Blender : 'View Selected' shortcut for Laptops

'View to selected' is an important function in Blender (and in any 3d app)
It zooms your current 3D view to the selected items.

'View to selected' by default this is setted as '.' , which is ok.
But when working with a laptop without a numpad it does not work.

For me I changed 'View To Selected' to 'Z' shortcut. (It is also easy to access and easier then the '.' on a numpad.)

In Blender 'Z' toggles between 'Wireframe' and 'Shaded' view. For me this is not an action I need that often (at the moment).

Learning Blender Part 2 : Modeling

First 3D modelling experience in Blender.

I descided to model a cartoon bat face. in a cartoon. It s always best to start with something simple with not too much details.

This excersise was good cause it helped me understand, how to manage multiple objects, how to use modifiers (mirror), and the modeling techniques in Blender.

The model is not finished and loops still have some errors.

When getting in to this exercise (after learning the basics).

These were the tools I used the most in blender.

Modeling Tools : 

E : Extrude

G + G : move on edge

Alt + R : loop connect

K : knife

O : activate soft selection, pretty cool cause you can easily change the soft range with your mouse scroll !

Alt + M : merge vertex, edges

F : bridge two edges

P : Detach

X : Delete Face, Edge, Dissolve

Settings

Preferences : Rotate Around Selected (a must for modeling)

Prompt Quit : Needed otherwise you just loose your files

Learning Blender Part 1: The Basics

My 3D buddies convinced me to take a new challenge... Blender ! They were already working with it for some months.

They showed some demonstration and showed me the new render engine cycles. The smoke particle system.

All these techniques looks so amazing. So I gave Blender a chance :)

This was a month ago and I must say it rocked my socks off. Blender is kinda a pain in the ass in the beginning. The learning curve is steep, but in some way logical. Well logical in a different way of other applications.

You feel that some features are still raw. But once you get the hang on it.

If you are interested in Blender. I would definitely start with the tutorial of Blender Cookie.

There videos shows the needed steps to get a good idea on how the Blender app works.

After that you can freestyle on your own with ease and do whatever you want. :)

Basic tutorials : 

http://cgcookie.com/blender/cgc-courses/blender-basics-introduction-for-beginners/

Python : Save and Load Dictionaries with json

Dictionaries are a very useful element in python to manage your data.

I often save and load dictionaries to a file to use as save and load systems in my tools.

The example underneath shows how to save a dictionary to a text file with json.dumps() and loading it back in using json.load()

Save a dictionary to a file

import json
dict = {"hello" : "dictionary", "this" : "is", "awesome" : {"sub" : "collection"}}
dictString= json.dumps(dict, sort_keys=False ,ensure_ascii=True ,indent=2)
fs = open("c:/dict.txt","w")
fs.write(dictString)
fs.close()

Loads a dictionary from a file

import json
fs = open("c:/dict.txt")
dict = json.load(fs)
fs.close()
print dict

Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

More images from my current project that I am working on from walking the dog. :)
I just hope that they put more higher quality pictures.

Python : Improving your print()

the print() function is a function that is the used the most during programming. It sends a piece of string to the console so we can get some feedback.

Of course on the way we are adding a lot of print() to debug, to print data and even to print error messages.

messages
Using print to share messages can be handy for developers. But it is totaly not for artists. Artist will most of the time not look to consoles and just say that the tool is broken and don't look further. For artist you will have to embed the messaging more inside the tool or using messageboxes.

variables print("assetsToBuild=%s" % assetsToBuild)
when printing data of integers, arrays to see if the content is correct of the container it can get confusing which variable is which, especially if you have other prints coming in from other modules.

For me I found a solution that gives a clear overview of what is happening in my code which is the following:

assetsToBuild = ["harry","mario","box"]
print("assetsToBuild=%s" % assetsToBuild)
output : assetsToBuild = ["harry","mario","box"]

this will give much more meaning to the print. The label is the same as the variable.
This makes debugging easier and is a great motivation to choose good variable names.

