Alias - Wavefront ReleaseNotes

Release Notes
StudioTools Version 9.5

Release Notes 9.5.
© 2000 Alias|Wavefront.
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StudioTools 9.5.2 Release Notes 8
General 9
User Interface 11
Graphics 14
Shading 17
Modeling 18
Data Transfer 22
Rendering 23
Sketching for Industrial Design (Windows only) 24
OpenModel 26
Documentation 26
General Notes 2
Features Available for Your StudioTools Product 2
General Limitations Fixed 4
General Notes 5
User Interface Notes 9
Plug-ins 14
Operating System and Hardware Notes 19

Operating System and Hardware Limitations for Windows 19
Operating System and Hardware Limitations for IRIX and the So-
laris operating environment 22
Operating System and Hardware Limitations for IRIX 22
Operating System and Hardware Limitations for the Solaris oper-
ating environment 23
Documentation Notes 27
Browsing Requirements 27
Reading the Documentation from a Web Server 27
Telling StudioTools Where to Find the Help Files 28
Enabling Full Search 29
Limitations 30
Modeling Notes 32
General Modeling Notes 32
General Modeling Notes for Windows NT 35
Intersections and Projections 36
Surfaces 37
Curves 41
Control Panel 44
Diagnostic Shading 44
Clouds 45
Round Tool 46
Data Transfer Notes 48

General 48
Unigraphics 49
Inventor and VRML (UNIX Only) 51
CAT Direct Connect 51
IGES 51
STL 52
External Applications Window 52
Inventor Import/Export (UNIX Only) 53
Nodes Not Supported (All Platforms) 53
Rendering Notes 55
Limitations Fixed 55
General Notes 56
Batch Renderers (Renderer and Raytracer) 61
Glows, Fog, and Special Effects 64
Particle Systems 66
Warps 69
Motion Blur 70
Texture Mapping 71
Tgl Shade 73
Multi-lister 73
AliasToRenderman (IRIX Only) 74
Flipbook (UNIX only) 75
Anti-Aliasing Definition 75
Animation Notes 76
General 76
IK and Constraint Limitations 84
Cluster Limitations 91
Action Window 92
Dynamics 96
Particles 97
OpenModel and OpenAlias Notes 102

General Information 102
General Limitations 103
Changes to Plug-in Code Examples 110
Sketching for Industrial Design Notes (Windows

Only) 113
General Sketching Notes 113
File Import/Export 115
Image Planes 116
Brushes and Pencils 117
EvalViewer Notes (UNIX Only) 118

General Limitations 118
Net Session 121
File Management 122
Polygons 124
Clouds 125
A p p e n d ix Environment Variables 128

Overview 128
StudioTools Environment Variables 128
Index 143
7
StudioTools 9.5.2 Release Notes
The limitations and fixed limitations in this document are
divided as follows:
● General on page 9
● User Interface on page 11
● Graphics on page 14
● Shading on page 17
● Modeling on page 18
● Data Transfer on page 22
● Rendering on page 23
● Sketching for Industrial Design (Windows only) on page 24
● OpenModel on page 26
● Documentation on page 26
Note Features mentioned in this chapter are not available for all
products in the Studio family of products.
Release Notes
8
General
Limitations Fixed
Limitation
Solaris
Fixed The sla command (a stand-alone command line utility) is no

longer included with StudioTools because it is no longer
necessary. Previously, you had to write out .tri (triangle
files) and then use the sla utility to produce an stl file. The
stl export has been updated so that you can directly export
stl files.
New Limitations
Limitation
The IncreaseVSwap utility was removed from StudioTools 9.5
IRIX
because it can interfere with external applications (other companies’
products) that you may be running. However, some dependencies on
this utility have not been resolved. As a result, IncreaseVSwap
reappears in StudioTools 9.5.2, but it will not run automatically
upon installation. IncreaseVSwap will be active only if you
choose to run it. You can find the IncreaseVSwap utility here:
/usr/aw/alias9.5/bin/IncreaseVSwap.For more
information, see the IncreaseVSwap man page.
Limitation
When objects are exactly coincident with each other (which might
Windows
happen after a duplicate operation), you might not be able to tell
which object is picked.
The picked object might not always get displayed on the top,
thereby causing some confusion as to whether it is picked or
not.
Workaround
Use the SBD window to see which object is picked, or use the
Pick Chooser to see the picked object’s name.
Limitation
Using the Alt key to initiate grid snap causes unusual behavior:
IRIX Solaris
● In IRIX, it opens the Window Manager pop-up menu.
Release Notes
9
By default, supported window managers map the Alt-
right mouse button to display the Window Manager pop-
up menu. This conflicts with StudioTools’s use of Alt-right
mouse button for constrain grid snapping.
● In the Solaris operating environment, it causes the current
window to move or minimize.
Workaround
Alt key mappings are disabled in the following Alias file:
● In IRIX, .4Dwmrc
● In the Solaris operating environment, $HOME/.dt/
dtwmrc
Use setupacct, which checks for this and modifies the file
for you.
Limitation
File > Export > Screen does not save correctly.
Windows IRIX Solaris
Save screen will not correctly save different editor windows.
This depends upon what state StudioTools is in; that is, either
toggle shade, toggle smooth or not, and what editor windows
are open. Save screen will only work for editor windows that
are in the same color mode as StudioTools.
Workaround
Use your system’s screen capture program rather than File >
Export > Screen or File > Export > Current window.
Limitation
In the file browser, the Quick-rendered thumbnail image may be lost
or incorrect.
Specifically, if you select the Quick render button (under the
icon representing a wire file) when you are saving the file and
if you get a confirmation window asking if you want to
overwrite the file, the quick rendered image for the thumbnail
will be lost.
Workaround
Make sure that the confirmation window does not appear over
the thumbnail image. To do this, select the save button on the
far left side.
Release Notes
10
Limitation
Inactive objects are not always drawn in front of templated objects,
so they might be obscured and difficult to pick in modeling windows.
Workaround
Pick objects in the SBD window or by using the pick chooser.
User Interface
Limitations Fixed
Limitation
Fixed Previously, sometimes hotkeys did not respond and you had
to toggle hot keys on and off again by selecting Preferences >
Tgl single hotkeys.
Limitation
Windows
Fixed A warning message now appears when you are about to

overwrite an existing plot file.
New Limitations
Limitation
Point of Interest viewing is enabled even when option is not set, so
Solaris
that tumble does not behave properly.
When you have turned on Point of Interest viewing
(Preferences > Interface > Interface Options), then exit from
StudioTools and restart, Point of Interest viewing is still enabled
even though the option is turned off. As a result, if you click
on a model in the Perspective view, the Point of Interest axis
appears and becomes the new tumble axis.
Workaround
Open the Interface Options box (Preferences > Interface > Interface
Options ❐) and click Exit, Save or Go to make tumble behave
properly.
Release Notes
11
Limitation
Adjust Clipping Plane has limitations in Y-up mode.
Workaround
In the Y-up and interactive modes, the near clipping plane
cannot be adjusted to a value greater than 50 units.
Limitation
There are problems with rendering when you are working with
multiple stages in a scene:
● In Windows NT, a render without lights can launch
without warning.
● If you try to do a direct render with the window source set
to a stage other than the one you are rendering, the direct
render will sit idle.
Workaround
Try not to work with more than one stage.
Limitation
Duplicate and non-communicating options exist for Checkpoint.
IRIX Solaris
You can set the Frequency and Maximum files kept for
checkpoint files in the Checkpoints option box (File >
Checkpoints ❐) and in the Safety Options section of the Alias
Preferences box. Changing the options in the Checkpoints
option box does not change what’s displayed in the Alias
Preferences box and vice versa.
Please ignore the Safety Options in Alias Preferences and use

only the Checkpoints options in the File menu.
Limitation
Not all options in the Preferences > Interface options will be saved
Windows
when you start a new Studio session.
Limitation
The view panel in StudioTools for Windows NT is opaque, so during
Windows
camera navigation you can’t see objects that are behind the view
panel.
Workaround
If the view panel is not necessary, disable the Active View Panel
in the Preferences > Interface options dialog box.
Release Notes
12
Limitation
Files in the NT file browser lose icons if you force a refresh via F5.
Windows
Workaround
Going to a different folder and then coming back to the current
folder will restore the display of the icons.
Limitation
Some keys do not work as hotkeys.
● the following characters when used with the Ctrl key do
not work correctly: /, “, |, }, {, +, .
● F11 and F12 keys for the Solaris operating environment.
● F10 can’t be used as a hot key on NT since this is an NT
reserved key.
Limitation
StudioTools may fail to respond to mouse clicks.
Workaround
If this problem is chronic then try to turn off the active view
panel from within Preferences > Interface > Interface Options. Or
click outside of the StudioTools window, then click in
StudioTools to regain full mouse control.
Limitation
While you are using the Palette > Objects > Text tool, the preview of
the text may not appear in the modeling windows
Workaround
Click on the title bar of a modeling window to force the text
preview to appear.
Limitation
Minimized StudioTools windows are lowered (sent behind other
Solaris
windows).
Workaround
Edit the .Xdefaults file and change *loweronIconify to
be false.
Release Notes
13
Limitation
In the Solaris operating environment, StudioTools might fail if you
Solaris
try to move the scrollbar in the Tool Palette after disabling the
window borders or the title bar.
(Set window border configuration from Preferences >
Interface > Palette/Shelves > Layout-❏ .)
If this happens, do not disable window borders and title bar

for the palette.
Limitation
Sometimes once you have minimized a StudioTools window, it will
IRIX
not maximize.
Depending on the function that you invoked prior to
minimizing the window, it is possible that you will not be able
to maximize StudioTools session until a function has finished
executing.
Workaround
Wait until the function has completed execution, then
maximize the StudioTools window.
Graphics
Limitations Fixed
Limitation
Windows
Fixed Video cards that do not support overlay planes no longer

cause "blacking out" if interactive shader adjustments are
performed inside the Multi-lister.
Release Notes
14
New Limitations
Limitation
When you use video cards that do not support overlay planes, pick
Windows
boxes in an action window leave white trails.
Limitation
When you use video cards that do not support overlay planes, using
Windows
keyframe edit mode in the action window will cause white trails to
appear.
Limitation
The VRML 2 translator does not create valid RGB files.
Windows
Workaround
Use Fcheck to convert textures to RGB format.
Limitation
Plugins VRML2Billboard, VRML2Collision, VRML2Link,
Windows
VRML2Primitive, and VRML2Sensor are not available on the
Windows platform.
Limitation
Pivot points and local axes of surfaces created within Construction
Plane mode do not reflect the proper environment - they are created
relative to the Worldspace coordinate system.
Workaround
Change the position of the pivot points manually and reset the
local axes to reflect the proper working environment.
Limitation
Changing the settings for drop down (or pop up) menu items in
IRIX
Alias Preferences on VPro (code name Odyssey) graphics results in
blank fields and partially displayed text.
Workaround
Force the window to refresh.
Limitation
Moving the Studio window makes the Control Panel flicker.
Windows
NT
Release Notes
15
Limitation
When using Palette > Object Edit > Query Edit (RMB) and selecting
Windows
overlapping geometry with Pick Chooser: selecting the same object
from the same Pick Chooser list more than once will create multiple
copies of the same information in the Query Edit box.
Workaround
Do not use Pick Chooser with Query Edit to select objects. Select
an object where it does not overlap another object. Or use the
SBD window to Query Edit objects.
Limitation
When using Palette > Object Edit > Query Edit (RMB) and selecting
IRIX
overlapping geometry with Pick Chooser: selecting an object from
the same Pick Chooser list the second time will make the Pick
Chooser list move relative to the mouse movements thus making it
impossible to pick from.
Workaround
Do not use Pick Chooser with Query Edit to select objects. Select
an object where it does not overlap another object. Or use the
SBD window to query edit objects.
Limitation
In Windows NT/2000, StudioTools menus do not display when you
Windows
NT/2000
set the resolution to 1600x1200 on a Hewlett Packard FX6.
Workaround
Select a lower resolution.
Limitation
When you use video cards that do not support overlay planes, Xform
Windows
NT/2000
guides do not appear in the action window.
Limitation
A general flickering may occur in the StudioTools control panel after
Windows
NT/2000
you resize or move the StudioTools window. While this flickering
occurs, StudioTools will not respond to any mouse activity.
Workaround
NT 4:
With the right mouse button, select the menu item
Desktop > Properties > Web > Folder options > View, or from the
Exploring window, select View > Folder options > View to make
sure that show window contents while dragging is deselected.
Release Notes
16
Win2000:
With the right mouse button, select Desktop > Properties. Under
the Effects tab, make sure that show window contents while
dragging is deselected.
Limitation
In Diagnostic Shade, highlight/curvature shadings are incorrect.
Windows
NT This problem occurs only if you use Intergraph Intense 3DPro
video cards.
Limitation
Object Edit > Edit comment will not allow StudioTools to update the
screen.
Workaround
Open a user-defined editor in StudioTools. If you move the
editor window, StudioTools will not refresh until you exit from
the editor, nor will StudioTools respond to the mouse or
keyboard until the editor is closed.
Shading
Limitations Fixed
Fixed After hardware texturing is done in TglShade or DiagShade,

moving a window from one Octane Dual screen to another no
longer crashes StudioTools (on IRIX).
New Limitations
Limitation
When you draw polygons in shaded mode, the wireframe remains
IRIX
visible.
During shading, glPolygonOffset does not work correctly
on VPro graphics cards (code name Odyssey).
Workaround
Upgrade to IRIX 6.5.9.
Limitation
The solid wood shader is not working properly.
IRIX
Workaround
Parametrically map instead of using the solid wood shader.
Release Notes
17
Limitation
Textures that contain white appear grey when you toggle shade
Windows
2000
polygons.
Limitation
When you use Diagnostic Shade or Toggle Shade on planar surfaces,
IRIX
artifacts may appear.
Workaround
Use accurate mode.
Modeling
Limitations Fixed
Fixed You can now reverse surface normals on surfaces created

using the Round tool. You no longer need to delete the
construction history for the Round operation.
Workaround
Fixed Updating construction history with Trim surfaces no longer

causes StudioTools to exit.
Limitation
IRIX
Fixed Previously when using the Project Tangent tool, the sliders
which control tangent and curvature scaling did not allow you
to make multiple modifications without repicking the square
or circle.
To eliminate this problem, the Reference Vector user interface
has been modified for StudioTools 9.5.2.
● The Set Vector and Create Vector buttons have been
replaced by a Next Vector button.
● After creating a vector, you can select either the starting or
end point of the vector to modify it.
● The manipulator handles remain selected -- making it
much easier to use and more consistent with the way the
manipulator used to be.
Release Notes
18
Use the following new workflow when you create and modify
reference vectors:
1 Click the Vector icon, or choose Vector from the Construction
palette
2 To create the starting point (origin) of a reference vector

you can:
◆ Click in empty space or type a 3D coordinate to place
the vector origin precisely.
◆ Click a curve to constrain the vector origin to the
curve.
◆ Click an isoparm on a surface to constrain the vector
origin to the surface.
◆ Click a reference point to use it as the vector origin.
◆ Click on an existing vector to edit it.
3 To set the direction of a reference vector, you can:

◆ Click in empty space or type a 3D coordinate to place
the vector endpoint exactly.
◆ Use the manipulator handles to move and rotate the
vector.
◆ Click a reference point to use it as the vector endpoint.
◆ Click a curve to constrain the vector endpoint to the
curve.
◆ Click an isoparm on a surface to constrain the vector
endpoint to the surface.
◆ If you constrained the vector origin to a curve, you
can click Next Vector to create a vector that is tangent to
the curve.
◆ If you constrained the vector origin to a surface, you
can click Next Vector to create a vector, then click on its
normal ax normal to the surface.
4 To modify a reference vector, you can:

◆ Click on the vector starting point. The manipulator
will appear and you can adjust the vector rotation or
the starting position by selecting the appropriate
handles, dragging the mouse, or typing in precise
values.
◆ Click on the vector end position and move it as
desired.
Release Notes
19
Note Once you have selected a handle, it remains selected until
you do one of 3 things: deselect it, select another handle, or
you press the Next Vector button.
You can deselect a handle by holding down the Shift key
while you select it.
When you are satisfied with the vector, either press the Next
Vector button to create another vector or select another tool.
Fixed The curvature display of a curve in the perspective window

now always represents the true curvature of the curve, even if
you make the view an orthographic view. Previously, the
curvature display of a curve in a perspective window that had
been changed to an orthographic window represented the
curvature of the curve’s orthographic projection.
Fixed You can now create a highlight evaluation with surface

evaluate on a surface with one light, and then increase the
number of lights to be greater than one. Previously, you could
not increase the number of lights greater than one.
Fixed Transformations applied to objects while in construction plane

mode now work correctly. Previously, object transformations
may have been incorrect or relative to world space when in
construction plane mode.
Fixed Using Evaluate > Surface Evaluate on a trimmed surface no

longer untrims the surface. Previously, all trimmed surfaces
would be untrimmed until you exited the tool.
Fixed When using the Trim Convert tool, turning Show Surface
Deviation on and then off again no longer crashes StudioTools.
Fixed Previously, if you selected Show Deviation from Control Panel on

a surface with construction history and deviation locators
present, adjusting the Max Deviations slider would crash
StudioTools.
Fixed Previously, if you projected a curve onto a surface using a

vector, changing the vector’s direction would not update the
projection direction via construction history.
Release Notes
20
Fixed Previously when using the Project Tangent tool, the sliders
which control tangent and curvature scaling did not allow you
to make multiple modifications without repicking the square
or circle.
Fixed Previously, when creating a 2+ birail surface using periodic

path curves, with a curve-on-surface as one of the path curves,
StudioTools would crash.
Fixed Previously, you could not turn on the curve curvature locator
for a curve-on-surface from the Control Panel.
Fixed Previously, when using the Square tool, you could not enter a
value for the tangent angle using the keyboard after activating
the handle.
Fixed Previously, the checking of continuity would not

automatically update when using most surfacing functions.
Fixed Previously, when you tried to assign a construction plane to a

layer, the plane would take the color of the layer but would
not be assigned.
Fixed Previously, when you snapped the Draft tool pull vector
manipulator to an existing vector, the manipulator wouldn’t
reflect the orientation of the vector.
Fixed Previously, when using the Align tool with Insert at Param on,
adjusting the Join Parameter value would not interactively
update locators on the surfaces.
Fixed Previously, when using the Draft tool, clicking on the location
handle (at the center of the pull direction manipulator) and
then clicking on the free rotation handle would sometimes
cause StudioTools to crash.
Release Notes
21
New Limitations
Limitation
When using Object Edit > Query Edit (RMB) to pick a series of objects
Windows
from among overlapping objects, if you use the Pick Chooser drop
down list to select an object three or more times, the StudioTools
active view panel will no longer display and you won’t be able to
open option boxes from the main StudioTools menus.
Workaround
Save your work and relaunch StudioTools. Do not use same
Pick Chooser drop down list to pick objects. Pick an object at a
point where it does not overlap with another object. Or, use
the SBD window to query edit objects.
Data Transfer
New Limitations
Limitation
Saving a STEP file composed of unstitched geometry can result in a
IRIX Solaris
STEP file without surfaces if you choose the following options from
Save as > STEP:
◆ Application Protocol: 214
◆ Model type: Manifold Shells
◆ Geometry: All Surfaces
Workaround
When you choose the above file export options, use either of
the following methods to save STEP files composed of non-
shell surfaces:
◆ Stitch (Surface Edit > Stitch > Shell Stitch) all surfaces
before doing a STEP export.
◆ Save a wire file as normal and use the AlToSt
command as follows:
AlToSt -m3 -g2 [infile] [outfile]
Limitation
When you import an STL file into Studio, the system assumes the
IRIX
units to be centimeters.
Workaround
Scale objects after you import them.
Release Notes
22
Limitation
Shell-stitching and unstitching a surface results in the loss of
IRIX
information such as construction history, original layer assignment,
shaders, and name information.
Workaround
Make sure that you select the Keep Original Model before
stitching.
Rendering
Limitations Fixed
Fixed The renderer will no longer crash when you are selecting
sections in the direct render window using the hidden line
option (on Windows).
Fixed When rendering sections in the direct render window, the

renderer will now always completely render the section, even
if you pause the render (on Windows).
Fixed If you render an animated blend surface with Write SDL Per
Frame on, the rendered blend surface will now be animated.
New Limitations
Limitation
Particle run-up is not displayed during direct rendering.
Windows
Limitation
Remote interactive renders (Render > Render > (Option:Remote))
Solaris
may not work across machines if the render location path is relative
and if you are rendering across platforms.
Workaround
Explicitly type in the nfs accessible path to the
Render > Render > (Option:Remote) render location. (for
example, instead of just typing user_data/demo, you must
type /nfs/<machinename>/usr/u/<username>/
user_data/demo).
Release Notes
23
Limitation
Pix mask files cannot be viewed with Fcheck.
Windows
Workaround
Use File> Show > Pix with the Autoscale option enabled, or
render using another image format, (for example, TIF.
Sketching for Industrial Design (Windows only)
Limitations Fixed
Fixed It is no longer difficult to use a stylus with track, dolly, and

zoom icons.
Fixed Temporary files named SID ### (### is a number) are now
automatically deleted.
Fixed When you convert an animation image plane to a sketch

image plane, the pixels surrounding the image are now
completely transparent.
Fixed It is now possible to load an image layer if the image filename

contains the # character.
Fixed Moving an image layer with curve snap on no longer moves

the image plane.
Fixed Paint no longer appears to shimmer or wriggle when you are

sketching over existing brush strokes.
Fixed Switching between 3D modeling layers no longer causes

blocky paint artifacts to appear.
Limitation
Windows
Fixed StudioTools can now output 24 bit and 32 bit .bmp files.
Previously you could only export 32 bit .bmp files from
StudioTools, and other graphics programs (for example,
Photoshop 5) could only read 24 bit .bmp files.
Release Notes
24
Limitation
Windows
Fixed When you use a light marker to paint on an existing stroke

