Hi @jenandesign, first of all, welcome in the plugincafe community.

No worry at all, since it's your first post, but I would like to point you about few rules in order to properly ask questions in this forum for future ones (I've set up this one).

• How to Post Questions (Especially the tagging system).
• Q&A New Functionality.

With that's said. Regarding your question. I get it to work (a bit hacky) but it's working.
When C4D render a scene, actually the whole scene is cloned in memory and then it renders this one. (It allow a user to still work on C4D while the other scene is rendering).
So this render scene is read-only, you shouldn't modify at anytime anything in this scene, or you can screw up the render.
Moreover in a shaderData, in order to optimize memory, only relevant information (aka polygon, UV) are copied. So you are losing your UserData.
This means you have to find another way to find your effector.
So the way I find to achieve what you want is to get the document from the object passed to the shader(the rendered document).
Then in this document, I search for an effector called "Plain" (Not the most robust way but it's working).

Then here the final code I put on the python color channel of a sketch and toon

import c4d

def main():
    doc = op.GetDocument()
    effector = doc.SearchObject("Plain")
    if not effector: return c4d.Vector()
    
    eff =  c4d.modules.mograph.C4D_Falloff()
    if not eff: return c4d.Vector()
    eff.InitFalloff(bc=effector.GetData())

    eff.SetMg(effector.GetMg())
    eff.SetMode(effector[c4d.FALLOFF_MODE])

     # World position currently sampled
    value = eff.Sample(wPnt, False)
    return c4d.Vector(value)

And the attached scene where a plain effector drives a mograph effector and the sketch and toon shader.
0_1542626486830_SketchAndToon.c4d

If you have any questions, please let me know!
Cheers,
Maxime!

Hi @merkvilson first of all pip and Niklas localimport module is completely two different things.

• pip is a python module manager (similar to package manager in unix). This means once it's installed to a python binary, it will be able to manage other modules, download them, install them with all their dependencies and update them and so on.
• localimport is a python module that let you manage import in a local way while in Cinema 4D by default is global. For more information please read how the import function works in python.
  Meaning if you add a module named xyz to the sys.path from your plugin A and from plugin B you try to import another module named xyz, it will load the one from plugin A (the first one register).

Now how to install pip?

1. Downloads https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py.
2. Downloads the c4dpy version matching your Cinema 4D version. (Already included in R21)
3. Moves c4dpy and get-pip.py in the Cinema 4D folder.
4. Opens a shell to the Cinema 4D folder:
   • Window: Type cmd in the top path and press Enter.
   • Mac: Open a new shell, then with cd navigate to your Cinema 4D folder. (You can drag and drop the path).
5. Runs this command line c4dpy get-pip.py. This will execute the get-pip script which will, download and install the pip module.
6. Now you can start to play with pip c4dpy -m pip install numpy. c4dpy allow to runs any module with the -m argument see c4dpy commandline. in this case I asked to pip to download and install numpy but any other 3rd party compatible with pip can be downloaded and used.

With that's said we do not provide support for 3rd party modules, so if it does not work with Cinema 4D Python environment, we can't help you.

Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @kisaf,

MCOMMAND_MIRROR is indeed a bit special because when you click on the Apply button from the GUI, it does send a message to some c4d elements, then these elements read MDATA_MIRROR_VALUE, MDATA_MIRROR_SYSTEM and MDATA_MIRROR_PLANE calculates values for MDATA_MIRROR_POINT and MDATA_MIRROR_VECTOR and then call the SendModelingCommand. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to send this message, and the best way to do it is to recalculate the stuff as bellow.

import c4d


def main():
    # Checks if selected object is valid
    if op is None:
        raise ValueError("op is none, please select one object.")

