eX-SI Support

Removing elements from an integer array without using Repeat

xsisupport — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:18:51 +0000

ICE – Here’s how to remove specific elements from an array of integers, without using any Repeat loops.
This trick works only for integer arrays.

I really should just take the time to learn how to write custom ICE nodes for this kinda stuff…

Emitting particles at regular intervals

xsisupport — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:14:44 +0000

If you drill down into the Emit compound until you find the Add Point node, you could do something like this:

Screenshots of the week

xsisupport — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:54:47 +0000

Exocortex Species

Creating polygon islands with Disconnect Components
by iamVFX

Fake motionblur with ICE

Raycast weightmap
by Thomas Volkmann

Create Symmetry
by Inisheer

Curve U value UV to location
by Peter Agg

Tag points by volume mesh
by Fabricio Chamon

Camera Space Normals
by Steven Caron

Finding ICE trees in a scene

xsisupport — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:35:49 +0000

A Python snippet that uses FindObjects2 to find all ICETree operators in a scene.

from siutils import si		# Application
from siutils import log		# LogMessage
from siutils import C		# win32com.client.constants

# Run this, open the explorer, and press F
oICETrees = si.FindObjects2( C.siICETreeID )
Application.SelectObj( oICETrees )

How to pronounce Softimage

xsisupport — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:09:18 +0000

Friday Flashback #54

xsisupport — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:07:25 +0000

It now goes by the name “Autodesk Softimage”, but before that it was “Softimage XSI”, and before that, during development and beta, it was code named “Sumatra”. So where did the name XSI come from?

Originally, XSI was the name of a file format used to SOFTIMAGE|3D scene data. The file format was based on the Microsoft DirectX .X file format, so we used the file extension .XSI (“X” + “SI” for Softimage), and that’s where “dotXSI” came from too. The XSI File Format was part of the SOFTIMAGE|GDK; here’s a page from the documentation (which I wrote, btw):

From a 2002 xsibase interview with Michael Sheasby, then the Softimage Business Dev Manager:

What does “XSI” stand for?
When Microsoft owned Softimage, the directX “.X” format was extended with modern templates such as IK, enveloping, and constraints. This enhanced version was labelled the dotXSI format, which stood for .X – Softimage. The name was clean enough to adopt for the product itself, to reflect the central nature of data pipelines to 3D software.

Here’s some of the suggested product names that didn’t make the cut when we were looking for a product name to replace the code name “Sumatra”. These suggestions came from both internal and external people…

Suggested Names ’2000

SOFTIMAGE | 3D eXTC
SOFTIMAGE | 3D SUMA
SOFTIMAGE | 4X
…because you wouldn’t give a XXXX for anything lesss
SOFTIMAGE | Acid
SOFTIMAGE | ACME
You would have to ship it in a plain crate with ACME 3D
SOFTIMAGE | Alchemy
For obvious reasons…. The name conjures up a notion of magic and special effects – this is what a 3D package does… It also sounds cool.
SOFTIMAGE | Ani / motion
it’s an invented word. Covers motion, feeling and has a punctuation mark which is always cool.
SOFTIMAGE | Animation Factory
SOFTIMAGE | Artamus
SOFTIMAGE | Avatar
a variant phase or version of a continuing basic entity
SOFTIMAGE | Catalyst
SOFTIMAGE | Continuum
Continuum is used in “Space time Continuum” this constitutes openess and and never ending.
SOFTIMAGE | Cosmos
SOFTIMAGE | Cyclus V1.0
sounds like movement
SOFTIMAGE | DIVA
Two people suggested “Diva”. One because “…it is a short, sexy, memorable name that means lead performer and has creative connotations in several languages. DIVA also sounds good with AVID, DV, Digital Studio, etc.”
The other because it is Avid spelled backwards.
SOFTIMAGE | eclipse
because it surpasses (or eclipses) the competition – it’s at the top of the field
SOFTIMAGE | Elixir – ZD
Elixir for the Z Dimension
SOFTIMAGE | Elixir
SOFTIMAGE | Escher
SOFTIMAGE | EUPHORIA
SOFTIMAGE | EXTC
SOFTIMAGE | Factory
SOFTIMAGE | Generator
Another way to go around the widely used word of Genesis
SOFTIMAGE | Helix
SOFTIMAGE | Hyperion
SOFTIMAGE | IMAGO
SOFTIMAGE | Kama Sumatra
All the flexibility you need…
SOFTIMAGE | Mantra
Inspiring. Linked to your mind. Maje reach the next level.
SOFTIMAGE | MOJO
Its magic
SOFTIMAGE | Nliven
NL – Non Linear Enliven…well, you get the idea
SOFTIMAGE | Nucleus
Radioactive package
SOFTIMAGE | Praxis
SOFTIMAGE | Primal
SOFTIMAGE | Revolve
SOFTIMAGE | Revolv
SOFTIMAGE | Samsara
The extinction of desire and individual consciousness
SOFTIMAGE | Tethys
SOFTIMAGE | Tonic
Add more life to your animation
SOFTIMAGE | Turbo
the acceleration of CG work
SOFTIMAGE | Velocity
Do everything faster. Get where you want to go at a higher speed.
SOFTIMAGE | XTC

Selection filter for objects with ICE trees

xsisupport — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:18:33 +0000

Here’s a custom filter for selecting objects with ICE trees: psCustomFilters.xsiaddon. The filter appears as Obj_w_ICETree in the filter list of the Select panel in the MCP:

You can use this filter in the MCP Select panel (choose the filter and then press Ctrl+A to select all objects with an ICE tree).

Or you could make a toolbar button with these snippets:

// JScript
SelectAllUsingFilter("Obj_w_ICETree", siCheckComponentVisibility, null, null);

#Python
from siutils import C		# win32com.client.constants
Application.SelectAllUsingFilter("Obj_w_ICETree", C.siCheckComponentVisibility, "", "")

Scene Search – searching for objects by type

xsisupport — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:25:55 +0000

In this video, I take a look at how to use Search for type to find objects based on their type. For example, you can find all models by searching for “#model”, or all polygon meshes by searching for “polymsh”.

I also show how to use the Scene Explorer to find the type of an object.

Note: You can’t use the “ICETree” type to find all ICETree operators, that was a disappointment.

Copying a polygon attribute to vertices

xsisupport — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:27:50 +0000

This question came up last weekend (on si-community and xsibase): how do I copy a polygon attribute to a point attribute?

As Chris_TC and gray pointed out, a point can be associated with multiple polygons. So you use VertexToPolygons to either build a per-point array of polygon attribute values, or you do something like average the polygon attribute values and store that as a point attribute value.

Using arrays to avoid Repeat part II

xsisupport — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:07:44 +0000

Part I is here

Another building block for using arrays instead of Repeat loops: an array that looks like [0,0,0,0, 1,1,1,1, 2,2,2,2, ...].

Again, the trick is to use this array as the indices for Select in Array.

Here’s how to build this kind of array:

Here’s a simple example. I get the positions of the objects in a group, and then use those positions to add points in a point cloud. Basically, I have a group of objects, and an array of vectors (the interpolated array). When I add a point, I take an object position and add a vector to it to get the point position.

In pseudo-code:

For each object in group
      for each vector in array
             Add Point
             Point Position = vector + object position

If that ICE tree is hard to follow, then it may help to use some attributes to store intermediate values(arrays). That way you can separate out some branches of the tree: