Runtime vs. Self-Installed Custom Operators

Although Self-Installed Custom Operators (SICOs) are the preferred way to implement custom operators in Softimage, legacy operators continue to be supported and you can also build operators on-the-fly, which are known as runtime operators.

Runtime operators are embedded directly within the scene. They are similar in implementation from SICOs but differ in a few key ways:

Area | Description | Runtime | SICO
Applying operators | To apply runtime operators, use either one of the AddScriptedOp methods or the AddScriptedOp command. For SICOs, you use the AddCustomOp versions. | • AddScriptedOp • Parameter.AddScriptedOp • ProjectItem.AddScriptedOp | • AddCustomOp • Parameter.AddCustomOp • ProjectItem.AddCustomOp
Update signature | Runtime operators include all output and input ports in the Update signature in addition to the context. SICOs only include the context in its Update signature. |
    Update(
           ctxt,
           outport,
           inport1,
           inport2,
           ...
           )
| Update( ctxt )
Context available | The UpdateContext object is available for runtime operators. SICOs take the OperatorContext object instead. | • UpdateContext | • OperatorContext

Autodesk Softimage v7.5