Pulteney Street
>>> London
>>> W1F 9NP
>>> +44 (0)20 7434 1182
>>> glassworks.co.uk 
>>>  Glassworks Terms and Conditions of Sale can be found at
>>> glassworks.co.uk
>>>  (Company registered in England with number 04759979. Registered office
>>> 25 Harley Street, London, W1G 9BR. VAT registration number: 86729)
>>>  Please consider the environment before you print this email.
>>>  DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and attachments are strictly privileged,
>>> private and confidential and are intended solely for the stated
>>> recipient(s). Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the
>>> author and do not necessarily represent those of the Company. If you are
>>> not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail
>>> in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying
>>> of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If this transmission is received in
>>> error please kindly return it to the sender and delete this message from
>>> your system.
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Jens Lindgren
>> --
>> Lead Technical Director
>> Magoo 3D Studios 
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jens Lindgren
> --
> Lead Technical Director
> Magoo 3D Studios 
>

Re: Open source json camera I/O platform

[Michael Heberlein]

A bit off-topic already :) but I just found pyalembic in Gohlkes invaluable
Windows binaries list:
http://www.lfd.uci.edu/~gohlke/pythonlibs/#pyalembic

But I also agree that something as simple and readable as JSON would be
cool to have for (plotted?) world-space camera exchange. And _all_
parameters should be animatable.

Michael


On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 6:17 AM, Raffaele Fragapane <
raffsxsil...@googlemail.com> wrote:

> The unit needs only be an arbitrary value in the header.
> Autodesk can say whatever it wants, but the truth is that if you change
> maya from imperial to metric at the beginning of a project (and you might
> have that on client's side) there will be repercussions, and if your
> cameras were intended as 1cm but get imported as 1 inch things will be out
> of whack. Majorly.
>
> Several parameters, especially so if this will get a further level of
> abstraction later on, are actually world scale dependent.
> The flm back can change with a unit change (in some apps it does, in some
> it doesn't), several rendering and grooming parameters change and so on.
>
> As for scale, I've had plenty instances when the camera was scaled for
> various reasons, frequently enough to be relevant entire chunks of a pipe
> would rely on a stupid-renderman-trick style scaled camera.
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 2:10 PM, Gene Crucean <
> emailgeneonthel...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for the input guys! I'm ingesting all of it :)
>>
>> I'm quite against adding units into the main camera section of the
>> file... but what about adding them to the metadata section? I really don't
>> understand why anyone would want this in the file though. Units should only
>> be conceptual imo. Autodesk says that 1 SI unit = 1 decimeter, but it has
>> no concept of units... at all. Our current project is in meters, so
>> conceptually we just know that 1 SI unit = 1 meter. Did we change anything?
>> Nope. Same thing in Maya... 1 unit = 1 meter. Didn't change a thing on the
>> Maya side either. I would love for someone to give me an example of why
>> this should be different.
>>
>> Either way, I'll have an update tomorrow at some point, along with i/o
>> for Houdini and updated Soft scripts. Maya is next and then hopefully I can
>> talk one of our Nuke dev's into banging out an importer. Unless someone on
>> here knows it's API and want's to donate some skills (once the 1.0 spec is
>> finished). Same with any other apps :)
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 6:59 PM, Matt Lind wrote:
>>
>>> I started a toolset a few years ago based on XML as well.  It works and
>>> I can store robust data, but the downside is the file sizes are huge and
>>> slow to read/write.  Memory becomes an issue at some point.  If you only
>>> want to transfer cameras or simple stuff, it works fine, but large scenes
>>> with lots of animation data is not advised with XML as other formats may be
>>> better suited.
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> Matt
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> *From:* softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:
>>> softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Tim Crowson
>>> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 10, 2013 5:34 PM
>>> *To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
>>> *Subject:* Re: Open source json camera I/O platform
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> This is great to see! I have something similar in the wings that's only
>>> partially implemented, but in XML instead. It stores most of the stuff Jo
>>> was talking about. I wrote it as a way to export cameras and nulls to Nuke
>>> and Fusion. My goal is to have a series of tools for various apps all
>>> writing and reading a common XML file. Cameras and nulls can be exported,
>>> then updated if something changes. With custom UI for setting options.
>>> Anyway, I haven't finished writing all the different plugins, but I've got
>>> a couple of apps covered already. I debated between JSON and XML and
>>> finally just went with XML.
>>>
>>> Glad to see this in the works, Gene! Can't wait to see more!
>>>
>>> -Tim C
>>>
>>> 
>>>
>>> On 7/10/2013 7:10 PM, Raffaele Fragapane wrote:
>>>
>>> When you'll have at most a few dozen curves, even on a thousand frame
>>> long sequence, I honestly don't think cheapening the data matters one iota.
>>> 
>>>
>>> You can always introduce a zip compression stage to the I/O.
>>>
>>> Optimizing early and ending data poor is always a mistake. Purging is
>>> easy, both on I/O and in dev terms, adding data you don't have is usually
>>> betwene painful and downright impossible.
>>>
>>> If footprint was a concern here, sure, it'd make sense, on something
>>> that on a bad day will have a hundred parameters at the most (and for a
>>> mono cam I'd struggle to think of a hundred parameters I'd want animated)
>>> saving 16 floats per frame instead of 64 makes little difference in
>>> practical terms.
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 10:01 AM, Alok Gandhi 
>>> wrote:
>>>

