ActionSource

Object Hierarchy | Related C++ Class: ActionSource | Supported Parameter List: Action

Inheritance

    SIObject
       ProjectItem
           Source
              ActionSource

Introduced

1.5

Description

ActionSource objects are a specialized type of Source object, representing sources for action and shape animation clips. These types of sources Action sources are composed of DataSource items (such as FCurves, Expressions, etc.), which you can access as AnimationSourceItems via the ActionSource.SourceItems property. See the siAnimationSourceItemType enum for a list of supported animation source types.

Actions are based on changes to parameters, usually called 'low-level animation' because it is parameter-based. Typically, action components are FCurves, Constraints, StaticSources (static poses), and ShapeKeys. You can bundle these components as action sources using the Model.AddActionSource method.

Shape animation is based on changes to the positions of points, thereby changing the overall shape of the geometry from the reference shape. (The reference shape comprises the results of the modeling operator stack.) These changes to the clusters are saved as ShapeKeys under the Clusters node of the object's Geometry in the UI. In the Mixer, the ShapeKey is instantiated as a ShapeClip.

Note: In action sources, the path to the parameter to which it will be applied by default is always stored as a Relative Name so that sources can be instantiated under any other model without having to necessarily provide a connection mapping template.

Action sources are often tied to the Mixer because of the Mixer's interaction with Clips; however, actions which have never been instantiated or which represent caching in the SimulationEnvironment object may not be associated with any Mixer or Model, but only under the Sources container or the Scene > Environments > Environment > Caches container. In these cases, some of the functionality is limited (for example, calling the base properties SIObject.Parent or ProjectItem.Model will not work since there is no Model that contains these sources.

To get a pointer to an existing action source from its clip, you can use the Clip.Source property. All action sources, whether instantiated or not, are also available as a DataSourceCollection from the Model to which they belong via the Model.Sources property.

Important: Although these sources are available as a DataSourceCollection, when you iterate over them, you are actually getting ActionSource objects, not individual DataSource objects such as FCurves, Expressions, etc. This is important to know because the ActionSource object gives access to a specific set of methods and properties.

To create ActionSource objects using the object model, you can use the Model.AddActionSource method. There is also a variety of scripting commands that also create ActionSource objects by loading presets (LoadActionPreset), storing current low-level animation (SIStoreAction and StoreAction), and by plotting (PlotToAction and PlotAndApplyAction).

Note: If you are working in a version of Softimage older than v4.0, the ActionSource object will not support the Source interface, which means that you cannot access the contents of the source via Clip.Source. Calling the base property SIObject.Parent on an ActionSource returns the Model. If the ActionSource is an environment cache, the parent returned is the SimulationEnvironment.

Methods

AddCustomOp | AddProperty | AddScriptedOp | AddScriptedOpFromFile
AddSourceItem | AnimatedParameters2 | BelongsTo | EvaluateAt
GetICEAttributeFromName | IsA | IsAnimated2 | IsClassOf
IsEqualTo | IsKindOf | IsLocked | IsSelected
LockOwners | Offload | PartialOffload | Reload
SetAsSelected | SetCapabilityFlag | SetLock | TaggedParameters
UnSetLock |  |  |

Properties

Application | BranchFlag | Capabilities | Categories
Families | FullName | Help | ICEAttributes
LockLevel | LockMasters | LockType | Model
Name | NestedObjects | ObjectID | Origin
OriginPath | Owners | Parameters | Parent
Parent3DObject | PPGLayout | Properties | Selected
SourceItems | Type |  |

Examples

VBScript Example

    '
    ' This example illustrates how to create a simple actionsource from position animation. The
    ' AnimationSourceItem.Source property will be used to get the fcurve source and modify the keys.
    '
    NewScene , false
    set oRoot = Application.ActiveProject.ActiveScene.Root

    ' These commands were cut and pasted from scripting history and modified to work in a script.
    ' They create a simple actionsource from animation on the null's position

    set oNull = GetPrim( "Null" )
    strPosParams = oNull & ".kine.local.posx," & oNull & ".kine.local.posy," & oNull & ".kine.local.posz"
    Translate oNull, -8.153, 7.015, -0.702, siRelative, siView, siObj, siXYZ
    SaveKey strPosParams, 1.000
    Translate oNull, 8.350, -8.935, 0.894, siRelative, siView, siObj, siXYZ
    SaveKey strPosParams, 50.000
    Translate oNull, 9.413, 8.935, -0.894, siRelative, siView, siObj, siXYZ
    SaveKey strPosParams, 100.000
    StoreAction oRoot, strPosParams, 2, "StoredFcvAction", True, 1, 100

    ' Get the actionsource from the model
    set oActionSource = oRoot.Sources("StoredFcvAction")

    ' Find animation source item with posx and mute it
    for each oSourceItem in oActionSource.SourceItems
       if instr(1,CStr(oSourceItem.Target),"posx",vbTextCompare)<>0 then
           logmessage "muting " & oSourceItem.Target
           oSourceItem.Active = False
           exit for
       end if
    next

    ' Apply actionsource with muted posx
    ApplyAction oActionSource, oNull

    ' Output of above script:
    'INFO : muting null.kine.local.posx

See Also

Clip.Source | Model.Sources | Model.AddActionSource | ImportAction
LoadActionPreset | SIStoreAction | StoreAction | PlotToAction
PlotAndApplyAction | CreateEnvironmentCache | StoreEnvironmentCacheToMixer |

Autodesk Softimage v7.5