— Vanilla Box Blog

XSI_ICE_Tidy_01
Here’s something useful I’ve learnt from my short time fumbling around ICE. Keeping thing organised is key.
As your compound grows so does the complexity, and if you’re building it with lots of user inputs in mind then you can get some pretty messy node spaghetti.
Just like writing scripts, defining globals at the start is common practise, so do this with your compound. At the top level store all your UI inputs as custom channels.
You can then call these custom channels back with a get data node where ever you need them. Rather than trailing inputs right across the compound and into nested elements, it helps visual clarity, bug hunting, and speeds up duplicating nodes etc.
Here are a few examples of before and after clean up.
Before:
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After:
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Before:
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After:
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Happy re-organising, even though it’s a pain, it’s well worth it! Oh and remember to execute your global values first, to make sure they propagate though the ICE tree correctly.

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XSI_ICE_TW_EdgeMap_01
Here’s another compound from my convert 3dsMax tool set. This one is very simple, it just finds sharp edges of a model and returns the values to a weight map. Allowing this to be called in the shader tree as map mask.

XSI_ICE_TW_EdgeMap_02

Low Angle and High Angle helps clip the information, increase the low angle to remove any low angles from the map, decrease the high angle to see lower angle details better.
Colour
allows either black on white mask, or white on black.

XSI_ICE_TW_EdgeMap_03

Note that for this to work you will need to add your own weight map to the model. Also it relies on a nicely modelled mesh, the more vertexs the better, but if you model with smoothing in mind and use good control edge loops, the compound will work. You can freeze the model to bake the weights.

Again, use with caution, in case it blows up your computer etc.

Download

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XSI_ICE_TW_3D_NoisePosition_Adv_01
Here’s a little compound I have just finished, part of a bigger project I’ve embarked on, converting useful 3dsMax operations into Xsi. I’ve been using 3dsMax for so long that certain simple features of the program have been ingrained into my daily workflow. So rather than find odd work arounds, it seemed more logical to try and recreate them in ICE. Good practise too.
This is the first of a long list waiting to be converted.

Noise position adds random noise movement to your objects. I prefer adding it onto a null, this is then in turn parented to another null. The compound will reset your object coordinates to zero, so if you want to move the null/object around, then it will have to be linked anyway. It’s based on frame time, so it can be added to a non simulated ICE tree.

Compared to the 3dsMax version I have added different basic noise curve types, one is random, like standard varied turbulence, then there is linear and ease in and ease out.

XSI_ICE_TW_3D_NoisePosition_Adv_02

Strength is the height of the wave, or amplitude in maths terms. This can be used to key/fade out the noise. It can be controlled on all axis independently.
Centre
pushes the noise around the centre of the start position, if not used you can get noise starting at the zero line.
Properties will allow you to change the curve type, standard turbulence, linear, or eased in and out, which creates a quick bounce effect. Frequency is just that, speed of movement, lower will be slow waves, higher will cause quick movements. Seed just randomises the curves.
Turbulence
will add more detail to movement. Adjust the settings to get random jitter added onto the basic wave motion. A high complexity will add lots of small random jitters.

XSI_ICE_TW_3D_NoisePosition_Adv_03

This hasn’t been rigorously production tested so if it starts playing up then let me know.

Download

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Diner_S_01
I don’t usually feel compelled to blog about my dinner, well not back in England anyway. But when I saw what Laura had cooked up, I had to.

Seriously, this thing looks like it’s landed out of Michelin star restaurant kitchen. It also tasted pretty damn good too, caramelized balsamic vinegar dressing with goats cheese parcels wrapped in Bacon, with fried asparagus, apple and grapes on a bed of salad. Makes all my attempts at cooking look like a plate of shit.
Damn it, I’m drooling just writing this. Need to eat it again, fast!

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Brighton_S_01
A little behind on the updates, but as of two weeks ago we have been living in Hove. It was a bit of punt, but we couldn’t bear the thought of living back in London and paying the ridiculous rental prices for the privilege of a shoe box. What’s more crazy is that we had only visited Hove once before, and instantly fell in love with it.

So far so good, we are about 500m from the sea, and we have loads of great bars and restaurants just around the corner, it’s also only a 20 minute walk into the centre of Brighton. What’s even better though is the quiet laid back feel, minimal car traffic, and the sound of seagulls. Not sure why we didn’t move down here earlier. The only trade off is the train journey to central London, not the most reliable, or fastest, but should be worth it!
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Well it’s been a rollercoaster of we few weeks. I’m back at work again, and we are now trying to find somewhere to live. In the gaps we have visited Laura’s parents near Hastings. It’s a part of the UK where I haven’t been before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really loved it. It’s like being on holiday. Here a few images taken on a very cold wintery day.

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The Sony Nex 6 performed like a dream in NZ, but we also carried our trusty Cybershot with us, 10mp pocket rocket camera capable of filming in HD. Ideal for popping into the back pocket for some quick snaps. Here are a few random pictures from a few random places.
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The_end_for_now
It’s been a great few months, but we have now returned to sunny England. After sweating in the heat for a month in Asia, and living in a van for three in New Zealand, it was time for us to hang up our hats and head home.
We have seen some truly incredible scenery in the wilds of NZ, hiked glacier capped mountains, swam in crystal clear rivers, and explored deserted golden beaches.
We’ve also treated our taste buds to eye popping food in Asia, got down and dirty in the minging streets, it has been an amazing adventure.

Now our next adventure begins, plus sorting a huge quantity of photo’s that have been taken. We still haven’t fully sorted all the photos from our trip two years ago. The idea was to get a book made, maybe this time around, if we don’t go away again, I might finally get around to doing it!

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ItsHot
This is me in the heat. Notice the ‘it’s fooking hot’ expression on my face. Happy days!

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Penang_S_19
Today was another epic travel day. We waved bye bye to Penang, and headed back to Kuala Lumpur before out next flight. We had to make our way down to the docks, then on a short ferry ride from Penang island, back to the Malaysian mainland. The ferry chucked us off at Butterworth, a prosperous port city directly opposite Penang, and lucky for us the start of the railway line that runs north to south.
Finding the station was little tricky, as in true Malaysian style they had dug up the area to make a new station, leaving unfinished signs pointing nowhere, and building debris to climb over just to reach the front door. Classically un-pedestrian friendly.
Before boarding we had to wait a short while, which gave me time to inspect the train. I’m a little geeky like that, but who doesn’t like trains? The results, well my less than impressive investigation found the carriages were from Seoul, and made in 1992, so no wonder it looked so shabby, the engine was a huge diesel what also looked like it should have been retired years ago. I did also find the drive asleep on a station bench, should we be worried, after all the journey is 7hrs, I know you don’t have to turn corners, but I cant nodding off is safe?
The journey back to KL by train is very long, but it’s not without some good scenery as it winds itself though the mountains and forests before reaching Ipoh, near the Cameron Highlands. Here your greeted with mountain views and huge cement works peeping out the background.
We rolled into Kuala Lumper at night, very tired.
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