Event gets aborted (scene save)

[Michael Heberlein]

Hey all,

I registered a "siOnBeginSceneSave2" event and Softimage runs my code but
doesn't save the scene.
Has anyone seen this before? I know I had this working without
problems before but now I'm stuck. :(

Here's the stripped-down plugin code:

01   from siutils import C
02   def XSILoadPlugin( in_reg ):
03 in_reg.Name = "plugin_onSceneSave_test"; in_reg.Major = 1; in_reg.Minor
= 0
04 in_reg.RegisterEvent( "beginSceneSave", C.siOnBeginSceneSave2 )
05 return True
06  def beginSceneSave_OnEvent( in_ctxt ):
07 Application.LogMessage( "saving %s" % in_ctxt.GetAttribute( "FileName"
), C.siInfo )
08 return True

And the message log after pressing Ctrl+S:

# INFO : cheers
# INFO : 4373 - This event was aborted:
# 
# 
#
# WARNING : 3030-FILE-SaveScene - Command was cancelled.
Application.SaveScene()

Thanks,
Michael

Re: Event gets aborted (scene save)

[Michael Heberlein]

Aah, too easy ;D thanks alot!!


On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 2:00 PM, Peter Agg  wrote:

> ...or 1, if you didn't make the plugin with the plugin manager. Or just
> don't return anything.
>
> But yeah, this has had me stumped for hours before. Just one of those
> thing you have to just know.
>
>
>
>
> On 9 August 2013 12:48, Stephen Blair  wrote:
>
>>  return true to abort?
>>
>>
>> On 09/08/2013 7:45 AM, Michael Heberlein wrote:
>>
>> Hey all,
>>
>>  I registered a "siOnBeginSceneSave2" event and Softimage runs my code
>> but doesn't save the scene.
>> Has anyone seen this before? I know I had this working without
>> problems before but now I'm stuck. :(
>>
>>  Here's the stripped-down plugin code:
>>
>>  01   from siutils import C
>> 02   def XSILoadPlugin( in_reg ):
>>  03 in_reg.Name = "plugin_onSceneSave_test"; in_reg.Major = 1;
>> in_reg.Minor = 0
>> 04 in_reg.RegisterEvent( "beginSceneSave", C.siOnBeginSceneSave2 )
>> 05 return True
>> 06  def beginSceneSave_OnEvent( in_ctxt ):
>>  07 Application.LogMessage( "saving %s" % in_ctxt.GetAttribute(
>> "FileName" ), C.siInfo )
>> 08 return True
>>
>>  And the message log after pressing Ctrl+S:
>>
>>  # INFO : cheers
>> # INFO : 4373 - This event was aborted:
>> # 
>> # > L:\pipeline\user\mh\workgroups\pnToolbox\Addons\pnPipeline\Application\Plugins\pnPipeline_OnSave_AddVersionProperty.py>
>> #
>> # WARNING : 3030-FILE-SaveScene - Command was cancelled.
>> Application.SaveScene()
>>
>>  Thanks,
>> Michael
>>
>>
>>
>

