Anybody interested in development: the C5 SDK is now publicly available on the Eovia site!

I'm torn between feeling I upgraded too soon, and wanting to run over to DCG with my creditcard to fill this empty void....

Well, we are always happy to help someone fill a void when they have a credit card in hand!

But seriously, I chatted with Julien yesterday on IM and he was busily working on getting the Mac versions up and running. I can't imagine that it will be long before Inagoni's Mac versions will be ready too.

Regards,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
Carrara plug-ins

Does anyone know if A-kura is updating his plugs? I just found out I can't access his site from my work computer - something about porn and I work for a school, but I know there is no porn... must be any Japanese site - afraid of Japanese animation or something. I like his plugs and hope the are updated soon. Also, does anyone have info of the SDK. Do you have to be a serious C++ or python programmer to program for SDK? R

You have to know C++ to be able to use the SDK.

R,

There is no news on A-Kura's site.

I don't think you have to be a serious C++ programmer to dabble in the SDK. You could probably go pretty far just taking the basic samples, inserting some code in the appropriate places, and changing the class ids and things to make it your own.

There is a yahoo groups carrarasdk group where you can ask questions and I think Mik (the guy who wrote Cognito, StarBright, etc.) did a tutorial post a while back on how to make one of the samples your own.

You can probably even get started pretty cheap on the PC side, Microsoft just posted the Visual Studio 2005 express edition for free download and it looks like it's got everything you'd need to compile plug-ins (though I haven't tried it yet).

If you have any specific questions, I'm always happy to help. I've built nearly every type of plug-in there is for Carrara so have lots of sample code to share.

Good luck,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
Carrara plug-ins

Yes, Eric is probably right, you do not have to be a serious C++ programmer to play with the SDK. I just wanted to say that you have to know C++ and not Python :) BTW, Eric, as I try to do simple things with the SDK myself, I tried to find the yahoo group you mentioned, but I could not localize it. Can you post a link to that group? Thanks

Here it is:

Carrara SDK list

Regards,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
Carrara plug-ins

I'm on a Mac...so I need to find a Visual Studio like app for mac to write C++ or do I have to use PC? I played around with visual basic and programmed with php... so I have some programming knowledge. What help can you give for the Mac users? Robert

Robert,

On the Mac unfortunately right now you need Metrowerk's CodeWarrior which is kind of pricey. I'm not sure what is the minimum version required. One of the eovia guys on the SDK list can probably answer. I'm using version 9 I think, but if you can get away with an older version, you may be able to pick up an older version on ebay or something.

Regards,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
Carrara plug-ins

Attached Link: http://www.metrowerks.com/MW/Develop/Desktop/Mac10.htm

You've got to make sure that it can produce a particular type of binary. If I remember correctly Mach-O is the new type and what the low end CW typically produces. There is an older type of binary who's name I can't remember offhand that Carrara uses for it's plug-ins and usually you have to get the upgraded compiler to get that support.

Regards,
Eric Winemiller
Digital Carvers Guild
Carrara plug-ins

I just visited the developers site at Apple... developer tools. I downloaded Apple's XCode2.2 - 800 megs!. Also downloaded the CodeWarrior limited version (free) and it popped up several messages that said Apple Developer Tools not loaded, hance my 800 meg. download. Maybe I'm in over my head. I'm reading the docs and can't find the "older plug-ins" you mentioned Eric. Wonder if Apples nex tools can do it too... but Carrara SDK has two plugs that go into CodeWarrior 9+ to make it work... I don't know if I know what I'm talking about... Ugh. I just need to wade in and start learning. R

To developp plugins for the Mac you need either Codewarrior 8 or Codewarrior 9. The reason is that we still use CFM plugin style. The good news is that we are planning to move to XCode when Apple releases the new Macs running on Intel. So after that, you will be able to use XCode to developp plugins on the Mac.

Great news. I'm all for Mac. But I heard only those plugs developed in XCode will run on the new Macs, not Win, or old Mac. Correct? I think I might just stick to art, leave the math to someone else. I went far enough into PHP to learn there is no limit to the amount of time and energy you can spend reading, writing code, pulling your hair out over one little ";". I am happy that some of you out there love to code, keep the cool plug-ins coming - I'd love to be able to animate the Carraa plants - trees, blowing in the wind, wow! R