XSI Workflow Improvements and Bug List

[Helli]

Hey there

At xsiforum.de we started to collect feature requests to improve the workflow of XSI and also Bugs wich are not known yet by the programmers of Softimage. I've seen so many "Feature requests for XSI xx"-threads allready but in most of them you've readed the same, like "new particle system".
This list should ONLY be used for workflow improvements and bug listings. Please post ONLY feature requests wich are for speeding up the workflow of XSI. Things as changing weightmap values with the weightmap editor. Here are some examples wich are posted on xsiforum.de allready:

Workflow Feature Requests:

Weightmaps:
Allow editing of Weightmaps with the Weighteditor.

Expressions:
When dragging one Parameter over another a "is equal expression" is created. In case of an animated source parameter the animation is copied. For a faster workflow also in that case an "is equal expression" should be created and only if the user drags the parameter together with strg or shift the animation should be copied.
only drag&drop = creation of expression
strg or shift + drag&drop = copy the animation

Alt menu
Ability to easily customize the Alt+rmb menu like customizing hotkeys.

Selection
click drag select feature as in maya (found in preferences, selection), meaning you can select and translate an object with only one mousce click. Very useful for animating facial slider objects.


Expressions:
When a PPG for multiple objects is opened and you want to apply an expression by RMB-clicking on a parameter and opening the expression-editor, the expression is only applied to the parameter on the first object you selected. For a faster workflow it would be good to be able to apply the same expression to multiple parameters on multiple objects with one procedure.


Bugs:





So let's get started !
Greetings Mario

[Ooops]

you could post it in this thread, so everything is under one only. ;)

http://community.softimage.com/showthread.php?t=814

Just a suggestion.


Edit: I know u mentionned "workflow improvements and bug listings only" but still.
There's gonna be so many threads of this type...hard to keep track.

[Helli]

This is exactly what I don't want ;)
What I ask the users to post here are not features like you see it in those threads. Instead I really want you to post small improvements wich aren't mentioned everywhere else and wich would speed up the workflow.
No big feature requests, no "totally new" functions just improvements and Buglistings.
Those are the things wich people care alot about when they work with XSI day in day out.

[Ooops]

I understand what u are saying. Its just that workflow enhancements are mentionned in the other threads as well...its gonna be hard to know where to post anything. ;p

I agree a bug only thread could be useful. So people know what to be careful of (a certain thing not to use for fear of crash, etc.)

Anywway, it was just a suggestion...you re free to do whatever u want really.

[grahamef]

Selection
click drag select feature as in maya (found in preferences, selection), meaning you can select and translate an object with only one mousce click. Very useful for animating facial slider objects.


It's not exactly the same thing, but you can apply Transform Setup properties to get a similar behaviour: http://softimage.wiki.avid.com/xsidocs/transforms_TransformSetup.htm

[Helli]

It's not exactly the same thing, but you can apply Transform Setup properties to get a similar behaviour: http://softimage.wiki.avid.com/xsidocs/transforms_TransformSetup.htm

Yep but thats not what is meant by the user who posted that. You still have to select the object and release the mouse button, then click the transform handle again to move the object. Same for the snappy tools (hitting space, selecting another object, releasing space). What the user meant was to really be able to click and move an object with one click.

[thiago]

I agree on threads like this for bug checking and things like that where people can help to identify problems... But first you need to point to real bugs.

What happen most part of the time is that users don't know how to identify a bug.


For example:

Hey there
Bugs:

Weightpainting:
With activated weightpainting tool changing to shaded or hiddenline mode isn't working properly. After navigating in the viewport the viewport is changing back to constant again.



This is not a bug.
This is a normal behavior of the weight paint tool.
If you don't the tool to force the viewport to switch back constant (wheres the mode to see the weight), you open the tool ctrl+w and uncheck the "show property map"
This way your viewport will not be switching automatically to show the proper mode for weight painting.

