SGI: Video

here are a few shake-interface related tips that i dug out since i just set it up on a new box. this should all work on shake 3.x and possibly earlier versions. not tested on 4:

set to speed up interface redraw. originally intended for the infamous sgi slow2, this even makes a difference on a fast dual opteron box, yet it still looks nice.
set to assign a number of CPU's to shake. mainly intended for rendering, i found it to help in the interface as well, especially with paint.
put these into a *.h file in your nreal/include/startup/ui folder

set to change the icons to a different theme, this time with small images and large text buttons. the second command set's the number of images in a row. the value of 6 fit's nicely with my 1600x1200 resolution.
put these into a *.h file in your nreal/include/startup/ folder

dig out the manual and look under customization for the complete picture. they even supply you with a script to generate your own icons.[/code]

Hth.

Thanks for that. I find the default icons annoyingly difficult to interpret, but making a whole set of text-only ones would take for-ev-er...

Do you happen to know what the hardwareType actually does? Is there any visible quality difference?

lewis wrote: I find the default icons annoyingly difficult to interpret, but making a whole set of text-only ones would take for-ev-er...

When you're done, you could share with the rest of us

nice
gonna try it later. maybe the gui won't suck so badly afterwards

lewis wrote: Thanks for that. I find the default icons annoyingly difficult to interpret, but making a whole set of text-only ones would take for-ev-er...

the alternative iconset are close to being text-only already. so far i've not wanted to do my own set but i guess it's actually not that much work. check the docs under cookbook and there the altIcon macro. it should be easy to edit out the image-part and make the macro render only text when ran against the shake-node collection, or whatever it does.

Do you happen to know what the hardwareType actually does? Is there any visible quality difference?

can't say for sure how it looks on IRIX, but on the linux box i set up, the switch prevents all too many mouse-over highlighting effects on various GUI elements. it draws a more noticeable rectangle around those fields. looks a little less elegant than the default setup but still not clunky. for a starter, input fields might even become more easy to spot. at least i know in the beginning i sometimes missed an inputfield among all those subtle grey shades.

btw. there's also a switch to change the whole layout of shake to tremor-style, somewhat similar to the discreet interface. i think i'd have to dig out that switch from older manuals though. seems, apple tries to make people forget about it.
shitty pic but all i found on the web: http://www.cgtimes.com.cn/upload2004040 ... 718011.jpg

Yeah, I much prefer the Tremor interface. Not sure how you'd do it in a header file but you can launch "shake -gui 1" to get it.

ah, so there it hides, thx. maybe after all apple isn't as evil as i thought, i might just have looked in the wrong direction. btw. just tried the sys.hardwareType interface-switch on IRIX, looks even better than on linux, hardly any difference visually from the defaults, but faster.

btw. am i the only one who get's an annoyingly stuck screen on shake load? the desktop freezes for a brief period, like with some cheesy old win95 hardware check. and if i put the pointer down onto the tablet during that period, i have to restart wacomd afterwards. grr!

Well currently my Wacom on Irix goes totally to shit if I leave the pointer in one place for more than a second. Lifting the pen off makes it better but BOY is it annoying

I'm not really a Shake guy so I'm unlikely to be making an icon set but I did make one for Flame which you can see/get here: http://www.fxguide.com/postlite1645-batch+icon.html

lewis wrote: Well currently my Wacom on Irix goes totally to shit if I leave the pointer in one place for more than a second. Lifting the pen off makes it better but BOY is it annoying

I'm not really a Shake guy so I'm unlikely to be making an icon set but I did make one for Flame which you can see/get here: http://www.fxguide.com/postlite1645-batch+icon.html

now that's nice
must visit fxguide's forum more often again

i did color code a few of the schematic's icons myself. it was so annoying to stare at a mass of dull grey cloned blobs from a distance, afterwards it became easier to read axes, lights, etc. when zoomed out but it's nothing anywhere near your stuff.
interesting - and it looks like you're turning batch into a shake-default-like colorful icon mess

GIJoe wrote: here are a few shake-interface related tips that i dug out since i just set it up on a new box. this should all work on shake 3.x and possibly earlier versions. not tested on 4:

set

Code: Select all

sys.hardwareType = 1;

to speed up interface redraw. originally intended for the infamous sgi slow2, this even makes a difference on a fast dual opteron box, yet it still looks nice.

applied that and it's terrific
i should have read the customizations docs years ago

thanks anyway

I usually run shake with "-gui 1" argument .... it loads shake with the tremor interface which i find really much better for 16:9 or 2k format..

thanks for the others tricks.. i'll try 'em on shake 4 later on my linux box.

cheers.

GIJoe wrote: and it looks like you're turning batch into a shake-default-like colorful icon mess

:-p

You have a point but at least all the text names are still there. In shake I look at the row of buttons under viewer for the rotoshapes and go HUH? What are these weird arrows and stuff supposed to mean?

sum][one wrote: I usually run shake with "-gui 1" argument .... it loads shake with the tremor interface which i find really much better for 16:9 or 2k format..

thanks for the others tricks.. i'll try 'em on shake 4 later on my linux box.

cheers.

yes, tremor gui is nice as well but the hardware=1 setting is like triple the speed

just a boon question ... where do i set those environments

hm... at command line like i was using -gui 1 ... so -gui 1 -hardware 1 maybe?...