(created using a soft air brush), the blending function will do
extra blending for the low-alpha-value pixels. This extra
blending prevents the appearance of solid edges around the
air brush strokes.
New Limitations
Limitation
NT created wire files with NT specific paths such as file textures or
Windows IRIX
image planes will not be recognized if opened in IRIX.
Workaround
Reload the image plane or texture files or manually change the
file paths.
Limitation
Each time a non-bmp image layer is imported, a temporary .tif
Windows
file is created in the C:/TEMP directory. These .tif files are not
deleted after the import is complete, resulting in accumulation of
image files in the C:/TEMP directory.
Workaround
Manually delete these temporary files when StudioTools is not
running.
Limitation
As soon as you create a brush stroke, the background color reverts to
Windows
the default background color instead of the user-defined background
color.
Workaround
Manually set the layer background color to the StudioTools
interface background color by clicking the background color
chip for the sketch image plane in the image layers window.
Release Notes
25
OpenModel
Limitations Fixed
Fixed An extra flag is no longer required for C and C++ compiles

using static libraries (on Windows).
Limitation
IRIX
Fixed The AlUniverse::nextLocatorD() and

AlUniverse::nextConstructionEntityD() methods
have been removed from the API. Now use the
AlUniverse::nextConstructionEntity() iteration
method. Previously, incorrect information was being returned
when different locators or construction entities were being
iterated over because, by definition, the destructive iterator
methods should not allocate memory.
Limitation
Windows
NT/2000
Fixed You can set the Export directory for VRML by setting the
environment variable DT_EXPORT_DIR. Alternatively, on NT
you can enter the export path directly in the Scene field of the
Export dialog box immediately preceding the file name.
Documentation
New Limitations
Limitation
In Learning SurfaceStudio 9.5, a small part of the tutorial entitled
“Creating the Top Primary Surface” does not reflect a 9.5
SurfaceStudio functionality change involving use of construction
planes to intersect curves.
Workaround
On pages 147-149 of the 9.5 Learning SurfaceStudio manual,
steps 5 through 9 should be replaced with the following:
Release Notes
26
5 Intersect the centerline and construction plane by
selecting the Insert Points option in the Curve Sections
Options window.
Note You can locate the Curve Sections Options window here:
Curve Edit > Curve section-❏ To make the Insert Points
option visible, select the sectioning mode called Slice.
6 Magnet snap the endpoint of the curve or the Curvestretch

handle to the new construction point.
This will snap the endpoint of the curve to the centerline
along the plane of the curve.
7 Repeat the above steps for all the other remaining profile
curves.
Release Notes
27
Release Notes
28
R elease No tes
The Release Notes document software information and last-
minute changes for your StudioTools product.
Use the online documentation (accessible from the Help pull-
down menu) or the manuals shipped with your StudioTools
product to access the step-by-step information that you need to
use this product.
Important Notes
● Platform applicability (IRIX, Solaris operating
environment, or Windows) is shown in tables in the
margins. Please check this information to see whether a
particular limitation applies to your product.
● In these Release Notes, “StudioTools” refer to all Studio
products including SurfaceStudio, unless otherwise noted.
● When Windows NT is mentioned as the Windows
platform, note that Windows 2000 is also applicable.
● The online version of this document will not be as up-to-date as
the printed version. Please use the printed book to view last-
minute additions.
1
General Notes
The limitations in this section are grouped into these
categories:
● Features Available for Your StudioTools Product on page 2
● General Limitations Fixed on page 4
● General Notes on page 5
● User Interface Notes on page 9
● Plug-ins on page 14
Features Available for Your StudioTools Product
Limitation
Not all documented features are available for all StudioTools 9.5
products.
For example:
● Only AutoStudio or Advanced Modeling options provide
advanced animation, polygonal modeling, and advanced
modeling capabilities.
● The release notes document rendering, animation, and
advanced modeling options that are not available for
SurfaceStudio.
Limitation
Not all documented features are available for all platforms.
The documentation sometimes includes features that are
available for StudioTools 9.5 operating on some platforms but
not others.
The following table summarizes the features that have limited
platform availability.
Feature Windows IRIX Solaris
General
Sketching Available
Windows NT file browser Available
Rendering filters (gamma, quantize, convert, 422, Available Available
OMFI)
Release Notes
2
General Notes
Feature Windows IRIX Solaris
Peripherals (space ball, space mouse, button box, Only Wacom Available
digitizer tablet) tablets are
supported
File formats
Inventor format Available
OpenRender Available
Sound files Available
VRML1 format Available
VRML 2 format Available Available
Stand-alone applications
AliasToRenderman application Available
Distributed rendering (rndctl and drc commands) Available Available
fcheck animation viewer Available Available
Flipbook animation viewer Available Available
fmovie application Available Available
ftarga application Available Available
harry application Available
pix2omf application Available Available
Xpaint Available Available
Microsoft Paint Available
Stand-alone Alias|Wavefront products
Composer and ComposerLite Available
Dispatcher Available
EvalViewer Available Available
Maya Fusion compositing solution Available
StudioPaint product Available
Disclaimer: While every attempt has been made to ensure that

the previous lists are correct and complete, they might contain
features that are available, or fail to list those that are not
available.
Release Notes
3
General Notes
Limitation
The following Version 9.0 features are no longer available in
IRIX Solaris
StudioTools 9.5.
Most of these features were relevant only to the discontinued
PowerAnimator product.
● ApplyAMC
● ASBD window
● awxfiles
● BOT files
● Define world pattern (surface editing feature)
● Explorer
● Ghostwriter
● MakeGame
● Motion Sampler
● PowerToon
● Scan
● Sketch! StyleGuide
● Soundsync
● Video 4.0
● Vizpaint
Disclaimer: While every attempt has been made to ensure that
this list is correct and complete, it might contain features that
are available, or fail to list those that are not available.
General Limitations Fixed

● File > Save is more robust on the Solaris operating
environment.
● File > Export > Screen works as expected on Windows NT,
with images showing the modeling windows.
● When autoloading and placing plug-ins on the shelf, you
no longer need to reload the $ALIAS_LOCATION/
shelves.scm file every time you run StudioTools.
Release Notes
4
General Notes
General Notes
New Limitation
When objects are exactly coincident on each other (which might
Windows
happen after a duplicate operation), you might not know which
object is picked.
The picked object might not always get displayed on the top,
thereby causing some confusion as to whether it is picked or
not.
Workaround
Use the SBD window to see which object is picked, or use the
pick chooser to see the picked object’s name.
Limitation
For the Solaris operating environment, Standalone Utilities
Solaris
toalias is missing from /usr/aw/alias/bin, although
fromalias is present.
Workaround
Do not use toalias or try to use fromalias.
These functions convert Alias pix files to a format that is not
used in the Solaris operating environment; they are not
needed.
Limitation
Adjust Clipping Plane has limitations in Y-up mode.
In the Y-up and interactive modes, the near clipping plane
cannot be adjusted to a value greater than 50 units. It will not
move past this value.
Limitation
Using the Alt key to initiate grid snap causes unusual behavior:
IRIX Solaris
● In IRIX, it opens the Window Manager pop-up menu.
By default, supported window managers map the Alt-
right mouse button to display the Window Manager pop-
up menu. This conflicts with StudioTools’s use of Alt-right
mouse button for constrain grid snapping.
● In the Solaris operating environment, it causes the current
window to move or minimize.
Workaround
Alt key mappings are disabled in the following Alias file:
Release Notes
5
General Notes
● In IRIX, .4Dwmrc
● In the Solaris operating environment, $HOME/.dt/
dtwmrc
Use setupacct, which checks for this and modifies the file
for you.
Limitation
A shelf icon edited in Xpaint cannot be saved when the Num Lock
IRIX Solaris
key is ON.
Workaround
Toggle the Num Lock key OFF (this key is on the keypad on
the right side of the keyboard). A light on the keyboard
indicates when Num Lock is on.
Limitation
File > Export > Screen does not save correctly.
Save screen will not correctly save different editor windows.
This depends upon what state StudioTools is in; that is, either
toggle shade, toggle smooth or not, and what editor windows
are open. Save screen will only work for editor windows that
are in the same color mode as StudioTools.
Workaround
Use your system’s screen capture program rather than File >
Export > Screen or File > Export > Current window.
Limitation
Object Edit > Edit comment will not allow StudioTools to update the
screen.
Open a user-defined editor in StudioTools. If you move the
editor window, StudioTools will not refresh until you exit from
the editor, nor will StudioTools respond to the mouse or
keyboard until the editor is closed.
Limitation
In the file browser, the Quick-rendered thumbnail image may be lost
or incorrect.
Specifically, if you select the Quick render button (under the
icon representing a wire file) when you are saving the file and
if you get a confirmation window asking if you want to
Release Notes
6
General Notes
overwrite the file, the quick rendered image for the thumbnail
will be lost.
Workaround
Make sure that the confirmation window does not appear over
the thumbnail image. To do this, select the save button on far
left side.
Limitation
AliasBrowserPrefs overrides setenv ALIAS_PROJECT.
IRIX Solaris
ALIAS_PROJECT is read from AliasBrowserPrefs on startup of
StudioTools.
If you set this with “setenv ALIAS_PROJECT <project>”,
it is overridden by the values in AliasBrowserPrefs when you
launch StudioTools.
Workaround
You can specify a project when you launch StudioTools from
the command line, for example:
Alias -p <project>
Limitation
Tool palette and shelf entries are very slow to click on.
IRIX Solaris
Workaround
StudioTools uses the double-click time to process mouse down
operations on the palette and shelf.
● For IRIX, in the SGI system toolbox, select Desktop >
Customize > Mouse. Alternatively, set the click speed to Fast
in the system window.
● For the Solaris operating environment, in the CDE front
panel select Tools > Desktop Style > Mouse. Use the slider to
change the mouse speed.
Limitation
In stage sets with files owned by multiple users on a system, the
Windows
stage editor does not inform the user that files belonging to different
owners are locked.
Workaround
If you are sharing files between users, establish ownership and
permission methods that give users read and write
permissions for the shared files.
Release Notes
7
General Notes
Limitation
Geometry that is templated or placed in Inactive or Reference layers,
maintains screen priority.
Referenced and inactive layers and templated objects will
continue to display in front of non-templated geometry, and
geometry that resides on pickable layers. This can cause some
objects to be partially or totally hidden.
Limitation
Inactive objects are not always drawn in front of templated objects,
so they might be obscured and difficult to pick in modeling windows.
Workaround
Pick objects in the SBD window or by using the pick chooser.
Limitation
When you are working with stages, ghost images of the Stage Editor
Windows
listing might appear while you are scrolling down along the menu
bar.
New Limitation
There are problems with rendering when you are working with
multiple stages in a scene:
● For Windows NT, you can accidentally launch a render
without lights and there will be no warning.
● If you try to do a direct render with the window source set
to a stage other than the one you are rendering, the direct
render will sit idle.
Workaround
Try not to work with more than one stage.
Limitation
It is not possible to view snapshots of the Screen or Current window
Windows
created using File >Export > Screen or File >Export > Current
window.
Workaround
Add the .als file extension to the file name.
Release Notes
8
General Notes
Limitation
Wire files created in StudioTools for Windows NT that contain
Windows
Windows-NT-specific paths, such as file textures or image planes,
will not be recognized if opened in IRIX.
Workaround
Reload the image plane or texture files or manually change the
file paths.
User Interface Notes
New Limitation
Marking menu icons can’t be deleted or edited when the menu item
is inactive.
New Limitation
Point of Interest Viewing is enabled even when option is not set, so
Solaris
that tumble does not behave properly.
When you have turned on Point of Interest viewing
(Preferences > Interface > Interface Options), then exit from
StudioTools and restart, Point of Interest viewing is still enabled
even though the option is turned off. As a result, if you click
on a model in the Perspective view, the Point of Interest axis
appears and becomes the new tumble axis.
Workaround
Open the Interface Options box (Preferences > Interface > Interface
Options ❐) and click Exit, Save or Go to make tumble behave
properly.
New Limitation
Duplicate and non-communicating options exist for Checkpoint.
IRIX Solaris
You can set the Frequency and Maximum files kept for
checkpoint files in the Checkpoints option box (File >
Checkpoints ❐) and in the Safety Options section of the Alias
Preferences box. Changing the options in the Checkpoints
option box does not change what’s displayed in the Alias
Preferences box and vice versa.
Workaround
Please ignore the Safety Options in Alias Preferences and use
only the Checkpoints options in the File menu.
Release Notes
9
General Notes
New Limitation
There is no warning message when you are over-writing an existing
Windows
plot file.
When you have an existing plot file and select File > Output >
Plot, you don’t get a message warning you that you about to
over-write the file.
New Limitation
Not all options in Preferences >Interface Options will be saved when
Windows
you exit StudioTools.
New Limitation
For Windows NT, the view panel is opaque.
Windows
You cannot see objects behind the view panel during camera
navigation.
Workaround
If you don’t need the view panel, disable Active View Panel in
the Preference > Interface > Interface options window.
New Limitation
The image plane display in the modeling view may not update
correctly when you are using the File reference editor.
When you use the File reference editor (File >Show > File
references) to browse for an image plane, an empty image
plane icon may appear instead of an image
Workaround
Click in another modeling view or on the title bar of the
current view.
New Limitation
Files in the Windows NT file browser lose icons if you force a refresh
Windows
with the F5 key.
Workaround
Go to a different folder and then come back to the current
folder. The display of the icons is restored.
Release Notes
10
General Notes
Limitation
Track/Dolly can get really sluggish after you have worked with a
model for a long time.
Workaround
This problem is usually caused by an incorrect perspective
gain value in the camera definition. This can be resolved a
number of ways:
● In the tool palette, choose Cameras > Look at. By default, it
calculates a perspective gain value based on the distance
between the resulting eye position and the centroid of the
selected geometry, or the entire model if there is no
selection.
● You may enter a perspective gain value in the Camera
Editor. Very rough examples of reasonable values would
be: 1.0 where the default primitive is visible, and 30 for
objects 100 times that size. You can find reasonable gain
values for extremely large views without the use of Lookat
through experimentation.
● If you define a point of interest on your object, track and
dolly operations will not use the gain defined for the
camera but will calculate the gain value interactively as
you move the camera. This results in a better overall
behavior.
Limitation
Some special characters do not work as hot keys.
● For example, the following characters when used with the
Ctrl key do not work correctly: /, “, |, }, {, +, .
● Also, the F11 and F12 keys for the Solaris operating
environment.
● Function key F10 can’t be used as a hot key on NT since
this is an NT reserved key.
New Limitation
Hot keys may fail to respond.
Workaround
Toggle hot keys on and off again by selecting Preferences > Tgl
single hotkeys mode twice.
Release Notes
11
General Notes
Limitation
If you click very fast in the tool palette, it may appear as though the
mouse is being held down when it isn’t (so that menus are being
constantly selected).
Workaround
Clicking in the title bar of a non-StudioTools window (such as
a shell window in UNIX or an MS-DOS window in Windows
NT) should solve this problem.
New Limitation
StudioTools may fail to respond to mouse clicks.
Workaround
If this problem is chronic then try to turn off the active view
panel from within Preferences >Interface > Interface Options. Or
click outside of the StudioTools window, then click in
StudioTools to regain full mouse control.
Limitation
When entering text in the hot key editor, you should click in the left
or middle of the text field to position the text cursor. Clicking on the
right side of the field may not accept the text.
You may want to cut and paste text or values. To cut and paste
a value from one editable field to another:
1 Select the text from the first field using the left mouse
button to drag, or double-click.
2 Click once in the field you want to paste to and press the
Esc key to clear the field.
3 Use the middle mouse button to paste in the text and press
Enter.
Tip If you assign a Shift + letter combination for a hot key, you
may encounter problems. For example, if you assign the
combination Shift + L as a hot key for locator toggling,
problems may arise when you try to pick an assigned layer
by its default name. (The default name for all layers starts
with an uppercase L.) Instead of picking a layer, you will
toggle locators on or off.
Release Notes
12
General Notes
Limitation
Micro-sliders require you to press the Alt key to change number
values.
You must hold down the Alt key to use micro-sliders. Dragging
on the text field selects the contents of that field.
Limitation
The Delete key doesn’t work in all situations.
IRIX Solaris
When you are using the Delete key to do Delete > Del active, if
you press the Backspace key first by mistake, pressing the
Delete key will not work.
Workaround
Click anywhere with the mouse then press the Delete key
again.
Limitation
There may be problems in using the StudioTools interface with non-
IRIX Solaris
standard fonts.
Workaround
Ensure that the font that you have specified is available on the
machine you are using.
Limitation
There are limits for maximizing the size of the StudioTools window.
IRIX Solaris
If you prefer to use StudioTools with the X window title bar off
the screen so that only the StudioTools menu bar is visible, you
may have noticed that you cannot then resize the StudioTools
window to reach to the bottom of the screen.
Workaround
Use Preferences > Interface > Palette/Shelves Layout to turn off the
window borders on the StudioTools window.
New Limitation
While you are using the Palette > Objects > Text tool, the preview of
the text may not appear in the modeling windows
Workaround
Click on the title bar of a modeling window to force the text
preview to appear
Release Notes
13
General Notes
Limitation
Pressing the Alt key does not open the color editor.
Pressing the Alt key while in the background region of a
shader icon should display the color editor for the
background, but it does not.
Workaround
Press the Alt and Shift keys.
Limitation
User color settings get confused between the background and grid
colors.
If you use the predefined colors in the user color settings and
make the grid color the same as the modeling window
background color, any subsequent modifications of the grid
color will be reflected in the background color as well.
Limitation
Minimized StudioTools windows are lowered (sent behind other
Solaris
windows).
Workaround
Edit the .Xdefaults file and change *loweronIconify to
be false.
New Limitation
For the Solaris operating environment, StudioTools might fail if you
Solaris
try to move the scrollbar in the Tool Palette after disabling the
window borders or the title bar.
(Set window border configuration from Preferences >
Interface > Palette/Shelves_Layout-❏ .)
Workaround
If this happens, do not disable window borders and title bar
for the palette.
Limitation
On Windows NT, Render > Show Render-❏ has been removed, since
Windows
the features of the option box can’t be reproduced. The Show Render
command is present on other platforms.
Plug-ins
See OpenModel and OpenAlias Notes on page 102 for more notes
on plug-ins.
Release Notes
14
General Notes
New Limitation
In release 9.5, a number of changes were made to the distributed
plug-in area.
Plug-ins have been renamed and many are no longer shipped.
The table below documents these changes.
Plug-in Name Note
ApplyAMC.plugin No longer shipped.

