CompuServe Messages

— CALC.ZIP Version 2.0 — I have uploaded version 2 of a plug-in called the Keyframe Calculator. This update contains several bug corrections and a bunch of new features over version 1. If you are not familiar with this program here is a brief description: A free IPAS Plug-In to allow users to keyframe items and selection sets of items using accurate coordinate entry. Keys may be created for Position, Rotation, Scale, Color and Hide. There are quite a few functions to retrieve information from items in the scene such as pivot point, size, surface area, light color, or coordinates from the bounding box of objects. The program is set up around a RPN Calculator. Calc.kxp allows coordinate entry for Position keys in all the basic formats supported by AutoCAD: Rectangular (3',4',5'6-7/8") Polar (3'<45.6) Cylindrical (6'4-1/32<31.5,50') Spherical (300.001<0<90) You may also Rotate and Scale objects by specifying decimal amounts. The following are new features of Version 2: * Selection Sets may now have up to 1,000 items (as opposed to 100 previously). * Selection Sets may now include Lights and Cameras in addition to Mesh and Dummy Objects. * Position Keys may now be applied to Lights and Cameras. * Selection Set tagging may be controlled via buttons for: Mesh Object / Dummy Object / Omni Light / Spotlight / Spotlight Target / Camera / Camera Target. This can restrict the number of items appearing in name lists to make it much easier to tag the items you need. * New Key Creation Options for Hide and Color Keys. Color keys may be applied to Selection Sets of Omni and Spot lights. Hide keys may be created for Selection Sets of Mesh and Dummy objects. Hide keys will be created for all the linked children of Dummy objects. * New Script commands for Color and Hide keys have been added. * A new Key Deletion option for Selection Sets of items. The keys may be deleted over a range of frames. Dialog buttons provide control for Position / Scale / Rotation / Color / Hide / FOV / Roll / Hotspot / Falloff / Morph individually or in groups. This makes quick work of removing groups of keys from multiple objects all at once. * A Default Tens/Cont/Bias command has been added to adjust the TCB defaults while still within CALC (aside from changing it in CALC.SET). * A new Script command for setting the TENS-BIAS-CONT has been added. * A command has been added to create project notes which may be updated and reviewed in the 3DS Text Editor. These notes are saved in the 3DS or PRJ file. * A new command to calculate the Surface Area of a mesh object or selection set of mesh objects has been added. Corrections in version 2.0 * Scale keys were handled incorrectly in some cases. This has been fixed. * Rotation keys could rotate the object in the incorrect direction (CW/CCW) depending upon the angle specified. I have not been able to generalize this function so that it will handle all cases. Grrrr… Currently the angle specified must be greater that -240 degrees and less than 120 degrees to eliminate this problem (its forced by the program). I hope to get rid of this utterly ludicrous restriction in a future version. * The GET_KEY Functions for Position and Scale did not return the correct interpolated values in certain cases. Now they do. * The Repeat_Function command now works for all methods of command input (dialog buttons, strokes and keypresses). It previously only worked for functions chosen via buttons in the dialog box. Please note: This version requires r3 and 800×600 to run. I hope this free plug-in proves useful to some. The file is called CALC.ZIP and is in the IPAS Usage Library. Mark