RE: Fcurve editor extremely slow to update simple operations

[Michael Heberlein]

Try muting any "OnValueChanged" events in the Plug-in Manager's "Events"
tab.
Am 10.05.2015 13:49 schrieb "Sven Constable" :

> IIRC the third party renderer problem was causing softimage to crash when
> using the animation editor. It was fixed in one of the SPs in version 2014.
>
> sven
>
> -Original Message-
> From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
> [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Softimage
> Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2015 1:07 PM
> To: Morten Bartholdy; softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
> Subject: Re: Fcurve editor extremely slow to update simple operations
>
> Hi,
> I know this sounds daft but I sort of remember it being to do with having a
> third party renderer installed!
>
> Cheers
> Lawrence
>
>
>
> > On 10 May 2015, at 11:07, Morten Bartholdy  wrote:
> >
> > I recall a thread some years ago of which I myself was part discussing
> why
> the fcurve editor in some cases got extremely slow at updating simple
> operations such as changing frame for selected keys on several curves at
> once, or for instance cycling several curves at once. I have forgotten what
> the solution was and can't seem to find that thread again - can someone
> perhaps jog my memory on this one?
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> > Morten
> >
>
>

Inertial or Kinect-based Motion Capture Recommendations?

[Michael Heberlein]

Hi gang,

We're looking for an affordable motion capture system (no face or fingers
needed) to get some previs-quality animation or pose and timing reference
for our animators.

Has anyone tried an inertial mocap system like XSens [1] or Neuron [2], are
those better than e.g. iPiSoft [3] with multiple Kinect2 sensors?

I also stumbled upon The Captury [4] and FastMocap [5] but the first
requires multiple high quality cameras and the second seems to be not
available any more.

It looks like [2] would be great but isn't available yet and [1] or [3] are
the alternatives we have but I'd be happy if you want to share more
thoughts and experience, especially regarding Softimage or Maya integration.

Cheers,
Michael

[1] https://www.xsens.com 
[2] https://neuronmocap.com 
[3] http://ipisoft.com 
[4] http://www.thecaptury.com
[5] http://www.fastmocap.com

Re: Particle clumping technique

[Michael Heberlein]

Thanks Sebastian, that's interesting and looks very cool!


On Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 11:23 AM, olivier jeannel wrote:

> That's a super learning gift ! Thank's a lot for that :)
> The result is just beautifull. I'm completly lost into the icetrees, but
> what a lesson !
> Would worth a tutorial somedays (with you speaking in the micro).
>
> Excellent !
>
>
>
>
>
> Le 07/01/2013 20:58, Rob Chapman a écrit :
>
>  Sebastian, I never thought I would hear myself say this, but that is
>> some sexy dust!   I see that you are not spawning or cloning anything
>> and the dust 'clump' with its own ID starts as is and its just the
>> gravity, drag and turbulence forces breaking it up. really nice
>> solution that works so well visually.  It would be really hard to get
>> that look any other way - ie with 'hero' geometry shedding more
>> particles as they shrink as you would still be able to track the
>> emitting ones.
>>
>> there are some good hints for getting certain types of better dust in
>> this scene you provided so I wanted to thank you for sharing. it
>> appears crazy amounts and very little transparency is the key here , a
>> kind of 'brute force' approach that I usually would not consider and
>> try to approach with a volume shader or with Exocortex's Slipstream.
>>
>> thanks for sharing!
>>
>> best
>>
>> Rob
>>
>> On 7 January 2013 18:17, Sebastian Kowalski  wrote:
>>
>>> here you go, thats one of the first prototypes I've made.
>>> the whole system evolved a bit after the catrice project (had to reuse
>>> it on an other job), but the essential idea seems not to differ from
>>> vladimirs solution. (hope thats true, didn't had a look yet ;) )
>>> you need to set a custom id value to each member of a cluster of points
>>> (clump id).
>>> in that case all clumps have the same amount of points.
>>>
>>> in that scene file its just a drag force, dissolving the clumps. when
>>> you need some more forces you have to use the position average of every
>>> clump, and apply the needed force from that.
>>> i am gonna share the more "sophisticated" scenes too, just need to
>>> comment them a bit.
>>>
>>> i should say that the initial idea came from tim borgmann, I've just
>>> implemented it in an icy way ;)
>>>
>>> take care
>>> sebastian
>>>
>>>
>>>
>