ImportASF.plugin No longer shipped.
ImportHTR.plugin No longer shipped.
bake.plugin Renamed bakeAnimation.plugin.
blanim.plugin No longer shipped.
doChannels.plugin No longer shipped.
draw_footprint.plugin No longer shipped.
footprint.plugin No longer shipped.
jointlib.plugin No longer shipped.
jptBevelEdge.plugin Renamed bevelPolyEdge.plugin.
jptBevelVtx.plugin Renamed bevelPolyVertex.plugin.
jptCenterPivot.plugin Replaced with the StudioTools function Palette > Local >
Center Pivot.
jptDeletePolys.plugin Renamed deletePolygons.plugin.

jptDivide.plugin Renamed dividePolygons.plugin.
jptDuplicatePolys.plugi Renamed duplicatePolygons.plugin.
n
jptExportMTL.plugin Renamed exportMTL.plugin.
jptExtrudePolys.plugin Renamed extrudePolygons.plugin.
jptHideOthers.plugin Renamed hideUnselectedObjects.plugin
jptInvertVisible.plugin Renamed toggleObjectVisibility.plugin.
jptMirror.plugin Renamed mirrorPolygons.plugin.
jptNside.plugin Renamed hiliteNSidedPolygon.plugin.
jptPolyData.plugin Renamed printPolygonData.plugin.
Release Notes
15
General Notes
Plug-in Name Note
jptPolyPrimitives.plugi Renamed createPolyPrimitives.plugin.

n
jptProjectMap.plugin Renamed projectTexMapPoly.plugin.
jptRound.plugin Renamed roundPolygons.plugin.
jptSaveCamera.plugin Renamed exportCameraData.plugin.
jptSetUV.plugin Renamed setPolyUV.plugin.
jptSlice.plugin Renamed slicePolygons.plugin.
jptSpherize.plugin Renamed spherizeObject.plugin.
jptView.plugin Renamed viewMoveObject.plugin.
jptXformVtx.plugin Renamed xformPolyVertex.plugin.
normals.plugin Renamed setNormalFreeze.plugin.
nullobj.plugin No longer shipped. Use Alias locators.
powerToon.plugin, and No longer shipped.
• edgescan.i5.4k
• edgescan.i6.4k
• edgescan.i6.5k
• capture.i5.4k
• capture.i6.4k
• capture.i6.5k
pptChat.plugin No longer shipped.
pptDupWorld.plugin No longer shipped.
pptExportCloud.plugin No longer shipped.
pptExtractGrid.plugin No longer shipped.

pptFaceSurf.plugin Renamed convertFaceToSurface.plugin.
pptFollowCurve.plugin No longer shipped.
pptNextStage.plugin No longer shipped.
pptParticleCurve.plugin No longer shipped.
pptPickVertices.plugin No longer shipped.
pptPoke.plugin No longer shipped.
pptRelocPix.plugin No longer shipped.
pptTglPlnrty.plugin No longer shipped.
Release Notes
16
General Notes
Plug-in Name Note
setDevice.plugin No longer shipped.

snapj.plugin No longer shipped.
surf.plugin Renamed createSurface.plugin.
tree.plugin Renamed createTree.plugin.
tree2.plugin Renamed createTree2.plugin.
useMidi6.2.plugin No longer shipped.
useMidiOut6.2.plugin No longer shipped.
xpaint.plugin Renamed launchPaint.plugin.
Limitation
Plug-ins are provided on an AS-IS basis.
In the directory $ALIAS_LOCATION/ODS/, there are a number of
pre-compiled plug-ins and source code examples. These plug-
ins and source code examples are provided to you on an “AS-
IS” basis.
For more limitations on You are free to make use of these plug-ins and source code
plug-ins, see OpenModel and example; however Alias|Wavefront does not provide any
OpenAlias Notes on page 102 support in connection with them.
Alias|Wavefront makes no warranties, express, implied, or
arising by custom or trade usage, and to the extent permitted
by applicable law, specifically disclaims any implied
warranties of title, noninfringement or of fitness for a
particular purpose to the extent permitted by applicable law,
(i) Alias|Wavefront’s liability in contract, tort or otherwise
arising out of or in connection with the plug-ins or source code
shall not exceed the purchase price paid by the customer for
the plug-ins or source code examples, and (ii) in no event shall
Alias|Wavefront be liable for any punitive damages or lost
profits or other special, indirect, incidental, or consequential
damages, including any damages resulting from loss of
business arising out of or in connection with the performance
of the plug-ins or source code examples, even if
Alias|Wavefront has been advised of the possibility of such
damages. The customer shall indemnify Alias|Wavefront and
hold it harmless from and against any loss, claim or damage to
Release Notes
17
General Notes
any person arising out of the customer’s use of the plug-ins or
source code examples.
Limitation
The help provided for some plug-ins tells you to press Ctrl-Shift-Alt
and click on the plug-in icon to view help.
This instruction is incorrect; an icon is added to your shelf
instead.
Release Notes
18
General Notes
Operating System and
Hardware Notes
The limitations in this section are grouped into these
categories:
● Operating System and Hardware Limitations for Windows on
page 19
● Operating System and Hardware Limitations for IRIX and the
Solaris operating environment on page 22
● Operating System and Hardware Limitations for IRIX on
page 22
● Operating System and Hardware Limitations for the Solaris
operating environment on page 23
Operating System and Hardware Limitations for

Windows
General
Limitation
Some icons do not get displayed properly on some graphics cards.
Windows
This bug does not affect functionality.
Specific to Configurations
New Limitation
Limitations for Intel Pentium III CPUs:
Windows
● The red indicator icon is missing during quick renders.
This is a graphic driver problem with Silicon Graphics 540
machines running Windows 2000.
New Limitation
Limitations for SGI Visual PC workstations:
Windows
● Some artifacts occur when you are changing the size of
viewport adjustment boxes.
● For the SGI Visual Workstation 320, ghost option boxes
flash on top of the triangular arrow heads when you scroll
down along layers.
Release Notes
19
Operating System and Hardware Notes
● Planar projected surfaces do not display in shaded mode.
(You have to render the scene to see projected textures.)
New Limitation
Limitations for Intergraph video cards.
Windows
The following limitations apply to the Intergraph video card:
● For the Object > Text tool, the red preview box for text
placement does not display the text written in the text
options menu.
● When you are using Xform > Move, the numeric display box
does not display transformation text.
New Limitation
Limitations for the GMX2000 video card:
Windows
● StudioTools windows such as the Action window fail to
refresh correctly when moved around repeatedly over the
desktop. (If you just move them within the StudioTools
modeling windows, they are OK.)
New Limitation
For some graphics cards such as the HP FX4+, the display of the
Windows
menu bar and some other regions of the windows might degenerate.
In particular, if the bottom left corner of those windows is
hidden and then made to come to the top, the window might
look bad.
Workaround
Force a refresh by resizing or by minimizing and then
restoring those windows
Specific to Hewlett-Packard machines
Limitations Fixed
● You can now access networked drives directly from the
Alias file browser by selecting Go > NT Root in the file
browser.
● When you use Intergraph video cards, ensure that you
have installed the latest drivers. The version number of
the latest driver is 04.06.01.49. If you use the latest drivers,
all of the menu buttons will behave as expected.
Release Notes
20
New Limitation
On Hewlett-Packard machines with the FX-6 graphics card, using
Windows
the Fit to Paper option with File > Output > Print produces a blank
page.
Workaround
Do not use the Fit to Paper option with this card. Instead,
extend the StudioTools view window to a desirable size and
then print it.
Limitation
The Hewlett-Packard VisualizeFX graphics card, Version FX
Windows
00.00.24, 4.0.0, causes a serious memory leak.
Workaround
Update the driver to the new Hewlett-Packard Visualize FX
Video Version FX 00.00.26, 4.0.0, available from Hewlett-
Packard.
Limitation
With the Hewlett-Packard VisualizeFX graphic card, ShowImage,
Windows
Showpix and FCheck will not display images in true color if the
display is set to 1600 x 1200 in true color.
Workaround
Set the resolution to 1280 x 1024 true color.
Limitation
Marking menus appear green when you are working with the
Windows
Hewlett-Packard VisualizeFX graphic card if the display resolution
is set to 1600 x 1200 in true color.
Workaround
Set the resolution to 1280 x 1024 true color.
Release Notes
21
IRIX and the Solaris operating environment
Limitation
Some or all of your customized hot key definitions may not survive
IRIX Solaris
the installation of your new version.
Some of the definitions might disappear or all of them might
be replaced by the default hot key definitions.
Workaround
To re-install your customized hot key definitions, manually
copy the .scm files from $HOME/.Alias/Prefs.2 down
into .Alias/Prefs.3. This restores custom shelves, hot
keys, and other preferences.

IRIX
Limitation
After hardware texturing is done in TglShade or DiagShade, moving
IRIX
a window from one Octane Dual screen to another crashes
StudioTools.
Workaround
Do not move windows across screens after hardware texturing
in DiagShade or TglShade.
Limitation
Windows disappear on a high-resolution system (such as: the Onyx)
IRIX
if the Palette layout is changed.
If you are working on an Onyx computer running at more
than 1280x1024 (like HDTV, or the 16xxX1024 mode) and you
change the Palette layout (Preferences > Palette/Shelves layout),
the Palette and Shelf are laid out correctly, but the main
window disappears. It could be that there is an error in
reading the title bar default font size for .4DWm.
Workaround
Exit from StudioTools before reading other Xvars. Those vars
include the border and title bar size. This font is set correctly in
the default .Xresources file.
Release Notes
22
Limitation
Functions of the aXe editor, axe and axinfo produce fatal errors
IRIX
under some circumstances.
Workaround
To use the aXe editor provided with StudioTools, you must
have TCL installed from the SGI distribution disk and have
libtcl.so in your LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
In the SGI system toolbox, select Desktop > Customize > Mouse.
Alternatively, set the click speed to Fast in the system window.

the Solaris operating environment
Limitations Fixed
● The Alias Preferences window (Preferences > User Options
>Alias Preferences) now redraws as expected.
● When you use the Project tool (Surface Edit > Create
CurvesOnSurface > Project), the system now behaves as
expected.
Note on Dual Installation

The following information applies only if you want to use
both StudioTools 9.5 and StudioTools 9.0.2 on the same
system. Most users will want to remove StudioTools 9.0.2
before upgrading to Version 9.5.
When installing StudioTools 9.5 with an existing 9.0
installation, use the following steps to ensure that existing
packages are installed with “Overwrite” enabled:
1 Start swmtool as super-user
2 From the Properties menu, select Package Administration.
3 From the pop-up list next to Existing Packages change this

setting to Overwrite and click OK to close the Package
Administration option window.
4 Proceed with installation as normal by selecting the menu

item Edit > Add.
Release Notes
23
Under normal circumstances, we do not recommend changing
Package Administration options. However, in the case of dual
installations of StudioTools, the above change is required to
ensure a complete installation.
If Existing Packages Overwrite is not enabled, you may
encounter the following error printed to the installation
output window:
Current administration requires that a unique
instance of the <[packagename]> package be created.
However, the maximum number of instances of the
package which may be supported at one time on the
same system has already been met. No changes were
made to the system. press <Return> to continue
This message indicates that the package could not be installed
because of a conflict with an existing instance of the same
package. Because the behavior for existing packages was set to
“Unique Instances” this conflict could not be resolved and the
installation of this package failed.
Limitations
New Limitation
Windows may briefly flash to black when you are moving the pointer
Solaris
to another window (such as the Multi-lister or Action Window) or to
the desktop.
Workaround
Set the Xserver default visual for the Sun workstation to 24-bit
by performing the following steps.
Warning! Attempt these steps only if you are an experienced
Solaris operating system administrator.
1 Log in as root.
2 Copy the file:

/usr/dt/config/Xservers
to the location:
/etc/dt/config/Xservers.
(Complete instructions and man page references can be
found by reading the Xservers file).
3 Edit the last line and add "defdepth 24" as shown in the
following example. Be sure not to add line breaks or extra
spaces.
Release Notes
24
:0 Local local_uid@console root /usr/openwin/bin/
Xsun :0 -nobanner
-dev /dev/fb defdepth 24
(The syntax of this example will look considerably

different from system to system, depending on graphics
configurations.)
New Limitation
The Solaris operating environment’s administration tool
Solaris
(swmtool) may not update upon the completion of an install or
uninstall operation.
When this occurs, the list of installed software does not appear
to have changed, even though the add or remove operation
was completed successfully.
Workaround
Exit from swmtool and restart the tool. Once it is restarted, it
will display the proper list of installed software.
New Limitation
For Elite 3D graphics cards, when using the secondary windows
Solaris
such as the Action Window, moving the pointer in and out of the
window causes the main StudioTools window to flash.
Workaround
Change the default X visual to 24 bit.
Limitation
On systems with Elite 3D graphics, some windows display incorrect
Solaris
colors.
Workaround
Change the default visual of the X-server to 24 bpp TrueColor.
Limitation
Certain Sun Microsystems keyboards have layouts that might make
Solaris
marking menus and hot key commands difficult to access.
On these keyboards, the Caps Lock and Control keys are
reversed.
Workaround
Use a Sun Microsystems keyboard model that has the Ctrl key
at the lower left of the main keyboard (for example, model
number N860-8703-T001).
Release Notes
25
Limitation
If StudioTools icons are removed from the CDE tool chest, running
Solaris
setupacct will not replace the icons.
Workaround
Create a new user account, or copy the icons from /usr/aw/
alias/.dt/icons to your machine’s .dt/icons directory.
Limitation
If you try to view a full-screen rendered Alias pix file using File >
Solaris
Show > Pix, StudioTools may crash under certain circumstances.
This problem affects only Elite3D graphics on Sun

Microsystems workstations.
Workaround
Open the file browser (File > Open), click once on each of the
desired pix file(s), and select File > Show Image from the
browser pop-up menus. To close an image, click on it and
press Cancel in the browser to return to StudioTools.
Limitation
The setupacct utility may return the following error when you
Solaris
are customizing an existing user account:
chmod: WARNING: can’t access [filename]
Workaround
This occurs when a user has set restricted file permissions on
certain files or directories in their home directory. This
condition will not cause any harm to the operation of
StudioTools, other software or system functions and the error
message can be ignored.
Release Notes
26
Documentation Notes
This section is divided into the following topics:
● Browsing Requirements on page 27
● Reading the Documentation from a Web Server on page 27
● Telling StudioTools Where to Find the Help Files on page 28
● Enabling Full Search on page 29
● Limitations on page 30
Browsing Requirements
To read the online documentation:
● You must have Netscape Navigator 4.05 or later, or
Internet Explorer 4.0 or later installed.
◆ On Windows and IRIX, at least one of these browsers
is installed by default.
◆ On the Solaris operating environment, you must
install Netscape from your Solaris installation CDs, or
download the latest version from the Netscape web
site at http://www.netscape.com/.
● Netscape should be in your directory path for executables.
● Your browser must have JavaScript enabled and be set to
accept online “cookies”.
◆ In Netscape, choose Edit > Preferences, click Advanced,
turn on the Enable JavaScript option, and set the
Cookies option to Accept all cookies.
◆ In Internet Explorer, choose Tools > Internet Options,
click the Security tab, click Local intranet, and set the
Security level to Medium or lower.
Reading the Documentation from a Web Server

There are two main reasons to read the documentation off a
Web server:
● To store one central copy of the documentation for use by
many installations of StudioTools. This saves the disk
space needed to store the documentation on every
computer running StudioTools.
Release Notes
27
Documentation Notes
● To enable the extra features of the full search (see Enabling
Full Search below).
To read the help files from a Web server:

1 Move the documentation to a Web server.
If your LAN already has a Web server, you can install the
documentation on the Web server.
Alternatively, you can install a Web server on your own
computer and use it to serve the help files. The supported
platforms include personal Web servers as optional
installations (for example, Outbox on IRIX, IIS on
Windows). Also several free Web servers are available on
the internet.
2 To use the full search, you must install PERL on the web
server. PERL is a scripting language available for free on
all supported platforms. You can download PERL from
www.perl.com
3 Configure the Web server to allow CGI scripts to run from

the directory in which the documentation is installed.
4 Set the ALIAS_ALT_HELP environment variable to the

URL of the files on the Web server (see Telling StudioTools
Where to Find the Help Files below).
Telling StudioTools Where to Find the Help Files

By default, StudioTools products look for the online help files
in the local installation location. To tell StudioTools to read the
files from a different location, you must set the
ALIAS_ALT_HELP environment variable.
● On UNIX platforms, use the setenv command.
● On Windows, right click the My Computer icon and choose
Properties. Click the Environment tab (Windows NT 4.x), or
click the Advanced tab and choose Environment variables
(Windows 2000).
Set the variable to a file path or URL in which the Help
directory can be found (not to the path or URL of the Help
directory itself). Do not include a trailing slash.
For example:
Release Notes
28
Documentation Notes
● If you have installed StudioTools on your C: drive but
want to change the Help directory to a directory named
documents on your D: drive, set the ALIAS_ALT_HELP
variable to D:\documents
● If you have moved the Help directory to the root level of a
local web server named www, set the ALIAS_ALT_HELP
variable to http://www
Enabling Full Search

StudioTools Help now has two levels of search support,
depending on how you access the documentation:
● The limited search allows you to search the
documentation on a local installation.
The limited search can search only one book (such as
Modeling or Rendering) at a time, and cannot display
surrounding text with the search results.
● To use the full search, you must access the files through an
HTTP (Web) server. The full search can search multiple
books and can display search results with the paragraph
in which they were found.
To use the full search:
◆ You must install the documentation on a computer
running a Web server, or install the documentation on
your computer and run your own personal Web
server (see Reading the Documentation from a Web Server
above).
◆ The computer serving the documentation must have
PERL installed. PERL is a scripting language available
for free on all supported platforms. You can download
PERL from www.perl.com.
◆ The Web server must be allowed to run CGI scripts
from the directory in which the documentation is
installed.
Your browser will automatically select the type of search
based on whether you are accessing the online help files
through a Web server.
Release Notes
29
Documentation Notes
Limitations
New Limitation
Relevance rankings of search results are inexact.
The search results are assigned a relevance ranking (the “Rel”
column of the results table). This measure is computed by a
fairly simple algorithm and is not always a perfect indicator of
which topics are most relevant to you.
When searching, you should check the titles of all the search
results, not just the highest ranked result.
Limitation
To use Help > Help on Function, you must allow your Internet
browser to accept cookies.
● For Netscape Navigator, select Edit > Preferences >
Advanced Cookies, and select to accept all cookies.
● For Microsoft Internet Explorer, select Internet options >

Security > Cookies, and select to always accept cookies.
Limitation
Technical manuals do not use the new online help look and feel.
The books listed in the Technical Manuals section of the online
help do not use the new online help look and feel:
● When you click one of these books the table of contents
opens in the main frame (instead of on the left side).
● The HTML files are not separate topics.
● Search results will show the filename of the HTML file
instead of a title.
Limitation
Page numbers listed in the online help may not correspond to the
printed versions.
In particular, the Basic Tools book uses different pagination in
the online version for its two sections.
Release Notes
30
Documentation Notes
Limitation
Not all features documented are available on all platforms or
products.
For a table showing productization for the various platforms,
see General Notes on page 2.
Limitation
Slashes are sometimes used instead of backslashes in the
Windows
documentation of StudioTools for Windows NT.
Slashes (/) are used in UNIX for file paths, and were pervasive
in the original documentation. While every attempt has been
made to change slashes to the backslashes (\) used by
Windows NT, there may be pictures or file examples that still
use them.
New Limitation
The Animating book mentions features that are no longer available.
In particular, the makegame utility and the ASBD window.
New Limitation
The Basic Tools for StudioTools book contains an obsolete description
of a plotting option.
No. of Papers has become No. of X Papers and No. of Y Papers.
For details, see the online help for File > Output > Plot or the
Basic Tools book for SurfaceStudio.
Release Notes
31
Documentation Notes
Modeling Notes
The limitations in this chapter are divided into these
categories:
● General Modeling Notes on page 32
● General Modeling Notes for Windows NT on page 35
● Intersections and Projections on page 36
● Surfaces on page 37
● Curves on page 41
● Diagnostic Shading on page 44
● Clouds on page 45
General Modeling Notes
New Limitation
Construction planes are deleted with their geometry if there is
construction history associated with both.
If you delete a curve or geometry that was used to construct a
construction plane and there is still construction history
associated with these operations, the construction plane is
deleted along with the curve or geometry.
Workaround
Delete the construction history first:
1 Pick the construction plane
2 Click on the Delete constuction history tool .

