Plug-in Software Developer Kit (SDK)

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Plug-in Software Developer Kit (SDK)

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modo 601 Plug-in Development Kit for PC and Mac

The modo 601 Plug-in Software Development Kit provides a set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and numer-ous source code samples that enable developers to read and write modo 601 scene, image, and movie files, introduce new commands and item types into modo, as well as add plug-in scripting support (with an example Lua interpreter).

The SDK is based on COM, with C++ wrappers for many of the published APIs, and is available for both Mac OS X and Win-dows 32–bit and 64–bit versions of modo 601.

What you can do with the SDK

• Create new Component shaders (similar to the Skin Shader in modo 601) for use in the modo Shader Tree. • Create your own Image monitors (similar to the Histogram

image monitor in modo 601) that display specialized types of image analysis. • Build new viewport Overlays (similar to the Safe Area overlay) in modo 601. • Create new implicit surface items (similar to the Blob items in modo 601). • Build procedural geometry Plug-ins that create geometry in modo parametrically, and also be converted to a mesh. • Create a custom script interpreter for Lua or other pro-gramming languages. • Develop new tool Plug-ins to extend the modo tool set. • Create new Channel modifiers that can be placed into the Schematic Viewport in modo. • Build new Color Model Plug-ins that can enhance the

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• Loaders implement a recognition method that scans the file to determine if it’s of a known type, and a load method which allows the loader to import data from the file into an object (scene or image) provided by modo. Scene loaders can import vertices and polygons as dynamic or static (trisurf) meshes. Static meshes have lower memory requirements and therefore enable loading larger scenes. Additional API support is provided to access polygonal faces, subdivision surfaces, curves of various types, patches, and text polygons.

• Savers implement a verify method which can display information or warnings about the chosen file format, and a save method, which reads the state of a scene or image object and writes that to the file. With API calls to the SDK you can access any parameter known to modo about the scene. Surface normals are supported, both per-vertex and per-polygon. The file I/O support in the SDK provides automatic triangulation APIs for scene savers, so that models can be saved as triangles without first manually freezing the meshes. Developers have access to topology information (e.g., what edges are connected to a given edge). If a new image saver is registered, then that format will appear in the “Save As” dialog for saving renders. You can also define your own layered image saver. The modo renderer can generate a depth buffer and other effect buffers, which can be saved as an image or as part of a layered image.

• Plug-ins can access “user” preference settings to control their behavior. You can also use modo forms to design your Plug-in’s preferences panel user interface.

• Plug-ins can also be delivered as “packages”, using the new “.lpk” file format, which enables delivering a set of files as a ZIP archive, which includes a manifest index file that controls where each file in the package is installed, via drag-n-drop onto the application.

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• Header files and source code to build the example plug-ins and the C++ wrappers.

• For Windows developers, project files for the SDK sam-ples are provided for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and 2008. For Mac OS X developers, the SDK also provides an Xcode project file.

• Sample code and detailed documentation for LXO file importers and exporters.

• Scene Loaders and Savers for COLLADA Digital Asset Exchange (.DAE), Autodesk FBX (.FBX), Wavefront Object (.OBJ), and VideoScape (.GEO) files.

• HSV and Kelvin Color Model samples.

• Sample code for Component shaders. A cel edges Shader is included as a top level shader example, providing a wide range of controls over diffuse, specular and reflec-tion bands plus the ability to Draw Edges in a separate material. A Skin material shader is provided, showing use of displacement. Additionally, sample “halftone” and “hair” material shaders are present.

• An implicit surface example is provided.

• The Histogram is provided as a sample Image Monitor Plug-in.

• A Volume item example that implements a Ground Plane Volume item is provided. The new Volume API uses two shaders; one for density and another one for volume at-tributes. • Scene savers for HPGL Plotter (.plt) files. • Sample tool Plug-ins include the Arc, Seashell, and Spikey tools. • Image loaders and savers for Portable Network Graphics (.PNG) and simple raw (.RAW) files. • Sample ‘gear’ generator plug-in is provided with numer- ous option for gear spacing, spoke placement etc. In ad-dition to the gear item, there’s also are ‘orb’ and ‘gasket’ examples that show how to procedurally create simple shapes.

• Movie savers for Apple QuickTime (.MOV) and Windows Media (.WMV) files.

• A script interpreter for the Lua programming language. • An example VertValue plugin command is included that

reads and sets vertex map values.

• The COLLADA, Wavefront Object, and PNG plug-ins all provide sample UI forms that appear in the Preferences

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Applications and Benefits

• Export data from modo into the rest of your pipeline or tool suite (e.g. game engine). Control how modo data looks to your application, for seamless downstream use in your asset pipeline.

• Dump the contents of an LXO file into human-readable form. • Import data from another application into modo. Read a proprietary in-house format or tackle an industry-standard format. • Copy the contents of one LXO to another, applying custom operations as needed. • Introduce new procedural textures into modo like pudding or boiling mud. • Add new Commands to modo that execute native C++-based actions. • Introduce new types of geometry into modo like nuts and bolts and screws.

• Create new tools for modo users that by provide new ways to create and edit geometry.

• Add new Replicator point generators to modo. For ex-ample you could create a condensation plug-in that places replicators as you’d see on a sweating drinking glass. • Design innovative new ways for users to pick colors in