    # Defines some general settings, take care MDATA_MIRROR_VALUE, MDATA_MIRROR_SYSTEM and MDATA_MIRROR_PLANE
    settings = c4d.BaseContainer()
    settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_DUPLICATE] = True
    settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_SELECTIONS] = True
    settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_ONPLANE] = True
    settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_WELD] = True
    settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_TOLERANCE] = 0.01

    # Corresponds to MDATA_MIRROR_VALUE, MDATA_MIRROR_SYSTEM and MDATA_MIRROR_PLANE
    value = 1000.0
    system = 0 # 0 = Object, 1 = World
    plane = 1 # 0 = XY, 1 = ZY, 2 = XZ

    if not 0 <= system < 2:
        raise ValueError("System can only be 0 or 1")

    # Buffer position vector
    pos = c4d.Vector()

    # Calculates Local (Object) coordinates
    if system == 0:
        globalMatrix = op.GetMg()
        if plane == 0:
            pos = globalMatrix.v3
        elif plane == 1:
            pos = globalMatrix.v1
        elif plane == 2:
            pos = globalMatrix.v2

        settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_POINT] = globalMatrix.off + pos * value
        settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_VECTOR] = pos

    # Calculates World coordinates
    elif system == 1:
        if plane == 0:
            pos = c4d.Vector(0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
        elif plane == 1:
            pos = c4d.Vector(1.0, 0.0, 0.0)
        elif plane == 2:
            pos = c4d.Vector(0.0, 1.0, 0.0)

        settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_POINT] = pos * value
        settings[c4d.MDATA_MIRROR_VECTOR] = pos

    # Send the Modeling Operation
    res = c4d.utils.SendModelingCommand(c4d.MCOMMAND_MIRROR,
                                        [op],
                                        c4d.MODELINGCOMMANDMODE_ALL,
                                        settings,
                                        doc)

    c4d.EventAdd()


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Hope it solves your issue, if you have any question, please let me know.
Cheers,
Maxime.

So regarding your script why it crashes, it's simply because you make an infinite loop with this code since you add each time something more to iterate.

for idx in newPos:
    newPos.append(GlobalToLocal(oldObject, idx))

Just to make it cleaner I've called objA and objB.
Then the needed steps are:

1. Get World Position from points of objB.
2. Convert these World Position in the local space of objA.

So as you may be already aware regarding our Matrix Fundamentals where is how to achieve both operations.

• Local Position to World Position corresponds to the obj global matrix where the position is locals to multiplied by the local position.
• World Position to Local Position corresponds to the inverse obj global matrix where the position will be locals multiplied by the world position.

Finally, before providing with the solution I would like to remind you to please always execute your code in the main function. The main reason is that if you transform your script as a button in the Dialog, every code that is in the global scope of your script is executed for each redraw of the Cinema 4D GUI (which is pretty intensive!). Moreover please always check for objects, if they exist or not try to adopt a defensive programming style in order to avoid any issues.

import c4d

def main():
    # Declares object variables
    ObjA = doc.SearchObject("A")
    ObjB = doc.SearchObject("B")

    # Checks if objects are found
    if ObjA is None or ObjB is None:
        raise ValueError("Can't found a and b object")

    # Checks if they are polygon object
    if not isinstance(ObjA, c4d.PolygonObject) or not isinstance(ObjB, c4d.PolygonObject):
        raise TypeError("Objects are not PolygonObject")

    # Checks Point count is the same for both obj
    allPtsObjA = ObjA.GetAllPoints()
    allPtsObjB = ObjB.GetAllPoints()
    if len(allPtsObjA) != len(allPtsObjB):
        raise ValueError("Object does not get the same pount count")

    # Retrieves all points of B in World Position, by multipling each local position of ObjB.GetAllPoints() by ObjB.GetMg()
    allPtsObjBWorld = [pt * ObjB.GetMg() for pt in allPtsObjB]

    # Retrieves All points of B from World to Local Position of ObjA, by multipling each world position of ObjB by the inverse objA.GetMg()
    allPtsObjANewLocal = [pt * ~ObjA.GetMg() for pt in allPtsObjBWorld]
    
    # Sets New points position
    ObjA.SetAllPoints(allPtsObjANewLocal)
    ObjA.Message(c4d.MSG_UPDATE)
    
    # Updates Cinema 4D
    c4d.EventAdd()

# Execute main()
if __name__=='__main__':
    main()

If you have any questions, please let me know.
Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @mikeudin, due to how our Classic Python API is built deepcopy does not work since our python objects only store pointer to our internal C++ object and not directly to other Python objects, so deepcopy fail in this regards since, the deepcopy operation, free and try to recreate these data, which is not possible since they are not PyObject but real C++ object but copy.copy does works, but since it's a shallow copy operation it only works for one level (e.g. a dict of dict of DescID will fail).

