Accessing plugins

[mal]

Hi.

 

I've just purchased a subscription to AM and I'm trying to work through the Tank tutorial.

I have downloaded the Zevel plugin and placed it in the Hash/V15/hxt directory but am unable to load it within AM.

I have checked the Tools/Options/Folders and this directory is listed.

I have also tried putting Zevel in an AM Plugin directory and adding this to the Tools/Folder list but it still won't load.

BTW, I also notice that the only plugins available to me when I click on Wizards/Plugins are Terrain/Font/Grid/AI and Extruder. The other plugins originally installed with AM(eg. Treez) are not available.

 

I would appreciate any ideas on how to solve this problem.

I'm using AM on a Windows PC running Vista Premium.

[Rodney]

Hey Mal... welcome to the A:M Forum!

 

Plugins within A:M are context sensitive.

 

This means that they generally will only activate if proper conditions are met. This helps tremendously as it keeps us from clicking on things that wouldn't work if they were there to select but not in the appropriate places.

 

I'm not familar enough with the 'Tank tutorial' or Zevel to specifically address those.

But if everything is where it should be the plugins should just work.

 

A slight diversion... as an example?

The Treez plugin is a good example of how plugins are context sensitive.

I just posted a link to information on Treez in another post.

You can find that info here: http://www.hash.com/TreeeZ/

 

The important thing to know there is that you must be in an Action window to invoke the Treez plugin.

 

In order to work... you have to select and name your tree's base (its outline) as 'base'.

 

In order to grow the base must have a target.

 

The target doesn't need to be named in order to work but you should name it anyway. This makes removing the target outline really

easy later.

[mal]

Rodney

Thanks for your quick reply.

 

Although your example didn't give me any clues your comment about being "context sensitive " was the clue. I found that I needed to select both a CP and a spline for Zevel to appear as a plugin. Previously I had just slected the spline. Unfortunately Zevel didn't work when I applied it and AM stopped with an "exception error #001". I don't know if this plugin works with Version 15 as I see it was made in 2002.

 

Anyway, thanks again for your help.

 

Cheers

Mal

[Rodney]

Sorry to hear that Mal. I had assumed that Zevel might still work in v15 but have never used it in any version.

Purhaps someone that has will validate whether it still works for them.

 

Generally if I need beveling I either adjust Bias Magnatudes or stitch them in.

[Fuchur]

You are talking about my tutorial at PatchWork3d.de if I am not wrong.

 

I am using AM v15 for the tutorial, so you properly got the old version of the plugin.

You need to download the plugin for v13, not the other one:

http://www.kci-group.com/z/zevel-v13.zip

(Delete the old Zevel.hxt-plugin from the plugin-directory and copy the file "Z-Zevel.hxt" into it. "zevel.hxt" is the old one!)

 

v13 is for the newer versions.

 

The Zevel-Plugin can be a little bit buggy so. If it isnt working well, you can easily do the beveling by hand.

Just have a look at the beveled spline in the video-tut and add it with the "Add"-Tool. It will be the same thing.

 

*Fuchur*

 

PS: I wrote it into the material-file for the tutorial, so in future I hope this wont be a problem.

[mal]

Hi Fuchur.

 

Yes, I am following your tutorial and enjoying your comments and the project. I find your style easy to follow and listen to.

I downloaded the newer version of Zevel and it is now working okay.

 

One comment I can make is I somehow managed to cross over some CPs while moving them so I ended up with twisted bevels and holes in my model. By trial and error I worked out that I could break the twisted splines and reconnect them to the correct control points. Modelling is now back on track.

 

Thanks for replying to my post.

 

Rodney, thanks also for your comments.

 

Cheers

Mal