Re: XSI Montreal "Tips & Tricks" session, looking for presenters

["Tim Leydecker" <BauerOink(at)gmx.de>]

Hi Bernard,

Im not from the area and probably not the most prestigous
presenter to be sought either. I´ll still take ten minutes to
share some tips&tricks that would have saved me some
time during the last week. Mostly geared towards modeling,
one tip for the GF 7900 GT (like my XFX 520) range of cards.

-The 7900 GT card will produce serious redraw errors up
to complete blackouts if you use the current (german) driver.
Picking the "maya" preset doesn´t help this. Go to nvidia.com,
look for the betadrivers of the new series 9.x.x. The controlpanel
is terrible (geared towards novice users) but the glitches disappear.

Modeling:

-Never use the KP/L to insert SRT values manually and hit enter.
Depending on your settings and the current manipulator mode,
you´ll end up with an object that is scaled the desired amount but
shifted to a remote location in your scene. Don´t ask me why.

-If you want to rotate something, get used to holding the [shift] key,
get´s you reliable rotation in (default>preferences) 15° steps.

-Get used to the advantages of using custom [Ref] planes. It may
sound tedious but is worth the second it takes to set it. After a while
you won´t want to live without it.

- Turn off raycast selection in shaded, makes your life easier when
selecting in broad strokes [U/Y]

- [M/J/L] are great. Get a complete new feeling of power when you
shift a little polybugger (edge/point) over a surface without changing
it´s shilhouette. Mergthings to the point is a snap.

-If you really want to p**s off the Maya guys, tell them about the +/-
keys, then show off with [shift]&[+] and [shift]+[-]. They´ll ask you out.

-Never trust the [Extrude along Axis] direction, it may look straight, but
basically, it´s useless, deactivate [Y] and move it yourself. Remember,
using the "Inset" only works for a closed surface. Cap those open edges
and *just then and only then* do a nice, uniform inset. You´ll still be faster
than the Maya guys. Regarding the [Y] thing, soemeone here mentioned one
could edit the spdll to the own liking, I´ll look that up.

-If you duplicate something ALLWAYS freeze it while you still have it
selected. Otherwise, you´ll later easily hit the "freeze" on it´s (mother) object
and *baddabing* endup without the (child/dupe) kids. Sound familiar?

-Save early. Save often. Don´t trust the export as "model" function, use
dotXSI or even *.obj to CORRECTLY export EVERYTHING in your
selection. You´ll really only notice when it´s (too) late.

Cheers

tim








----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bernard Lebel" <3dbernard(at)gmail.com>
To: <XSI(at)Softimage.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 7:29 PM
Subject: XSI Montreal "Tips & Tricks" session, looking for presenters


> Hello everyone,
>
> Me, Will and Eric are preparing the next XSI user group of Montreal,
> which would take place ideally in 3 weeks from now.
>
>
> We are looking for presenters for a very special type of presentation:
> [b]Tips & Tricks[/b].
>
>
> Basically, during one hour, several presenters would speak in turns
> for about 10-20 minutes each, just about any subject they want, as
> long as it fits into "trick that got this problem solved / trick that
> got this thing done".
>
> For instance, I will take one of those spots, and I plan to discuss
> two things (if time allows): how I got simple crowd shots done with
> particles, and how I solved certain issues with source paths.
>
> So we are looking for presenters willing to share their tricks, just
> about any possibly conceivable subject related to XSI. We are not
> expecting any ground-breaking tricks, just the little things that we
> generally take for granted -and never mention during typical
> presentations- but can make a big difference.
>
>
> If you are interested, please contact me (3dbernard -at_ gmail.com) or
> Will (will -at_ xsimontreal.com). Replace -at_ with (at).
> We look for 3-4 people, on top of me and possibly another presenter
> that remains to be confirmed.
>
>
> Thanks
> Bernard
> ---
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