Arch-viz addons for Softimage?

[Eugen]

Just thinking... given this cluster update mechanism was exposed, what any topology operator would have to do is keep track precisely how component indices shift after the mesh operation. Points, edges, polygons, subcurves, knots, ....
Some index "shifting" table would be needed, for each component/cluster type.

The update callback of the operator is called once for every output port already. As of now, you can connect to a cluster as output, but if you try to change it, you get an "access denied" error.
If access was allowed, this index list would have to be applied to all the clusters affected by the operator in some strict order. Might not be too easy, but after all it already works... internally.
Good code samples and documentation would be needed.


Just guessing, but maybe the devs want to hide these mechanism from foreign eyes, because it would mean exposing "secret"/patented technology/trickery...
...or maybe they just simply thought too few would ever be interested in writing custom topology operators anyway, and wanted to save themselves the hassle... who knows.

[luceric]

I'm not sure why topo operator sdk has never been done, there really isn't any reason why other than there was other things to do. The lighthouse are pretty much totally satisfied with modeling, in fact they thing it's awesome, they needed stuff in the UV editor, tools to transfer maps, that sort of things, import/export, animation stuff, etc.

IMHO, if these plug-ins can be written for apps that have no construction history, then one should be able to prototype tools that use scripts (modal dialogs) and combination of the built-in operators to get the job done.

Edit: In fact there is no excuse at all to talk about NURBS and topo op here, since the modo plug-in here is not using NURBS at all. Therefore you should have everything you need with ICE modeling to make that operator

[IslandDreamer]

Always fun to see one's post take on a life of its own...

I definitely would consider paying for quality plugins/addons like this Modo set. In fact, I paid $99 for it. Anything that anticipates what I need to accomplish and turns a complicated, tedious process into a couple of mouse clicks is a godsend, imo.

Besides the automated window generation, I also appreciate this plugin's ability to automate uv mapping. Which leads me to a question I've always wondered: why is it that Softimage's primitives don't generate a default uv map? As far as I know, it's the only major 3d program that requires that extra step for its primitives.