Tag Archives: Softimage

New Python methods in 2013

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A few people have asked me about the new “Python-specific” methods added in the Softimage 2013 SDK.

Basically, these new “Python-specific” methods are wrappers for the existing methods. What the new, Python-specific versions do is make sure you get back an object that supports all the advertised methods and properties of the class hierarchy.

For example, Menu is a subclass of MenuItem, and Menu adds new methods like AddCommandItem().

Menu.AddItem() returns a Menu object that supports all the MenuItem methods and properties, but doesn’t support the Menu methods and properties, such as Menu.AddCommandItem().

Menu.AddItem2() , on the other hand, returns an object that supports all the MenuItem and Menu methods and properties.

I blogged about the Menu.AddItem() problem awhile back.

Python-specific methods

  • Clip.AddProperty2 – Creates and adds a UserDataBlob or CustomProperty to a Clip object. This method is specific to the python language.
  • Layout.CreateViewFromDefinitionFile2 – Creates a new View object given the path to its definition on disk. This method is similar to Layout.CreateViewFromDefinitionFile but specific to the python language.
  • Layout.FindView2 – Finds an existing View object given a name in this layout. This method is similar to Layout.FindView but specific to the python language.
  • Menu.AddItem2 – Adds a menu item at to end of the menu. This method is similar to Menu.AddItem but specific to the python language.
  • Menu.AddCommandItem2 – Adds a menu item at the end of the menu and attaches a command. This method is similar to Menu.AddCommandItem but specific to the python language.
  • Menu.AddCallbackItem2 – Adds a menu item to the end of the menu and attaches a callback function. This method is similar to Menu.AddCallbackItem but specific to the python language.
  • ICENode.GetPortFromName2 – Returns the ICENodePort object that matches a specific port name. This method is similar to ICENode.GetPortFromName but specific to the python language.
  • ICENode.GetPortFromIndex2 – Returns the ICENodePort object specified by a port index, group index and group instance index. This method is similar to ICENode.GetPortFromIndex but specific to the python language.
  • Operator.GetPort3 – Returns the specified Port object for the operator. This method is similar to Operator.GetPort2 but specific to the python language.
  • Override.AddParameterEntry2 – Adds a new entry to override the input parameter and returns the new overriding parameter. This method is similar to Override.AddParameterEntry but specific to the python language.
  • Primitive.GetGeometry3 – Returns a Geometry object containing the object’s geometry. This method is similar to Primitive.GetGeometry2 but specific to the python language.
  • SceneItem.GetPropertyFromName2 – Returns a property, given its scripting name. This method is similar to SceneItem.GetPropertyFromName but specific to the python language.
  • SceneItem.GetLocalPropertyFromName2 – Returns a local property, given its scripting name. This method is similar to SceneItem.GetLocalPropertyFromName but specific to the python language.
  • ShaderArrayParamDef.ItemDef2 – Returns the underlying ShaderParamDef or ShaderStructParamDef object for this array item. This method is similar to ShaderArrayParamDef.ItemDef but specific to the Python language.
  • ShaderArrayParameter.Item2 – Returns the specified ShaderParameter item in this array. This method is similar to ShaderArrayParameter.Item but specific to the Python language.
  • ShaderParamDefContainer.AddParamDef2 – This method is similar to ShaderParamDefContainer.AddParamDef but specific to the Python language.
  • ShaderParamDefContainer.GetParamDefByName2 – Returns the ShaderParamDef that matches the specified name from this container. This method is similar to ShaderParamDefContainer.GetParamDefByName but specific to the Python language.
  • ShaderParameter.Definition2 – Returns the shader parameter definition as a ShaderParamDef object. This method is similar to ShaderParameter.Definition but specific to the Python language.
  • View.FindView2 – Finds an existing View object given a name. This method is similar to View.FindView but specific to the Python language.
  • X3DObject.GetActivePrimitive3 – Returns the 3D object’s active Primitive for a given frame. This method is similar to X3DObject.GetActivePrimitive2 but specific to the Python language.
  • XSIApplication.ActiveProject3 – Returns or sets the active XSIProject object. This method is similar to XSIApplication.ActiveProject2 but specific to the Python language.
  • XSIApplication.GetObjectFromID2 – Returns the object matching the specified ID. This method is similar to XSIApplication.GetObjectFromID but specific to the python language.
  • XSIFactory.CreateObjectFromPreset2 – Creates an object from a preset and optional preset family name. This method is similar to XSIFactory.CreateObjectFromPreset but specific to the Python language.