By detaching the plane from the geometry it was created on,
the plane will not be deleted with thegeometry.
Limitation
Certain operations work inconsistently on geometry in layers with
symmetry.
For example, the Edit > Duplicate object menu item with the
Group option turned off does not work with symmetry turned
Release Notes
32
Modeling Notes
on. Warps also do not work properly on geometry in layers
with symmetry.
Workaround
Turn off layer symmetry with the Layers > Symmetry > Off menu
item.
Limitation
Locators created on a symmetric half are deleted when you save or
retrieve a file or use tools that modify the group nodes.
For example, a surface continuity locator created between a
surface and its symmetric half is deleted if you save a file.
Limitation
The Evaluate > Min/Max curvature tool does not work with shell
geometry.
Limitation
If an object has been scaled, the curvature on its cross section, created
by the Evaluate > Cross section tool, is scaled twice.
Workaround
Zero transform the geometry before evaluating the curvature
on the cross sections on it.
Limitation
Avoid degenerate geometry (sides are collapsed and CVs are piled on
top of each other) with the Boolean tools.
Scaling stitched objects can create problems in subsequent
stitch and unstitch operations.
After you scale a stitched model, on unstitching or restitching
you might find that the surfaces do not stitch anymore. This is
because the scaling operation can increase the gaps between
surfaces, thereby causing any subsequent stitch operations to
fail (within the current tolerance settings).
Workaround
Do the stitch operation after all modifications and
transformations have been applied to the surface.
Release Notes
33
Modeling Notes
Limitation
When you are making large size plots of curves or surfaces, they may
appear faceted.
Workaround
To smooth the problem curves and surfaces, pick them in
StudioTools and increase their curve precision using ObjectEdit
> Curve precision. (This increases the size of the plot file.) When
you have finished plotting, set the curve precision back to the
default value of 16 to improve interactive performance.
Limitation
Geometry seems to disappear in some modeling windows at large
scale.
In large models, some or all of the geometry can seem to
disappear. This can happen if a file was not saved with
windows and cameras, and when you are creating new
windows.
Workaround
Use the Cameras > Lookat tool to view the geometry.
Limitation
Surfaces > Fillet surfaces > Bevel and Object Edit > Offset have
problems with curves or faces that have multiple CVs or piled up
CVs.
Workaround
When building geometry to be offset or bevelled, use multiple
knots instead of multiple CVs to create sharp corners.
Limitation
If a surface or curve has been built with construction history, it
cannot be moved, scaled, or rotated even if its constructor objects are
transformed along with it.
Workaround
Select only the constructor objects and apply the desired
transformation(s). The object with history is automatically
reconstructed in the new position and orientation.
If an object must be moved independently with respect to its
constructor objects, delete its construction history.
Release Notes
34
Modeling Notes
New Limitation
In the Solaris operating environment, opening a wire file in a new
Solaris
StudioTools session may cause surface boundaries and isoparms to
appear in multiple colors that are not related to geometry type.
You may also experience this behavior when using track or
dolly, with the mesh not fully inside a modeling view.
Workaround
Either:
● Pick the surfaces or model, and then select Pick >Pick
Nothing
● To remove this problem permanently, install Solaris
operating environment patch 108131 revision -03 (or
greater).
Limitation
When you are changing display options using Layouts > Display - ❏,
Solaris
some regions of the modeling windows may not be redrawn correctly
to reflect those changes.
Workaround
Use the track icon in any modeling window or select the title
bar for a view and move it.
Limitation
While StudioTools is in shaded mode (DisplayTgls >Shade), tracking
Solaris
in an orthographic view might make CVs and hulls invisible in other
views.
Workaround
Select Preferences > Performance Options and set Dynamic Draw
Mode to Normal. Or track in a view to refreshes it and cause
CVs and hulls to reappear.
General Modeling Notes for Windows NT
Limitation
In very rare conditions, blend curves may cause StudioTools to
Windows
become unstable when checkpoint saves are turned on.
Workaround
Disable checkpoint saves.
Release Notes
35
Modeling Notes
Limitation
The “Optimized” Dynamic Draw Mode, from Preferences >
Windows
Performance options, does not behave exactly the same in NT as in
UNIX.
For example, while a CV on a curve or surface is moved, the
CVs, hulls, and edit points for other objects temporarily
disappear until the move is done.
Workaround
If necessary, set the Dynamic Draw Mode to “Normal.”
Intersections and Projections
Limitation
The following comments apply to these menu choices:
● Surface Edit > Create CurvesOnSurface > Project
● Surface Edit > Create CurvesOnSurface > Intersect
● Evaluate > Cross section
The following are known problems:
● Generally, intersection does not work if the intersecting
surface passes exactly through ‘degenerate’ points, such as
the pole of a sphere, where many CVs are placed on top of
each other, or where a surface wraps back on itself. If this
situation occurs, move one of the surfaces a bit (a
minuscule amount will do), do the intersection, and move
the surface back.
● Complex saddle point regions may cause problems for the
intersection code.
The following are known restrictions:
● Occasionally, the order in which intersecting objects are
picked can make a difference. To guarantee the simplest
curve of intersection (the one with the fewest knots), pick
the simplest object first. Usually, the order of picking does
not make a difference.
● The curve-on-surface resulting from an intersection has
multiple knots. This means that they are not as easily
editable as other curves on surface might be.
Release Notes
36
Modeling Notes
Surfaces
New Limitation
You cannot specify the number of patches in the u-direction when
Windows IRIX Sun
building a birail surface with more than 2 generation curves with
explicit control.
Limitation
When you are using Surfaces > Revolve and do not select the curve
IRIX
before selecting the Revolve function, you may not be able to revolve
the curve if Num Lock is on.
Workaround
Turn Num Lock off and try again.
Limitation
Under some circumstances, Surfaces > Boundary surfaces > Square
may produce surfaces of poor quality.
Workaround
There are several techniques to try when Square does not
produce the intended results:
● Turn Rebld on for all boundaries with trimmed surfaces or
curves on surface, and have the system recalculate the
surface.
● Adjust the influence sliders to adjust the shape of the
resulting surface.
● Set the Blend Type to LINEAR instead of CUBIC.
● If trying to maintain continuity with trim edges or curves
on surface, it may be necessary to decrease the curve fit
tolerance in Preferences > Construction settings.
● Verify that the square surface doesn’t have a corner where
the U and V edges are colinear.
Limitation
Circular filleting and Surfaces > Fillet surfaces > 9.0 Round will give
error messages when surfaces with discontinuities are used.
Surfaces that contain tangent discontinuities along multiple
knots are poor input for the circular filleting and round
functions. These types of surfaces can be produced when you
Release Notes
37
Modeling Notes
create surfaces from curves that are attached but do not meet
with tangent continuity.
Workaround
To solve this problem, detach the surfaces at the
discontinuities and do the fillet or round function again.
Limitation
Surfaces > Fillet surfaces > 9.0 Round produces bad results when
you are creating fillets over surface poles.
Surfaces that have all of their CVs along an edge collapsed to a
single point are poor input to the Round function. Such
singularities are found at the apexes of cones, the poles of
spheres, and the centers of capping faces on primitives. They
can also be created when two curves that meet end to end are
patched (or skinned) together.
Workaround
The planar surfaces that are used to cap solids are best
represented as trimmed surfaces. Use Surfaces > Set planar to
easily create a trimmed surface that has boundaries of given
planar curves. These trimmed surfaces are better accepted by
the Round function. Try to avoid building geometry with
singularities (poles).
Limitation
The trim construction history updates only one half of the surface
which has been divided into two, with the tool Surface Edit > Trim >
Trim Divide.
When you modify a curve-on-surface which has been used to

the divide the surface, only one-half of the surface is updated,
while the second half remains unchanged.
Limitation
You cannot reverse surface normals on surfaces created using the
Round tool. You can do this only after deleting the construction
history for the Round operation.
Limitation
Trimmed surfaces created in StudioTools 9.0 (or earlier) did not have
construction history, but trimmed surfaces created in StudioTools
9.5 do.
In StudioTools 9.5, when you open a file that has a trimmed
surface created in a previous version of StudioTools, you are
prompted to update trim surfaces with construction history. If
you select Yes, the trimmed surface is updated as if it had
Release Notes
38
Modeling Notes
construction history. This may alter the trimmed surface (for
example, if you moved the trimmed surface in StudioTools
9.0).
Workaround
Open the file again, and when prompted to update trim
surfaces with construction history, select “No”.
Limitation
If you try to duplicate a curve on surface with an extremely large
number of spans (for example, greater than a thousand spans) using
the Curve Edit > Duplicate curve tool, StudioTools may run out of
memory trying to achieve a good fit.
Workaround
When dealing with huge numbers of spans on curves on
surfaces being duplicated, separate the curve-on-surface into
manageable chunks before performing the duplicate
operation.
Limitation
Surfaces > Swept surfaces > Extrude -❐ (TUBE option) has problems
with multiple CVs on the path curve.
Workaround
When you are using TUBE mode in Extrude, avoid path curves
with multiple CVs on them, as the resulting extruded surface
may have undesired twists near the the multiple CVs in the
path.
Limitation
When the default option Extrapolate is used, Object Edit > Extend
can produce a surface that bends sharply from its initial direction.
Workaround
Use the Linear option in this case. Using Linear does not
produce curvature continuity — only tangent continuity with
the extended object.
Limitation
When you turn on the Align tool setting Explicit Control and Partial
Joins and then pick an object edge and a proximate plane edge, you
receive unexpected results.
Workaround
Don’t toggle Explicit Control on in the Align Control window
when the gap between two curves is large or largely varying.
Release Notes
39
Modeling Notes
Limitation
Scaling the constructor curve of a revolve surface that uses local axes
causes the axis of revolution to be translated.
Moving or rotating the constructor curve modifies the position
or orientation of its local axes, thereby modifying the axis of
revolution of the surface. However, scaling the curve should
have no effect on the axis of revolution.
Workaround
Select the surface, select Surfaces > Revolve again and use the
interactive handles to reposition the axis of revolution.
Alternatively, set the Axes option to Global to ensure that the
axis of revolution is not affected by transformations to the
constructor curve.
Limitation
Adjusting settings in the control window for a Swept, Birail or
Square surface with construction history does not cause the surface
to be updated. The After Modification option is turned off in
Preferences > Performance options.
Workaround
Turn the After Modification option on, which causes the surface
to be reconstructed. Alternatively, turn the Create History
option off in the control window before modifying other
parameters in that window.
Limitation
Birail can produce poor surfaces with long generation curves.
Workaround
If possible, try reversing the choice of generation and path
curves, and choose the shorter, simpler curves for the
generation curves, and use the long, winding curves as the
paths.
Limitation
The visual cross-sections for a few surfaces could be incorrect.
The cross-sections leave the surface and in most cases it
should be immediately obvious if they are incorrect.
Workaround
First, reduce the tesselation tolerance. If the surface still does
not display correctly, pick the surface and choose “Accurate”
Tessellator from the Control Panel for that surface.
Release Notes
40
Modeling Notes
Curves
Limitation
The successful use of Curve Edit > Create > Combine curves
sometimes depends on the order of picking the input curves.
Some input curves to Combine curves may result in
unsatisfactory results (particularly some curves created with
Object Edit > Fit b-spline), accompanied by the following
warning message:
Curves are too complex. Approximation may be
inaccurate.
Workaround
Picking the curves in a different order often corrects the
problem. Try picking the second curve first.
Limitation
Using Curve Edit > Create > Duplicate curve with the Rebuild Type
set to UNIFORM KNOTS on a curve on surface creates an inexact
copy. The results may not be within the specified tolerance of the
original curve.
Workaround
To avoid this problem, use the CHORD parameterization
Rebuild Type when duplicating curves on surface.
Limitation
Object Edit > Smooth may produce unpredictable results on curves
with multiple knots.
Workaround
Before smoothing the curve, rebuild it to remove multi-knots.
End tangents do not necessarily stay locked when using Curve Edit >
Modify > Curve editor.
It is possible to change the end tangent direction for a curve

with locked end tangents, since end tangents are not
guaranteed to stay locked when you use the Curve editor.
Release Notes
41
Modeling Notes
Limitation
Using Curves > Autotrace may cause sluggish system response.
IRIX Solaris
After using Curves > Autotrace on a picture with a large number
of edges, you may experience sluggish system response.
Workaround
If this problem occurs, save the data on a disk and exit and
restart StudioTools.
Limitation
When you use the same curve to build several fillets with
construction history and trim curves both set to ON, editing the
radius to be a smaller value is usually not possible.
This happens mostly when you are using some of the Curves
tools, such as lines or arcs, to build fillets, because these tools
automatically trim the constructor curves. If the same curve is
used as a constructor for two (or more) different fillets, all but
the last will not accept a smaller radius value (as set in
Windows > Information > Information window).
Also, entering a larger value followed by an Edit > Undo will

not update the curves correctly and leaves a gap.
Workaround
To avoid this problem, use Surfaces > Fillet surfaces > Fillet
(rather than the Curves tools with the Trim Curves option set to
off (the default), and then trim the curves manually once the
radius has been adjusted.
Limitation
A curve being modified with Curve Edit > Modify > Stretch is not
updated when its locator position is changed using Windows >
Information > Information window.
Workaround
Simply click a mouse button in any modeling window. The
curve will then update.
Release Notes
42
Modeling Notes
Limitation
Implied tangency across edges of triangles in Curve Networks might
take a long time to compute.
Workaround
Keep the curves forming the triangular region as simple as
possible. When faced with a situation where the triangles
contain long curves with a lot of variation in them, try to split
up the triangle into a combination of four sided regions and
much simpler triangles.
Limitation
Manipulators in Blend curves and Project Tangent will line up to
either the U or V value, depending on which direction of a surface
you point to initially.
Unless the U and V directions are at 90 degrees in world space,
then you cannot use the manipulator to get the other
alignment.
Workaround
Make sure that the curves are correctly aligned. Dolly in if
necessary to see more clearly.
Limitation
Snapping the alignment of a curve tangent to the manipulator axes
does not keep the alignment fixed in the same way as setting the
alignment in the Project Tangent Editor window.
Workaround
To fix a specific U, V, or Normal alignment, you must select
that alignment from the editor window menu.
Limitation
The manipulator that appears in a window when a new primitive is
created disappears if you click on anything other than the object.
When creating a primitive, a manipulator appears, allowing
you to position, scale, and rotate the object. As soon as you
click on something other than the new object, the manipulator
for that object disappears forever.
Limitation
Error messages may appear after you select Windows > SBD several
times.
For example, if you set Safety Options > Checkpts to 10 in
Preference > User Options > Alias Prefs, invoke Curve Edit > Project
Release Notes
43
Modeling Notes
Tangent and select a curve and then a surface, and then select
Windows > SBD several times, error messages will appear that
the checkpoint save did not store successfully.
Workaround
Ignore the messages—you didn’t exit or lose data.
Control Panel
New Limitation
When you are changing surface degrees or number of spans in the
Direct Modeling Control Panel, using the Enter key may cause
unpredictable behavior.
When you press the Enter key after changing a value, the
Accept, Check Deviation, and Cancel buttons may disappear
from the active modeling view without applying your changes
to the picked object.
Workaround
After changing surface degrees or number of spans in the
Control Panel, click in another field in the Control Panel
(without pressing the Enter key).
When finished changing values in the Control Panel, you can
then use the Accept, Check Deviation, and Cancel buttons to
continue.
Diagnostic Shading
New Limitation
Smooth line display and diagnostic shading cause lines to break up.
IRIX Solaris
When diagnostic shading is applied to a selected model, the
lines in other models become broken up and difficult to view.
If you dolly (in the perspective view), the models become
more difficult to see the further the surfaces are from the
camera. This behavior is especially pronounced in the Solaris
operating environment.
Release Notes
44
Modeling Notes
Clouds
Limitation
IGES point clouds do not tessellate.
Workaround
If you have the EvalViewer, use its tessellation capabilities for
IGES point clouds.
You can also use the tessellation facility in the Point Cloud
tools on Cyberware format cloud data.
Release Notes
45
Modeling Notes
Round Tool
There are two different tools for creating rounded edges in
Alias 9.5:
● The Round tool has been re-implemented in Alias 8.5 for

Windows NT to utilize the topological structure of a
model in a more exact way. This enables it to handle
numerous classes of data that the previous Round tool had
problems dealing with.
For information on using the Round tool, see the NURBS
Modeling book.
● The Round tool in Alias 9.0 is now called the 9.0 Round tool
in Alias 8.5 for Windows NT. Use the 9.0 Round tool to:
◆ create rounded edges and corners that are consistent
with rounded edges and corners created in Alias 9.0
◆ edit rounded edges and corners that were created in
Alias 9.0.
The 9.0 Round tool will be For information on using the 9.0 Round tool, see below.
removed in a future version
of Alias.
To use the 9.0 Round tool
1 Click the 9.0 Round icon or choose Fillet surfaces > 9.0 Round
from the Surfaces palette menu.
2 Click the common edge between two surfaces.
3 A radius indicator appears on the edge.

◆ See below for how to use the buttons.
◆ Repeat step 2 to add another edge to the round
operation. Where three or four rounded edges meet,
the Round tool will create a blended corner surface.
Click one edge
Release Notes
46
Modeling Notes
◆ Drag the left mouse button to change the radius of the
current indicator, or type a number to set the radius
exactly.
◆ Drag the middle mouse button to move the indicator
along the edge.
◆ Click another indicator to make it the active locator.
Click 2 more edges. Adjust radii
4 When you have selected all the edges you want to round,
click the Build button (in the lower right corner of the
window).
◆ You can continue to edit the parameters and edges,
then click Build again to see the results.
◆ Click the Undo all button (in the lower right corner of
the window) to start over.
3 fillets and 1 blend corner
surface are built. Original Build the fillet surfaces
surfaces are trimmed. Delete the highlighted
with the current parameters indicator or edge.
Toggle the extension Lets you enter

of the edge to ensure indicator
intersection at corner position along
edge as a
percentage
of arc-length.
Undo the build and reset the original
surfaces to normal.
Release Notes
47
Modeling Notes
Data Transfer Notes
The limitations in this chapter are divided into the following
categories:
● Unigraphics on page 49
● Inventor and VRML (UNIX Only) on page 51
● CAT Direct Connect on page 51
● IGES on page 51
● STL on page 52
● External Applications Window on page 52
● Inventor Import/Export (UNIX Only) on page 53
● Nodes Not Supported (All Platforms) on page 53
General
Limitation
Display of high-degree surfaces can be distorted after Data Transfer
input.
With default display settings, surfaces of degrees higher than
13 appear distorted when input into StudioTools.
Workaround
To ensure proper display of these surfaces, use Object Edit >
Patch precision to increase the patch precision to at least 4.
Limitation
Encapsulated PostScript files (EPS) created by the SGI Showcase
IRIX
program cannot be retrieved into StudioTools.
If an object is created in SGI Showcase and stored in EPS
format, it is not possible to retrieve the object into StudioTools
with the retrieve option for EPS.
StudioTools gives an error message in the prompt line saying
than an I/O error has occurred and that the retrieve has failed.
Release Notes
48
Data Transfer Notes
Limitation
In UNIX, when AliasBatch is running with an options file, some
IRIX Solaris
errors are echoed to the user.
For example:
AliasBatch -o /usr/tmp/.Alias/Prefs.2/Options/opt -
s foo /usr/tmp/V9o.wire
Scheme error in file 'stdin' on line '1'
Error symbol: ui-load
Error in file '/usr/tmp/.Alias/Prefs.2/Options/opt'
on line '5118'
unbound variable: "s : ui-function-symbol-list
These errors can safely be ignored.

Limitation
The WireConvert standalone utility that converts wire files
IRIX
from before Version 3.2 to Version 3.2.1 wire format has not
been shipped since Version 8.0, when it was in the directory
bin.obsolete. The WireConvert utility was no longer
supported as of Version 7.
If you have kept this utility from a previous StudioTools
installation, note that IRIX 5.3 is the last version of the IRIX
operating system that can run it.
Unigraphics
Limitation
You must have access to Unigraphics Version 15 or Version 16 for
the same platform on which you are running StudioTools.
For UNIX systems, you must also have access to Unigraphics
Version 15 or 16 on a networked machine
Limitation
The UG_ROOT_DIR environment variables must be set for
Windows
Windows systems.
Workaround
To set this variable:
Release Notes
49
Data Transfer Notes
1 From your Start menu, select Control Panel > System >
Environment.
2 Select the variable UG_ROOT_DIR.
3 Copy the value of this variable to the clipboard (use Ctrl-

C).
4 Highlight the Path variable.
5 Add a colon at the end of the Path value and then after the
colon paste in the contents of the value of UG_ROOT_DIR
(use Ctrl-V).
New Limitation
The environment variables UGII_LICENSE_FILE and
IRIX Solaris
UGII_BASE_DIR must be set for UNIX systems
You must also add UGII_ROOT_DIR to the path
$UG_ROOT_DIR
See your Unigraphics documentation for more information.
New Limitation
There are problems when importing periodic (closed) surfaces from
Unigraphics Version 15.0.
Workaround
Use Unigraphics Version 16.0 instead.
New Limitation
To read large assemblies, you need lots of memory.
For assemblies over 100 Mb, it is recommended that you have
at least 512 Mb of memory; for assemblies over 200 Mb, 1 Gb is
recommended.
Release Notes
50
Data Transfer Notes
Inventor and VRML (UNIX Only)
Limitation
The Inventor/VRML translator does not support annotation
IRIX Solaris
information.
CAT Direct Connect
Limitation
CATIA Planar FACE geometry imported into StudioTools via CAT
Direct Connect (CAI format) will be scaled incorrectly if the units of
the original CATIA model file used to create the CAI file were inches,
and the CAI file was exported from CATIA 4.2.0.
CATIA model files that were built in millimeters will not have
this problem in any version of CATIA and CAI files exported
from CATIA 4.2.0 will not have this problem.
Workaround
Upgrade to CATIA 4.2.0 or later, or make a copy of the original
model file that has had its units converted to millimeters. This
can be done using the CATIA standalone utility CATUNIT.
Export a CAI file from this new model file.
IGES
Limitation
Storing an IGES file containing many trimmed surfaces takes
considerably longer if the Spline Type option is set to
PARAMETRIC, instead of BSPLINE.
Alias spline trim curves are rational B-splines. The IGES
Parametric Spline Curve and Surface entities (types 112 and
114, respectively) do not support rational B-splines directly. To
represent Alias trim curves using these IGES entities, the trim
curves are automatically rebuilt to remove the rational
component.
This rebuild operation is the extra step that takes time. This
operation is not necessary when the Spline Type is set to B-
SPLINE, since the IGES Rational B-Spline Curve entity (type
126) fully supports Alias trim curves.
Release Notes
51
Data Transfer Notes
Limitation
IGES 5.3 is supported, but may not work on all receiving systems.
IGES 5.3 allows the creation of IGES files that are Year-2000
compliant. The default option is 5.3, but some receiving
systems may not be able to handle the extra data in the date
field and thus cannot yet support the 5.3 format.
STL
Limitation
You cannot transform an object after stitching it.
If you use a tool from the Xform palette, or to run a zero
transform on a stitched object, it may not export correctly to
STL.
Limitation
ASCII STL files that have been created with output units other than
cm will be scaled incorrectly when read into StudioTools products.
Workaround
STL files that are created as ASCII files can be read into
StudioTools products. However, the output units that were
used for the creation of the STL file are not contained in the
STL file.
Therefore, any ASCII STL file that was created with output
units other than cm must be scaled appropriately once the file
is read in. See whoever created the STL file to find out what
the original units were to set the scaling factor accordingly.
For example, if the STL file units are in mm, then after
importing the file, the geometry must be scaled by 0.1.
External Applications Window
Limitation
You must use proper path names in the External Applications
window ( File > External Applications Window).
That is, there must be no partial input file or output file name
specifications in the application name.
● For Windows, specify a full path name.
Release Notes
52
Data Transfer Notes
● For UNIX, use either absolute UNIX path names (the full
path name location of the file) or filenames with no path.
(If there is no path, StudioTools looks in the wire
directory of the current project.)
In the example below, the program my-prog below takes two
arguments, the input file followed by the output file.
The following shows incorrect and correct ways to specify the
execution of this program in the Application Name field. The
input file name is specified as /usr/u/aldemo/data/<infile> and
the output file name is specified as /usr/u/aldemo/data/<outfile>:
Incorrect:
/usr/u/<yourid>/bin/my-prog /usr/u/aldemo/data/%i
/usr/u/aldemo/data/%o
Correct:
/usr/u/<yourid>/bin/my-prog %i %o
Also, all settings in the External Applications Window are
saved from session to session for each Application Name.
Inventor Import/Export (UNIX Only)
Limitation
If you have extended SoNodeKit classes in your Inventor files,
IRIX
StudioTools can only read these nodes if there is a Dynamically
Shared Object (DSO), containing the extensions, in the path of
LD_LIBRARY_PATH.
For more information, see The Inventor Mentor: Programming
Object Oriented 3D Graphics with Open Inventor: Release 2,
Chapter 11, “File Format,” Page 17: Reading in Extender Nodes
and Engines.
The rest of this section lists the Inventor nodes that are
partially supported or not supported by the Inventor import
and export translators (IvToAl and AlToIv).
Nodes Not Supported (All Platforms)