For more information about the difference please read Shallow vs Deep Copying of Python Objects.

However here a couple methods to copy a dict.

import copy
dict1 = {'1':dId_one,'2':dId_two}
dict2 =  copy.copy(dict1)

dict1 = {'1':dId_one,'2':dId_two}
dict2 =  dict1.copy()

dict1 = {'1':dId_one,'2':dId_two}
dict2 =  dict(dict1)

Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @mike, first of all I would like to remind you to read and use the Q&A functionnality.

Regarding your question, here is an example of a basic GeDialog, which make use to SetFloat to define a range.

import c4d

class MonDlg( c4d.gui.GeDialog):
    idSlider = 1000
    idButton = 1001

    # Create the Layout
    def CreateLayout(self):
        self.AddEditSlider(self.idSlider, c4d.BFH_SCALE|c4d.BFV_SCALE, initw=100, inith=20)
        self.AddButton(self.idButton, c4d.BFH_SCALE|c4d.BFV_SCALE, initw=100, inith=20,name = 'Get Value')	
        return True

    # Called after CreateLayout
    def InitValues(self):
        self.SetFloat(self.idSlider, 0.25, min=0.0, max=1.0, step=0.01, min2=0.0, max2=0.0)
        return True

    # Called for each interaction from a widget
    def Command(self, id, msg):
        if id == self.idButton:
            print self.GetFloat(self.idSlider)
        
        return True

def main():
    dlg = MonDlg()
    dlg.Open(c4d.DLG_TYPE_MODAL)

if __name__=='__main__':
    main()

If you have any questions please let me know.
Cheers,
Maxime!

Hi @chuanzhen actually the problem interested me and I took some personal time on my weekend to do some tests.

I did 2 test scenes, which was a cube with 163970 points driven by 3 joints
With your original source code 0.53 fps
optimize python: 1.09 fps (x2.05)
C++: 19.36 fps (x36.52)

And the other one was the same cube but driven by 11 joints.
With your original source code 0.37 fps
optimize python: 0.64 fps (x1.73)
C++: 12.08 (x32.65)

So here is the optimized python code. As you can see I try to avoid as much as possible doing operation in the nested loop.

class newskin(plugins.ObjectData):
 
    lasttagdirty = None   #for weight change update
    jointdir = None       #for joint change update
    cachedir = None       #for other bindmesh check
 
    def CheckDirty(self, op, doc):
        #check first run
        if op[c4d.NEWSKINTAG] is None:
            op.SetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_DATA)
            return
 
        #check weight change
        if op[c4d.NEWSKINTAG].GetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_DATA) != self.lasttagdirty:
            op.SetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_DATA)
            return
 
        #check matrix change
        checktime = op[c4d.NEWSKINTAG].GetJointCount()
        cdirty = 0
 
        for i in xrange(checktime):
            cdirty += op[c4d.NEWSKINTAG].GetJoint(i).GetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_MATRIX)
 
        if cdirty != self.jointdir or self.cachedir != op[c4d.NEWSKINCHECK].GetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_CACHE):
            op.SetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_DATA)
            return
 
        return
 
   
    def ModifyObject(self, mod, doc, op, op_mg, mod_mg, lod, flags, thread):
 
        if mod[c4d.NEWSKINTAG] is None or mod[c4d.NEWSKINCHECK] is None:
            return True
 
        tag = mod[c4d.NEWSKINTAG]
        self.lasttagdirty = tag.GetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_DATA)  #get current weight tag dirty
        self.cachedir = mod[c4d.NEWSKINCHECK].GetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_CACHE)    #get bindmesh check
        plist = [pos * op_mg for pos in op.GetAllPoints()]
        pcount = op.GetPointCount()  
        jcount = tag.GetJointCount()
        self.jointdir = 0
 
        for m in xrange(jcount):
            joint = tag.GetJoint(m)
            self.jointdir += joint.GetDirty(c4d.DIRTYFLAGS_MATRIX)   #all joint current matrix dirtycount
 
