Softimage SDK Programmer's Guide > Customizing Softimage using the SDK > Building and Deploying Customizations >

# Working with the Plug-in Manager

The Plug-in Manager provides tools to help you create, edit, and manage your plug-ins, shaders, toolbars, and other customizations. From the Plug-in Manager, you can:

- Use wizards to generate new commands, operators, properties, events, empty plug-ins, shaders, and toolbars.

- Drag commands from plug-ins to toolbars.

- Drag plug-ins from one location to another.

- Create and connect to workgroups.

- Install and uninstall add-ons.

- Manage self-installing plug-ins (load, update, unload, remove from cache).

- Package add-ons (create .xsiaddon files that you can distribute to external users).

See the Walkthrough: The Plug-in Manager for quick walkthrough of many of these features.

The different tabs of the Plug-in Manager give you different views of the plug-ins installed on your system.

- Plug-in Tree Provides a hierarchical view of the plug-ins and customizations installed in Softimage. The tree lists the plug-ins, toolbars, views, and add-ons found in various locations on the file system. The Plug-in Tree supports drag-and-drop, and context menus provide quick access to the relevant tasks.

  The Plug-ins, Items, and Event tabs provide alternative views of the self-installing plug-ins currently installed in Softimage.

- Workgroups Lists the connected workgroups.

- Plug-ins Lists the self-installing plug-ins currently loaded in Softimage.

- Items Lists the various plug-in items (such as commands, operators and properties) implemented by the self-installing plug-ins. You can sort the list by type, making it easier to see exactly what custom commands, operators, filters, properties, or other plug-in items are available.

  Possible types of plug-in items are commands, operators, properties, events, menus, filters, displays, display callbacks, and display passes.

- Events Lists the events currently installed in Softimage.

In addition, you can also show the Custom Folders and v1.0 Plug-ins tabs. The Custom Folders tab displays the locations specified by the XSI_PLUGINS environment variable. The v1.0 Plug-ins tab lists the v1.0 plug-ins: plug-ins that are not self-installing.

To show these optional tabs, open the Plug-in Manager preferences and select the Show additional tabs in Plug-in Manager check box.

## Opening the Plug-in Manager

### To open the Plug-in Manager

- Choose File Plug-in Manager to open the Plug-in Manager.

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