Simple example of a parametric point cloud

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Here’s a simple parametric point cloud that shows the two techniques for using arrays instead of Repeats that I blogged about earlier:

Using arrays to avoid Repeat part I
Using arrays to avoid Repeat part II

I used this set of parametric equations to get a cylinder point cloud:

x = sin(u)
y = cos(u)
z = v

where

0 <= u <= 2*PI
-2 <= v <= 2

For this exercise, I simply used Build Interpolated Array to build arrays of U and V values, but I probably should use something like the XYZ_Grid_Generator technique described by Daniel Brassard on si-community.

Here’s a version of the ICE tree with some Show Values.

I use the Modulo technique to build an array of the XY values for all points in the cloud.

Then I use the Divide by Scalar technique (the integer result is truncated) to build an array of the Z values.

Finally, I add XY vectors to the Z vectors to get the final point positions.

Scripting the output file format for viewport captures

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Here’s how to set the default value for the FormatType list in the Capture Viewport dialog box.

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

# Set the capture options
oViewportCapture = si.Dictionary.GetObject("ViewportCapture")
paramFormatType = si.Dictionary.GetObject( "ViewportCapture.FormatType" )

# Set default to JPEG
paramFormatType.Value = 5

# Display Viewport Capture dialog
si.CaptureViewport( 2, True )


# FormatType values
# -----------------
# 0 Alias
# 1 AVI
# 2 BMP
# 3 Cineon (DPX)
# 4 Cineon (FIDO)
# 5 JPEG
# 6 Memory mapped
# 7 mental ray color
# 8 OpenEXR
# 9 PGM
# 10 Photoshop PSD
# 11 Pict
# 12 PNG
# 13 PPM
# 14 Quicktime
# 15 SGI
# 16 Softimage .pic
# 17 Son Playstation2 TIM2/CLUT2
# 18 Targa
# 19 Tiff
# 20 Valve
# 21 Wavefront
# 22 YUV

If you are scripting a non-interactive viewport capture, you don’t use FormatType. Instead, the output file format is determined by the file extension of the output file name.
Here’s a Python version of the example on the CaptureViewport reference page.

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

# Get the current frame
fc = si.ActiveProject.Properties("Play Control").Parameters("Current").Value

# Set the capture options
oViewportCapture = si.Dictionary.GetObject("ViewportCapture")

# Capture a 1-frame sequence 
start = oViewportCapture.NestedObjects("Start Frame")
win32com.client.dynamic.Dispatch(start).Value = fc

end = oViewportCapture.NestedObjects("End Frame")       
win32com.client.dynamic.Dispatch(end).Value = fc

# Specify the output file name
# For scripted captures, the output file format is determined by the extension
name = oViewportCapture.NestedObjects("File Name")
win32com.client.dynamic.Dispatch(name).Value = "C:\\test.jpg"

# No dialog
si.CaptureViewport( 2, False );

Friday Flashback #57 SOFTIMAGE|3D custom dialogs

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Back in 1999, you would use this dialog editor to build custom dialogs for SOFTIMAGE|3D shaders and plugins:

The dialog editor would generate the .cus file that specified the layout of the custom dialog. For example, this simple dialog box:

was defined by this .cus file:

Dialog
1200, "Breakup", 12, 1, -1, 442, 385, 836, 638
1, 2, "Ok", 700, 459, 790, 496, 0
2, 2, "Cancel", 593, 459, 683, 496, 0
3, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
4, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
5, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
6, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
7, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
8, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
9, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
10, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
11, 0, "", 697, 459, 697, 459, 0
12, 3, "Tagged Points Only",590, 565, 772, 580, 0

_SYMBOLS
TAG 12
_END

Using the Schematic view to understand ICE scene setups

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The Schematic view can show you the ICE scene references that “connect” different objects in a scene.

In this example:

  • ICETree on pointcloud has a scene reference to grid
  • Transform_From_Array on null has a scene reference to xform_container_pointcloud.
  • Get_Particles_Transform on xform_container_pointcloud has a scene reference to pointcloud.

