Primitive Sketch

melindasaur

Hi everybody!

I am new to developing for C4D and programming in general, but I've used it for some time modeling and rendering for design work. Usually I'll model in SketchUp (for accurate scale and measurements) and import to C4D to render. However, I've started modeling a lot more using C4D because it's just faster to skip the export/import steps. I've been using Primitive Sketch 1.0, but I'd really benefit from 2.0. Unfortunately, I can't find it anywhere, and Carter Cross (original developer) isn't replying. Should I try to re-create this on my own? What do you recommend?

Thank you!

Edit: here's a video showing 2.0

r_gigante

Hi @melindasaur thanks for reaching out us.

We're sorry to hear you were not able to get in touch with the developer, and we can't recommend re-creating the plugin due to risk of potential legal conflicts.
What instead we can for sure, is to support you on any development-related topic will arise.

Best, R

melindasaur

Thank you for your reply @r_gigante . I don't fully understand what you are saying. Is it illegal to make this plugin?

ferdinand

@melindasaur said in Primitive Sketch:

Thank you for your reply @r_gigante . I don't fully understand what you are saying. Is it illegal to make this plugin?

Hi,

I think @r_gigante just has given you an overly cautious legal answer. As long as you do not plan to make a carbon copy of the plugin, you should be fine, as software copyright law has a rather narrow definition of the protected work (at least in the european countries).

But if I understand your initial question correctly, you weren't looking for legal advice, but for an approximation of the effort such plugin would require. The answer is obviously highly subjective, but generally speaking such plugin should not be too hard to implement for an experienced developer who is new to the Cinema SDK. If you are new to programming, things might turn out overwhelming. It also seems worth pointing out, that even a smaller plugin is quite some work, especially when unexperienced, and hardly seems worth the effort for just personal usage; unless you are interested in the process of development itself.

Cheers,
zipit

kbar

No it's not illegal to make a plugin that does something that another plugin does. It would be illegal if you took their plugin and used anything from it in yours (res files, strings, code etc...).

I didn't even know that plugin existed. Years ago I made my own one called Draw Objects. I haven't updated the feature set since I made it, but everything I see in that primitives plugin are all features I have messed around with in many of my tools.

Snapping and drawing onto other objects has even been implemented and is part of the C4D sculpting sdk examples.

One problem is that perhaps the developer hasn't kept up with development since R14. So they are probably not going to update it to S22 anytime soon. If you want the features you will probably just have to develop it yourself.

My advise is to just jump on in and get started. Make a tool that can draw a plane and then go from there. Your own ideas will very quickly expand way beyond what you see in any tool that inspired you in the first place and in the end it will do what you want.

Good luck!

r_gigante

@melindasaur said in Primitive Sketch:

Thank you for your reply @r_gigante . I don't fully understand what you are saying. Is it illegal to make this plugin?

Hi Melinda, I think I never said it's illegal but rather I said we can't recommend... Feel free to start it from scratch as much as @kbar has pointed out and when bumps will start showing, don't hesitate to contact us again.

Cheers

melindasaur

Thank you all for your comments and clarification!
With all of this extra time at home, I will be going down the path of Python.

I found this in c4d.BaseObject in the documentation:

import c4d

obj = c4d.BaseObject(c4d.Ocube) # Create new cube
obj.SetRelPos(c4d.Vector(20))   # Set position of cube
doc.InsertObject(obj)           # Insert object in document
c4d.EventAdd()                  # Send global event message

Now to convert 2D mouse coordinates to 3D and input those (on click) to the obj.SetRelPos(c4d.Vector(x))... I know this is an x,y,z vector, as this code generates the cube at 20,20,20. And it looks like the code works with centimetres, not inches, even if my units are in inches. I may need to do some conversion down the road...