● The analytical geometry nodes SoCube and
SoCubeDetail are not supported directly. However, an
Inventor file containing these nodes can be imported if
optimization is on.
Release Notes
53
Data Transfer Notes
● These text and camera nodes are not supported:
SoAsciiText, SoText2, SoText3,
SoTextDetail, SoLabel, SoFont, SoFontStyle,
SoDrawStyle, SoOrthographicCamera,
SoTranslation and all their subclasses.
● These animation nodes are not supported: SoSensor and
SoEngine and their subclasses.
● These nodes are implemented as SoGroup and do not
fully support the concept of level of detail: SoLOD and
SoLevelOfDetail.
Release Notes
54
Data Transfer Notes
Rendering Notes
Several limitations have been fixed in Version 9.5. See:
● Limitations Fixed on page 55
The limitations in this chapter are divided into the following
categories:
● General Notes on page 56
● Batch Renderers (Renderer and Raytracer) on page 61
● Glows, Fog, and Special Effects on page 64
● Particle Systems on page 66
● Warps on page 69
● Motion Blur on page 70
● Texture Mapping on page 71
● Tgl Shade on page 73
● Multi-lister on page 73
● AliasToRenderman (IRIX Only) on page 74
● Flipbook (UNIX only) on page 75
● Anti-Aliasing Definition on page 75
products in the StudioTools family of products.
Limitations Fixed
Version 9.5 fixes many rendering limitations. Here are some
highlights of what we have fixed:
Fixed For Preferences > User Option > Alias Preferences, in the Render
Control Options section, you can now set an absolute path in the
default shader field (on Windows NT).
Fixed Stencils which are solid-projected are now rendered (on

Windows NT).
Fixed The OMFI filter (Rendering > Filter > OMFI) now functions
correctly (on Solaris).
Release Notes
55
Rendering Notes
Fixed If you use Delete > Del Active from the main menu to delete
multiple projection nodes associated with the same shader at
the same time, StudioTools will no longer crash (on IRIX and
Solaris).
Fixed Multiple instances of the same polyset with linked lights and
multiple shaders no longer result in a crash of the renderer.
Fixed Templated objects rendered in an animated sequence no

longer become visible.
Fixed Light glows now Quick Render in orthographic views.
Fixed Particles colliding with NURBS surfaces that have geometry

collisions enabled no longer cause rendering errors if motion
blur is on.
Fixed Black dots no longer appear on textured objects in toggle

shade on an Indigo 2X (on IRIX).
Fixed Colored texture maps in Toggle shade with Int Off and Fast Off
are now always accurate.
General Notes
New Limitation
When you are selecting sections in the direct render window using
Windows
the hidden line option, the renderer will occasionally crash.
Workaround
Click on the icon to re-render the section.
New Limitation
When rendering sections in the direct render window, the renderer
Windows
may not completely render the section. This is also likely to happen if
you pause the render.
Workaround
Click on the re-render icon in the direct render window or
select a larger section.
Release Notes
56
Rendering Notes
New Limitation
Mask files that are created by rendering on Windows NT can only be
used on Windows NT. Mask files that are created by rendering on
UNIX operating systems cannot be used on Windows NT.
New Limitation
Render and direct render may not render a wire file if the wire file is
Windows
not in the current project.
Workaround
Set the current project to the project that contains the wire file
you want to render.
New Limitation
If the IsoAngle tool is active, the Highlight tool or Surf curvature
tool does not work properly and the Quickrender window appears
empty.
Workaround
Deselect the IsoAngle tool, or in the QuickRender window,
select Options > Tgl Persistence and then click in the window to
update its display.
New Limitation
Image plane animation may cause a rendering error if the image
plane’s Frame Type is Keyframe.
Workaround
View the image plane’s animation curves and fix any incorrect
curves, or open the SDL file and change “nan0x7fffffff” to
“0.0”.
New Limitation
Objects that have a very large translate value may appear black in a
raytrace render.
Workaround
Change the object’s translate value to a smaller value.
New Limitation
You cannot direct render a frame from an animated scene after
interrupting animation playback by clicking in the modeling
window.
Workaround
Use the timeslider controls to stop the animation playback
before using direct render.
Release Notes
57
Rendering Notes
New Limitation
If you render an animated blend surface with Write SDL Per Frame
on, the rendered blend surface will not be animated.
Workaround
Use the write_multiple_sdl utility (from the command
line) to create SDL files for each frame of the animation, and
then render those SDL files.
New Limitation
Shadows cast by a surface that uses a layered shader may appear
faint, colored, or not at all.
StudioTools may consider a layered shader partially
transparent if one of its layers is partially transparent (even if
another layer is not transparent).
New Limitation
If you start a remote test render while a test render is currently in
progress, StudioTools may crash.
Workaround
To start a test render before another render is finished, you
must stop the first render.
New Limitation
Long argument strings passed to renderers may cause the renderers
to fail.
New Limitation
If a surface has holes, running the tessellator as Accurate may not
give a properly rendered surface.
For example, a sphere with a checkerboard may not show the
holes with accurate tessellation.
New Limitation
Renderers will exit if file references to Environment shader > Pix File
Backdrop > Backdrop files are not found
Workaround
Correct the file names so that they exist in the given path.
Release Notes
58
Rendering Notes
New Limitation
Rendered images may appear incorrect if the camera’s Film Offset is
greater than its Film Back.
Workaround
Keep the Film Offset less than or equal to the Film Back.
New Limitation
Using wrl (for example, by selecting File > Show > Pix) several
IRIX Solaris
times may cause the wrl window(s) to freeze.
Workaround
Close the wrl windows from a shell.
Limitation
A new render doesn’t start if you have one already running.
Solaris
When you launch a new render while a render is currently
running, StudioTools asks if you wish to stop the current
render and start a new one. If you answer yes, the current
render is stopped but the new render does not start.
Workaround
Abort the current render manually with Render > Abort Render,
and start a new render as usual.
Limitation
Images may differ in appearance if they are rendered on different
platforms (for example, Windows NT vs. Solaris operating
environment vs. IRIX).
Workaround
If you are rendering a sequence of images, render them on the
same platform.
New Limitation
The render Status bar does not update properly when rendering with
Windows
Write SDL per frame checked on in the Render > Render option box.
New Limitation
TIFF16 images do not render correctly.
Windows
Workaround
Use a different image file format (for example, TIFF or PIX).
Release Notes
59
Rendering Notes
Limitation
There are no options for Render > Show render in Windows.
Windows
These options were not applicable for fcheck, and were
removed from StudioTools for Windows at the last minute.
Workaround
Disregard the documentation that describes Render > Show
render options.
Limitation
If you import paint textures from StudioPaint for IRIX into
Windows
StudioTools for Windows NT, the resulting textures don’t render.
(For quick render, however, everything looks fine.)
Workaround
Either:
● Manually import image files and apply them to fields.
● Edit the Paint Texture file and add the correct file
references.
Limitation
If you start multiple Power Renders on the same multi-processor
IRIX Solaris
machine, you might get the message “/usr/temp/
sgi_mp_rt_locks permission denied”
Workaround
Use the following command to fix the problem:
setenv ALIAS_PLACE_LOCKS_IN_SWAP
Limitation
File > Show pix from the main pull-down menu cannot display
multiple files.
Workaround
Use File > Show pix in the File Browser to see multiple pix files.
Release Notes
60
Rendering Notes
Limitation
Shaded Wire displays correctly only for NURBS and faces. It
currently does not deal with polysets correctly.
Limitation
You cannot display a TIFF image while rendering.
That is, for UNIX you cannot use wrl and for Windows you
cannot use fcheck while rendering.
Workaround
Display TIFF images after the image is completed.
Limitation
You can not directly use compressed images (for example,
IRIX Solaris
filename.Z) unless the image is in the Alias PIX format.
For other image formats, the files will need to be
uncompressed first
Limitation
In UNIX, the Display > Tgl Render Status status bar is unaffected
IRIX Solaris
when moving StudioTools windows.
Resizing, minimizing, or moving the StudioTools main
window will not affect the toggle render status bar. If you stow
or minimize the StudioTools main window using X-windows,
the render status bar will stay up.
Workaround
Use Utilities > Minimize to minimize or expand StudioTools
windows.
Batch Renderers (Renderer and Raytracer)
New Limitation
If you start a test render with the overwrite option on and attempt to
start another test render before it completes, the new test render may
fail.
Workaround
In the Rendering Options box, set Image Creation to Save (instead
of Overwrite), or wait until the existing test render has
completed.
Release Notes
61
Rendering Notes
New Limitation
When you are hidden-line rendering with the Write SDL Per Frame
option on, the rendered images will not be hidden-line rendered.
Limitation
When you are rendering on fields, it is difficult to determine which
scan line is odd and which is even for interlaced screens.
If the timing of the setup is incorrect, you can reverse the odd
and even scan lines by typing:
setenv ALIAS_SWITCH_SCANLINES_EVEN_ODD_SENSE
StudioTools begins numbering scan lines from the bottom of
the image, starting with scan line 0 (an even scan line), which
makes the top scan line odd (485 for NTSC). Setting the
environment variable makes StudioTools treat the top scan
line as an even scan line, effectively numbering the lines to
start from the top of the image.
Note that if a compositing product is used for interlacing
fields, this environment variable must be on.
Limitation
Extension Padding is set to 3 when retrieving and rendering
previous version wirefiles.
If an older wirefile (Version 6.1 to Version 7.0.1) is retrieved,
ensure that the Extension Padding value in the Animated Output
Filename Extensions is set to 3 in the Render Globals window.
This results in rendered frame names appearing as
filename.001, filename.002, etc.
Workaround
Retrieve the wirefile, set the Extension Padding value to 1 in the
Render Globals window, then select File > Save As and work
with the file as a current wirefile.
Limitation
The geometry in the Perspective window looks different than the
rendered image when the camera has motion path curves with knot
multiplicity.
Workaround
Motion path curves with multiplicity can cause this problem.
Rebuild the curve or select Curve Tools > Use result in the Action
window.
Release Notes
62
Rendering Notes
Limitation
Raycast and Raytrace render invisible instances when they should
not.
When an object is copied and Instance is toggled on in the
Duplicate Objects Options box (Edit > Duplicate object-❐) with a
translation of some kind so that the instances are shown
separately from the originals, and the “instance” object is
picked in the SBD window, made invisible, and QuickRender
is run, only the real objects render. When Raycast is run, the
invisible instances render as well.
Workaround
When adjusting or animating visibility, make copies instead of
instances in order for the batch renderers to work properly.
Limitation
The camera presets’ pixel squeeze ratio is ignored by the batch
renderer.
Workaround
If you want to produce an anamorphic image, use the
following work flow.
1 Retrieve a model.
2 Using Render > Globals, set the resolution for your

anamorphic lens (for example 500, 423).
3 Using Render > Globals, set the pixel aspect ratio for your
anamorphic lens (for example, 2.0).
Note The pixel aspect ratio is used as a substitute for the

anamorphic squeeze ratio.
4 Using the Camera Editor (Windows > Camera editor), set the
filmback to the format of your choice (there some
predefined filmbacks meant for anamorphic lenses).
5 Render it.
If you would like to view it undistorted:
Release Notes
63
Rendering Notes
1 Using Render > Filter > Resize, make a new pix file from the
rendered one with the Y dimension the same and the X
dimension multiplied by whatever pixel aspect ratio you
used (in this case 1000, 423).
2 View both the original and resized pix files to see the
effect.
Limitation
With depth of field, the edge of an object in focus against a very
blurry foreground or background sometimes shows aliasing.
Workaround
Render foreground blurry elements separately and composite
them.
Limitation
When StudioTools is writing to SDL, comments are no longer
available.
This is done to reduce the disk usage of SDL files. If you want
comments, put the following line in your shell before starting
StudioTools to have the comments written out:
setenv ALIAS_SDL_LONGFORM 1
Glows, Fog, and Special Effects
Limitation
Glow appears to be missing from a volume light source.
Missing glow is most likely to occur with volume lights, and is
due to the physical nature of light glows. A Volume light has a
boundary beyond which light does not extend. If no light
reaches the eye, then no light glow is rendered.
Workaround
If a light glow from volume lights is required, either:
● Ensure that the light boundary extends past the camera
eye point (use Display > Tgl camera to ensure the camera is
inside the light volume)
● Create a glow-only point light at the same position as the
volume light.
Release Notes
64
Rendering Notes
Limitation
Shader glow flickers during an animation and shader glows look
different at different resolutions.
Workaround
Either:
● Select Windows > Multi-lister > Shaders. Double-click on the
Environment shader, then turn Shader Glow > Auto
Exposure OFF. Then adjust the glow intensities by hand.
or...
● Choose a frame in which the glow looks best, then run the
renderer with auto-exposure ON. In the out file, find the
information about “intensity normalization factor”. These
are the exact values for the glow intensities. Turn auto-
exposure OFF and enter these values into the text boxes.
You can also use this trick to get the same glow at different
resolutions. The glow looks different due mainly to the
auto-exposure. Use the above procedure, but instead of
entering the glow intensity from the out file, divide the
intensity by the square of the factor by which you want to
increase the resolution:
glow intensity
----------------------------------
2
( scale factor )
For example: you render the glow you want with auto-
exposure, and in the out file you see that the glow intensity
was 8. If you want to double the resolution, enter a glow
intensity of 2:
8
----- = 2
2
2
Limitation
Light glows and occlusion can be incorrectly computed (that is, light
glow shines through objects) if the glow opacity is set to any value
other than 0.
Workaround
This problem occurs in both the raycaster and raytracer. The
best solution is to set the glow opacity to 0 on the occluding
object.
Release Notes
65
Rendering Notes
Limitation
Light glow appears to dim but not fully disappear when going behind
an object.
This problem occurs due to the radius of the light — it may be
so large that it is never completely occluded by the object that
should be shadowing it.
Workaround
Open the light editor for the light in question. Access the light
radius parameter under Common Parameters. The default
radius is 1.0, which means the light is two grid units in
diameter. If this diameter is large in relationship to the
geometry in the scene, reduce the radius to something more
appropriate to the size of the geometry occluding the light (for
example, 0.1), then test render again. The glow should now be
more fully shadowed.
Particle Systems
New Limitation
Animated particles may flicker if the particle transparency value is 0
or if the particle transparency map contains a 0 value.
Workaround
Avoid using a particle transparency of 0 or a particle
transparency map that contains a 0 value.
Limitation
Rendering particles may not produce consistent results if animation
is set to OFF.
Workaround
Sometimes particle rendering is different depending on
whether or not Animation is set to ON in the Render Globals
window. Set Animation to ON to produce the correct results.
Using particle files may also alleviate this problem.
Release Notes
66
Rendering Notes
Limitation
Shell objects, stitched objects, and faces do not emit particles.
Polysets do emit particles, but do not do so correctly unless the
polygons are convex.
Limitation
Rendering opaque blobs (Render type blobby surface) with light fog
may show some artifacts.
Workaround
To correct this problem, before launching the renderer, type
the following from the console window:
setenv ALIAS_LIGHTFOG_BLOBBY
Limitation
Rendering of particles since Version 8.5 may take a little longer than
with previous versions; however, it gives consistent rates of particle
emission.
Limitation
Particles are not calculated if the surface emitting them is invisible
in the start frame of rendering.
Workaround
Animate the transparency factor instead of the visibility flag,
or create particle files from the visible geometry in the
interactive package.
Limitation
Parent color set to ON seems to have no effect on particle color.
Workaround
If Parent Color is set to ON, particles are born with the color of
the parent surface at the point of emission. To see the effect of
changing this flag, you must re-emit the particles.
If parent color was animated on and off during particle
emission, then the color of emitted particles alternates
accordingly (rather than the entire particle system suddenly
changing color).
Modifying any Emission or Behavior parameters on the particle
system requires that you run the simulation to see the effect
(or invoke a batch render, which does its own run of the
simulation). Also, if particle files are used, changing any of
these parameters has no effect, as the particle trajectories and
birth color are defined in the files.
Release Notes
67
Rendering Notes
Limitation
Particles that overlap transparent surfaces can sometimes make the
surface partly visible, even though it is completely transparent.
This can happen if there is blob noise on the particles, or if the
Render Type is BLOBBY SURFACE.
Workaround
When blob noise is a problem, the effect is generally much less
noticeable in the raycaster than in the raytracer.
If the transparent surface emits the particles, a possible
solution is to create particle files and then move the
transparent surface out of view. If the hidden surface does not
emit particles, then you can simply animate its visibility.
Limitation
Particles do not recompute over each odd and even field, only on each
frame.
This should not produce any clearly visible unwanted
artifacts.
Limitation
Changing transparency may seem to have no effect when a BLOBBY
SURFACE render method is used on very large or very small
particles.
Workaround
Changing transparency does have an effect; however, the
transparency is based on the depth of the blobby substance in
world units. To correct this, you can set the density parameter
to be 1.0/particle_size. So if your particle size is 0.1, then
making the density 10 should allow the transparency slider to
have a normal range of effect.
Limitation
Image planes and sometimes transparent objects do not render
correctly when combined with fog or particle systems; artifacts may
remain.
Limitation
Mapping textures to particle parameters doesn't update properly.
If you map a texture to a parameter in the particle emissions
section of a shader or light and change the texture's
parameters, the texture's icon won't update.
Release Notes
68
Rendering Notes
Limitation
Particle color map is influenced by particle color.
If you want particles to derive their color from the surface that
emits them, make sure Parent Color is ON. However, the blob's
own color acts as a multiplier. If you want the blob to use the
parent color exactly, the blob's color must be white.
Note This is not documented nor indicated in the interface, and is