        temp = c4d.Vector()
        for n in xrange(pcount):    #n:point index  
            temp %= temp
 
            for m in xrange(jcount):
                joint = tag.GetJoint(m)
                weight = tag.GetWeight(m, n)
 
                if not weight :
                    continue  
 
                cjmg = joint.GetMg()
                jdict = tag.GetJointRestState(m)
                jmg = jdict["m_bMg"]
                jmi = jdict["m_bMi"]
 
                temp += weight * cjmg * jmi * plist[n]  #defrmer global pos
            plist[n] = temp
       
        plist = [~op_mg * pos for pos in plist]
        op.SetAllPoints(plist)
        op.Message(c4d.MSG_UPDATE)
 
        return True

And here the C++ version (compatible R20 only). It uses paralellFor, not sure it's really worth didn't do proper profiling about it but I wanted to try them. Moreover please do not consider my C++ code has fully optimized since you could probably improve it depending on the situation.

#include "c4d_symbols.h"
#include "main.h"
#include "c4d_objectdata.h"
#include "lib_ca.h"

// Local resources
#include "oskinmodifier.h"
#include "maxon/parallelfor.h"
#include "maxon/basearray.h"

/**A unique plugin ID. You must obtain this from http://www.plugincafe.com. Use this ID to create new instances of this object.*/
static const Int32 ID_OBJECTDATA_SKINMODIFIER = 1000002;

class SkinModifier : public ObjectData
{
	INSTANCEOF(SkinModifier, ObjectData)

public:
	static NodeData* Alloc() { return NewObj(SkinModifier) iferr_ignore("SkinModifier plugin not instanced"); }

	virtual void CheckDirty(BaseObject *op, BaseDocument *doc);
	virtual Bool ModifyObject(BaseObject* mod, BaseDocument* doc, BaseObject* op, const Matrix& op_mg, const Matrix& mod_mg, Float lod, Int32 flags, BaseThread* thread);

private:

	BaseList2D* GetBaseLink(BaseObject* op, DescID id, Int excepted);
	Int lasttagdirty; /// get current weight tag dirty
	Int jointdir;
	Int cachedir;
};

void SkinModifier::CheckDirty(BaseObject *op, BaseDocument *doc)
{
	BaseList2D* t = GetBaseLink(op, DescID(NEWSKINTAG), Tweights);
	BaseList2D* l = GetBaseLink(op, DescID(NEWSKINCHECK), Opolygon);
	if (!t || !l)
		return;

	PointObject* linkOp = static_cast<PointObject*>(l);
	CAWeightTag* tag = static_cast<CAWeightTag*>(t);

	// check first run
	if (!tag)
	{
		op->SetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::DATA);
		return;
	}

	// check weight change
	if (tag->GetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::DATA) != lasttagdirty)
	{
		op->SetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::DATA);
		return;
	}

	// check matrix change
	Int cdirty = 0;
	for (Int i = 0; i < tag->GetJointCount(); i++)
	{
		cdirty += tag->GetJoint(i, tag->GetDocument())->GetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::MATRIX);
		if (cdirty != jointdir || cachedir != linkOp->GetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::CACHE))
		{
			op->SetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::DATA);
			return;
		}
	}

	return;
}

BaseList2D* SkinModifier::GetBaseLink(BaseObject* op, DescID id, Int excepted)
{
	GeData data;
	if (!op->GetParameter(id, data, DESCFLAGS_GET::NONE))
		return nullptr;

	return data.GetLink(op->GetDocument(), excepted);
}


Bool SkinModifier::ModifyObject(BaseObject* mod, BaseDocument* doc, BaseObject* op, const Matrix& op_mg, const Matrix& mod_mg, Float lod, Int32 flags, BaseThread* thread)
{
	if (!mod || !op || !doc || !thread)
		return false;

	BaseList2D* t = GetBaseLink(mod, DescID(NEWSKINTAG), Tweights);
	BaseList2D* l = GetBaseLink(mod, DescID(NEWSKINCHECK), Opolygon);
	if (!t || !l)
		return false;

