I wish for the PRT loader to check to see if a PRT is already being loaded so that it doesn’t load the same PRT twice.
- Chad
Do not understand what you mean.
You cannot add the same PRT file twice in a loader. At least I don’t know of a way to get the SAME PRT sequence into the list since the list is comparing your selection with what is already there and only adding what is not on the list yet.
Unless you mean something else - please clarify in 100 words or less ;o)
Cheers,
Borislav “Bobo” Petrov
Technical Director 3D VFX
Frantic Films Winnipeg
My aplogies. I could have SWORN there were duplicates. Must have been a UI thing with the tiny window and elevator. When I did a $.filelist, however, I can see there are only 30 PRT’s and they are all unique.
- Chad
No, MY apologies.
Turns out you CAN have the same sequence loaded twice, provided you picked two different frames from the same sequence.
This is because we want to allow you to load two frames of that sequence and use them with the “Load Single Frame Only” to display a cloud created from different frames of the same animation.
So the prevention code only works if you pick the SAME frame twice.
Btw, I increased the height of the list to 10 lines in 0.9.13. Might even make it customizable in the future…
It wasn’t the height, it was the width that was the problem.
I can’t see the frame number or the partition number because the filenames are left justified.
A subway would help this.
- Chad
It wasn’t the height, it was
the width that was the
problem.
I can’t see the frame number
or the partition number
because the filenames are left
justified.
Added an options to right-justify file names.
Rename your KrakatoaPRTLoader.ms file to .bak, then copy the attached file to your \Krakatoa\Scripts folder and restart Max or just evaluate the script.
It is a bit hacked but better than nothing.
I was thinking about adding a large dialog for seeing the whole names, but it would be tricky to create and call from the inside of a scripted plugin.
See if this helps, otherwise I can remove it.
Cheers,
Borislav “Bobo” Petrov
Technical Director 3D VFX
Frantic Films Winnipeg
Is there no way to make a subway for listboxes? I can’t say that I can point to another tool that has one, so it might be out the question.
- Chad
No idea what a subway is. Can you explain?
Here is another prototype which uses a ListView DotNet control (MAX 9 ONLY!) and lists the file name, the type and the full path (with scroll bar at the bottom).
If this does what you want, I will implement the code in ActiveX and DotNet so we can support Max 8 and 9 correctly.
Yeah, a scroll bar. Subways go underneath, and elevators go up and down. Sorry.
- Chad
Yeah, a scroll bar. Subways
go underneath, and elevators
go up and down. Sorry.
- Chad
Ok, I really need your feedback here.
The main problem here is the fixed width of the command panel.
Here are the options:
*Old method - multilist box, no subway.
+Very fast to update,
-cannot change alignment or see more than 25-30 characters.
*DotNet / ActiveX ListView control
+subway is automatic,
+can show more data
-but you have to scroll a lot.
-Rather slow to update
-Very complicated to maintain as it requires separate versions for Max 8 and Max 9
*External Editing - this would keep the old multilistbox as reference in the GUI, but would add an Edit… button to open a large (resizable?) dialog with all files and paths where you could read them all, move them up and down (to define what gets shown with First N particles), possibly show ranges, status, allow you to add, delete, even cut and paste between PRT loaders.
This would require some more scripting, but sounds like it would provide the most real estate to show data.
Please pick one.
*External Editing - this would
keep the old multilistbox as
reference in the GUI, but
would add an Edit… button to
open a large (resizable?)
dialog with all files and
paths where you could read
them all, move them up and
down (to define what gets
shown with First N particles),
possibly show ranges, status,
allow you to add, delete, even
cut and paste between PRT
loaders.
FYI, I went ahead and implemented the Large Window including the following features:
*Add Files…
*Select All
*Select Invert
*Move Selected To Top
*Move Selected to Bottom
*Move Selected Up
*Move Selected Down
*Sort List
*Cut Selected
*Copy Selected
*Paste Selected (works between Loaders, too)
*Remove Selected
*Explore Path (double-click)
Works with multiline selections too, so you can reorder whole blocks of files.
*It is being controlled with right-click context menus and a main menu.
*The window is freely resizable.
*There can be only one editor open at a time, but the clipboard buffer will persist between editors to be able to copy/paste sequences.
Is this a SP or will it wait for the next beta?
- Chad
Is this a SP or will it wait
for the next beta?
I am finishing the ActiveX implementation for max 8 and will post an SP as soon as I have it so you can try it out.
Cheers,
Borislav “Bobo” Petrov
Technical Director 3D VFX
Frantic Films Winnipeg
Here it comes.
To install SP3, please unzip the attached file preserving sub-directories and update the files in the corresponding sub-folders of your installation. It implements both Max 8 and Max 9 controls, but I have tested mostly the Max 9 implementation.
If it breaks anything, please reinstall the original build 13 and let me know.
Additional features since yesterday:
*The DotNet (max 9) version of the File Manager can be maximized and minimized. The Max 8 version cannot be resized and can be only minimized.
*Added options to save the whole list or only selected sequences to a text file and load back from these presets, so now you can move whole lists of sequences easily between projects.
*When loading, only existing files and files that are not already on the list will be added.
*Changed the Cut/Copy/Paste to use the above mechanism via a text file on disk, which means that you can cut, close max, restart max and paste now without losing the clipboard data. (We might add real Windows Clipboard support via DotNet to the Max 9 version, but who knows…)
*Added an option to remove all files (previously you had to do Select All/Remove Selected which is one step too many ;o)
*Both Size and Position (in Max 8 only position) will be stored in the krakatoaPreferences.INI file and will be reused next time you launch the File Manager. If you switch from dual screen to one monitor, move the dialog too far outside the desktop or minimize it, it will automatically replace and resize to return to a valid region of the visible desktop.
*In addition to these PRT Loader changes, the KrakatoaGUI was slightly updated - the Save File checkbox in the right-click menu of the QUICK RENDER button will only be enabled when there is a valid output filename, and there is also an option now to set the output filename directly from the right-click menu without going to Render Scene Dialog at all…
Cheers,
Borislav “Bobo” Petrov
Technical Director 3D VFX
Frantic Films Winnipeg