[Gene]

Hello!
Posted this already in the "wishlist" thread, but the more often, the better ;)

- easily configurable ALT-RMB menu, with four parts, like the Quad Menu in 3ds max - like you said.

- mouse wheel zoom.

- click-drag-create primitives anywhere in the scene, not in the origin.

Maximum benefit for the user, minimum effort to implement...

[Helli]

I agree on threads like this for bug checking and things like that where people can help to identify problems... But first you need to point to real bugs.

What happen most part of the time is that users don't know how to identify a bug.

For example:
This is not a bug.
This is a normal behavior of the weight paint tool.
If you don't the tool to force the viewport to switch back constant (wheres the mode to see the weight), you open the tool ctrl+w and uncheck the "show property map"
This way your viewport will not be switching automatically to show the proper mode for weight painting.

There we go...
Working with XSI now since ~5 years and still there is allways something to learn ;)
Deleted that from the list.

[Roger Eberhart]

Trying to COG scale an edgeloop while symmetrical modeling is turned on. Instead of scaling from the COG of the edgeloop, it scales out from 0 on the x axis. Kind of defeats the purpose of symmetrical modeling.

[thiago]

Trying to COG scale an edgeloop while symmetrical modeling is turned on. Instead of scaling from the COG of the edgeloop, it scales out from 0 on the x axis. Kind of defeats the purpose of symmetrical modeling.

yes, but there are many ways to get symmetrical modeling in XSI.
this is one way: http://www.xsi-brasil.com/videos/XSI_sym_modeling/
maybe it help you :)

[franky]

i would love to have a export command in the right click menu of an action source. i constantly have to hover all my screen to get from the source (my explorer is docked on the right side) to the import/export menu...

[Werner]

Please bind the "Up" button, when loading scenes or images, to the backspace key...as per windows navigation.

[franky]

if i select several objects who have the same custom properties, like a left/right hand control, i can switch to the keying panel and change the properties of all selected objects at once (given they have the same name).
i would like to be able to do the same in the display_info. there only one object gets changed when several are selected.

[Toonafish]

- decent selection tools: all selection tools like lasso, freeform and paint should have a raycast and none raycast setting. Right now anly the default box selection tools does, which renders the others almost useless.

-weightmaps should be editable per vertex: select a vertex, edit weightmap value. Weight painting is neat, but a real hassle sometimes.

-Unhide polygons in Polygon or other cluster mode: I shouldn't have to go back to Object mode to unhide polygons that are hidden. When you hide and unhide polygons a lot it's a real workflow killer.

-There should be a way to hide vertices on a selected object when in Point mode to be able to see a clean model while using the tweak tool for instance. The same goes for the UV view, when zooming out in the UV view all I see is a blue blob.

-It would be neat if someone at Soft would take the time to fix the Wacom issue that has been around since forever. It's 2008....and XSI is the only app still not working flawless with the pen tablets.

-I say..an option for less sliders for modelers in XSI. It would be great if there would be modeling tools that had in view controls so you can keep your eyes on the model and don't have to switch between sliders and panels all the time.

-Better cluster material handling in MR with passes and overrides so we don't have to use weightmaps instead that slow down rendering and are slower to setup.

-better integration of custom shaders so we don't have to search for them on the HD all the time. It should be possible to simply add them to a drop down menu in the interface.

[CiaranM]

Workflow improvement:

- Gamma adjustment or LUT in render region/preview render.
I understand why the gamma option was removed from the MR render options, that when rendering to float one should render linear etc. But for preview and look development, one has to use a lens shader with gamma adjustment to get a correct preview. This is a bit of a clunky workflow - especially if I forget to set the shader back to gamma 1 before rendering to float.... Wouldn't a render region LUT be a nice, safe solution? It would also allow for correct preview of render channels, which are not passed through lens shaders.

[Malcolm Zaloon]

-

-It would be neat if someone at Soft would take the time to fix the Wacom issue that has been around since forever. It's 2008....and XSI is the only app still not working flawless with the pen tablets.


what bug with wacom tablet? i have no bugs with my wacom and XSI.
describe, please.

thanks.