not consistent with how texture colors are usually specified.
Limitation
Particles can emit only from original, non-displaced surfaces.
If there is a surface which has a displacement map, the
particles emit from the surface in its original non-displaced
position.
Limitation
Particles may disappear when surface-shading is set to a non-zero
value and particles originate at the camera origin.
Warps
New Limitation
Shadows cast by warped surfaces may appear jagged.
Windows
Workaround
In the Render Globals window, turn on Revert to V9.0
Tessellator.
New Limitation
When optimization is on, volume light does not warp during
interactive playback.
Workaround
Turn optimization off when you have warp lights.
Limitation
It is possible to create warps for which no amount of triangulation
can smooth the surface.
This happens when a warp is created with sudden
discontinuities in its field and they overlap a surface. For
example, the twist warp preset (Objects > Warps > Twist) pushes
a surface the most at the edges of the cylinder, however just
Release Notes
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Rendering Notes
beyond the edge of the cylinder, the warp is zero. A surface
intersecting the edge goes from no warp to maximum warp
across the span of a single triangle.
Workaround
The decay and dropoff parameters can be modified to smooth
out these transitions. When these parameters are insufficient
to smooth a field, smooth gradients can be created by
texturing the light's color (which affects the warp intensity).
Motion Blur
New Limitation
Rendering errors may occur when hidden line rendering objects with
motion blur.
Workaround
Turn off motion blur when hidden line rendering.
Limitation
When you are rendering with motion blur, some artifacts may result
in grid-like artifacts or the disappearance of triangles. This is due to
some large triangles that extend beyond the camera and near
clipping planes.
Workaround
Identify the surface(s) and increase their tessellation
subdivision level in Render Stats. Objects that are very close
together can also cause interpenetrating problems for motion
blur. In those cases, move the surfaces further apart.
Limitation
Motion blur is not implemented for raytracing.
Limitation
Shadows and light positions do not motion blur.
Release Notes
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Rendering Notes
Limitation
Shadowing appears jittered on motion-blurred objects moving away
from the camera.
Workaround
Increase the Shadow's Min Depth for shadow casting spotlights
or turn shadowcasting off on the front of the object if the object
has a separate back face and does not self-shadow. Shadows
are not motion-blurred, so the shadow depth stored is at the
depth of the object at the shutter mid time.
This means some of the shading samples will be in shadow
while others will still be illuminated. If this still does not solve
the problem, edit the SDL and add the following to the
spotlight casting the bad shadows:
use_old_shadow_map_algorithm = FALSE
Limitation
Motion blur is not applied when warp parameters are animated.
When a parameter on a warp is animated, the resulting
changes in the shape of the object are not motion-blurred,
although an object moving through a warp is correctly
motion-blurred.
Workaround
Move the object relative to the warp light.
Texture Mapping
New Limitation
Shaders may render incorrectly if they use textures created with
Windows
StudioTools sketching tools.
Workaround
Convert the TIF or BMP format texture image into another
format (for example, JPEG) using imgcvt or fcheck.
Release Notes
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Rendering Notes
Limitation
Displacement mapping does not work for layered shaders.
A displacement map is applied only on the lowest available
layered shader.
Workaround
Create a displacement map with only the required areas and
apply that map to the lowest layered shader.
Limitation
Multi-lister chord length texture mapping doesn't display correctly
in shadewire.
If a surface with uneven parameterization and a checker
texture map with Chord length ON is Quick rendered, the
texture looks even, as a result of the chord space conversion.
However, if the Quick render window is closed, and the
shaded wire icon in the icon of the texture is clicked on, the
surface is displayed as though Chord spacing is OFF.
Limitation
Instancing of objects with worldspace texture mapping enabled can
produce incorrect rendering results.
Workaround
Copy the geometry rather than instance it.
Using BOT files directly as texture maps may result in the renderer
saying it does not recognize this format.
Workaround
Turn Render > Globals > Memory Options > Texture Caching on.
Limitation
StudioTools 9.5 for Windows NT does not support BOT files.
Windows
Workaround
Ignore the Render Globals texture caching option.
Release Notes
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Rendering Notes
Tgl Shade
New Limitation
Toggle shade cannot correctly display layered shaders.
New Limitation
When the Tessellator Quality is Accurate, the placement of textures
on a surface’s pole (if it has a pole) will be incorrect.
Limitation
If Quick Render’s texture flag is turned off, texture maps may not
render when you are toggle shading.
Workaround
Reset the Quick Render’s texture flag and do a QuickRender;
then Toggle Shade will render correctly with textures.
Multi-lister
New Limitation
The "?" icon in the Multi-lister that indicates a missing file texture
may still appear even after you have updated the file texture path and
name.
New Limitation
If you name a shader in the Multi-lister (for example, ShaderName)
and then save it (for example, as ShaderFileName), when you load
the shader back into the Multi-lister it is named ShaderName.
This also applies to lights. This is new behavior in StudioTools
9.5. (Previously, the loaded shader would be named
ShaderFileName).
New Limitation
The Multi-lister may seem to take a long time to open.
Workaround
There may be an NFS problem:
1 Use the file referencer to determine if there are any invalid
file paths that access NFS mounted filesystems.
2 Repair any incorrect NFS referenced files before opening

the Multi-lister.
Release Notes
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Rendering Notes
Limitation
Super textures don't display on shader balls.
For IRIX, this includes StudioPaint textures.
Workaround
It is necessary to be able to distinguish a regular textured item
from a super-texture. Currently, the super-texture swatch does
not display its list of associated textures, but it does display an
icon that appears very much like a layering of a stack of
papers. This is an important indicator for super-texture
feedback.
Limitation
When you are viewing the Multi-lister with lower-resolution
swatches, the icons are not displayed.
Workaround
Switch to the higher resolution swatches.
AliasToRenderman (IRIX Only)
Limitation
AliasToRenderman generates RIB output which references two
IRIX
custom shaders, ari_pointlight and ari_spotlight.
The Shading Language source for these shaders is provided in
the gifts shaders. These shaders are identical to the
corresponding published standard shaders in all respects
except for one extra parameter — light decay.
These versions allow light decay in the same form as do the
StudioTools lights, and are provided as a convenience.
However, to use them for rendering, you must compile them
(using a RenderMan Shading Language compiler that goes
with your RenderMan Renderer) and place the result in your
file system where the renderer can find it.
That setup may be inconvenient, so you can override it on the
command line for AliasToRenderman standalone. The option
is -d, and it takes an argument:
● If the argument is 0 (zero, the default), the Alias shader
names are generated.
● If the argument is any other value, the “pointlight” or
“spotlight” names are generated.
Release Notes
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Rendering Notes
Note The -H help message includes -d <d>.
If <d> is zero, “Alias” shaders are used where possible, or
only RenderMan standard shaders are used.
Flipbook (UNIX only)
Limitation
Flipbook does not support negative file extensions for animations.
IRIX Solaris
Animation files can be created with negative file extensions
and rendered, but they cannot be viewed in Flipbook.
Workaround
Always use positive integers for file extensions.
Limitation
Flipbook does not handle mask files.
IRIX Solaris
Workaround
For IRIX, the fcheck utility supplied in directory /usr/aw/
com2.0/bin can display sequences of mask files.
Anti-Aliasing Definition
Limitation
For anti-aliasing parameters, the min and max values indicate
the number of samples to be taken per pixel.
The recommended quality settings are:
low quality - (min,max) = (0,0)
medium quality = (0,4)
high quality = (3,12)
Release Notes
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Rendering Notes
Animation Notes
The limitations in this chapter are divided as follows:
● IK and Constraint Limitations on page 84
● Cluster Limitations on page 91
● Action Window on page 92
● Dynamics on page 96
● Particles on page 97
products in the Studio family of products.
Limitations Fixed
● If you use Playblast and QuickRender with animation in
the same session of StudioTools, window focus now
works correctly.
General
Limitation
When you are creating geometry from a layer with symmetry,
animation and clusters are not copied.
Workaround
Do your cluster attachment after the real geometry has been
created. If your symmetry plane is an axis plane, you may use
Edit > Mirror to copy the geometry and animation.
Limitation
When you use Ungroup with Copy Node option, the new nodes get
instances of any animation curves that were on the original nodes. If
you then edit the original curves, the new branch is affected as well.
Workaround
If the above is not the desired behavior, you can create new
copies by cutting and pasting the curves in the action window.
Release Notes
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Animation Notes
Limitation
The grid does not update during a Time Slider scrub when there is a
constrained camera.
Workaround
Turn Optimization off in the Playback Options.
Limitation
Camera animation does not update during Quick render with
Animation on.
Workaround
Use Playblast with the Quick Render option On.
Limitation
The Expression Control window has limited functionality.
Solaris
For example:
● You cannot set filters to limit the scope of the display list,
even though there is a field for doing that on the title bar
of the window.
● The command pop-up does not function.
Limitation
Linear tangents may not work correctly for a Parameter curve with
large values.
When the slope of the curve segment between 2 successive
keyframes is greater than 573 — that is, tan(89.9 degrees),
linear tangents are not calculated correctly. (We truncate the
values to avoid numerical errors elsewhere.)
Workaround
Create the curve on a dummy node with a smaller range of
values, and use an expression to scale the value of the curve.
Limitation
Playing back of visibility animation may put invisible objects on the
pick list.
If you pick an object with visibility animation at a frame where
it is visible, play back, and then stop playback at a frame
Release Notes
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Animation Notes
where the object is not visible, then the object remains on the
pick list, and may be inadvertently transformed or deleted.
Workaround
Use Pick > Nothing to ensure there are no invisible objects
picked.
Limitation
Viewframe and playback don’t update a static expression. For
example, if you set an object’s X-translate channel to the constant
expression “1” and Xform > Move it, it is not reset to 1 by viewframe.
Workaround
Set a keyframe for these values instead, or use an expression
like “1 + frame * 0” instead of a constant expression “1”.
Limitation
Animation > Turntable does not rotate about the origin when grid
snap is on.It ignores the Rotate About Origin setting, in the Turntable
Options box, and rotates around the pivot point.
Workaround
To avoid this problem, make sure that grid snap is turned off
when you invoke Turntable.
Limitation
CVs on any object with construction history cannot be animated
using any of the animation tools (such as Animation > Set keyframe).
It is not possible to add keyframes to CVs on curves or
surfaces with construction history, such as blend surface, skin,
and path.
Workaround
To be able to animate CVs, pick the curve or surface and use
Del > Constr history.
Limitation
Anim > Set motion with the FLOW option on works only on root
DAG nodes.
If a selected DAG node had any transformations in DAG
nodes in the hierarchy above it before the Set motion operation
Release Notes
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Animation Notes
was invoked with the FLOW option, then the selected DAG
node may not FLOW properly along the motion path.
Workaround
Ensure that the selected DAG node is a root level DAG node,
or that no DAG nodes grouped above the selected node have
transformations. You can group the DAG node and put
transformations above the DAG node that was FLOWed after
the operation is complete.
Limitation
CVs from a motion path cannot be animated.
Workaround
You can achieve the same effect using spline control. Attach
the geometry to a skeleton, put a spline handle on the
skeleton, and animate the root handle position from 0 to 100.
The curve and/or its CVs or any cluster containing its CVs
may be animated as well.
Limitation
In Surfaces > Swept surfaces > Anim sweep, the ABOVE option
does not work.
If an object is animated hierarchically, a non-root node is
selected, and Anim sweep is invoked with hierarchy set to
ABOVE, animations above the picked node are ignored.
Similarly, if the option is BOTH and there is animation above,
it will not be recognized.
Workaround
Copy the geometry, delete the other branches, and anim sweep
from around the root node with hierarchy set to BELOW.
Limitation
The rand() and gauss() functions do not work correctly in
expressions if particle emission is occurring.
Workaround
Turn off particle emission, bake the rand() and gauss()
expressions (using the Bake plug-in), and then turn particle
emission back on.
Release Notes
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Animation Notes
Limitation
Geometry doesn’t show pivot when it is in simpdisp mode.
Simpdisp improves draw and cluster performance for surfaces.
Because drawing pivots can be slow, they are not displayed for
these surfaces.
Workaround
Toggle simpdisp off on the object to see its pivot.
Limitation
Copying CV animation from object to object doesn’t work (Edit >
Duplicate channels).
Workaround
Pick the DAG nodes above each of the objects instead of the
CVs themselves, select Edit > Duplicate channels-❐, and toggle
Hierarchy Below on.
Limitation
Time warps are not applied to invisible objects in a hierarchy.
Workaround
Make sure that all the objects that you wish to timewarp in the
hierarchy are visible.
Limitation
Making objects visible after a viewframe or playback does not
automatically update those objects to the current frame.
During playback or viewframe, we do not calculate the
animation for invisible objects. If these objects are
subsequently made visible, their state will not by synced up to
the current frame. Note that cluster transforms are re-applied
when an object is made visible, so that cluster animation will
be in sync (if the clusters are visible at the time).
Workaround
Do a viewframe with the desired objects visible.
Release Notes
80
Animation Notes
Limitation
Retrieve Anim may cause an expression to reference an existing curve
rather than a new curve if in the Anim SDL file the expression refers
to a Parameter curve that has the same name as a different curve
already present in the scene.
Workaround
Either rename the existing curve before retrieving the
animation, or edit the Anim SDL file and rename both the
curve and the expression’s reference to it.
Limitation
Retrieve Anim with Overwrite Names OFF may result in expressions
referring to non-existent parameter curves and give a syntax error
with no further explanation of the problem.
Workaround
Use Overwrite Names ON in the retrieve operation, or rename
the existing curve or the curve in the Anim SDL file before
retrieving.
Limitation
The Playblast window does not respond to mouse events.
When playblasting an animation, the Playblast window that is
displayed does not respond to mouse events.
Limitation
Animating an image plane sequence can sometimes cause single-
pixel vertical shifts.
In the interactive package, animating an image plane sequence
can sometimes cause single-pixel vertical shifts of the image
plane in the Perspective window during playback if the
camera field of view and the size of the Perspective window
are not even multiples of the image plane's resolution.
(“Single-pixel” in this case refers to a pixel of the source pix
file, and not a screen pixel.)
Workaround
Try to make the size of the Perspective window an even
multiple of the resolution of the image plane pix files.
Release Notes
81
Animation Notes
Limitation
Image planes will not load using either File > New image plane or the
Add button in Windows > Camera editor if their names have
alphabetic characters in a numeric extension.
An animation sequence using image planes is defined by
numeric digits in the extension, and cannot load when there
are alphabetic characters in the extension.
Workaround
Define the names for any pix files used for loading image
planes so that only digits appear after the extension. If there is
a field-rendered sequence with image planes, use “filace” to
paste the odd and even images together.
Limitation
Padding frame extension names by 5 or more digits causes problems
on file textures.
Workaround
Limit padding to 4 zeros or less.
Limitation
The screen sometimes flashes when retrieving image planes that were
stored in RGB mode.
Workaround
The flashing will not affect the retrieval of image planes, and
can be ignored.
Limitation
Image planes and associated animations are not retrieved correctly if
referenced PIX files cannot be found.
Workaround
Ensure that all referenced pix files associated with an image
plane are in place when you save the wire file. If necessary, use
a placeholder pix file when saving out the wirefile. If this is not
done, the animation associated with the image plane may not
be retrievable.
Limitation
Creating and Copying light animation may be confusing.
Workaround
There are different ways of picking lights for animation,
depending on which parameters you want to animate.
Release Notes
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Animation Notes
To animate a light's transformations (translation, rotation,
scale) or visibility, pick the light in a modeling window or pick
the appropriate light DAG node in the SBD window.
To animate any other light parameter, such as color, intensity,
or glow, pick the light in the Multi-lister window. When
animating a light through the Multi-lister, the light should not
be active in the modeling window unless its transformations
or visibility are also to be animated.
To copy all light animation from one light to another, select the
root node of one light, and use Edit > Duplicate channels -❐ with
Hierarchy set to BELOW and Parameters set to ALL in the
Duplicate Channels Options box. The animation of individual
light (or shader, or texture) parameters can be copied by
selecting the source light in the Multi-lister, doing a Shift-
select of the light to be copied to in the Multi-lister, and then
Shift-selecting the desired parameters in the light (or shade, or
texture) editor. Invoking Edit > Copy Parameters in the Multi-
lister will then copy the animation for that parameter.
Limitation
Face-surface CVs can be included in clusters and animated, but will
not render properly if they are not maintained in the same plane.
Workaround
Limit transformations of face-surface CVs and clustered face-
surface CVs along the plane of the face-surface.
Limitation
ShapeShifter (Anim > Set key shape) yields incorrect deformations if
the base object is changed.
Workaround
Always return the shapeshifter base object to its neutral,
undeformed position before creating the next shapeshifter
target pose.
You may also re-order the clusters in the cluster editor so that
the new shape-shifter clusters appear before any existing
clusters on the object.
Release Notes
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Animation Notes
Limitation
Reload Active doesn’t work on a Flipbook that has been unloaded.
IRIX Solaris
In flipbook, if you use the Book Management menu to Unload
Active on a book, subsequent attempts to Reload Active on that
book will fail.
Workaround
Use the Delete Active function to get rid of the book altogether,
then load it back in using New Book.
Limitation
On some graphics systems, dithering occurs when flipbook is started
IRIX Solaris
up when Flipbook > Options > Dbl Buffered is turned ON.
Workaround
While flipbook is running, close it and turn off Dbl Buffered.
IK and Constraint Limitations
Limitation
UV constraints ignore displacement maps on surfaces.
Workaround
You can warp the surface for a similar effect, and UV
constraints do work with warped surfaces.
Limitation
Local axes behavior is not consistent if the local axes have not been
explicitly set.
If an object has never had its local axes explicitly set, we
assume that they are always at a (0,0,0) rotation in object
space. So if you watched the local axes while you Zero-
transformed the object, for example, the local axes would
appear to be transformed as well. However, if you had set
Local Axes, we do not modify them during Zero transforms.
Certain operations explicitly create Local Axes. For example,
skeletons always have Local Axes and Edit > Duplicate Object
creates explicit local Axes. Visually, there is no way to tell if
explicit Local Axes exist or if the defaults are being used.
Therefore, certain tools appear to behave inconsistently with
local axes.
Workaround
Set your local axes explicitly to the desired orientation.
Release Notes
84
Animation Notes
Limitation
Edit > Duplicate object does not remap constraints within the copied
hierarchy.
Workaround
If both the constraint target and destination are in the copied
hierarchy, delete the constraint and re-apply it to the new
objects in the new hierarchy.
Limitation
In the Objects > AddIKHandles option box, Reset does not reset all
the options to their default values.
Workaround
Reset these options by hand: the default for Orientation is Local,
and the default for SetRestPose is Off.
Limitation
An object with multiple aim constraints may not evaluate correctly.
Aim constraint rotations are restricted to -180/+ 180 degrees;
however these restrictions are not enforced consistently
throughout the weighting process, so if individual constraints
caused rotation values of opposite sign, errors may result.
Workaround
Use a single object as the aim constraint target where possible.
If you really depend on the animation of two separate targets,
then point constraining an object partway between the
original targets and using this new object may provide an
adequate approximation.
Limitation
Query Edit will not display more than 10 constraints per object.
Workaround
If you see 10 constraints, check the info window to see if there
are any additional constraints that you may have missed.
Release Notes
85
Animation Notes
IK skeletons in layers with symmetry will not be mirrored to the
other side of the axis of symmetry. IK skeletons use non-leaf DAG
nodes and clusters and these are not supported in layers with
symmetry.
Limitation
If the joint angle animation output for Single Chain IK jumps from
-180 or 180 degrees (or from 180 to -180 degrees) from one frame to
the next, motion blur will not work properly.
Workaround
Use the motion blur compensation option in Run IK. This will
insert additional keyframes at the motion blur sample points
near the jumps.
Limitation
Multi-chain IK animation must be run from the same initial state to
get the same animation.
To do RunIK when multi-chain handles are present, the
skeleton must be in a known starting position. If you select
Assume Rest Pose before doing RunIK and make sure that you
are at the Start Frame, the same animation is generated.
Workaround
If you want to render only a subset of the frames in your
animation, you must still follow the above steps and run IK for
the whole range of animation.
Limitation
The joints between two aligned bones tend to “lock up” in an IK
animation.
If two successive bones in a hierarchy (for example, a thigh
and calf bone) are in a straight line, they may not bend even
when a constraint on the lowest joint (the ankle) has moved.
This occurs because reaching the ankle constraint would need
to bend both at the hip and knee, and neither joint wants to
move without knowing the other will also move. Otherwise,
the ankle would be temporarily too far from its constraint.
Workaround
To solve this problem for a multi-chain handle, set up joint
limits (in the above case, on the knee joint) so that the two
limbs can never be in a straight line (2 or 3 degrees from
straight should be sufficient). For single-chain, the solution is
to set up the rest position so that the joints are not aligned in
world space.
Release Notes
86
Animation Notes
Limitation
When StudioTools is saving out an SDL file, IK and constraint
animation is written only for the range of keyframes specified in the
Render globals window.
This means that if you edit the start/end frames in that SDL
file, you won’t have the constraint/IK animation outside the
original start/end range.
Workaround
You must re-save the SDL in order to get any missing
constraint/IK animation.
Limitation
World orientation does not work on a Single Chain handle with non-
proportional scale.
If the root joint of a Single Chain handle inherits a non-
proportional scale, Worldspace Orientation for the plane will
not work correctly.
Limitation
Zero Transforms may cause problems with models with Inverse
Kinematics.
Using Zero Transforms on a skeleton with Attached Geometry
present will cause the geometry to be displaced. Using Zero
Transforms on a skeleton with Single Chain Handles may
cause the joints to rotate if the handles are animated or
constrained.
Workaround
Detach geometry and remove or disable handles before
modifying the skeleton.
Limitation
The Modify operation in the Character Builder may not work
correctly if the Skeleton hierarchy has been used in multiple Attach
operations, or if the hierarchy to be modified encompasses a larger
hierarchy than was used in Attach.
Workaround
In Windows > Deformation Control, do the Modify operation on
only one part of the skeleton at a time if all of the following
conditions exist:
● You use Frame Control > Attach with the Hierarchy option set
on the upper part of the skeleton
Release Notes
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Animation Notes
● You then do another Frame Control > Attach with Hierarchy
set on the lower part of a skeleton
● At least one joint belongs to both hierarchies.
Limitation
In multi-chain IK, the orientation vs. position weight varies with
skeleton size.
If a skeleton has both orientation and position multi-IK
handles on it, and can not satisfy all IK handle goals
simultaneously, you may notice that as the skeleton is scaled,
the balance between the effects of the orientation and the
position goals may vary.
Workaround
Two simple workarounds are to either set the scale of your
skeleton before beginning and not to animate the scale or to
ensure that all position and orientation goals can be met at all
times.
Another option is to make separate multi-IK handles for the
position and orientation goals. You can then animate the
weights of the IK handles, while the scale of the skeleton is
animated. This lets you control the balance between which of
the goals should be satisfied more stringently than others.
Limitation
Scaling a skeletal chain with an IK handle may cause the skeleton to
respond incorrectly.
Workaround
Turn off the IK handles, scale the skeleton, and turn the IK
handles back on. If you scale the chain with a non-
proportional scale, delete the IK handle and then reapply it.
Limitation
If you have spline IK and single-chain IK, and a heavily clustered
model, and the spline IK is controlled by a clustered spline, this may
cause write SDL to take a long time.
Workaround
Run-IK on the spline chains only and disable the spline
handles. Then render or write SDL (performance for the single
chain WriteSDL should be adequate.)
Release Notes
88
Animation Notes
Limitation
Models with constraints or expression animation on joints with IK
might play back with inconsistent motion.
To get the correct solution, you need to increase the
evaluations per update in the Performance Options.
Workaround
You need to increase the Performance Options > Evaluations per
Update.
Limitation
The spline handle solver generates a solution in the range (-180
degree, +180 degree) for each of its joints.
This may result in problems when rendering with motion blur,
or rendering on fields, as the interpolation will not be correct if
the solution jumps from one end of the range to the other
between two frames.
Workaround
Use Run IK with the Motion Blur and/or Field compensation
options. Disable the handles after RunIK or you will not get
the desired animation written out to the SDL.
Note A spline handle is always constrained, so if it is turned on it

