Softimage SDK Programmer's Guide > C++ API Development > Building C++ Plug-ins >

# Creating C++ Plug-ins

The recommended way to get started developing a C++ self-installing plug-in is to use one of the Softimage SDK wizards to generate the initial code. For C++, the wizards also generate a Visual Studio .NET project (.vcproj), a Visual C++ project (.dsp), and a GNUMakefile. Using the wizards ensures that your development environment is set up correctly.

We also recommend using Add-on directories to store both the source code and the compiled plug-in. For example, take a look at the SDK example workgroup, where each example is stored in a separate Add-on directory.

The C++ examples put their source code in a cppsrc folder, and the makefiles put the compiled plug-in directly into Application\Plugins folder.

To generate the C++ code for plug-in

1. Click File Plug-in Manager to open the Plug-in Manager.

   Tip In the Tools Development Environment layout, click the Plug-ins tab to switch to the Plug-in Manager view.

2. Do one of the following:

   - To create the property in a workgroup or an Add-on directory, expand the location in the Plug-in Tree, right-click the Plugins folder, click New, and then choose Command, Operator, Property, Event, or, for any other type of plug-in, Empty Plug-in.

   - To create the plug-in in the User location, click File New, and then choose Command, Operator, Property, Event, or, for any other type of plug-in, Empty Plug-in .

   The Plug-in Wizard appears.

3. In the Plug-in Name box, type a name for the plug-in.

   The first character in a plug-in name should be a letter. Subsequent characters can be letters, numbers, underscore (_) characters, or spaces.

   If you include spaces in the plug-in name, the wizard replaces the spaces with underscores when it creates the plug-in file.

4. In the Author box, type a name for the plug-in.

5. In the Script Language list, click Cpp.

6. In the C++ Compiler Version, select Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Studio 2010, depending on your development environment.

   - For Visual Studio 2008, the wizard will generate a .vcproj file.
   - For Visual Studio 2010, the wizard will generate a .vcxproj file.

7. Click OK to generate the code.

8. Edit and compile the code.