[franky]

sometimes you cant stop the realtime playback, because xsi it takes all the processor time and the tablet cant interrupt it any more. same with rendering.

[Toonafish]

what bug with wacom tablet? i have no bugs with my wacom and XSI.
describe, please.

thanks.

What Franky says, and the render region does not respond properly when you're using a Wacom. When you're using a mouse you can tweak shaders and it will restart rendering, with the Wacom I have to wait untill it's done.

It's a known issue I've reported with version 5.0 for the first time, but so far nothing has been done about it.

[hike1]

An 'animate in place' button like Max Character studio has.

[Helli]

Bugs:

Referenced Model:
Usage:
Referenced Model containing some objects.
--> One object has 2 Animation Layers
--> Weight of the 2nd Animation Layer is controlled by an custom Property with an = expression.
--> Referenced Model is imported in another scene, either as Model or as new Resolution for an existing model.
In that case the expresson on the Animation Layer weight gets lost after the import. The animation is still there working fine only the expression gets lost.

Assigning Bounding Volumes:
The functions in Envelope->Associate Bounding Volume do not work with null/implicit objects but i think they should ( as doing the grouping manually works fine)



Workflow Improvements:

Imageclip viewer with move and zoom option...

[Sinchi]

i would love to have a export command in the right click menu of an action source. i constantly have to hover all my screen to get from the source (my explorer is docked on the right side) to the import/export menu...

An apply command in the right click menu would be appreciated as well :)

[Malcolm Zaloon]

Hello XSI users!
Now anyone can report bugs in a database form in the new XSI planet central.

I´m opening now XSI Bug report and Feature request Central, in beta mode!

There is:
xsiplanet.com (http://xsiplanet.com/)

Register and Enjoy!


Thanks for all, and help me to feed this site.

[csaez]

In the texture editor would be cool than the stap uv tool auto generate the file at size than user enter.

[Ooops]

Hope they fix the bug where you cant move the "character key set" keys on the timeline (they snap back, in 6.02 anyway).

A copy/mirror pose would speed up the animation workflow big time. Specially for game animation cycles. A bit like motionbuilder, or character studio. You could specify to mirror just the hand joints , full body, etc.

The possibility to split, delete individual joints in a hierarchy, without having to delete the whole branch and start again.

A good UV unwrapper, kinda like unfold3D or uv layout.

[hike1]

An 'animate in place' button for game characters.

[Ooops]

Another bug - When you rotate , say a joint and rotate another one without setting up a key. The first joint snaps back, cancelling the rotation. (in foundation 6.02) Hope this gets fixed soon. ;) if it hasnt already.

[franky]

Another bug - When you rotate , say a joint and rotate another one without setting up a key. The first joint snaps back, cancelling the rotation. (in foundation 6.02) Hope this gets fixed soon. ;) if it hasnt already.

its not a bug, its design. if you have animated a parameter, then change it afterwards WITHOUT setting a key, it will revert to what the fcurve told it to be before your change.

this way you can orbit around in a animated camera, but as soon as you change the time, the camera snaps back to its original path.

if you want to prevent that, use autokey.

[Ooops]

I remember reading a post from someone from Softimage who said that was broken in 6.02

It definately didnt happened in 5.11 (I dont remember seing it anyway).

If its design I find it very frustrating. I dont like using autokey. So when I pose my character, I like to rotate the joints into a pose without having to set first a key.

I tried both in xsi and maya, and maya doesnt do that. Much easier workflow. I hope there could be at least an option where you can turn it on or off. Depending on preferences.

A few times I lost the rotation on some joints , just because I didnt set a key first. Thats not right.

Thats my 2 cents anyway.

cheers

[franky]

maybe a misunderstanding, i was referring to changing the time. not rotating one joint after another in place... of course this should work, and it never failed here....

[Ooops]

Hey franky,

Are you on 5.11? or 6.5?

It definately doesnt work for me on 6.02 Maybe if you animate with autokey on, it never bothered you then.

