Plugins vs Scripting / Expressions

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On 24/05/2004 at 20:01, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   8.500 
Platform:   Windows  ;   
Language(s) :   C.O.F.F.E.E  ;  C++  ;

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Another newbie / dumb question.
Is there a difference between what can be achieved with say a Visual C++ plugin and what can be achieved with an COFFEE expression?
i.e. do plugins give more control over things like animation / time line than expressions / scripting.
I asked the other day about recording keyframes.  Apparently this is no longer possible.  Can you record keyframes from a plugin?
Can sequences be copied and pasted via code?
I want to do midi powered mucis animations (like Animusic) and I've been able to do similar in trueSpace with scripting and a plugin.
Thanks
Nigel / 3DKiwi
http://c4dcafe.com/

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 RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 25/05/2004 at 02:58, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi,

back in the R6 days the difference between COFFEE and C++ was not that big. Today it's another story as COFFEE wasn't updated to R8.5. In general C++ is much more powerful and faster than COFFEE. It's a little more complicated to code though. I suggest to switch to C++ as the API is updated much more often and you have broader access to Cinema. Setting keyframes and moving sequences is possible for sure.

cheers mnu

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 RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 25/05/2004 at 10:46, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi Mnu
Thanks for the reply.  That's a big help.  Looks like I'm going the C++ way.
Cheers
3DKiwi

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 RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 26/05/2004 at 02:14, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hi again,

if you have questions about how to start with C++ feel free to drop me a mail. I'm far from being an expert but managed to get some things working currently.

cheers mnu

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 RELATED SUPPORT INFORMATION MIGHT BE OUTDATED OR DEPRECATED

On 26/05/2004 at 19:59, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks mnu
I've just reinstalled Visual C++ back on to my PC.  I might give you a yell sometime after I've played with the few sample plugins.
To start with I want to record a short sequence.  Then via a plugin I have an array filled up with data that corresponds to frame numbers.  As the array is stepped through the sequence is copied and pasted at the frame number from the array.
I've been able to do similar in a trueSpace plugin and want to do the same in C4D.  Essentially this is how a midi music controlled animation works.
I know under normal circumstances you can't overlap sequences and this was the same in trueSpace.  However sometimes a musical note is played quickly after another so the sequence may need to partially overlap or in other words the pasted keyframes of the most recent pasted sequence replace those underneath it.  I'm hoping I can do this in C4D via the plugin as I was able to bend the rules with that and paste partially on top of an existing sequence.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Nigel
http://c4dcafe.com/