	PointObject* linkOp = static_cast<PointObject*>(l);
	CAWeightTag* tag = static_cast<CAWeightTag*>(t);

	lasttagdirty = tag->GetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::DATA);
	cachedir = linkOp->GetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::CACHE);

	PointObject* pObj = ToPoint(op);
	const Vector * pListR = pObj->GetPointR();
	Vector * pListW = pObj->GetPointW();

	const Int pcount = pObj->GetPointCount();
	const Int jcount = tag->GetJointCount();
	jointdir = 0;

	for (Int i = 0; i < jcount; i++)
	{
		BaseObject* joint = tag->GetJoint(i, doc);
		jointdir += joint->GetDirty(DIRTYFLAGS::MATRIX);
	}


	auto worker = [jcount, op_mg, &pListR, &pListW, &doc, &tag](maxon::Int i)
	{
		Vector temp;
		Vector pos = op_mg * pListR[i];

		for (Int m = 0; m < jcount; m++)
		{
			Vector pos = op_mg * pListR[i];
			BaseObject* joint = tag->GetJoint(m, doc);
			Float weight = tag->GetWeight(m, i);

			if (weight == 0.0)
				continue;

			Matrix cjmg = joint->GetMg();
			JointRestState jrest = tag->GetJointRestState(m);
			Matrix jmg = jrest.m_bMg;
			Matrix jmi = jrest.m_bMi;

			temp += weight * cjmg * jmi * pos;
		}
		pListW[i] = ~op_mg * temp;
	};

	maxon::ParallelFor::Dynamic(0, pcount, worker);

	// Notify Cinema about the internal data update.
	op->Message(MSG_UPDATE);

	return true;
}

Bool RegisterSkinModifier()
{
	return RegisterObjectPlugin(ID_OBJECTDATA_SKINMODIFIER, "C++ oskinmodifier"_s, OBJECT_MODIFIER, SkinModifier::Alloc, "oskinmodifier"_s, nullptr, 0);
}

Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @FlavioDiniz, first of all, welcome in the plugincafe community!

Don't worry, since it's your first topic, I've set up your topic correctly. But please for your next topics, use the Q&A functionnaly, make sure to also read How to Post Questions.

With that's said you can find the manual about SetDParameter in the C++ docs which will be trigger each time a user changes a value in the description of your tag. And also the C++ manual about GetDDescription.
Here a quick example of the implementation in python

    extensions = ["exr","hdr","jpg","png"]

    # Called by C4D when loading description
    def GetDDescription(self, node, description, flags):
        data = node.GetDataInstance()
        if data is None:
            return False

        # Load the description
        if not description.LoadDescription(node.GetType()):
            return False

        # If there is no description for c4d.TESTSCALE, we create it. Otherwise we override it and set DESC_CYCLE with our extensions list.
        singleID = description.GetSingleDescID()
        paramID = c4d.DescID(c4d.TESTSCALE)
        if singleID is None or paramID.IsPartOf(singleID)[0]:
            bcParam = description.GetParameterI(c4d.TESTSCALE)

            items = c4d.BaseContainer()
            for i, extension in enumerate(self.extensions):
                items.SetString(i, extension)

            bcParam[c4d.DESC_CYCLE] = items

        return (True, flags | c4d.DESCFLAGS_DESC_LOADED)

    # Called when a parameter is Set
    def SetDParameter(self, node, id, t_data, flags):
        if not node:
            return

        # called when the filename is changed. We add the path to our list and we return c4d.DESCFLAGS_PARAM_SET to inform c4d the paramaters is just sets
        if id[0].id == c4d.STRINGTEST:
            self.extensions.append(t_data)
            return (True, flags | c4d.DESCFLAGS_PARAM_SET)

        return False

If you have any questions, please let me know!
Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @Ashton_FCS_PluginDev, we are glad to see you back in the new plugincafe community!
No worries at all since it's your first post here, but please make sure to read and apply the rules defined on the following topics:

• How to Post Questions.
• Q&A Functionality.

