XSI_UserNormalEditing v2.2 - interactive editing of user normals available on XSI Net ( w/ source code )

[Alain Laferrière <alainl(at)Softimage.COM>]

Title: XSI_UserNormalEditing v2.2 - interactive editing of user normals available on XSI Net ( w/ source code )

Hello,

I just published version 2.2 of my user normal editing tool on XSI Net ( http://www.softimage.com/xsinet).

This new version contains major changes since v2.0 :

- completed port from original HTML / VBScript to 100% XSI SDK C++ API
- supports all types of installation ( User, Workgroup, Factory ), not only User
- new "Numerical Editing" feature to set a normal vector manually
- new "Scaling" parameter to control the display length of normal vectors
- new more powerful selection paradigm, supports : object, vertex, polygon, edge, samples,
  and clusters of components to indicate which normals are selected
- new "Normal Selection" group provides advanced normal selection control
- new "Bleed Selection Around Vertices" effect option which allows to apply normal
  modifications to neighbour normals sharing a common edge or vertex ( useful for
  shading beveled surfaces for example )
- cleaned up installation files ( all under a single "XSI_UserNormalEditing" folder )
- polished source code

Go to http://www.softimage.com/xsinet and look under "add-ons" ( "XSI User Normal Editing" at the bottom of the list ).

The download file is named "050727_4_2_XSI_UserNormalEditing_v2_2_All.zip" and contains :

• 050727_4_2_XSI_UserNormalEditing_v2_2_Addon.zip ( the addon file included in this archive )
• 050727_4_2_XSI_UserNormalEditing_v2_2_Sources.zip, contains the full source code

Installation :

• download the file from XSINet, extract the .xsiaddon file in a temporary location
• launch XSI 4.2 and install the addon

Usage :

• press both ALT key and the RMB ( Right Mouse Button ) together, and select the "XSI_UserNormalEditing" entry from the pulldown menu ( tip : if you do this from the lower half of the screen the option will appear near above the mouse cursor )
• the XSI User Normal Editing custom property page opens
• press the 'b' key and use the mouse buttons to interactively transform user normals

That's it !

I hope you will find this useful.

If you're writing plugins using the SDK C++ API, you may want to have a look at the source code as it contains a lot of useful information that might help you.

Kind regards,
Alain