You'd probably be happier in Houdini, Luke. ;-)
That said, it's obvious you have not been following this fine set ofXSI Base threads....
http://www.xsibase.com/forum/index.php?board=28And more specifically this one:http://www.xsibase.com/forum/index.php?board=28;action=display;threadid=20552
CheersBernard
On 10/1/05, lpiasecki76 <lpiasecki76(at)rogers.com> wrote:>>>> My apologies for all the emails I have sent this weekend.>> I don't mean to spam you, I just had a bit of extra time to work with XSI> 5.0 and a few ideas surfaced.>> I have mentioned this editor in one of my previous emails and I thought I> could elaborate a little bit more here. Although I have only seen Houdini a> few times in the past, I understand that the idea is very similar to the> paradigm that Houdini uses. This by no means would be an easy thing to> implement and would most likely take a few releases as well as a lot of user> feedback, experimenting and usability tests.>> What I would like to propose is a centralized> schematic/node-based/relationship editor for any node based> relations in the software. This editor would replace or enhance ideas of> Render Tree, Behaviour, Deformations, Particles, Schematic view and perhaps> even compositor. Its main purpose would be to integrate everything in the> softw!
are. It seems that it fits very well with the 'upcoming' particle> system, outdated schematic view, requests for deformation blending, lack of> current integration in the dynamic system, improvements to expressions and> SCOPS.>> Some main ideas:>> - The editor would be comprised of all kind of nodes and defined> events/triggers/relations between them.>> - All the nodes are open; you can plug anything into anything as> long as the inputs/outputs match.>> - It serves as a visual expression editor, so conditions,> iterations are allowed.>> - Many utility nodes would be provided, e.g. get point vector,> distance to, collides with, enters volume, closest point on curve/surface> etc.>> - It allows for collapsing of the nodes.>> - All functions from Behaviour become nodes, a state machine is> also provided (replaces Behaviour)>> - Allows for integration of all solvers, e.g. you can get collision> data from two rigid bo!
dies colliding and feed that into render tree or> anything you!
can ima
gine. Particles can push rigid bodies and deform soft> bodies etc.>> - User can define events, triggers, zones, etc. which will trigger> animations or behaviours.>> - Parallel deformations, blending between them etc. can very easily> be visualized.>> - Rendering nodes can be linked into other nodes, such as for> instance the velocity of the object can be linked to a colour of its texture> or vice versa.>> - Advanced behaviours such as 'transfer attributes from overlapping> objects' are also provided, when particle enter a volumetric objects which> has some attributes defined, their attributes will start to change> (depending on falloff etc.) this would be an extension of triggers. An> object which overlaps another object could automatically transfer textures> from the other object upon overlap.>> - Split history – while modeling in construction mode the user can> split history at any time, allowing for different version of the obj!
ect and> merging the chains later on in the chain.>> - Any SCOP can become a node, which can then be plugged to other> nodes/SCOPS.>> - Nodes can have multiple inputs and outputs.>> - Multiple materials and render tree nodes of different objects can> talk to each other.>> - One can quickly drag and drop parameters from those nodes to> create custom GUIs so a user does not have to go through the nodes to edit> what they need the most.>> - Visualization – an idea beyond shader balls – the little nodes> show thumbnails of objects, materials, particle animation as it changes from> node to node. Nodes can be quickly muted or reordered.>> - Of course this editor would also provide nodes for a particle> system, however I will not go into details here since so any great> suggestions have been posted at XSIBase.com>>>>>> I understand that designing such system would be a huge challenge, but if> properly implemented this could be !
a great addition to the package.>>>> Let me know what you guys!
think.>
>>> Luke
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