will solve and override any animation on the skeleton.
Limitation
Cumulative rotations of more than 360 degrees with spline handles
may cause geometry to flip.
Workaround
Use the Anti Flip Controls on the Root Handle in the
Information window to find a setting which keeps the
rotations coherent.
Limitation
The root joint of a single chain IK chain may not be used as an
orientation constraint.
The local axes of the root joint of the single chain IK chain are
defined to be above its rotation. Constraints look at local axes,
Release Notes
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Animation Notes
so that in this case the orientation will ignore the rotations on
that particular joint.
Workaround
Use an expression to get at the rotation of the root joint itself.
Limitation
Joint limits do not respect the user’s choice of units.
Translation limits are always in centimeters, and rotation
limits are always in degrees.
Workaround
Convert the values that you want to centimeters and degrees.
Limitation
If an aim constraint is in a configuration where the “forward” is
exactly parallel with the “up” direction, there is no unique solution,
and the constraint is not applied.
Workaround
Set a keyframe at the trouble spot to force the orientation of
the constraining object to be very slightly away from the
problem value.
Limitation
Rendering with motion blur is erratic with animated constraints
without IK.
The constraint solver generates a solution in the range (-180
degrees, +180 degrees) for aim and orientation constraints.
If you are using animated constraints without IK, this may
result in problems when rendering with motion blur, or
rendering on fields, as the interpolation will not be correct if
the solution jumps from one end of the range to the other
between two frames.
Workaround
Use Bake with Motion Blur Compensation to create keyframes for
the constraint. This will create extra keyframes at sample
points where needed. The sample points are at the frame,
plus/minus the following value:
(RenderByFrame * ShutterAngle) / 720
Release Notes
90
Animation Notes
Limitation
The effects of invisible constraints are inconsistent. A constraint to
an invisible object is not evaluated during playback, but is enforced
during transformation of the constrained object.
Workaround
Use Edit > Constraints On/Off to enable/disable constraint
updates instead of visibility.
Cluster Limitations
Limitation
Splitting a cluster where the members are present at the DAG node
level in the cluster editor may cause the geometry to be drawn
incorrectly.
If the cluster members are all at the CV level, splitting works
correctly. However, if you see an entry in the cluster editor for
several surfaces, then some of the geometry will jump to the
wrong location when the cluster is split.
The geometry is still there; it’s just not redrawn correctly. It
will reappear when the cluster transformations are applied
again (for example, when the cluster is moved, rotated, etc.).
Workaround
Xform > Move the clusters by (r 0 0 0) to make the geometry
redraw, or expand the cluster members down to their CVs
before splitting.
Limitation
If polyset vertices are placed in a cluster, the vertices themselves will
not be drawn when the cluster is picked.
Workaround
Unpack the cluster to see the vertices again.
Limitation
Xform > Local > Set pivot of deformation clusters changes the object if
there are percentage effect parameters set.
When moving the pivot point on a cluster that has some
members’ percentage effect parameter set to a value other than
100%, if the cluster has already been transformed with
rotations or scaling, transforming the pivot point of the cluster
will cause these cluster members to move. (The percentage
Release Notes
91
Animation Notes
effects are recalculated for each control vertex according to the
new pivot point location.)
This behavior is apparent when clusters are created using the
Deformation Control window (Windows > Deformation cntrl).
Workaround
Define and verify pivot point locations for deformation
clusters before assigning transformations such as rotate or
scale.
Limitation
Copying a cluster with Edit > Duplicate object creates a null node.
Workaround
Create a new cluster and empty it.
Use the cluster editor to copy the cuts from the original cluster
into a new cluster. This will preserve the cluster percentages.
Reorder the clusters so that the new cluster immediately
follows the original.
Limitation
Copying cluster members with Edit > Duplicate object places the new
objects in the same clusters as the original, it will not create new
clusters.
Workaround
Use Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste to create a copy of both clusters
and members.
Action Window
New Limitation
When you are playing back animation, the time slider in the Action
Windows
Window does not display the frame numbers.
This happens only on Intergraph video cards.
Release Notes
92
Animation Notes
Limitation
Using Edit > Cut in the window invoked from Animation > Action
limits the undo function.
If you use Edit > Cut and cut more than one action on the same
channel in the Action window, Edit > Undo may not work.
Workaround
Cut one action followed by the second action, or cut the
channel as one item.
Limitation
The Action window’s Edit > Paste segment and Edit > Paste
keyframes change the character of original and pasted curves.
Pasting does not preserve the shape of the copied segment. It

also alters the transitions of regions surrounding the insert
location.
Workaround
Paste segment inserts keyframes at the insert location. If these
keyframes have tangent identities associated with them, those
tangent identities (for example, Tangent Type > Smooth) are
preserved and are recalculated after the paste has been done.
Smooth tangents are especially sensitive to the location of both
the previous keyframe and the following keyframe.
To both preserve the shape of the copied segment, as well as to
preserve the transitions around the insert region, use the
following workflow.
To copy the segment of an animation from keyframes 20 to 30,
and insert it at 45 (between keyframes 40 and 50):
1 Pick the keyframes at 20 and 30.
2 Make the keyframes fixed (Tangent Type > Fixed).
Tip If you later want to restore their identity, you can use Edit >
Undo.
3 Select Edit > Paste keyframes.
4 At this point you can use Edit > Undo to restore the original
tangents.
5 Pick the keyframes at 40 and 50.
Release Notes
93
Animation Notes
6 Make those keyframes fixed (Tangent Type > Fixed).
7 Pick the curve in the lister area.
8 Select Edit > Paste keyframes and insert the segment at 45.
Note Steps 5 and 6 are only necessary if the keyframes at 40 and

50 are smooth — other tangent types preserve their
identities.
Limitation
Sometimes the wrong parameters for a texture may be listed in the
Parameter Control window or the Action window.
For example, amult and aoffset may be listed instead of
Rgbmult and Rgboffset.
Workaround
Select the texture in the Multi-lister and ensure the Texture
Editor is open.
Limitation
Deleting instanced animation curves in the Action Editor is
awkward.
Workaround
To delete only some of the instances in an object with
internally instanced channels (for example, where the X
translation of sphere#1 is instanced to sphere#2’s Y translation
and is also instanced to its Z translation), select ParamFilter in
the Action Editor to turn the channels OFF to keep and cut or
clear the other instanced channels.
Limitation
If more than one shader/texture/light with the same attributes is
visible in the Action window, Edit > Cut and Edit > Paste will not
work properly on the attributes that appear multiple times, and Edit
> Undo may not work for these items.
Workaround
Select only one item at a time in the Multi-Lister when editing
in the Action window.
Release Notes
94
Animation Notes
Limitation
In the Action Window, the choice Display Tools > Tgl sound graph
Solaris
appears as a menu choice but has no effect.
Sound is not supported in StudioTools for the Solaris
operating environment.
Limitation
Keyframe statistics might disappear intermittently when you are
Solaris
using track or dolly functions in the Action Window.
To display keyframe statistics, select Display Tools >Tgl Stats in
the Action window.
Workaround
Track or dolly in the Action Window until the stats reappear.
Limitation
The keyframe randomize function may not work properly.
Solaris
In particular, this situation may occur after you invoke track or
dolly with keyframe statistics toggled on.
To randomize keyframes, select Xform > Randomize from the
Action window.
Workaround
Try not to use Tgl Stats in the same session as Randomize. If the
randomize function does not work as expected, save your files
and restart StudioTools. Randomize should work properly in
the new session.
Limitation
Action curves or keyframes that are picked in the Action window
Solaris
may not highlight, even though they are picked. This is an
intermittent problem.
Workaround
Track or zoom in the Action window after making a selection,
and the window updates and displays the items correctly.
Release Notes
95
Animation Notes
Dynamics
Limitation
When using Animation > Run dynamics, if there is a scale
transformation up the DAG hierarchy from a dynamic object and the
dynamic object is rotating dynamically, the scales may not be
properly compensated for and the object may get stuck or move
strangely.
Workaround
Run the dynamics simulation on the root node.
Limitation
When you are using Animation > Run dynamics, locally linked forces
sometimes have no effect.
Workaround
When StudioTools is running a dynamics simulation, if any of
the objects have locally linked forces (exclusively linked
lights), the simulation must be run on the leaf nodes of the
simulation for the local links to have any effect.
Limitation
The Active Environment shader collision wall conflicts with a
coincident passive surface when using Animation > Run dynamics.
If a simulation set consists of an active object dropping onto a
passive surface, and that surface is coincident with an active
“Floor” collision wall (in the Environment shader), the object
does not rebound off the surface, but instead comes to a dead
stop.
Workaround
Either turn off the “Floor” collision wall, or remove the
Passive surface from the simulation to make the active object
bounce.
Limitation
When you are using Animation > Run dynamics, dynamic objects
that intersect at the beginning of a simulation may not behave
correctly. For example, the objects may not move at all.
Workaround
Ensure that none of the objects in the dynamics simulation
intersect.
Note that if the objects have BBOX collision on, the bounding
boxes in their unrotated world space must not overlap. The
Release Notes
96
Animation Notes
world space bounding box may not be the same bounding box
which results when Object Display > Tgl bounding box is used. A
confirmation box is displayed warning you that objects are
initially in collision.
Tip The objects must be a small tolerance apart. Also, objects

may appear to be apart, even when their tessellated
geometry still intersects. If you want objects to intersect,
group them.
Limitation
Instanced geometry does not work with Animation > Run dynamics.
Workaround
Ensure that dynamics simulations are always run on non-
instanced objects.
Particles
Limitation
Particle collisions with displaced surfaces may not work as expected.
Animated displacement maps may allow particles to go
through the collision surface.
Warped surfaces with transforms above the surface do not
collide correctly.
Workaround
For a surface with an animating displacement map, you may
need to use additional forces to keep the particles away from
the surface. For a warped surface, applying Edit > Zero Xforms
will help.
Limitation
Particle emission doesn’t work correctly with symmetric nodes or
instances.
Symmetric nodes are just like instances, particles are only
emitted from one half of the symmetric pair. As well, the
instance that emits is not the same one in the interactive as in
the renderer.
Workaround
Create real geometry from symmetric objects before doing
particle emission.
Release Notes
97
Animation Notes
Limitation
Particles don’t display properly when viewed in construction planes.
Workaround
Set up a camera to mimic the construction plane view.
Limitation
Hair cannot be split using Animation > Run dynamics.
If particles are of the type HAIR, Split is ON, and any force is
applied to the hair, the segments will start to come apart.
Workaround
To avoid this situation, do not use the SPLIT Hit Method option
when the particle motion type is HAIR.
Limitation
Confusion with particles emitted as a checker pattern (Animation >
Run dynamics; Windows > Multi-lister-particles, or checker texture).
When the checker texture is mapped to parameters that use

the alpha channel of the texture (for example, they are not
colored), then the color1 and color2 parameters are ignored.
Workaround
To set the relative intensity of the checks for alpha mappings
you must use the Contrast or the alpha amult and aoffset
parameters. Among the alpha mappings are: Bump,
Displacement, Reflectivity, Particles per second, Particle Speed, and
Hair Length Map.
Limitation
Collisions may look incorrect when you are using Animation > Run
dynamics.
The drawing of particles in the modeler may make particles in

collision appear not to collide and their motion to be in the
wrong direction.
This is because particles are drawn as lines between the
beginning and the end of each time step. If, inside a time step,
a collision would have occurred to change the particle’s
direction, it is not reflected in the line drawn between the start
and end of the time step.
Workaround
To get a more accurate representation of particle motion,
increase the By value in the Animation > Run dynamics window.
Release Notes
98
Animation Notes
Limitation
The particle system size alters particle speed for SOLID or HAIR
Motion Types.
The speed of a particle is related to the mass and the size of the
particle, so that if the particle size is changed, the particle will
move faster. The size of the particle is also used for rendering.
Therefore, if particles are made to appear larger, their behavior
is also affected.
Workaround
To control this behavior, change the particle size to the desired
rendered size, and then adjust other particle parameters such
as mass or speed.
Limitation
Particle run-up for Anim > View frame prevents you from resuming
Animation > Run dynamics.
If a dynamics simulation is run, paused, and then viewed

using Anim > View frame or Animation > Playback (which would
cause a particle run-up to occur), the next time Animation > Run
dynamics is used to view the simulation, it will start from the
beginning, instead of continuing from where it was paused.
Workaround
To avert this problem, continue Run dynamics simulations right
to the end, or avoid using View frame or Playback when a
simulation is interrupted and will be continued later. Another
solution is to toggle particles OFF (Display > Tgl particles).
Limitation
The renderer cannot incorporate objects or particle emitters whose
visibility is animated into a dynamic simulation if they are not
visible at the first frame.
Workaround
If an object is a particle emitter or is used in a dynamics
simulation or serves as an object for collisions, and its
visibility is animated, ensure that its visibility is ON in the first
frame of a dynamics simulation or at the start frame for
particle emission before rendering the animation.
When you are animating the visibility of an object that
particles will collide with, run the simulation in pieces,
stopping and restarting whenever the visibility changes. The
particle files are then saved for rendering.
Release Notes
99
Animation Notes
Limitation
Particles are not updated on frames that are not displayed with
Animation > Playback.
If you set a frame rate that causes the playback to drop frames,
then particles will not be updated on those frames, and lag
further and further behind the rest of the animation.
Workaround
Use Playblast to see the particles at a synced rate.
Limitation
Particle emission from a light may appear incorrect when using
Animation > Playback if any of the light nodes are animated.
Workaround
Ensure that the lights are not optimized during playback by
checking the setting in the Optimization Options section of the
Animation > Playback options window.
Limitation
Toggling particle display with the option box open will not toggle
particles OFF.
Workaround
Toggle again without opening the option box.
Limitation
If you use Animation > Run dynamics to save particle files, and the
start frame is NOT the same as the Emission start frame, the
particles saved will not be the same as in playback, since Run
Dynamics does NOT do particle runup.
Workaround
Set the start frame to include the runup time, and then delete
the unneeded particle files afterwards. To determine the runup
time, use the Emission start time, or the Start frame minus the
Max particle life span, whichever is later.
Playback Options allows you to save particle files directly
from playback. In this case, the runup particles are included
correctly.
Release Notes
100
Animation Notes
Limitation
Instancing particle emitters leads to different behavior in the
interactive preview as compared to the final render. This also applies
to geometry in layers with symmetry.
Workaround
Create copies rather than instances.
Release Notes
101
Animation Notes
OpenModel and OpenAlias
Notes
Information about limitations is divided into these categories:
● General Information on page 102
● General Limitations on page 103
● Changes to Plug-in Code Examples on page 110
Notes
● Not all features mentioned in this section are available for
every StudioTool product.
● UNIX-style pathnames are typically used in this section.
For Windows NT paths, use backslashes (\) instead of
slashes (/), starting at the drive and directory where the
StudioTools product is installed.
General Information
● The StudioTools APIs are documented in the online
documentation. Select Help > Online Docs to open a Web
browser to the main documentation page, whence you can
select the OpenAlias/OpenModel link.
● For UNIX, the application $ALIAS_LOCATION/bin/
print_wire_header now outputs the coordinate
system stored in a wire file. You can use this information
and a wrapper script to invoke your OpenModel
applications with the correct Coordinate axis.
Limitations Fixed
● The method AlTexture::parameterize() has been
fixed to only work only on spherical and cylindrical
projections. This method was incorrectly being allowed to
run on other projection types.
● A core dump has been fixed in
AlCurveCV::setWorldPosition(),
AlPolysetVertex::setWorldPosition() and
AlSurfaceCV::setWorldPosition() methods.
Release Notes
102
OpenModel and OpenAlias Notes
● The method
lUniverse::applyIteratorToLayers() no longer
goes into an infinite loop.
● The method AlUniverse::retrieveStageSet() no
longer duplicates stages.
● The method AlUniverse::setRetrieveOptions()
no longer ignores the keep_layers flag.
● The methods AlTrimCurve::worldSpace3DCopy(),
AlCurveOnSurface::worldSpace3DCopies() and
AlFaceNode::convertToTrimmedSurface() now
return the correct worldspace results even if a
construction plane is active.
● The method AlIntersect::intersect() for surface/
surface intersection has been fixed to handle more cases.
● The method
AlPerspectiveCamera::setTwistAngle() now sets
the angle correctly.
General Limitations
New Limitation
Some general limitations new for this release include:
● StudioTools and OpenModel have different U forms for a
torus.
As a result, a torus tessellated in StudioTools and in
OpenModel will not have the same vertex count.
● StudioTools Pick Component type functionality is not
available in the API.
● The StudioTools Plug-in preferences for setting the
Verbose Messages flag and plug-in path may not work
correctly on the Windows NT platform.
Limitation
Some general limitations from previous releases include:
● AlCluster::addMember() and
AlClusterMember::removeMember() may return
sSuccess even though the operation failed.
● StudioTools does not have a way of untrimming a
trimmed surface.
Release Notes
103
● Particle information is not available through the APIs.
● It is possible to remove an AlMessage callback handler
while in the body of the handler. This will result in a core
dump when the handler returns.
● AlImagePlane::setFrameType() can core dump
under certain situations.
● The cluster effect is backwards in the API. The most recent
cluster added has the first effect.
● AlChannel::expressionString() can core dump if
the expression string is greater than 1024 characters.
● The AlPlayFrame class calls into the animation sub-
system of StudioTools within its constructor and
destructor methods. If a plug-in declares an
AlPlayFrame class as a global variable, then the
constructor is run when the plug-in is loaded as a part of
static constructor initialization. This can cause a core
dump if the plug-in is auto-loaded, since the constructor
tries to call into code that is not yet initialized at startup
time.
● A DAG node could be invisible in another layer even
though its visibility has not been set with the method
AlDagNode::isDisplayModeSet(kDisplayModeIn
visible)
● You cannot change the coordinate system of StudioTools
through the API.
● It is not currently possible to copy curves-on-surface
through the API.
● There is no means for determining what lights are linked
to a surface.
● It is not possible to determine the warped position of CVs.
● OpenModel/OpenAlias cannot access light textures.
● The AlPickList class does not support edit points.
● You cannot set the source texture of a solid projection
texture, nor can you read it at this time.
● The OpenModel libraries do not work properly within a
multi-processing application. Core dumps will occur.
Release Notes
104
● The polygon history example plug-in
polyHistExample.plugin will core dump if instances
are used.
New Limitation
An extra flag is required for C and C++ compiles using static
Windows
libraries.
To build an OpenModel application that uses the static
libraries, you must add the following flag for C and C++
compiles:
/DAPI_STATICLINK
New Limitation
Special programming is required for API code that will run on both
Windows NT and UNIX platforms and share blind data.
Byte ordering is reversed on the Windows NT platform when
compared to IRIX or the Solaris operating environment. As a
result, swapping macros are needed to orient blind data
correctly. Individual types such as float, double, long etc. need
to be swapped.
For more information, refer to the online OpenModel
documentation.
Note This problem cannot be currently fixed within the API,