I mean I can work around it, by keying first, but its not my preferred workflow. I just dont like having that pressure of remembering to key first, or I might lose some rotation values (by moving the rotate handle on different joints).

Im sure someone from Softimage confirmed this on a forum somewhere. (cant seem to find the link anywhere).

[csaez]

Workflow Improvements:

Another one could be see in "textured/textured decal" mode procedural textures! is really necesary and almost all packages allow do it.

[Helli]

Bugs:
FXTree:
Not Allowed to set a highter NearFocus in Depth Of Field than a Farfocus.
NearFocus highter than FarForcus ->XSI crashes

Workflow Improvements:
Event: "siOnBeginFileImport":
The generated code for this event states you can return true to cancel the import of a model for instance. However this only works when the event is fired by clicking File->Import. When the code returns true while the event gets triggered due to a drag&drop or loading a scene with reference models - XSI will crash. In the first place XSI is not supposed to crash and in the context of ref. models I like to see that either XSI automatically imports the ref model offloaded in the case the event returns true, or an event where it is possible to switch the resolution much like editing the scntoc on the fly to switch resolutions before opening a scene. The reason for all this is that I want to offload, or more general: switch resolutions of nested ref models before the model is actually loaded. ScnTocs do work fine for scenes, but not when you want to deal with models exclusively (i.e. not scenes) or load a scene with nested reference models.

Animation Offset:
Allow offseting Animation like in Max by only moving the controllers in the viewport (+button to turn offset mode on/off).

[nRatio]

Hey franky,

Are you on 5.11? or 6.5?

It definately doesnt work for me on 6.02 Maybe if you animate with autokey on, it never bothered you then.

I mean I can work around it, by keying first, but its not my preferred workflow. I just dont like having that pressure of remembering to key first, or I might lose some rotation values (by moving the rotate handle on different joints).

Im sure someone from Softimage confirmed this on a forum somewhere. (cant seem to find the link anywhere).

It was a bug. Animating was painful cause you couldn't pose and key then, you had to key every change. If you are on support ask SI. It is fixed on later versions. Atm it is sweet to key only prefix c_ after posing on 6.5.

My humble opinion is that keying should allow choosing interpolation at keying time without going to preferences. Made addon (http://www.kolumbus.fi/noratio/xsi_resources/Key_prefix_c.xsiaddon.zip) for time being, keys prefix c_ on current model with chosen interpolation.

[eternal art]

Workflow Improvements:

1- Ability to insert a new node between 2 node in Fx Tree (like in fusion) by holding shift while draging the new node closer to the connection line between the nodes. as will as when you want to disconnect the node .

2- Render pass list that exist in the top of the layout has a smaller icon beside the pass name , it's great to be able to edit the pass by press on this icon , it's faster than to switch to render module then Edit>Edit current pass .

3- when you are working with the render tree with complex shader , every time you need to add a node you must go the menu then to submenu .. etc
it's great if this menu able to cut and able to drag and drop to the render tree workspace (it's really big time saver)
p.s: i know about drag and drop from Shaders-toolbar to the render tree , but it's nice to do that with render tree menu .

this is what they came to my mind right now .

[thomas]

Hi,

I'd like to have a right mose button option when using the "selection button" in the "Select Panel" so that I can do something like "disable from here" without using the explorer.
...
jeah and my maid would like to have something like "image sequence to weight map"

Regards

Thomas

[Helli]

Workflow Improvements:

- When exporting Material Librarys and Importing them into another Scene after applying those materials the user has to apply all Texture supports again the materials should use.
It would improve the workflow to save the used texture supports internaly and reaply them if those are avaible on the current object or if not use the texture coordinates wich are avaible.

[hike1]

I'd like to see subdivision lines on the texture editor grid, it's tough
to count 10 of those little boxes.

[hike1]

http://terrymorgan.net/images/gray_textures.jpg

Half the textures in this thumbnail directory suddenly showed up gray.