Conclusion
When placing data in the console try to respect a good structure. This will help you so much in visualising what code is doing. Motivates your variable names. And this way you will have to do less time in cleaning up your output prints.

Pipeline Essentials: Stand-alone user-friendly Batcher

From my experience in pipeline development I learned a very important lesson which is :
Make as fast as possible a dynamic external batch system in your pipeline for putting actions on multiple files.

Why?
The goal of the tool is to be able to make artists happy and to give them power to raise the quality of multiple assets at the same time. And it will take away your work pressure as developer.

Opening files, editing something, save , close... doing this for +10 files is boring  for your artists and even for you.

Why for Artists ?
This tool should provides access to the key actions of your pipeline tools.
Since the artist knows your tools, they know what each button will do that you give and how it will affect the scene that they want to batch.

Why for developers?
Even for a developer this tool is an essential element for working. Batching over files will be always on your todo list. To ask information of multiple 3d scenes, reconstructing content of files, providing reports etc. And if you need to make a script for each of those actions your scripts directory will get messy.

As developer you can even add hidden features in this tool that make your life easier. Like scene debugging, running custom scripts on scenes etc.

Multiple actions
Important with the batch tool is that you can send multiple actions to batch. So for example that the artist can easily send a following action :
Rebuild all geometry of the assets, just rebuild the shaders of one specific character, save incremental, render.

No visuals, so make it feel safe
When you give such great power to artists it is really important that they feel safe using it. Give enough feedback what is going to happen in a report. Be able to show the start state of the scene, the end state of the scene. Give them a way for reverting the actions that they do. So that they can always go back to the previous state.( Using version system or easy access to backups.)

Make 'Comment' obligatory
When creating a batch tool always place a comment text field. And oblige your users to give clarity to there actions. This way it will be much easier to track what is going on in the pipeline for others and makes it more easy for the user to take steps forward or backwards in your pipeline.

External
Make the batcher as an external tool. So that it works stand alone. It prevents that the tool need to start up the program that they will batch on. This will save licenses for the company, make it more accessible for people without the software knowledge.

Conclusion
Creating a stand-alone batch system is essential tool, even tough it comes with great responsibility. It needs to be very clear, logical and make it feel safe for the artist. It will save you tons of time in scripting so you can focus on other cool tools. :)

External Maxscript IDE

External Maxscript IDE. A tool for developing Scripts in 3ds max and easily manipulate 3dsMax from your favorite IDE or application.

Controlling 3dsmax through commandline. I connected it to notepad++ using the 'Run...' functions, this way using control+E I could send commands to 3ds max.

Download : http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/external-maxscript-ide

Jack et la mécanique du coeur - First Image

Here are the first public images of  'Jack et la mécanique du coeur' of my current work ! These are already online for some time but wanted to share these on my blog :) of course to fill it up more

Track Maker

A fast way for creating Continuous threads, (for example tanks, escalators,..) Easy To Use! Select your track Items and the spline, click on "Build track" and Ready!

Live editing and friendly-Rigged so that you can use it in expanding your vehicles/models.
Another cool thing is that you can create amazing looking complex meshes in no time with perfect control.
These quick examples are made with TrackMaker (aprox, 2min for each model)

Download : http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/trackmaker

Color It !

Give your whole scene color in no time ! Perfect for first layout or color to your animation rigs.
I used 'Color It !' for giving color to the animation rigs, there were over 200 characters and props so this tool made the job much easier. Thanks to Color It I could easily color it in with colors of the reference art.

System colors everything in using multimaterial and material ID
Exporting and Saving these colors to Ini Files

download : http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/color-it

So it begins...

Hello ! A blog started ! I wanted to use this to have a main page to keep my activities up to date.This page will be used as a collection of my tools, code snippets and interesting resources that I found that I would like to share with other people !

Most of my work you can already find at http://www.svenfraeys.com/

Enjoy and see you at the next post ! :)