Common Geometry Processing Option Descriptions

The PolyTrans-for-Softimage plug-in system has direct access to a very powerful set of geometry and scene processing algorithms that can be applied to the 3D data as it is passing between the PolyTrans import/export converters and the Softimage internal database:

These processing functions allow the PolyTrans-for-Softimage user to easily and automatically apply all of the common stand-alone PolyTrans geometry and scene processing functions but without having to execute them by hand or work in the stand-alone PolyTrans software itself.

Alternatively, if you do not want to use this automatic system you could import a file into the stand-alone PolyTrans, perform the processing operations by hand, then export out a dotXSI file to be imported into Softimage.

Geometry Processing Options Dialog Box

Resize Model to the Viewport Extents

If this checkbox is enabled (check-marked) then the camera is resized to encompass the entire model.

Add Lights to Scene if None

If this checkbox is enabled (check-marked) then 2 point light sources will be added to the final scene. The lights are added in the front-left and front- right quadrants.

Perform "Polygon Processing" On Model Before Exporting

If this checkbox is enabled (check-marked) then the converter will apply processing functions to the polygon data. Press the "Options" button to access the full list of processing options.

These polygon processing functions allow polygon vertices to be welded together, normals unified, auto-smoothing to be performed, redundant coordinates to be deleted and triangles merged back into n-sided polygons. For a technical description of each polygon processing function, press the Help button shown on that dialog box.

Compress Children Objects of Grouping Nodes to Single Object

This is a most useful batch conversion processing function, in particular when you are converting from a CAD-based file format (such as IGES, SolidWorks, Solid Edge, etc) and need to create the dotXSI file with the least number of objects and an optimum hierarchy. This function collects together all objects situated under a "yellow" or "red" folder in PolyTrans/NuGraf (grouping nodes) into a single object. This can greatly reduce the number of objects in a scene prior to re-export. This is particularly true for CAD data which is often broken down into smaller sub- components (called faces) rather than transferred as whole objects. For a technical description of this function, press the Help button shown on its option dialog box.

Hierarchy Optimizer # 1 and Hierarchy Optimizer # 2

These options provide methods to remove redundant hierarchy nodes from the current scene. In most cases you will not need to enable these options because (1) they are provided on some of the import converters already, or (2) they are provided in the "Compress Children Objects of Grouping Nodes to Single Object" option dialog box too, (3) most scenes don't need to have their nodal hierarchy optimized. Usually VRML and DirectX imports benefit from enabling these options.

Optimzier # 1 removes runs of empty folders, as well as folders with no children.

Optimizer # 2 is simpler, deleting empty folders which only have 1 geometry object in them. The second optimizer is useful if you batch import a file and find that there are a number of yellow folders (one per imported file) with one a single object in each folder.

Perform "Polygon Reduction" On Each Model

If this checkbox is enabled (check-marked) then the converter will apply the global polygon reduction algorithm to the imported polygons just prior to the start of the dotXSI file export process. The algorithm allows the number of polygons in the scene to be greatly reduced. For a technical description of this function, press the Help button shown on its option dialog box.

Apply Global Transformation to Exported Geometry

If this checkbox is enabled then a general purpose 4x4 transformation matrix will be applied to each exported scene, with specific limitations. This option will allow you to, for example, rotate all the exported scenes 90 degrees around one axis, or scale all the scenes uniformly by a specific amount. For a technical description of this function, press the Help button shown on its option dialog box.

Create Backup File When Writing the Intermediate Temporary File

This option allows the program to create a backup file if a file is about to be overwritten with a new version. For example, if the program is about to output a new file called "file.xsi" which already exists on disk then the program will first rename the current version to "file.bak" before writing the new version. If backup copies of the file already exist from previous executions of the translator program then the backup file extension will use sequential numbers (for example, "file.bk1", "file.bk2"). Thus, successive backups will use the file extensions: .bak, .bk2,. bk3, etc. If this option is not checkmarked then no backup files will be made.

Modify Polygon Triangulation Options

Pressing this button will display the global options will control polygon triangulation. In those cases when a N-sided polygon must be converted to triangles, up to 3 different triangulation routines can be enabled inside the core Okino software. For a technical description of this function, press the Help button shown on its option dialog box.

Modify Texture File Search Paths Directories

Pressing this button will display the file search paths dialog box. If you want to inform the core Okino software where your bitmap images are located (for automatic bitmap conversion), then press this button and add another file search path in the first tabbed dialog panel.