Here’s a slightly more complicated schematic, for the Modeling_Basic_Shattering sample scene:

Scripting – Getting reference model Resolutions

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You can get at the Resolutions through scripting (via NestedObjects or Dictionary.GetObject), but you can get the resolution name and file only.

from siutils import si		# Application
from siutils import sidict	# Dictionary
from siutils import sisel	# Selection
from siutils import log		# LogMessage

def getResolutionFileName( m, res ):
	if ( m.Type == "#model" and m.Parameters("referenced_model").Value==True):
		return sidict.GetObject( m.FullName + ".resolutions." + res + ".file" ).Value
		
log( getResolutionFileName( sisel(0), 'res1' ) )
log( getResolutionFileName( sisel(0), 'res2' ) )
log( getResolutionFileName( sisel(0), 'res3' ) )
		
# INFO : Models\Octa-Low.emdl
# INFO : Models\Octa-Med.emdl
# INFO : Models\Octa-High.emdl

Going through NestedObjects is a bit more of a hassle:

from siutils import si		# Application
from siutils import sidict	# Dictionary
from siutils import sisel	# Selection
from siutils import log		# LogMessage

import win32com.client.dynamic

def getResolutions( m ):
	if ( m.Type == "#model" and m.Parameters("referenced_model").Value==True):
		return m.NestedObjects( "Resolutions" ).NestedObjects

resolutions = getResolutions( sisel(0) )

for r in resolutions:
	name = sidict.GetObject( r.FullName + ".name" ).Value
	file = sidict.GetObject( r.FullName + ".file" ).Value
	log( name )
	log( file )

	# This errors out with the dynamic dispatch fix:
	name = r.NestedObjects( "name" )
	log( si.ClassName( name ) )
	log( win32com.client.dynamic.Dispatch(name).Value )

Moving the timeline pointer back to frame 1 with xsibatch

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UPDATE: In the comments, Vladimir suggests a better way to do this: use the scntoc. That way, the scene will always open at frame 1.
Use a text editor to add Application.SetValue(“PlayControl.Current”, 1) to the onload script. This script will run when you open the scene, and move the timeline pointer back to frame 1 to avoid the re-simulation.

   <PostLoadScript>
      <Language>Python</Language>
      <Function>postLoad</Function>
      <Script_Content>
	<![CDATA[
Application.SetValue("PlayControl.Current", 1)
	]]></Script_Content>
   </PostLoadScript>

After you save the scene, Softimage will write out the scntoc without the CDATA section (Softimage will replace special characters like < and ” with entities).

   <PostLoadScript>
      <Language>Python</Language>
      <Function></Function>
      <Script_Content>
	
Application.SetValue(&quot;PlayControl.Current&quot;, 1)</Script_Content>
   </PostLoadScript>


So you have a heavy simulation, and you saved the scene with the timeline pointer at frame 1000. Now when you open the scene, you have to sit and wait while the scene re-simulates.

You can fix this by using xsibatch to move the timeline pointer back to frame 1.

It’s probably a good idea to save heavy sim scenes with the timeline pointer at frame 1 😉

  • Save this JScript in a .js file. 
    var sScene = "C:\\Users\\blairs\\Support\\Scenes\\Test.scn"
OpenScene(sScene, null, null);
SetValue("PlayControl.Current", 1, null);
SaveScene();
  • In a command prompt, use xsibatch -processing -script to run the script: 
    xsibatch -processing -script C:\Users\blairs\Documents\resetPlayControlCurrent.js

Now you can open your scene without it resimulating.

Tip for using Show Values with the Filter node

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Use the SKip Default Values During Display or Show Values Computed at Current Frame options when you do a Show Values on the output of a Filter node.

With the default Show Values settings, you’ll see default values for the elements that didn’t pass the filter condition:

If you enable SKip Default Values During Display or Show Values Computed at Current Frame , then you see values for the filtered elements only: