trouble starting XSI exp

[artistx]

Oh, I'm running on Windows XP if that's any help.

[tachy0n]

What GFX card/driver are you using ? You should check SI's site to see if it's supported or not :

http://www.softimage.com/partners/xsi/Hardware_Partners/Hardware_Cert/windows_xp.htm

[artistx]

Ok, I see two bad things here. I have a GeForce4 420 Go (mobile) card on my laptop and I'm running Windows XP HOME edition. It's probably one of those two that's causing the problem.
It's wierd though. I'm able to get the opening screen up but it just leaves the menus and you have to open up everything yourself. For example, under the view menu you can choose to add an object view and then switch between the orthographic views within that object view. So it lets you open a view from scratch. Yet it can't load scene files and it can't load add-ons. I wonder if there is a way to create a four window layout from scratch in XSI.....

[artistx]

Thanks, for the help TachOn. By the way, I also get a message in the blank gray area (where the four viewports would normally be) that says "cannot find default layout in C:\Softimage\XSI-EXP_3.0". I tried putting an add-on layout into that folder, but nothing happened. Anyone know what this message means?

[tachy0n]

Have you tried installing manually, ie from File->Add on->Install ?

Also when you install the addon, does the new layout appear in the list under the 'Layout' menu item ? Dragging n dropping a layout addon doesn't automatically change the layout, you have to select the appropriate one from the list.

[Zastrozzi]

minimum resolution for xsi is 1280 1024. If your resolution is lower it will give you a warning and then stop loading the gui. I beleive you can change the layout after this has occured and i know that thre are many 1024 768 layouts out there

[Zastrozzi]

Yeah you should be able to easily creat a blank layout for xsi. after you get your grey screen, do you have teh layout menu at the top? if so enter the edit layout mode the go back to the same menu and select new layout. Now all you have to do is select everything you want to be in the layout..... right click to setup how you want your grey area split up as many horivontal and vertical splits as you want (note they are dragable until you exit the edit layout mode). Right so now you have a layout but nothing is in it... Again right click and select set view. You will want -view manager (its your 3d views)
-timeline 3d (your timeline at the bottom)
-playback controls (obvious enough)
-toolbar panel (all your basic tools {the bar that is usally on your left})
-transform panel ( basic srt panel)
Also included in basic layout are
- snap panel
-layer panel
- constraint panel
- edit panel
-command line
-animation panel

One thing you might want to play around with is using XSI Exsplorer instead of view manager.... or in combination with... who knows hope this helps

[artistx]

Tachyon, I tried dragging and dropping but XSI wouldn't recognized the layout file. It still only gives me the Softimage|XSI suite (user) option. I'm assuming that's the one I'm locked into using since it's checkmarked. I also tried manually loading, but it won't respond to that either.


Yes Zastrozzi! That's exactly what happened. I can still get the top main menu, but the GUI like orthogonal viewports won't load. Are you suggesting that i do something before I open up the program?
Whoops. NEVER MIND. I guess you must have read my mind and typed the answer while i was writing my post. (Eerie).:surprised

I'll try setting it up from scratch and see how that goes. Thanks for the help Tachyon and Zastrozzi.

[artistx]

I tried rebuilding the views manually. I was able to get every menu on there except the view manager (and that's the one I need the most). After I added the view manager the program crashed. That edit layout feature is really nice though. I guess I'm learning XSI even without the viewports. lol.

[ggg]

EXP and the full version do not work the same.

-you cannot save layouts in EXP

-you *can* install layout addons with file> or dragndrop but their are two problems:
---the addon layouts you are installing must be for the current rez you are using, xsi looks in the x:softimage or x:user\etc\etc\layouts\that rez folder for layouts available for your current rez.
---and the big one: the addons only temporarily install and you will need to reinstall them at each start up

Made these so I could correspond with others using EXP wihtou having to reinstall the layouts each time on their laptop :rolleyes: , perhaps they will help:

g1024x768forEXP v1.0 (http://www.grahamdclark.com/Studentresources/links/generallinks/downloads.htm#Anchor-g1024x7-36948)

XSI .dslayouts files (http://www.grahamdclark.com/Studentresources/links/generallinks/downloads.htm#Anchor-XSI .d-44607)

XSI default 1280x1024 layouts (http://www.grahamdclark.com/Studentresources/links/generallinks/downloads.htm#Anchor-XS-13931)

fixed

[artistx]

Thanks for the layouts ggg. Well, I was never able to get the layouts up and running. It would show the layouts in the layout menu, but as soon as you chose one of them it crashed. I installed the program on another computer with Windows 2000 and now it works fine. That layout setup is very nice ggg. Thanks again.

[ggg]

Yes this is odd.
I can create layouts for 800x600 and 832x624 and they work fine on a full version of XSI but crash EXP!
Sounds like it could be the same thing causing your crashes in 1024x768 EXP.
I noticed I could build *part* of a layout for 800x600 and not have it crash in EXP so I'll try to narrow it down to what view is causing it. Unfortunately I think its the 3D view manager.

Another option you could try is a "no layouts" layout I have but have not made available for EXP users. It floats ALL the views: toolbars, 3D view manger, panels and other views.
I'll try it in 800x600 EXP on XP and if it works I'll post it here.

Note with the layouts I posted that part of the toolbars are hidden in 1024x768 but less than other 1024x768 layouts. A fellow XSiuser was workign on a tool to float the menus and had them horizontal and thayt is the best tool for overcoming the toolbar hieght and not loosing some butttons, but most of them are in the top menus anyway.

[Zastrozzi]

Yeah it does sound like the view manager is causeing the crash. I didn't know exp was limited to not authoring layouts oh well. did you try using the xsi exsplorer instead of the veiw manager window?

[ggg]

Ah good idea with XSI explorer, at least the EXP XP users stuck on these smaller rez for screen size/refresh comfort, or laptop max rez, could still eval XSI. I'll give it a try.

EDIT added: you can edit the layouts but cannot save them in EXP.

[Signal2Noise]

Hopefully all the tips others are providing will get you up and running with EXP.

I just want to add that although EXP will run on XP Home, if you decide to invest in XSI you will need to move to XP Pro ed. or back to 2000. And it may be worthwhile to consider a beefier laptop and/or desktop.

Good luck and have fun with SI|EXP!:thumbsup:

[artistx]

Yes, Signal to Noise I may just do a dual boot on my laptop and see if things don't work out better on Windows 2000. It would be great if you could get that layout running for EXP ggg. I do have it up and running on a desktop computer so if you don't find a way don't sweat it. All of you have already helped out a great deal. Thanks.

[ggg]

OK try it now, I made some no layouts fro each rez.
I also noticed even after the crash when trying to load a layout at 800x600 that I could restart and it loaded... odd.
Another option is install various peoples addons for your rez and see if they crash and if they don't you'll just have to install the addon at each start as EXP won't keep these addons installed,

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