ICE Modeling example – extruding and extruding a grid

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Here’s a simple example that extrudes the polygons in a grid, and then applies a second extrude op to the extruded polygons.
I modified the Disconnect compound to output the Topo, just to make it easter to connect things. Really, I should probably daisy-chain everything in this example.

Chris_TC did something more sophisticated here.

Deleting overlapping particles

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As an exercise, I built this ICE tree that prevents any overlapping particles (for non-rotated particles only). It works by comparing the X, Y, and Z values of the vector between two points with the combined size of the two particle shapes (which are boxes in this example).

The compound node returns an array of booleans, one for each neighbour. The boolean flags indicate whether or not the particles would overlap, so if at least one is True, then I delete the particle. If you must see it, here’s the compound:

Disabling Customer Error Reporting (CER)

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In general, we’d prefer you didn’t disable the CER reports. But if you’re in the middle of debugging a plugin that constantly crashes, for example, you might want to temporarily disable the CERs.

To disable CER reporting, edit the Softimage setenv.bat file and add this:

SI_DISABLE_CER=1

Maya, and presumbably 3ds Max, work the same way.

MAYA_DISABLE_CER=1

New in Softimage 2013: Getting the selected materials in the Material Manager

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In 2013, you can use the selection view attribute to get the materials that are selected in the Material Manager.

Here’s a python custom menu item that shows how to do it. In summary, you do this:

  • Add a custom menu in the Manager Manager
  • Use a callback item, so you can get the view from the context
  • Use selection view attribute to get the names of the selected materials
import win32com.client
from win32com.client import constants

null = None
false = 0
true = 1

def XSILoadPlugin( in_reg ):
	in_reg.Author = "blairs"
	in_reg.Name = "MaterialsManagerPlugin"
	in_reg.Major = 1
	in_reg.Minor = 0

	in_reg.RegisterMenu(constants.siMenuMaterialManagerTopLevelID,"Custom_Tools",false,false)
	#RegistrationInsertionPoint - do not remove this line

	return true

def XSIUnloadPlugin( in_reg ):
	strPluginName = in_reg.Name
	Application.LogMessage(str(strPluginName) + str(" has been unloaded."),constants.siVerbose)
	return true

def Custom_Tools_Init( in_ctxt ):
	oMenu = in_ctxt.Source
	oMenu.AddCallbackItem("Get Selected Materials","OnGetSelected")
	return true

def OnGetSelected( c ):
	view = c.GetAttribute( "Target" )
	Application.LogMessage( view )
	
	Application.LogMessage( view.GetAttributeValue( "selection" ) )
	for mat in view.GetAttributeValue( "selection" ).split(","):
		Application.LogMessage(  mat )

	return true

New in Softimage 2013: Filtering XSICollections

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In Softimage 2013, the XSICollection object now has a Filter method, so you can filter XSICollections by type, family, or path name.

oFilteredCollection = XSICollection.Filter( [Type], [Families], [Path] )

I updated my find all cameras script to use XSICollection.Filter, and here’s the timing results (form the same scene, but in 2013).

