MtI 0.9 (29 nov 2007 release)

[dougal2]

There are a few updates, and a few improved features in this release.

Updates:
- changed the way XML files are written. should be better for large scenes, especially large numbers of instances.
- added renderSavDir setting where PNG renders are to be saved. (relative to scene file location)
- tweaked camera export for better maya-indigo camera matching
- GUI buttons for camera and sun change depending on whether camera/sun are present
- When adding a sun, environment type switches to Sun automatically
- obj files are now saved to objs/#/ where # is current frame number.
- XML code display can be disabled, old-style or opened in notepad. (None, Internal, External).
- better use of <model> tag.
- better handling of nested/parented objects and objects with duplicate names.
- render batch file is now saved to scene file dir.

New features:
- Animation export. current playback range will be exported. Scene file name will be renamed from file.xml to file.#.xml for each frame #.
(renderDirect also works fine with animations. Set haltsec or haltspp and away you go )
- Highly experimental particle instancing export. Rotations are known to not work properly. Use an instancer object on a particle system.
- updated for v1.0.4 camera aperture diffraction support. aperture and obstacle maps should be in cameraApertureDir folder.

I've probably missed a few points, but the CHANGELOG.txt contains everything we've done.

There is also now a video tutorial on how to install MayaToIndigo in the Tutorials forum.

Your feedback is appreciated.

[dougal2]

known issue:
- renderDirect will block user input to Maya until indigo is closed. this effectively makes renderDirect useless.


I will release an update for this issue shortly.

[CTZn]

There is no issue, Doug, I found that was because two instances of Indigo can't run on the same port; at least if I uncheck Network I can have multiple instances of Indigo launched by MtI.

Keep it easy

[dougal2]

that's something different.

in mti_Gen the line

Code: Select all

system($mti_SystemCall);

should read

Code: Select all

system("shell " + $mti_SystemCall);

on my system the former locks Maya.

[CTZn]

Didn't experience that hang but fine if you found smthing to fix

[Kram1032]

Nothing really important, but I just saw, it's called MtI 0.9
shouldn't it be MtI 1.0, as it's for Indigo 1.0.x?

[dougal2]

Nothing really important, but I just saw, it's called MtI 0.9
shouldn't it be MtI 1.0, as it's for Indigo 1.0.x?

well, almost, but not quite. we're still lacking a few features I think.

[Kram1032]

ok, I see...

[dougal2]

Well, that said, all the major features are implemented - I don't want to give the impression that it's somehow incomplete.

The only thing niggling me is the lack of different <spectrum> types, especially for meshlights. Meshlights can only be blackbody emitters, but sometimes I find myself wanting RGB coloured lights.
I think I have a solution for implementing this (actually, I can think of 2 or 3 different ways), and I'll have a look possibly tomorrow at testng a method for doing it.

[CTZn]

REV 171

- Removed error if objExport plugin is unloaded or not present (can happen for minor fix release of Maya ie 7.01). Instead the user is warned and mti_saveObjFilesDirectly is set to 0. xml is entirely written.

We could load the plugin

Code: Select all

loadPlugin objExport

but if not present on disk MtI throws an error and do not write anything. The user is told to load the plugin manually when mti_Main is called, fair enough IMO.

Hey, if I do something wrong with the last couple of revs just tell me, I'm still a lame coder

MtI turned out very nice !

[dougal2]

CTZn, your code is fine, these little additions are valuable too - they will definitely help to improve the user's experience.

[dougal2]

REV 172
Moved rotation matrix procs into mti_ModuleTools.mel
Moved meshlight spectrum generation into a new module mti_ExportModuleMeshlight.mel
Tidied some XML output in mti_ExportModuleShaders.mel and mti_Gen.mel
Fixed typo error on proc name mti_existsScriptNode
Moved all sanityChecks into mti_ModuleTools.mel

updated README.txt

We now support blackbody, peak and RGB spectrum for meshlights.

Meshlight shader attributes->spectrum mapping has changed. Please read the documentation.

I'm also starting to add in warnings where we've got unmapped (ie, hard-coded) values in the XML output. Suggestions on which attributes to use for these values are welcome.

[CTZn]

Thanks for the kind comment.

I'm also starting to add in warnings where we've got unmapped (ie, hard-coded) values in the XML output. Suggestions on which attributes to use for these values are welcome.

Not sure I'm understanding you. Whay are unmapped (ie, hard-coded) values ?

[dougal2]

for example, where we've got

Code: Select all

"<gain>0.9</gain>"

instead of

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"<gain>" + $mti_GainValue + "</gain>"

[CTZn]

Ah yes ok, I could have figured that by myself