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Monthly Archives: February 2011
runonce.bat cannot start because Crosswalk is missing
If you get this error when you try to run runonce.bat:
sireg.exe – System Error
The program can’t start because Crosswalk_2-11.5.64.dll is missing
from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.
it’s probably because your PATH environment variable is missing the Softimage Common Files:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Softimage;
- C:\Program Files\Common Files\Softimage;
Closing error dialog boxes that pop up during batch rendering
If xsibatch hits a runtime error or stops responding, Windows will pop up a dialog box that will sit there until some dismisses it.
On the XSI mailing list last year, Alan Fregman posted an AutoHotKey script that kills Visual C++ Runtime error messages when they pop-up.
AutoHotKey is free, so you could adapt that script to handle other pop-up dialogs, like the XSIBatch.exe has topped working message.
Another possibility would be to set the HKCU\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\DontShowUI registry key. I haven’t tried it, but I read about it here.
Tip: To test the AutoHotKey script, double-click the .exe to start the AutoHotKey script. You should see an icon in your Windows task bar. Then in Softimage, run this JScript:
XSIUIToolkit.MsgBox( "Runtime Error!" , siMsgOkOnly, "Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library");
The pop-up message box should close immediately.
Try exiting the AutoHotKey script (from the task bar). Then run the JScript again.,
Or just change “Runtime Error” to “All is good”, and notice that the message box is not automatically closed.
Games technology preview
There’s something familiar-looking about some of the node-based editors in this games technology preview:
Friday Flashback #7
GDC reel from 2002. Video quality is a bit low, I known.
If the video doesn’t load here, you can see it here.
MOTOR Load Motion malfunction
Recently, I had a case where the customer reported that his rig “exploded” when he tried to load and apply a .motion file.
Since the customer was from EMEA (that’s Autodesk-speak for Europe/Middle East/Africa), I figured this was most likely this is because of the Number format in the Windows Region and Language settings. I was able to reproduce the problem by changing my Region and Language Format at Germany. Except that my character didn’t explode; rather, it ended up 121800 units from the origin looking like a Star Trek transporter malfunction.
To fix this:
Try changing the Decimal Symbol to a period (.) and the Digit Grouping Symbol to a comma (,).
Or switch the Format to English (United States).
Checking for ICE trees in the construction history
You can use the ActivePrimitive.ConstructionHistory to find out where an ICETree is in the construction stack.
var o = Dictionary.GetObject( "someobject" );
var sMarker;
oEnum = new Enumerator( o.ActivePrimitive.ConstructionHistory );
for (;!oEnum.atEnd();oEnum.moveNext())
{
if( oEnum.item().BelongsTo( "MarkerOperators" ) )
{
sMarker = oEnum.item().type;
}
else if (oEnum.item().IsClassOf( siICETreeID ) == true )
{
LogMessage( sMarker + " -> " + oEnum.item().name );
}
}
// INFO : simulationmarker -> ICETree1
// INFO : modelingmarker -> ICETree
And here’s a Python version courtesy of Alan Fregtman of the Softimage mailing list.
How to tell if a given ICETree object is simulated or not
# ---------------------------------
xsi = Application
obj = xsi.Selection(0)
markers = ["secondaryshapemarker","postsimulationmarker","simulationmarker","animationmarker","shapemarker","modelingmarker"]
opstack = obj.ActivePrimitive.ConstructionHistory
for op in opstack:
if any([op.FullName.endswith("."+marker) for marker in markers]):
lastMarker = op.FullName
if xsi.ClassName(op) == "ICETree":
print op.FullName+" is under marker: "+lastMarker.split(".")[-1]
37signals: Customer Support Happiness Report
Interesting. This company uses a smiley-face rating system for their customer support. And they publish the last 100 results.
After every interaction with our support team, a customer is asked to rate the experience by clicking one of three ratings: “It was great” (happy face), “It was OK” (flat-line face), or “It wasn’t good” (frown face).
via 37signals: Customer Support Happiness Report.
At Autodesk we use a scale from 0 to 10, which is broken down like this:
0-6 )-:
7-8 |-:
9-10 (-:
An error occured trying to save file setenv.bat
If you get this error when you try to use UserTools to edit setenv.bat:
--------------------------- Error --------------------------- An error occured trying to save file 'C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2011\Application\bin\Setenv.bat' ! --------------------------- OK ---------------------------
then you have to run UserTools with elevated privileges.
Right-click the UserTools shortcut and click Run as Administrator.
-or-
Right-click UserTools, click Properties, go to the Compatability tab, and under Privilege Level, select the “Run this program as an administrator” check box.
imf_disp: Could not connect to the socket specified in the stubfile
You can get this error when you try to view in-progress frames with imf_disp.
To get around this error, try unsetting the MI_ENABLE_PIPE_MODE environment variable in setenv.bat.
By default, MI_ENABLE_PIPE_MODE is set to 1. To unset the variable, just delete the “1” so there is no value after the equal sign (=).
rem Render variables set MI_ENABLE_PIPE_MODE=
MI_ENABLE_PIPE_MODE is actually more for people who are having problemswith firewalls when running Softimage (such as constant “do you want to block/unblock” messages). It prevents mental ray from opening up tcp/ip sockets. Available on Windows only
eX-SI 