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drQt updates

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:07:36 +0000

drQt

admin — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 17:42:01 +0000

drQt is a new project i’ve started and it aims to move and redesign the drqman interface with the help of PyQt .

The project is hosted on gitHub at this addess :
https://github.com/hdd/drqt

and is in need of some love and help
If you are reading this article and you are using drQt please test it and report if there’s any problems.

To Do:

create new job
environment variables in tooltips
job type icons (maya , aqsis, blender…etc)
job dependency in node view

some images of the current status:

Extending the MayaAPI with python

admin — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 12:46:02 +0000

If you are used to code with python under maya , you are already aware that the maya API doesn’t cover all the node types available.
The only thing that have to be done is creating a new class , inherited from an MFnDependency node, and start overriding the create function .

In this example we are going to create a new Maya Function and a Maya Iterator to work on the joints.

As first thing we need to import the maya API

1	import maya.OpenMaya as OpenMaya

Here we create the MFnJoint inheriting from the standard MFnDependencyNode

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class MFnJoint(OpenMaya.MFnDependencyNode):
def __init__(self,*args):
return super(MFnJoint,self).__init__(*args)

def create(self,*args):
if not args:
# here is where the magic happen, if no argument are passed to the function we create a joint , named bone
super(MFnJoint,self).create("joint","bone")
else:
super(MFnJoint,self).create(*args)

For the Iterator , we override the init function of the MItDependencyNodes, setting the filter by default on kJoint

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class MItJoint(OpenMaya.MItDependencyNodes):
def __init__(self,*args):
return super(MItJoint,self).__init__(OpenMaya.MFn.kJoint)

Not is time to start using this 2 shiny new classes …..

let’s create a new joint

1 2	B=MFnJoint() B.create()

and use the new iterator to get all the joints in the scene…..

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iterJ = MItJoint()
while (not iterJ.isDone()):
Jnt=MFnJoint(iterJ.item())
print Jnt.name()
iterJ.next()

The next step is to start collecting all your custom functions and iterator in a module to start importing them.

maya plugins developement under linux

admin — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 02:59:55 +0000

There’s a simple way to code maya plugins (and not only these) under linux,
and it runs under the name net beans.

This java software permits to set up a full configurable develpment environment with some easy steps ,
and It’s able to perform some interesting features:

Code auto competition
Visual Debuging

Software installation

these steps have to be done , only if you want to install a new version aside to the default one)

NetBeans can be freely downloaded from it’s site
The version you’ll have to download , is the c++ one, otherwise youl’ll have to install the missing plugin

Decompress the file in your local bin folder
and start the software from there.

Software configuration

To configure this IDE ,to properly hande the plugins developement,
there are some simple steps that have to be followed in order.

supposed you have your gcc412 compiled with the correct flags somewhere on the disk…

Create a new builder

To be able to safely compile and link the plugins you have to use the right version of the gcc compiler , and you have to teach netbeans to use it.

To do so , open the netbeans preferences:

Tool -> options -> C/C++

and in the build tools list add a new tool collection pressing Add ..
it will open a simple interface which will ask you , for a base directory path,
Set it to your gcc412 bin directory .

In case you followed the gcc post , set it to /opt/gcc412/bin

Set the Tool Collection Name as mayaDev

The full set of preferences is provided here :

Family	GNU
Base Directory	/opt/gcc412/bin
C Compiler	/opt/gcc412/bin/gcc412
C++ Compiler	/opt/gcc412/bin/g++412
Make Command	/usr/bin/gmake
Debugger Command	/usr/bin/gdb
CMake Command	/usr/bin/cmake

Start a new plugin

go to new , and select a new c++ dynamic library

File -> New Project -> C/C++ -> C/C++ Dynamic Library -> Next >
Set the project name and path as preferences.

right click on the project to set up the properties

configuration ->
select this option from the drop down menu
to be able to share the basic setting between the build configurations
build -> tool collection
Set it to your gcc412 tool collection mayaDev, or another compatible one
C++ compiler ->
there are some path that have to be set up:

thereinclude directories ${MAYA_LOCATION}/maya/include

libraries _BOOL , INCLUDE_IOSTREAM ,REQUIRE_IOSTREAM, LINUX
linked ->

additional library directories ${MAYA_LOCATION}/maya/lib

libraries libOpenMaya.so, libFoundation.so

Code Autocompetition

To check if everything is well configured create a main.cpp file and include some maya headers

#include

and save the file.

You should be able now to complete the code using ctrl-space.
If something fails , check the include paths in the project configuration

Build

To build the plugin , choose the build configuration you want to use (debug or release)
and press , from the drop down.
Press the button next to it to build the current project

the build output will be shown just below the code area.

Debug

To properly debug a maya plugin it have to :

Compile the plugin and libraries in debug mode
start Maya with the right environment variables set

To debug a plugin under the IDE, you have to attach it to the running maya process, before loading the plugin.

Debug -> Attach Debugger ->
pick up the maya process , usually /usr/autodesk/maya/bin/maya.bin

It will raise a connection error , but you can safely ignore it.
NetBeans will enter then , in debug mode , and you’ll can start adding the breakpoints where you prefear.

Click on the line code number , to set a breack point in the code.

