Tag Archives: Projects

Saving scenes outside of projects

Posted on by
Reply

Issue
You want to save a scene (a .scn file) to a folder that is not part of project. For example, you may want to save a copy of scene to a temporary working folder where a batch processing job can pick up the scene, and you don’t want to have to create a Softimage project.
Solution
Softimage scenes must be saved to a valid project location.

A valid project location is any folder that contains a system folder, with a dsprojectinfo file in that folder.

To create a minimal project location, you can simply copy the system folder from an existing project. You can then save the scene in that location (you don’t even have to create a Scenes subfolder).

Cannot add a project in the Project Manager

Posted on by
1

Issue
When you try to add a project with the Project Manager, you get this error message:

---------------------------
Autodesk® Softimage®
---------------------------
The project cannot be added.
The project is invalid or the same project already exists in the project list.
---------------------------
OK   
---------------------------

Solution
Check that the project has a system folder.

Every project has a system folder. The system folder is a hidden folder, so you may not see it in Windows Explorer unless you change your Explorer view options to show hidden folders.

If a project is missing the system folder, you can copy the system folder from another project, and that will work.

Check the permissions on the system folder.

Make sure the user has Full Control, and that all files and folders in the “system” folder inherit those permissions.

If a user does not have access permissions for the system folder, you will get the “invalid project” errors.

Originally posted as a KB article here.

dsprojectinfo file

Posted on by
Reply

Issue
You want to know what the system\dsprojectinfo file is used for, and whether your can use it to specify project settings.
Solution
The presence of a dsprojectinfo file in the system folder marks a valid project location.

Softimage doesn’t use what’s in the file. After the file is created (when the project is created), the only thing Softimage does is update the project path, which is stored in the file, along with some other project info like the project name. But Softimage doesn’t use the path, that’s why you can copy an existing system folder to a new location to create a new project.

Tip To create a minimal project location, you can simply copy the system folder from an existing project. You can then save the scene in that location (you don’t even have to create a Scenes subfolder).

Originally published as a KB article. Reposting here in case the KB article is wiped at some point.

The default project

Posted on by
4

The default project is the active project at startup (the project whose name appears in the Softimage title bar).

19-03-2013 4-45-51 PM

When you first install Softimage, the default project is XSI_SAMPLES.

After that, as you open scenes and exit and restart Softimage, the default project becomes the project that contained the scene you last opened. This is saved in your Default.xsipref file like this:

data_management.last_sequence_dir	= C:\Users\SOLIDANGLE\Projects\My Project\Scenes

But you can explicitly set a default project with the Project Manager, then that is saved in your Default.xsipref like this:

xsiprivate_unclassified.DS_SZ_LOAD_DEFAULT_PROJECT	= #STRI#C:\Users\SOLIDANGLE\Projects\Support