ok! finally, it is imporant to use the doc to get the irs !
now it works.

irs = c4d.modules.render.InitRenderStruct(doc)

but question:
is this the only / best way to check if textures are missing?

an alternative would be to actually check if the file is existing somewhere in the given paths

I also just ran into this...
< R24 you dont have BaseList2D.IsNodeBased, but as a small hack you can do:

def isNodeMaterial(op):
  return True if op.GetType == c4d.Mmaterial and '[Node]' in op.GetBubbleHelp() else False

hi and thanks Maxime !

GetAllAssetsNew() is S22 only,
and I had problems with InitRender() and Vray Bitmaps

so I decided to manually check for the files...
I had it already, but GenerateTexturePath() shortens the code quite a bit, because I dont have to check all possible paths.

It seem GenerateTexturePath() returns the absolute path, if the file is found somewhere in the texture paths, otherwise it returns None.

needs some testing, but until now it seems to work well.

best, index

Hi,

Just FYI ...
I just noticed, that a Quicktab Radio UserData change results in two Messages (with the same UserData ID)
If I change the interface to Cycle, I get only one Message as expected for an UserData change.

This might be a tiny miny Bug (?) :)

index

Hi,

below is a simple CommandData plugin with a submenu to invoke different actions.

This works fine if more than one of these plugins (with unique Plugin Ids ofc) are in one plugin folder.
But there is no menu if there is only one plugin present in the folder.

Is there a way to create such a menu with one plugin, while not registering each menu point as separate command?

best index

# encoding: utf-8

''' CommandData Plugin with Menu '''

import c4d 

PLUGIN_ID = 12345678  # Unique Plugin Id

MENUID_CMD0 = 1000
MENUID_CMD1 = 1001

class MenuHandler(c4d.plugins.CommandData):

	def Register(self):
		return c4d.plugins.RegisterCommandPlugin(
			id=PLUGIN_ID, str="Test", info=c4d.PLUGINFLAG_COMMAND_HOTKEY, icon=None, help=None, dat=MenuHandler())

	def GetSubContainer(self, doc, submenu):
		bc = c4d.BaseContainer()
		bc.SetString(1, "Test")
		bc.SetString(MENUID_CMD0, "Command 0")
		bc.SetString(MENUID_CMD1, "Command 1")
		submenu.InsData(0, bc)
		return True

	def ExecuteSubID(self, doc, id):
		if id == MENUID_CMD0:
			pass
		if id == MENUID_CMD1:
			pass
		return True

	def Execute(self, doc):
		return True

if __name__ == "__main__":
	MenuHandler().Register()

tx, i just wanted to report it...

@ferdinand
first of all, I understand your frustration, we just yesterday talked about the state of the Nodes API and are well aware of its hurdles for anything but super-experts.

you can say that aloud!
the whole system is very hard to understand. the only thing i got is all we know about traditional materials and even shaders is for the bin. node support evolved over time and most node examples do not work for people still using older c4d versions. also there are misc 3rd-party renderers that use different kinds of nodes / node systems. Drag & drop of attributes to the console doesn't work anymore, as well. the days of easy scripting are gone.. :dizzy_face:

Thanks a lot kbar.. i'll watch and learn!
still... the hurdles to compile a c++ plugin are extremely high nowadays. :-/
it would be great if the sdk plugins would be downloadable ready compiled as well

this "Active Object Dialog" plugin looks very interesting
if it would be understandably described how to compile it / the c++ sdk, we could check it out
but sadly this got so complicated that you need a degree in IT to do it. .-)

FYI, developers.maxon.net is down since about 24 hours....

I have found another way to do this, which is maybe better (?)
because it seems to work around tackling with parallel vectors....

LookAtCamera::Execute() translated to python ... :)
https://github.com/PluginCafe/cinema4d_cpp_sdk_extended/blob/master/plugins/cinema4dsdk/source/tag/lookatcamera.cpp

def lookat(op, target, pitch=True):
  ''' orient op to look at target '''
  local = (~(op.GetUpMg() * op.GetFrozenMln())) * target.GetMg().off - op.GetRelPos()
  hpb = c4d.utils.VectorToHPB(local)
  if not pitch: hpb.y = op.GetRelRot().y
  hpb.z = op.GetRelRot().z
  op.SetRelRot(hpb)
  c4d.EventAdd()

It seems to work fine... but for clarity... after checking the Matrix Manual (see end of the page) ...
https://developers.maxon.net/docs/Cinema4DPythonSDK/html/manuals/data_algorithms/classic_api/matrix.html?highlight=matrix

Is this correct / covers all cases to get the targets position in local space?
(~(op.GetUpMg() * op.GetFrozenMln())) * target.GetMg().off
specifically.. what is
m = utils.MatrixMove(op.GetAbsPos()) * utils.HPBToMatrix(op.GetAbsRot()) * utils.MatrixScale(op.GetAbsScale())
in this context? (ps. GetAbsScale misses the brackets in the docs)

and... is this the real code of the Target Tag ?