Maya Environment Variables

Before starting , maya needs to have some environment variables to properly debug a plugin:

bash:

1	export AW_DEBUGGING=F

1	export MAYA_DEBUG_NO_SIGNAL_HANDLERS=1

tcsh:

1	setenv AW_DEBUGGING F

1	setenv MAYA_DEBUG_NO_SIGNAL_HANDLERS 1

A Module maya/dev is available in the download section to simplify the job.
put it in your local module folder and add

1	module load maya/dev

in your .bashrc file to source it on shell startup.

Notes

Once the environment variables are set up , you’ll can also start maya attached to any debugger , running it with :

1	maya -d gdb

or , for the lazy ones like me…

1	maya -d ddd

modules

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:43:31 +0000

Introduction:

if you have to manage various environment variables configurations, there’s a little software which can help you out in this messy task . The software is called modules and it’s hosted on sourceforge at this address:

http://modules.sourceforge.net/

But before start using it there are some steps that you’ll have to go through….

Compile and Install:

download the latest “C” version from here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/modules/files/

uncompress it :

1	tar -zxvf modules-3.2.7b.tar.gz

go into the folder and configure the sources with:

note: the tcl iclude/lib path it’s been modified to match fedora 13 requirements

1	./configure --prefix=/opt --with-tcl-lib=/usr/lib64/tcl8.5/ --with-tcl-inc=/usr/include/

If the configuration step end up with no errors, it’s time to install it as root:

1	sudo make install

if everything is gone fine,the executables will be located under /opt/Modules/3.2.7/bin

Configure

To finish, add theese 2 lines to your .bashrc file, to start using modules:

1	/opt/Modules/3.2.7/init/bash

1	module use ~/modules

create now a folder in your home :

1	mkdir ~/modules

This folder will contain all the module files you’ll need to load.

start a new shell or re-source .bashrc to pick up the changes

Use

A module is usally a tcl file ,contained into a context named folder

1	myModule/default

To be recognized as proper module , the file have to contain the header:

1	#%Module1.0

here a complete tclsh command reference

and here for a complete list of extra tcl commands defined in modules

Common Commands

1	# module avail

1	# module show /moduleName/default

1	# module load /moduleName/default

1	# module unload /moduleName/default

Dr.Queue

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:06:08 +0000

Main DrQueue site:

https://ssl.drqueue.org/cwebsite/index.php

ADVICE:
all the tests is done under my laptop running linux fc10 and pyton 2.5
this guide is just to test it , not to enable it in an a production environment!

Download the sources from here :

https://ssl.drqueue.org/project/wiki/GettingTheSources

Once decompressed , go into the folder and compile it as root with :

1	scons PREFIX=/usr/local install

this command will install the binary folder in the /usr/local/drqueue path

then copy the folders bin, db , etc to the the same /usr/local/drqueue folder (at the same level of the bins)
ok , now you have to configure for the first time the envirnment:
add this lines to your .bashrc file (or create an env and source it)

1	export DRQUEUE_ROOT=/usr/local/drqueue

1	export DRQUEUE_MASTER=127.0.0.1

1	export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/drqueue/bin

1	export DRQUEUE_TMP=/tmp

1	export DRQUEUE_LOGS=/var/log

or use module to manage your environment variables, the module file can be dowloaded here
just some the 3 basic commands you have to run to start all:

master : run the master daemon
slave : enable your machine to render
drqman : a simple interface to monitor and start the jobs

now is the python turn !
go to the source folder and enter into the python one.
then run as root:

1	python setup.py install

this will compile and install the drqueue module for your pyton version

now let\’s play with it , compiling a renderman shader with 3delight …

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# start importing the module
import drqueue.base.libdrqueue as drq
# create a now job J=drq.job()
# define the command you want to run
J.cmd=\"shaderdl /home/hdd/Desktop/subsurface/simple.sl \ -o /home/hdd/Desktop/subsurface/simple.sdl\"
# give a name to the job J.name=\"compile shader\"
# and start !
J.send_to_queue()

I really hope you\’ll enjoy this basic tutorial , I hope more will come , now i have a full drQueue setup available

compiling gcc 4.1.2

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 20:33:22 +0000

To be able to compile Maya plugins under linux, you need to compile and link the against gcc412 , which is not usually shipped with the latest linux distributions.

The flags to compile gcc are been found here.
For further versions , remember to update the flags accordingly to the docs.

Use

To use it you have to configure your makefile to use these executables.

1	export CXX = /opt/gcc412/bin/gcc412

1	export LD_LIBRARY_PATH = /opt/gcc412/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}

Or setup your C++ IDE.

Soon will provieded a module file to setup the user environment variables

Build and Install

download:
http://gcc.gnu.org/gcc-4.1/

configure GCC:

1	configure --prefix=/opt/gcc412 --program-suffix=412 --enable-shared --enable-threads=posix --enable-checking=release --with-system-zlib --enable-__cxa_atexit --disable-libunwind-exceptions --enable-languages=c,c++

and INSTALL:
(become root with su – )
make install

The wind of changes

admin — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 19:38:42 +0000

As you may see , there are some changes running on the site….

As soon as I can i’ll restore the old contents , starting from the most viewed ones…

I hope you will enjoy this new site .

Cheers.

thereinclude directories	${MAYA_LOCATION}/maya/include
libraries	_BOOL , INCLUDE_IOSTREAM ,REQUIRE_IOSTREAM, LINUX

additional library directories	${MAYA_LOCATION}/maya/lib
libraries	libOpenMaya.so, libFoundation.so