Change FBX Exporter Settings

clayton_krause

Hello,

I'm having issues wrapping my head around how to change an FBX Importer preference via Python. Any help would be appreciated, below explains my approach and what I was able to figure out so far. Please note that I am fairly new to the C4D Python API.

The specific goal is to change c4d.FBXIMPORT_NORMALS of the FBX Import.

First I need to figure out what the plugin ID is. I used the below approach to do. Please let me know if there is a better way to do this -

for p in c4d.plugins.FilterPluginList(c4d.PLUGINTYPE_ANY,True):
  print (p.GetID(), " = ", p.GetName())

The above output gives me -

1026370  =  FBX (*.fbx)
1026369  =  FBX (*.fbx)
1026370  =  FBX (*.fbx) Export
1026369  =  FBX (*.fbx) Import
1026371  =  FBXExportReferenceTag

The FBX Import Plugin Id is 1026369 . I now can return the BasePlugin object and SHOULD be able to set the parameter from here -

plug = c4d.plugins.FindPlugin(1026369, c4d.PLUGINTYPE_SCENELOADER)
print(plug)
>>> <c4d.plugins.BasePlugin object called FBX (*.fbx) with ID 15 at 2429143389120>

plug[c4d.FBXIMPORT_NORMALS] = c4d.FBXIMPORT_NORMALS_NORMALTAGS

I run the above without any changes to the Preferences/FBX Import UI. Following the same concept for the "Units" plugin I get the expected results when modifying it's parm Units[c4d.PREF_UNITS_AUTOCONVERT] = False

Am I doing something incorrectly? Is this access via Python just not supported? Any help would be great. Thank you.

m_adam

Hi @clayton_krause sorry for the late reply, There is actually two ways, one by accessing the global preference, but that will change the default import settings for every FBX importation. I would recommend to no change the preference as this could confuse user and instead use the second way that you tried to achieve (at least I think) by accessing the SceneLoader and only change the setting for the current Cinema 4D session.

To do so you need to retrieve the SceneLoader and then send the message MSG_RETRIEVEPRIVATEDATA to retrieve a dictionary containing a BaseList2D holding the settings used for the loading:

import c4d

def main():
    # Retrieves a path to load the imported file
    selectedFile = c4d.storage.LoadDialog(title="Import a FBX File", type=c4d.FILESELECTTYPE_ANYTHING, force_suffix="fbx")
    if not selectedFile:
        return

    plug = c4d.plugins.FindPlugin(c4d.FORMAT_FBX_IMPORT, c4d.PLUGINTYPE_SCENELOADER)
    if plug is None:
        raise RuntimeError("Failed to retrieve the FBX importer.")

    data = dict()
    if not plug.Message(c4d.MSG_RETRIEVEPRIVATEDATA, data):
        raise RuntimeError("Failed to retrieve private data.")

    # BaseList2D object stored in "imexporter" key hold the settings
    fbxImport = data.get("imexporter", None)
    if fbxImport is None:
        raise RuntimeError("Failed to retrieve BaseList2D settings holder.")

    # Defines the settings
    fbxImport[c4d.FBXIMPORT_NORMALS] = c4d.FBXIMPORT_NORMALS_NORMALTAGS

    # Imports without dialogs
    if not c4d.documents.MergeDocument(doc, selectedFile, c4d.SCENEFILTER_OBJECTS | c4d.SCENEFILTER_MATERIALS, None):
        raise RuntimeError("Failed to load the document.")

    # Pushes an update event to Cinema 4D
    c4d.EventAdd()

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Cheers,
Maxime.

clayton_krause

@m_adam - Now I'm sorry for my late reply! I appreciate you writing this up for me and I think it's a really good reference. This question has been answered then!

Another quick question which sort of relates (I can create a new thread if admins want) - Do you have any recommendation for up-to-date C4D Python API training? I'm coming from writing Python in Houdini and Maya, but Cinema 4D seems to have a more unique setup with how to interface with their API.

Any training recommendations would be appreciated. Teach a man to fish and... something something fish.

Thank you,
Clayton