[hike1]

I take that back, they're gray in Irfanview also, must be gremlins. Wait, they're specular maps, duh!

[toma]

Workflow Improvements:

- Modeling/SDK : topology operators (such as extrude...) should be able to create (and maintain) a cluster for the created polygons.

and maybe remove them from the original cluster(when applied to a cluster)... right now I don't see how I can get them without using the selection (select components> shrink or invert etc). I think those operators should have a port for direct acces to the added geometry, original polygons only etc...

[Gene]

By default, you have no access any more to the selection of polys under, say, an extrude op.
But if you make use of clusters, you do:

- create a polygon cluster
- apply the extrude operator to it
To change the polygons under the cluster:
- in the explorer, rightclick on the extrude op, "disable from here"
- select the polygons you want to add or subtract from the cluster
- shift-select the cluster to add it to the selection
- click the + or - button next to cluster button
- re-enable the extrude op again

Why do you have to disable the operator first? Because it changes the topology and hereby the polygon count, and you could not select the right polys otherwise.

I come from 3ds max, and it took me a while to figure how to do this. Max' modifier stack makes things like this very easy: you go down the stack and simply select different polys.
In XSI, it might be few more clicks, but at least it's possible, and quite logical, too.

There could be a checkbox in the extrude op if it should create a group automatically, maybe, for convenience. But I don't consider this essential.

In Maya, AFAIK, there's no way to change an op's component selection afterwards.

[ubermensch76]

Make deformers more intuitive by including manipulators like Maya ...even for modeling stuff like extrude.

Allow inserting new joints anywhere in a joint chain,not just at the end.

Make the auto rig process more comprehensive by including bone based facial rigs ( doesn't have to be face -ROBOT ) and also auto generation of custom parameters for things like finger spreads, finger rotations etc.

Maybe have the controllers auto inserted in a new layer to facilitate switching them on and off.

Also a topology tool like Topogun.



Basic sculpt based modeling workflow for small tweaks and definitions ..doesn't have to be Mudbox but that would be reaaaally nice.

But above all as mentioned earlier, try and keep major modeling and deform operations manipulator based, not sliders

[toma]

There could be a checkbox in the extrude op if it should create a group automatically, maybe, for convenience. But I don't consider this essential.

I live with that too, but having to rely on manual selection (or actual polygons) vs clusters makes it hard to do some procedural modeling : say you have a script that does a few extrudes, creates some clusters etc, if you add polygons to the cluster the first operator is extruding, the other one won't "know about it", so your script will have to redo all the operations from the begining, otherwise because new polygons have been introduced, the polygons indices have shifted and the other operators won't apply to the right polygons...

something simple like : extrude that cluster's polygons, inset those same polygons (not the hole cluster) and if I add/remove any polygons to the original cluster, update the result...

in a few words, I'd like any topological operators to have at least 2 output ports : original (maybe deformed polygons) and created polygons only.

anyway I guess ICE will make that wish obsolete ;)

[toma]

Workflow Improvements:
-referenced models : the delta system seems to track added/changed properties/groups relations only, it should also track removed ones and zeroed parameters( when the param value changes back to the same as the one written in the ref model).

for exemple, now if you put a ref model in layer A, then in layer B, the delta will keep the two entries... leading to bugs and manual delta's digging...(maybe I missed it but I don't see how to read delta's parameters from scripting)

[toma]

Workflow Improvements:

-Modeling : the MoveComponent operator, why is it impossible to just read its value ? like what components have moved(well that I can read via the input port but it's not straight foward), what is the transform that has been applied ? is it a translation, or a rotation, what are the values in x y z ? absolute or relative ? , does it use proportionnal ? if so what is the radius and so on...

slide on surface, that all we have now, and I think it's a little... little !

in the same department, I'd like to be able to freeze a group of movecomponent, ie. all the movecomponents added after a tweak session !

[coolroy]

I wish to disconnected shader bruches do not dissapear in render tree when you suddenly close it. Groups(like in fusion), possibility to mute nodes and notes in RT will be great too.