# INFO : getCameras_FindObjects finished in 0.033000 seconds
# INFO : Found 8301 cameras
# INFO : getCameras_FindObjects_w_Filter finished in 0.269000 seconds
# INFO : Found 24 cameras
# INFO : getCameras_FindObjects_w_SIFilter finished in 0.044000 seconds
# INFO : Found 24 cameras
# INFO : getCameras_FindObjects2 finished in 0.001000 seconds
# INFO : Found 49 cameras
# INFO : getCameras_FindObjects2_w_Filter finished in 0.003000 seconds
# INFO : Found 24 cameras
# INFO : getCameras_FindChildren2 finished in 0.149000 seconds
# INFO : Found 24 cameras
# INFO : getCameras_SelectAllUsingFilter finished in 0.035000 seconds
# INFO : Found 24 cameras
  • FindObjects2 is fastest, with SelectAllUsingFilter a mildly surprising second (again note that I’m calling SelectAllUsingFilter with AffectSelectionList=False, so I’m not actually selecting anything). 
    FindObjects2_w_Filter		0.003000 seconds
SelectAllUsingFilter		0.035000 seconds
FindObjects_w_SIFilter		0.044000 seconds
FindChildren2			0.149000 seconds
FindObjects_w_Filter		0.269000 seconds
  • FindObjects finds a lot more than just cameras; it finds lots of nulls too because that GUID isn’t unique to cameras
  • In this context, SIFilter is faster than the XSICollection.Filter method

Here’s the updated script for Softimage 2013:

import time
si = Application
log = si.LogMessage
from win32com.client import constants as C

import win32com.client
oCameraColl = win32com.client.Dispatch( "XSI.Collection" )

si.SetValue("preferences.scripting.cmdlog", False, "")


def timeExecution(func):
    def closure(*args, **kwargs):
        startTime = time.time()
        try:
            ret = func(*args, **kwargs)
        except Exception, e:
            delta = time.time() - startTime
            log('Failed in %f seconds' % delta)
            raise
        delta = time.time() - startTime
        log('%s finished in %f seconds' % (func.__name__, delta))
        return ret
    return closure 

@timeExecution
def getCameras_FindObjects():
	oCameraColl = Application.FindObjects( "", "{5FC0CCAE-3DC8-11D0-9449-00AA006D3165}" )
	return oCameraColl.Count

@timeExecution
def getCameras_FindObjects_w_Filter():
	oCameraColl = Application.FindObjects( "", "{5FC0CCAE-3DC8-11D0-9449-00AA006D3165}" )
	oCameraColl = oCameraColl.Filter( "camera" )
	oCameraColl.RemoveItems( oCameraColl.Filter( "", "", "CopyPaste*" ) )
	oCameraColl.RemoveItems( oCameraColl.Filter( "", "", "View*" ) )
	return oCameraColl.Count

@timeExecution
def getCameras_FindObjects_w_SIFilter():
	oCameraColl = Application.FindObjects( "", "{5FC0CCAE-3DC8-11D0-9449-00AA006D3165}" )
	oCameraColl = si.SIFilter( oCameraColl, "camera" )
	oCameraColl.RemoveItems( oCameraColl.Filter( "", "", "CopyPaste*" ) )
	oCameraColl.RemoveItems( oCameraColl.Filter( "", "", "View*" ) )
	return oCameraColl.Count


@timeExecution
def getCameras_FindObjects2():
	c = si.FindObjects2( C.siCameraID )
	return c.Count

@timeExecution
def getCameras_FindObjects2_w_Filter():
	cams = si.FindObjects2( C.siCameraID )
	oCameraColl.Items = cams
	oCameraColl.RemoveItems( cams.Filter( "", "", "CopyPaste*" ) )
	oCameraColl.RemoveItems( cams.Filter( "", "", "View*" ) )
	return oCameraColl.Count


@timeExecution
def getCameras_FindChildren2():
	cams = si.ActiveSceneRoot.FindChildren2("", "camera")
	return cams.Count

@timeExecution
def getCameras_SelectAllUsingFilter():
	cams = si.SelectAllUsingFilter("Camera", "siIgnoreComponentVisibility", False, "")
	return cams.Count



@timeExecution
def getCameras_Model_FindObjects():
	cams = si.ActiveSceneRoot.FindObjects( C.siCameraID )
	return cams.Count


log( 'Found %d cameras' % getCameras_FindObjects() )
log( 'Found %d cameras' % getCameras_FindObjects_w_Filter() )
log( 'Found %d cameras' % getCameras_FindObjects_w_SIFilter() )
log( 'Found %d cameras' % getCameras_FindObjects2() )
log( 'Found %d cameras' % getCameras_FindObjects2_w_Filter() )
log( 'Found %d cameras' % getCameras_FindChildren2() )
log( 'Found %d cameras' % getCameras_SelectAllUsingFilter() )