Regarding your issue, you read m_spec, but you never check if there is a bitmashader in it or not. And in your case, there is no, so m_spec is set to None, and you are then trying to access value.
So please always check for None.
Then since you directly read the BITMAPSHADER_FILENAME parameter from this shader, please also consider to check the shader type you retrieve, maybe a user used a noise and not a bitmap.

m_spec = userMat[c4d.MATERIAL_REFLECTION_SHADER]
if not m_spec or m_spec.CheckType(c4d.Xbitmap):
    continue

Finally, as you may already be aware, reflection gets multiple layers. You get some information in this thread, how to deal with it.

If you have any others question, please let me know!
Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @mike,
No worries at all since, but please make sure to read and apply the rules defined on the following topics:

• Q&A Functionality.

Regarding your question, you can make use of the Shift Priority Tags. You can find more information on the priority in the c4d help.

But C4D also offer the Shift Priority Tag.
Finally, note in some case it can be a limitation of the viewport which not refresh properly while data are correctly set.
And you need to manually refresh the viewport.

Hope it solves your issue, if you have any question please let me know!
Cheers,
Maxime!

While rethinking about it last night, it may not be that slow if on user interaction you just flush the main group and re-attach already existing dialog.

So you need to modify your `def _DrawQuickTabGroup(self)`` method like so to only display visible dialog:

    def _DrawQuickTabGroup(self, onlyVisible=True):
        """ Creates and draws all the SubDialog for each tab, 
            take care it does not hide these according to a selection state.

        Returns: 
            True if success otherwise False.
        """

        # Checks if the quicktab is defined
        if self._quickTab is None:
            return False

        activeIds, activeNames = self.GetActiveTabs()

        # Flush the content of the group that holds all ours SubDialogs
        self.LayoutFlushGroup(ID_MAINGROUP)
        #self.GroupBorderSpace(left=5, top=5, right=5, bottom=5)

        # Iterates over the number of tab to create and attach the correct SubDialog
        for tabId, (tabName, tabGui) in enumerate(self._tabList.items()):
            toDisplay = tabId in activeIds
            if not toDisplay:
                continue
            self.AddSubDialog(ID_QUICKTAB_BASE_GROUP + tabId, c4d.BFH_SCALEFIT | c4d.BFV_SCALEFIT, 0, 0)
            self.AttachSubDialog(tabGui, ID_QUICKTAB_BASE_GROUP + tabId)

        self.LayoutChanged(ID_MAINGROUP)

        return True

Then in the Command message instead of calling DisplayCorrectGroup you should call _DrawQuickTabGroup like so:

    def Command(self, id, msg):
        if id == ID_QUICKTAB_BAR and self._quickTab:
            self._DrawQuickTabGroup()
            return True

Regarding your question and classic Tab, find an example in Remove a GeDialog Tab Group but as you can see this is also not possible to remove a tab without redrawing everything .

Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @mogh sorry for the delay, I can indeed confirm the bug and reported it so far I don't have any other workaround than flushing the whole group and re-add everything, which can be very slow.

Cheers,
Maxime.

Just checked with development team, and this is a bug as this is something we don't really support and the slider having a default behavior for when alt is currently executed. So far there is no workaround, so the best way to proceed would be to create your own alert windows like so:

import c4d


PLUGINSTRING = "Alt test"
UI_SPACING = 15048

class AlertDialog(c4d.gui.GeDialog):
    
    @staticmethod
    def Create(msg):
        alertDlg = AlertDialog(msg)
        
        alertDlg.Open(c4d.DLG_TYPE_MODAL, defaultw=0, defaulth=0)
        return alertDlg
    
    def __init__(self, msg):
        self.message = msg
        
    def CreateLayout(self):
        self.AddStaticText(id=1000, flags=c4d.BFH_SCALEFIT | c4d.BFV_SCALEFIT, initw=150, name=self.message)
        self.AddDlgGroup(c4d.DLG_OK)
        return True
        
    def Command(self, messageId, bc):
        if messageId == c4d.DLG_OK:
            self.Close()
        return True

class AltTestDialog(c4d.gui.GeDialog):

    def CreateLayout(self):
        self.SetTitle(PLUGINSTRING)

        self.AddStaticText(id=1001, flags=c4d.BFH_MASK, initw=150, name="Spacing", borderstyle=c4d.BORDER_NONE)
        self.AddEditSlider(UI_SPACING, c4d.BFH_SCALEFIT, initw=80, inith=0)
        return True


