SGI: Computer Graphics

Hi,

Does anyone know how to change the menu colors (more exactly the pop up list color) in Softimage|3D 4.0? I'd like to go for grey instead of white. I changed colors in the "Preferences" menu and then saved the changes to a file called "Desktop.col" in my $HOME directory.

To launch Softimage, I use this command line:
soft -f (to run in foreground) -r $RESOURCE_DIRECTORY -s $SETUP_FILE -C $HOME/Desktop.col

Everything works fine except that the menus are still white which means that my color file has not been taken into account .

Should I place the "-C $HOME/Desktop.col" argument elsewhere in the command line or is it that this option simply doesn't work??

Any help greatly appreciated
Erwan

I had the same problem... You have to open the environment file (cant remember what the file is calles, but when you "save" your desktop colors under preference, you will see the file name (it might be descktop.col - but it was a long time ago). Anyways open that file using a text editor and scroll down. You will see a list of all the parts of the SI interface followed by 3 sets of numbers. These numbers change the colors. VERY IMPORTANT... make sure you save a backup file first, Also what I did is write down the original values in case you want to revert back. I found it a kind of hit&miss.

Once you find this you see its very easy.

OK. So it seems I have to directly modify the "original" color file. It's called Default.col. I'll make a backup.
I think SI didn't bother updating the available flags in 4.0.
Anyway still a great piece of software.

Thanks a lot

Its the "Desktop.rsrc" file that you want to edit. The 3 groups of 3 digit numbers is the color - 0 0 0 is black and I think 255 255 255 is white. Hope this helps

Thanks for the tip

I haven't changed that file yet. I was hoping I could get my command line to work without altering the original file. I tried everything but the "-c $COLOR_FILE" flag is not recognized by the program.
So I guess the only option left is to directly modify the "Desktop.rsrc" file in the /usr/Softimage/Soft3D_4.0/3D/rsrc directory.

erwan01 wrote: Thanks for the tip

I haven't changed that file yet. I was hoping I could get my command line to work without altering the original file. I tried everything but the "-c $COLOR_FILE" flag is not recognized by the program.
So I guess the only option left is to directly modify the "Desktop.rsrc" file in the /usr/Softimage/Soft3D_4.0/3D/rsrc directory.

Just double click on the file (its just a text file) and have a good look at the right hand column. These are all the differnt parts of the interface for example "button back shadow". The 3 sets of 3 digit number directly to the left is the color for that part of the interface. Just remember to make a copy of the original file first incase you mess things up.. Also I took notes of all changes I made in case I want to "undo" the change. When your finished, just save the file and reopen SI.

erwan01 wrote: Thanks for the tip

I haven't changed that file yet. I was hoping I could get my command line to work without altering the original file. I tried everything but the "-c $COLOR_FILE" flag is not recognized by the program.
So I guess the only option left is to directly modify the "Desktop.rsrc" file in the /usr/Softimage/Soft3D_4.0/3D/rsrc directory.

i've never been able to run soft without modifying several original things