Hi Ferdinand, yes all solved
and sorry if the gimbal lock was a false interpretation of what was happening.
From reading the old threads I thought the quaternion solution was mandatory to solve this.

for clarity and as an example I'm including a comparison of
your solution (working) and riccardos solution (showing the flip)

spotLight.c4d

but for me the case is closed...
Thanks a lot for helping with this !

Hi Ferdinand,

thanks a lot, seems I'm not the only one missing the good weather outside .-)

The code in the first lookat() function should be abs(ri.x - 1.0),
this comes from the post in the mentioned link. I corrected that in the original post.
(it was just missing in the post, my code had the ri.x)

what I'm on to is a 2 axis ceiling spot.
its a null with a python tag having a target link userdata, then inside a hierarchy with two axes.
atm they are driven by 2 target tags (initialized by the pyTag) one needs pitch on, one needs pitch off.
this works fine, but as i have 900 of these in a file,
i am trying to get rid of the target tags and do all in the pyTag.
I can post the file tomorrow.

what happens with my lookat() is that if you move the target,
the spot sometimes turns upside down 180 degrees and sticks in the ceiling.

with lookatQ() the spot simply doesn't point in the correct direction.
but it would be very interesting to learn how to do it with quaternions.

edit: your solution seems to work nicely, btw!
p.s. i guess ~ is normalise and % is the cross product

Hi,
I have seen and as expected this was discussed already in the past, but I could not find any working example in this forum.

I'd simply like to have a (gimbal lock safe) python replacement for the Target (Expression) Tag.

I'm attaching what I have come up with until now...
two versions #1 without , #2 with quaternion --> sadly #1 has gimbal issues and #2 fails completely
both with a pitch lock like in the Target Tag --> sure this could be done more elegant .-)

It was stated in one of the (below) mentioned threads, that support can't solve such problems for the users,
but this would be such a valuable tool in the quiver that it might be an exception (?)

best, index

def lookat(op, target, pitchlock=0):
    ''' gimbal lock UNSAFE target expression
        this basically works, but results in axis flips sometimes '''
    r1 = op.GetRelRot() # backup

    p1 = op.GetMg().off # from
    p2 = target.GetMg().off # to
    tmp = c4d.Vector(0, 1, 0) # temp-up
    fo = (p2 - p1).GetNormalized() # forward
    ri = tmp.Cross(fo).GetNormalized() # right
    up = fo.Cross(ri).GetNormalized() # up

    # https://plugincafe.maxon.net/topic/11152/object-target-expression-in-python/2
    # try to mitigate gimbal-lock --> UNSAFE, RESULTS IN AXIS FLIPS !
    if (fo + tmp).z < 0: up.x = -up.x
    if abs(ri.x - 1.0) < 0.001: ri = -ri

    m = c4d.Matrix()
    m.v1 = ri
    m.v2 = up
    m.v3 = fo
    m.off = p1
    op.SetMg(m)

    if pitchlock:
        r = op.GetRelRot()
        op.SetRelRot(c4d.Vector(r.x, r1.y, r.z))

def lookatQ(op, target, pitchlock=0):
    ''' quaternion based (gimbal lock safe ???) target expression
        sadly doesn't work and results in a wrong rotation '''

    r1 = op.GetRelRot() # backup

    p1 = op.GetMg().off # from
    p2 = target.GetMg().off # to
    tmp = c4d.Vector(0, 1, 0) # temp-up
    fo = (p2 - p1).GetNormalized() # forward
    ri = tmp.Cross(fo).GetNormalized() # right
    up = fo.Cross(ri).GetNormalized() # up

    # copied from
    # https://www.gamedev.net/forums/topic/613595-quaternion-lookrotationlookat-up/
    w = math.sqrt(1.0 + ri.x + up.y + fo.z) * 0.5
    w4_recip = 1.0 / (4.0 * w)
    x = (up.z - fo.y) * w4_recip
    y = (fo.x - ri.z) * w4_recip
    z = (ri.y - up.x) * w4_recip

    # given the above is correct, is this correctly applied here ???
    q = c4d.Quaternion()
    v = c4d.Vector(x, y, z)
    q.SetAxis(v, w)
    m = q.GetMatrix()
    m.off = p1
    op.SetMg(m)

    if pitchlock:
        r = op.GetRelRot()
        op.SetRelRot(c4d.Vector(r.x, r1.y, r.z))

ups, sorrryy. my bad .-)

I know that list ... but LOL,
now i cant find the object type for the Cloner Object :deer:

hi.. just to report....

the object type for the Subdivision Surface object seems to be missing in the python and C++ sdk...

c4d.Osubdivisionsurface = 1007455

best, index