    def Command(self, gadgetId, msg):
        doc = c4d.documents.GetActiveDocument()

        if gadgetId == UI_SPACING:
            self.Spacing  = self.GetInt32(UI_SPACING)

            newMsg = c4d.BaseContainer()
            if c4d.gui.GetInputState(c4d.BFM_INPUT_KEYBOARD,c4d.KEY_ALT, newMsg):

                if newMsg[c4d.BFM_INPUT_VALUE]:    # only dynamic update if Alt is pressed
                    parent = doc.GetActiveObject()
                    if not parent:
                        AlertDialog.Create('Please select a cloner!')
                        return True

        return True


def main():
    global dlg
    # Creates a new instance of the GeDialog
    dlg = AltTestDialog()

    # Opens the GeDialog, since it's open it as Modal, it block Cinema 4D
    dlg.Open(c4d.DLG_TYPE_ASYNC, defaultw=300, defaulth=50)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Cheers,
Maxime

Hi thanks a lot, I'm now able to reproduce the issue, this may take some time (if this is even possible) to provide a workaround. But will for sure find a way to achieve that within this week.

Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @HerrMay sadly having something working within the main will be a bit tricky, but this can be easily tested with message and more especially the MSG_MULTI_RENDERNOTIFICATION

Find below a script run from a Python Tag.

from typing import Optional
import c4d

doc: c4d.documents.BaseDocument # The document evaluating this tag
op: c4d.BaseTag # The Python scripting tag
flags: int # c4d.EXECUTIONFLAGS
priority: int # c4d.EXECUTIONPRIORITY
tp: Optional[c4d.modules.thinkingparticles.TP_MasterSystem] # Particle system
thread: Optional[c4d.threading.BaseThread] # The thread executing this tag

def main() -> None:
    # Called when the tag is executed. It can be called multiple time per frame. Similar to TagData.Execute.
    # Write your code here
    pass


def message(id: int, data: object) -> bool:
    if id == c4d.MSG_MULTI_RENDERNOTIFICATION and data["start"]:
        print(data)
    return True

Note that the MSG_MULTI_RENDERNOTIFICATION in Python does not contain the context from which a render was started via the flag argument as it is in C++. I added it, so it will be in one of the next version of Cinema 4D.
Finally note that some IPR from external render engine may not work, as they bypass completely the Cinema 4D rendering pipeline.

Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi the issue is that normally when you implement a tag you are within a class and more especially a TagData which inherit from a NodeData therefor you can call the method "super" without issue because there is indeed a class. But in this case there is no TagData instance, so for the moment there is no good way to propagate the message and you should return True.

And I know this is the default code, this will be looked at and fixed within a future version.
Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @pim sorry I was busy the last days, regarding your question keep in mind that returning true cancel all others messages so please forward the message at the end so all operations like drag operation are performed correctly.

1 week ago the question on How to detect CTRL being pressed in a GeDialog was asked, and the correct way is to check for BFM_INPUT_QUALIFIER and not BFM_INPUT_VALUE

If it does not work, then I will ask you to provide a complete example.
Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi can you illustrate what "GUI disintegration" means with a picture. as with the latest 2023.1 I can't spot any issue.

May I ask which version of Cinema 4D are you using and most important which Python version? You taged this topic as R20 and 2023 and R20 would mean Python 2.7, but you need to be careful since dictionary in python are guarantee to be ordered only since Python 3.6.

Which I think is what cause your issue since with Cinema 4D 2023.1 I wasn't able to reproduce the "switch between CCCC and DDDD". So if you want to support version as old as R20 you will need a different data structure like tuple. For more information see Default ordered dictionaries in Python 2.7.x.

Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi there is nothing preventing for more "tabs", since your code is far from being complete it will be very hard for us to help you, so please share your code.

As a hint I would check for Ids, as it is most likely the cause.
Cheers,
Maxime.

Hi @Abetred, just to let you now that baca is right here. If you are still in the design phase and not yet sure how to developer something feel free to ask us so we can guide you to achieve what you want to do.

Cheers,
Maxime.