How to place own materials into the root menu?

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 05:24, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   R17
Platform:   Windows ;
Language(s) :     C++ ;

---------
Hello to C4D community,

I have noticed that Arnold render plugin can indicate Arnold materials starting from the root menu when you click Create Material. See example:
https://support.solidangle.com/download/attachments/19204936/image2015-2-16%2021%3A21%3A42.png?version=1&modificationDate=1424118096000&api=v2

How to do the same? Based on examples and doc I can place my materials only in the "Shaders" folder which can be confusing when you actually create materials.

Thanks,

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 05:53, xxxxxxxx wrote:

If your plugin contains 2 or more materials the Material Manager menu will automatically create a submenu (using the name of your plugin folder) and place your materials in it.

I am not sure if this can be enforced. Maybe with the menu functions (GetMenuResource() etc.)

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 07:54, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Well, the question was how to move menu items
from default "Root -> Shaders -> Your Plugin Folder -> Material ... "
to "Root -> Your Plugin Folder -> Material ... "
i.e. one level up

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 09:04, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I don't know how they do it, but Thea Renderer puts its material menu in with the root menus of the Material Manager and Arnold Renderer (C4DToA) puts it in the Create menu outside of the Shaders submenu in the Material Manager. Maybe you can email the creators of these plugins to get some insights.

ETA: You can find the resource used to describe the Material Manager menus in:

resource/modules/c4dplugin/menus/c4d_m_material_manager.res

After that, you just need to figure out how to get at the material manager resource to insert menus.

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 10:01, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Originally posted by xxxxxxxx

Well, the question was how to move menu items
from default "Root -> Shaders -> Your Plugin Folder -> Material ... "
to "Root -> Your Plugin Folder -> Material ... "
i.e. one level up

Well, then still using the menu functions is probably what you need. Have you looked at GetMenuResource() etc.?

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 10:10, xxxxxxxx wrote:

GetMenuResource() does look like the best approach. And you can do this in main.cpp using C4DPL_BUILDMENU (in PluginMessage() as shown in the sdk example code).

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 10:31, xxxxxxxx wrote:

...and there are also other functions like SearchMenuResource etc. which might help as well.

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 14:31, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Ok, this code inserts my custom category in the root menu of material creation:

void MySearchMenuResource(BaseContainer* bc)
{
	if (!bc) return;
  
	BrowseContainer browse(bc);
  
	Int32 id = 0;
	GeData * dat = nullptr;
  
	while (browse.GetNext(&id, &dat))
	{
		if (id == MENURESOURCE_SUBMENU || id == MENURESOURCE_STRING)
		{
			MySearchMenuResource(dat->GetContainer());
		}
		else if (id == MENURESOURCE_COMMAND)
		{
			if (dat->GetString() == String("IDM_MNEU"))
			{
				BaseContainer sc;
				sc.InsData(MENURESOURCE_SUBTITLE, String("Category In Root"));
				sc.InsData(MENURESOURCE_COMMAND, String("PLUGIN_CMD_XXXXXX"));
				
				bc->InsDataAfter(MENURESOURCE_STRING, sc, dat);
			}
		}
	}
}
  
void EnhanceMaterialMainMenu(void)
{
	BaseContainer *bc = GetMenuResource(String("M_MATERIAL_MANAGER"));
	if (!bc) return;
  
	MySearchMenuResource(bc);
}

But the command PLUGIN_CMD_123456 doesn't create any material (we asume that 123456 is material plugin ID). How to fix that?

Helper

On 27/02/2016 at 16:20, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Check out this post:

https://developers.maxon.net/forum/topic/6496/6986_placing-a-plugin-under-the-file-menu&KW=insert+menu

Plus, yes, the plugin ID must be a real ID associated with a material/shader plugin.

Helper

On 28/02/2016 at 01:19, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Sure, instead of the digits in the string PLUGIN_CMD_123456 I write a real plugin id of material (derived from MaterialData) but it doesn't work. If I write instead of these digits the plugin id of some command plugin it then works.

Helper

On 28/02/2016 at 02:55, xxxxxxxx wrote:

If you cannot add materials that way you can always hide the original material entry (pass ~PLUGINFLAG_HIDE in RegisterMaterialData()) and create a commanddata plugin which creates the material (and then you can place the command in that menu instead)

Helper

On 28/02/2016 at 14:31, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks Katachi, I have been also thinking about this not so elegant workaround.
Maybe I will do it or will wait for what secret trick Sebastian can advice after the weekend

Helper

On 29/02/2016 at 02:33, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Hello,

I don't know any secret trick and I don't know what exactly Solid Angle did. But looking at the plugin it seems they created custom commands.

When Cinema registers a ObjectData plugin with RegisterObjectPlugin() internally also a command with the same ID is created. Because of this one can add such a command to a menu and one can use CallCommand() to create an object. When a material is registered no such internal command is created.

Best wishes,
Sebastian

Helper

On 01/03/2016 at 05:46, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Ok, thanks Sebastian for explanation! It seems that for this task we only can create many corresponding command plugins with doc->InsertMaterial() inside.