Re: PyQT for Softimage: problem with QIcons?

[Michael Heberlein]

Hi Philipp,

I had the same problem with PySide. The file "*qjpeg4.dll*" from "*
C:/Python27/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/plugins/imageformats*" could not be
found.
Maybe adding the "*plugins*" path in your code [1] helps, or just move the "
*imageformats*" directory one level up. I uploaded a minimal zipped PySide
module that works for me to
[2
].

Cheers,
Michael

[1] *app.addLibraryPath( r"C:/Python27/Lib/site-packages/PyQt4/plugins" )*
[2] http://dl.dropbox.com/u/104169643/PySide_JPEG.zip


On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 11:22 AM, philipp.oeser  wrote:

> **
>  Thanx for the answers everyone,
>
>  some more testing shows that it appears to be related to *jpgs*.
>  pngs display fine. but jpgs fail. no matter where they come from, no
> matter where I try to display them (on a button, StandardItem,
> GraphicsView).
>
>  can someone give this a short try and confirm?
>  and again: all this (displaying jpgs) is working fine in both maya and
> nuke...
>
>  Thanx again in advance
>  Philipp
>
>
> "philipp.oeser"  hat am 5. Februar 2013 um 20:07
> geschrieben:
>
>  Hi list,
>
> first of all: thanx again for bringing PyQT to Softimage!
> (it's just so much nicer to be able to do UIs for SI, Nuke and Maya in
> _one_ go :))
>
> But: I was wondering if someone else is having trouble getting QIcons to
> show in PyQT for Softimage?
> I have some code that runs fine in Maya and Nuke (it shows the icons with
> QStandardItems in a QTreeView)
> but the exact same code/ui-file just doesnt show the Icons in Softimage...
>
> === something like this ===
> oTasksModel = QtGui.QStandardItemModel()
> oRootItem = oTasksModel.invisibleRootItem()
> self.ui.UI_tv_Tasks.setModel(oTasksModel)
>
> sTask = 'taskname'
> oTaskItem = QtGui.QStandardItem(sTask)
>
> sFullPath = 'validpath'
> oIcon = QtGui.QIcon(sFullPath)
> oTaskItem.setIcon(oIcon)
>
> # it seems to be taken, if you print out oTaskItem.icon(), it will print
> # 
>
> oRootItem.appendRow(oTaskItem)
> ==
>
> Has this been done succesfully? Or can someone confirm it is not working?
> Should I dig deeper?
>
> Thanx in advance
> Philipp
>
>  P.S. using PyQt-Py2.6-x64-gpl-4.9.5-1 and PyQtForSoftimage_beta5
>
>
>
>

Re: Is there an up to date list of studios using Softimage

[Michael Heberlein]

Have you tried the "Advanced Search" on http://www.cgstudiomap.com?

Michael


Am 23.07.2012 10:34, schrieb Sandy Sutherland:


http://monophyl.com/?p=794

Adn a few google looks as well.

Thanks

S.

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

-

FROM: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
[softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ciaran Moloney
[moloney.cia...@gmail.com]
SENT: 23 July 2012 10:28
TO: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
SUBJECT: Re: Is there an up to date list of studios using Softimage

Which list did you check?

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 9:23 AM, Sandy Sutherland
 wrote:

...anywhere - I have checked the one I knew of before - there are a 
lot

of links that go awol now - and also studios that have moved to the
'dark side'.

Thanks

Sandy

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


--
- Ciaran