SplineGenerator problem

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On 12/01/2004 at 09:00, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   8.100 
Platform:      
Language(s) :     C++  ;

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Hi all,

By searching the forum I found that the GetContour() Method only is called when a parameter of the description is changed. Has anyone found a solution to this limitation in the meantime. I want to do a Spline Generator than has two input splines and that works with S&T.; To do so I have to code a plugin that returns a spline type. Any hack, another idea? Many thanx in advance.

cheers mnu

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On 12/01/2004 at 11:33, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Welcome to hell.  We wrote Force Evaluate in LOCO to get around this.  If you need more info on it post at the cidertank C4D SDK forum and I will help you. FE works even if LOCO is in demo mode.  Download it and try it on your object.  It works.  Stepchild is what we use to make any generator work with S&T.  Dave said he will post an S&T example later today at cidertank forums. Also, do not try to use child input objects with GetContour, it works but never correctly marks the child input objects.  I am disappointed MAXON did not fix this since it was acknowledged so long ago as a problem.
Thomas

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On 13/01/2004 at 06:12, xxxxxxxx wrote:

It's not a bug but a limitation with the GetContour() function. My workaround is to make all my object plugins use GetVirtualObject() instead. They can still be used as spline inputs (as long as they output spline objects of course).

THE POST BELOW IS MORE THAN 5 YEARS OLD. RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 13/01/2004 at 06:32, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi Mikael,

that means an ObjectPlugin returning a Spline in GetVirtualObject() ist recognized by Sketch and Too. If so, cool. I'll test it.

Thanx, mnu

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On 13/01/2004 at 07:53, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Plugins that only recognize object types of spline will not work with GetVirtualObject.

We have been through this before many times. MAXON knows the issue and has chosen not to fix it. It's another "you should not do this" thing. We finally gave up and rewrote the internal objects so they would work. Now some do and some don't. S&T; doesn;t and we can;t fix it because the SDK will not let us. It is annoying and cramps workflow. Maybe they will fix it when they start losing more users.

We wrote Hierarchy2Spline to get around this issue and found that AddDependence doesn't work in getContour either. No offense Mikael, you have helped us alot, but the programmers need a clue in this context. MAKE IT WORK RIGHT!

Regards,
David Farmer

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On 15/01/2004 at 17:53, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Can the plugins you mention, which fail to handle GetVirtualObject() splines, handle an instance of a spline? I don't think just checking the object type is a valid way to check for a spline with instances in mind. Afaik, for S&T the choice was not to handle anything else than raw splines (for which the object type check is fine) for performance reasons.
Not that this means that GetContour() should be crippled in the way it is. Given the pain it causes those that think it's not, I'd personally rather see it go away as well, and make way for a true OBJECT_SPLINE GetVirtualObject() solution. But until then all of the things you mention are unfortunately limitations and not bugs. Nonetheless, I'll post a reminder to the programmers about the urgency of this issue.

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On 15/01/2004 at 21:14, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi Mikael,

I will agree that the CheckDirty not being called be a limitation. But not workling with Depedence lists? That is a bug even if it was just conceptual.

For us, we wrote around it ( bad habits die hard ). For the users trying to use Array with S&T;, life really sucks right now. I am guessing a couple of days were wasted for us writing around this issue ( two weeks if you count stepCHILD which was written for this purpose as well ).

It is a pain that has been acknowledged and I just have trouble believing it is not being updated because it is too difficult. GetVirtualObject and GetContour should work the same. We all know it. Damn, I am ranting again eh? OK, back to regularly scheduled programming...

Best Regards,
David Farmer