because the API has no knowledge of the structures that API
applications are using to store blind data.
Limitation
The AlPixFile class does not support GIF files.
Limitation
Using the C++ new and delete functions to create and destroy
memory for blind data can lead to program errors. StudioTools and
OpenModel use malloc() and free() for its blind data memory
creation and destruction routines. Problems can occur if the blind
data has been created with the new command.
There are several cases where StudioTools or OpenModel need
to remove or re-create blind data memory storage during
normal operations. For example, if a delete all operation is
done, all blind data is removed. Also, if blind data is saved in
the wire file, when the file is read in, the blind data storage is
re-created.
Release Notes
105
Limitation
When you are retrieving files, the universe’s blind data may get
obscured because two blind data packets with the same user type
have been attached to the universe.
Workaround
To see two data packets with the same user type, you must
remove the first one, and the second one will then be visible.
Try to avoid using multiple packets with the same IDs. The
order in which these packets are returned by the
blindData() methods is undefined.
Limitation
The OpenModel library libalias_api.so is linked with the
IRIX
multigot option on IRIX.
Core dumps may result if you try to use the OpenModel
libraries on an unsupported version of IRIX with unsupported
compilers.
Consult the ”Development Environment Requirements”
section of the Online API documentation.
Limitation
StudioTools and the API do not handle surface form the same way.
After StudioTools builds a closed surface, the Information
window will report that the surface is open. For efficiency,
StudioTools does not keep track of the closed state of a surface.
Workaround
Use the API methods AlSurface::vForm() or uForm() to
test the points of a surface to determine if it is closed or not.
Limitation
NURBS curves and surfaces are not parameterized from 0 to 1.
Workaround
You must retrieve the knot vector for any geometry and use
the minimum and maximum knot values as the limits of
parameterization for the geometry.
Limitation
The firstShader() methods currently return the last shader
that was evaluated.
Copying shaders from one object to another will reverse the
shader list. (Write out the SDL to illustrate this behavior.) This
Release Notes
106
behavior will lead to problems when layered shaders are used,
because the order of the shaders will be incorrect.
Workaround
Cache the shader list and add the shaders to the new object
starting at the tail of the list. (Please keep in mind that if we fix
this bug in future releases, this solution will cause the list to be
in the wrong order again.)
Limitation
StudioTools cannot generate polyset prelighting information.
Workaround
In StudioTools, use Render > Polyset prelight to create the
prelighting information.
Limitation
The AlSettable::addToSet() method incorrectly returns
status values for sObjectInAnotherSet and
sObjectInExclusiveSet situations.
Workaround
Detect these two conditions by traversing the set lists in the
universe before calling ::addToSet().
Limitation
If per polygon textures are being used in a polyset, then the
AlPolygon::st() method returns a different value than the
AlPolysetVertex::st() method, which does not take into
account whether per polygon textures are on.
Limitation
Plug-ins are provided on an AS-IS basis.
In the directory $ALIAS_LOCATION/ODS/, there are a
number of pre-compiled plug-ins and source code examples.
These plug-ins and source code examples are provided to you
on an “AS-IS” basis.
You are free to make use of these plug-ins and source code
example; however Alias|Wavefront does not provide any
support in connection with them.
Alias|Wavefront makes no warranties, express, implied, or
arising by custom or trade usage, and to the extent permitted
by applicable law, specifically disclaims any implied
warranties of title, noninfringement or of fitness for a
particular purpose to the extent permitted by applicable law,
(i) Alias|Wavefront’s liability in contract, tort or otherwise
Release Notes
107
arising out of or in connection with the plug-ins or source code
shall not exceed the purchase price paid by the customer for
the plug-ins or source code examples, and (ii) in no event shall
Alias|Wavefront be liable for any punitive damages or lost
profits or other special, indirect, incidental, or consequential
damages, including any damages resulting from loss of
business arising out of or in connection with the performance
of the plug-ins or source code examples, even if
Alias|Wavefront has been advised of the possibility of such
damages. The customer shall indemnify Alias|Wavefront and
hold it harmless from and against any loss, claim or damage to
any person arising out of the customer’s use of the plug-ins or
source code examples.
Limitation
The plug-in scheme editor options are not restored correctly when
StudioTools restarts.
Workaround
Restore the options after the plug-in is loaded.
Limitation
Plug-in DSOs are not unloaded when StudioTools exits. As a result,
static destructors are not called when StudioTools exits.
The plugin_exit() function will still be called when
StudioTools exits. Any saving of state required by a plug-in
can be done in the plugin_exit() routine.
Workaround
Unload the plug-in manually through the Plug-in Manager
window to call the static destructors.
Limitation
Unloading an active continuous plug-in through the Plug-in
Manager can cause a core dump under certain situations.
Workaround
Do not allow the plug-in to be unloaded if it is active. You can
set a global variable in the plug-in to track its active state. Set
this variable to TRUE in the init() function and FALSE in
the cleanup() function.
Within plugin_exit(), if the plug-in is active, return a 1 so
that the unloading of the plug-in will fail. This test should be
done before the deleteObject() methods are called in
plugin_exit().
Release Notes
108
Limitation
When setting a plug-in’s integer slider definition, you can set the
range argument to any value in the integer range; however, the slider
will only give values between -100 and 100.
Values less than -100 or greater than 100 can still be entered in
the associated text field, but the slider will only give values
between -100 and 100.
Workaround
Use the undocumented argument slider_range to change the
min/max slider range values from their defaults. For example,
to define an integer slider with a range of -200 to 1000, use the
following Scheme statement:
(list ‘slider_range -200 1000)
(list ‘range -200 1000)
Limitation
Studio cannot correctly handle non-X events; that is, timer, signal
IRIX Solaris
or alternative input events.
If a plug-in adds an event handler using XtAppAddInput,
XtAppAddTimeout, or XtAppAddSignal, StudioTools may
freeze until the next X event is received.
Limitation
The AlAreEqual(const AlObject* o1, const
AlObject* o2) method for detecting if two objects in
StudioTools are equal has a significant FALSE condition.
If both pointers, o1 and o2, are equal and NULL, FALSE is
returned.
Workaround
Test o1 and o2 before calling this function.
Limitation
The method AlCopyOptions::setGroupCopy(boolean)
always produces the same result regardless of what its Boolean
parameter is set to.
The effect in the API is that group copy is always ON. Group
Copy Off (Edit > Duplicate Object) within StudioTools invokes a
continuous function for copying that cannot be supported in
the API.
Release Notes
109
Limitation
AlContinuousFunction::setPrompt() does not display
the prompt right away.
Workaround
Use AlPrintf(kPrompt,...) to output the prompt string
(without formatting) in the “init” callback of the continuous
function. To exclude formatting, end the prompt string before
the first % symbol.
Changes to Plug-in Code Examples

The following table outlines the changes that were made to
plug-in code examples:
In addition to renaming our plug-in examples, we also had to
change the file name extension from .c++ to .cpp to allow
these files to compile on supported platforms.
Plug-in Example Note
applyFunction.c++ Renamed applyFunctionExample.cpp

bake.c++ Renamed bakeAnimation.cpp
clock.c++ No longer shipped
constrainCV.c++ Renamed constrainCVExample.cpp
cont.c++ Renamed continuousFuncExample.cpp
control.c++ Renamed controlExample.cpp
curve2poly.c++ Renamed curve2polygonExample.cpp
cylinder.c++ Renamed createCylinderExample.cpp
deldag.c++ Renamed deleteDagExample.cpp
distance.c++ Renamed calcDistanceExample.cpp
doChannels.c++ No longer shipped
frame.c++ Renamed viewFrameExample.cpp
ground.c++ Renamed createMeshExample.cpp
helix.c++ Renamed createHelixExample.cpp
intersection.c++ Renamed intersectionExample.cpp
Release Notes
110
jptCenterPivot.c++ No longer shipped.

jptDeletePolys.c++ Renamed deletePolygons.cpp
jptDuplicatePolys.c++ Renamed duplicatePolygons.cpp
jptExportMTL.c++ Renamed exportMTL.cpp
jptExtrudePolys.c++ Renamed extrudePolygons.cpp
jptHideOthers.c++ Renamed hideUnselectedObjects.cpp
jptInvertVisible.c++ Renamed toggleObjectInvisibility.cpp
jptNside.c++ Renamed hiliteNSidedPolygon.cpp
jptPolyData.c++ Renamed printPolygonData.cpp
jptSaveCamera.c++ Renamed exportCameraData.cpp
linkObject.c++ Renamed linkObjectExample.cpp
lpen.c++ No longer shipped
motif.c++ Renamed motifExample.cpp
normals.c++ Renamed setNormalFreeze.cpp
nothing.c++ Renamed simpleEditorExample.cpp
pickcount.c++ Renamed printPickCountExample.cpp
polyhist.c++ Renamed polygonHistoryExample.cpp
printWorld.c++ Renamed printWorldExample.cpp
resetTransforms.c++ Renamed resetTransforms.cpp
sball.c++ No longer shipped
setDevice.c++ No longer shipped
slider.c++ No longer shipped
sphere.c++ Renamed createSphereExample.cpp
sunShine.c++ Renamed sunShine.cpp
surf.c++ Renamed createSurface.cpp
tree.c++ Renamed createTree.cpp
tree2.c++ Renamed createTree2.cpp
useMidi5.3.c++ No longer shipped
useMidi6.2.c++ No longer shipped
Release Notes
111
useMidiOut6.2.c++ No longer shipped

xpaint.c++ Renamed launchPaint.cpp
Release Notes
112
Sketching for Industrial Design
Notes (Windows Only)
The limitations in this chapter apply to Sketching for
Industrial Design (available for Windows NT or Windows
2000).
● General Sketching Notes on page 113
● File Import/Export on page 115
● Image Planes on page 116
● Brushes and Pencils on page 117
General Sketching Notes
Limitation
Tablet pressure sensitivity may become lost when you are using
Windows
another painting application (for example, PhotoShop).
Workaround
Exit from StudioTools and then restart StudioTools.
Limitation
It is difficult to use a stylus with track, dolly, and zoom icons.
Windows
Workaround
Use the mouse with the track, dolly, and zoom icons, or use
the hot keys (Alt + Shift) with the stylus to adjust the view.
Limitation
Sketching under transparent surfaces produces blocky artifacts.
Windows
For some graphics cards if you sketch under a transparent
surface that is displayed in toggle shade or diagnostic shading
modes, blocky artifacts appear instead of brush strokes.
Workaround
In the Image Plane Parameters section of the Camera Editor, set
Depth to Foreground, make the surface’s shader fully opaque, or
use a fully opaque diagnostic shading mode.
Release Notes
113
Sketching for Industrial Design Notes (Windows Only)
Limitation
Crop to Window has no effect when you are sketching.
Windows
Windows
If you import an image plane with Crop to Window on, and then
sketch on the image plane, Crop to Window is ignored.
Workaround
Do not import an image plane with Crop to Window on if you
intend to sketch on it.
Limitation
Cannot open BMP files created in StudioTools.
Windows
StudioTools creates 4-channel BMP files. Many graphics
applications (for example, MS Imaging) read only 3-channel
BMP files.
Note The Fcheck utility can read 4-channel BMP files, but it
cannot display the 4th channel.
Workaround
If you have a 4-channel BMP file, use the imgcvt utility to
convert it to 3-channel. If you are exporting an image from
StudioTools, use TIFF format.
Limitation
Undo for sketch operations doesn’t work as expected.
Windows
You can only undo certain sketch operations (for example,
brush strokes, layer operations) when a brush tool is active.
Limitation
Temporary files are not automatically deleted
Windows
StudioTools creates temporary files named SID### (### is a
number) in C:/TEMP but does not automatically delete them.
Workaround
Manually delete these temporary files when StudioTools is not
running.
Release Notes
114
File Import/Export
Limitation
Image planes transferred from StudioTools for Windows NT to
Windows
StudioTools for UNIX appear blank.
If you created a sketch image plane in Windows NT, you lose
the sketch when you move the file to a UNIX platform because
UNIX does not support sketch image planes.
Also, if you save a wire file and its image planes on Windows
NT and then open the file on a UNIX platform, the image
planes appears blank. This is because the path to the image
plane’s image files is incorrect.
Workaround
In StudioTools for Windows NT, export the sketch image plane
as an image file (File > Export > Make picture). Then in
StudioTools for a UNIX platform, load that image file as an
image plane. However, if you then save the wire file in
StudioTools for a UNIX platform, and open it in StudioTools
for Windows NT, it does not contain any sketch image layers.
Another workaround is to save the wire file in StudioTools for
Windows NT, turn off Sketch Layers for all image planes and
save the file under a different filename. Then open that file in
StudioTools for UNIX.
To set the path to the image plane’s image file, open the
Camera Editor (Windows > Edit > Cameras). In the Image Plane
Parameters section, click the Browse button beside Image and
click on the image plane’s image file that you brought over
with the wire file (for example, "Image").
Limitation
Image file paths are absolute when written to an SDL file.
Windows
When you export an SDL file that contains image planes, the
paths to the image files are written to the SDL file as absolute.
Limitation
Importing of image layers fails if there is no free space on the disk
Windows
containing the user’s temporary storage directory.
Workaround
Free up space on disk in C:\TEMP by moving files to another
hard disk or to the Recycle Bin before importing the image
layer.
Release Notes
115
Image Planes
Limitation
When you convert an animation image plane to a sketch image plane,
Windows
the pixels surrounding the image are not completely transparent.
Workaround
Delete the image layer and use File > Import > Image layer to re-
import the image file as an image layer in the sketch image
plane.
Limitation
When you are importing an image plane in a perspective window
Windows
using the Specified setting, the image plane is imported at the wrong
size.
Workaround
Use the Fit Window setting to import image planes into a
perspective window.
Limitation
Orthographic image planes with transparency may distort or shear
Windows
when the image plane intersects the window boundaries.
Description: This and other display problems may occur when
using an HP FX series graphics card.
Limitation
It is not possible to load an image layer if the image filename contains
Windows
the "#" character.
Remove the "#" character by renaming image files before
import.
Limitation
Moving the image layer with curve snap on moves the image plane.
Windows
Workaround
De-select the curve snap button before trying to move the
image layer.
Release Notes
116
Brushes and Pencils
Limitation
When you are sketching at high resolutions (1600x1200), brushes
Windows
use 8-bit color.
Workaround
Work at a lower resolution.
Limitation
Paint appears to shimmer or wriggle when you are sketching over
Windows
existing brush strokes.
Workaround
Reset the view to 1:1 or track or dolly the view to update the
display.
Limitation
You cannot sketch in a Magnify window. If you are viewing a
Windows
sketch in a Magnify window and sketching in its parent
window, brush strokes are not updated in the Magnify window.
Workaround
Click on the Magnify window to update its display.
Limitation
Brush strokes produce blocky artifacts.
Windows
Switching between 3D modeling layers causes paint artifacts
to appear.
Workaround
Undo the brush stroke and move the modeling view window
to update the display before sketching again.
Release Notes
117
EvalViewer Notes (UNIX Only)
The limitations in this chapter are divided into these
categories:
● General Limitations on page 118
● Net Session on page 121
● File Management on page 122
● Polygons on page 124
● Clouds on page 125
General Limitations
New Limitation
Trims or trimmed surfaces will be untrimmed when using the Undo
IRIX Solaris
tool.
Workaround
Don’t use the Undo tool on trimmed surfaces.
Limitation
Colors > Ran (Random) does not set a random color to the
IRIX Solaris
background. And Colors > Def (Default) does not reset the
background color either.
Workaround
Set the background color to what you prefer using the RGB
sliders. If you use File > Exit, your choice is remembered for
subsequent sessions.
Limitation
The ‘A’ key pops the StudioTools window, but does not load the
IRIX Solaris
active EvalViewer model.
Workaround
Many users will not want StudioTools to be loaded with
EvalViewer’s contents. If you want the EV geometry in
StudioTools after you press ‘A’ in EV, you need only paste
(Ctrl+V) into StudioTools. The ‘copy’ from EvalViewer to the
clipboard is already done by the ‘A’ key.
Release Notes
118
Limitation
Sometimes the On/Off toggle indicators for some of the switches get
IRIX Solaris
out of sync.
Workaround
Shut off the switches using a None button to synchronize the
display with the switch status.
Limitation
It is not obvious how to toggle a curvature map or color error map off
IRIX Solaris
and on.
Workaround
Use the back-quote key (‘) for this.
Limitation
Resampling Lines for Number of Points or Segment Length causes
IRIX Solaris
problems with Compare Lines to Surfaces.
Workaround
Prepare your line data set for checking first. Then compute the
comparison of the lines to the surfaces.
Limitation
There is a disparity between units used by EvalViewer and Studio for
IRIX Solaris
OBJ Files.
EvalViewer uses the millimeter as its internal unit and writes
millimeter data to a Wavefront OBJ file. Studio, however, uses
the centimeter as its internal unit, so you may think you see a
factor of 10 size difference when using Wavefront OBJ files
between EvalViewer and Studio if you mistakenly assume that
their internal units are the same.
Note that EvalViewer now provides full unit support for most
units (inches, feet, microns, etc.)
Limitation
Using Alt+Shift+mouse-button with slider bars on the Light and
IRIX Solaris
Color tabs can cause some unusual behavior, depending on the
complexity of your model.
Certain combinations of Alt, Shift and mouse buttons can
disrupt Motif controls.
Workaround
Click on the Multi-View button and try again without pressing
Alt+Shift.
Release Notes
119
Limitation
Transparency is implemented only to turn on the hardware
IRIX Solaris
transparency switch. Some strange looking effects are still possible.
The hardware transparency feature is generally useful for
objects with transparent glass windows where each
transparent glass window is a separate surface and where
these surfaces are at the end of the EvalViewer object list.
Workaround
Select Objects > Visible Objects Last to place visible objects last in
the object list for better transparency effects.
Limitation
Overlay widgets can turn red on some platforms when they are
IRIX Solaris
moved or when other overlay widgets are active.
The toolkits used by EvalViewer have this problem. There is
nothing wrong with the System or the EvalViewer software
when this happens.
Limitation
Display Options > Draw Mirror Half works only around the Y axis.
IRIX Solaris
The Y axis is the convention in the automotive industry, but is
incompatible with Trucking and Aerospace conventions.
Workaround
For X mirror and Z mirror, use Xform > Rotate.
Limitation
If you start drawing a line to do a line cut, and then decide to stop
IRIX Solaris
the line cut operation, make sure you draw the line very short and
EvalViewer will ignore it. The same goes for zooming the view.
Limitation
The pulldown menus in EvalViewer on the Solaris operating
Solaris
environment Version 7 may sometimes turn black or become
illegible.
Workaround
Use the tearoff option (at the top of the pulldown menu) to use
the menus.
Release Notes
120
Net Session
Limitation
Net Session and EVScript have a few limitations:
IRIX Solaris
There are a few buttons and menu items that don’t execute
when replayed from an EV Script or when executed in a
slaved Net Session.
For example:
Query > Line Point
Query > Polygon Vertex
Query > Polygon Center
Query > Object Center
Lines > Join
Lines > Select
Planes > Pick 3 Points
Planes > Pick 2 Points
Planes > Polygon Plane
Planes > Vertex Plane
Planes > Plane of Line
Planes > Plane Normal to Line
Workaround
Avoid these items if you are using Net Sessions or EVScripts.
Limitation
When you are using Net Session, the display on the remote slave
IRIX Solaris
does not show anything meaningful until the master session does a
mouse button down action, like tumble.
Workaround
Yes, you must provide a “next” event from the master session
in order to synchronize the Net Session’s graphic view.
Limitation
When you are using Net Session, the display on the remote slave
IRIX Solaris
does not correctly draw the buttons, the menu, the object lister, etc.
Workaround
This is normal for the slave session. The user at the terminal of
the remote slave session cannot interact with the EvalViewer
window unless the master session releases it. Therefore, it is
not necessary, and it might be misleading, to correctly draw all
the user interaction buttons, etc.
Release Notes
121
File Management
Limitation
It is not obvious how to organize the JPEG Image Gallery.
IRIX Solaris
Workaround
If you wish to use this feature often, use UNIX to rename your
index.html file and save your projects as you go. If you
want to keep multiple projects on-line, we recommend simple
renaming, moving, or deleting the index.html file when
necessary.
You have to know some HTML or be able to use an HTML
editing tool, such as SGI’s WebMagic or Netscape Composer,
to keep many projects up to date without getting too many
image references in one file. We suggest that you keep your
data in projects.
To spin off a set of images as a project to a separate link, do the
following:
1 Copy $HOME/.evalview/JpegHtml/index.html to
$HOME/.evalview/JpegHtml/projectidx.html.
2 Edit projectidx.html. Change the title to the project

title.
3 Delete all the references to pictures not in the project that

you are spinning off. There are 13 text lines in the HTML
file for each picture.
4 Save projectidx.html. If this file is correct, you will be

able to access it from your browser as a file and the images
will display. The first part is done and you haven’t lost
anything. You have a file with pictures now but it is not
referenced anywhere.
5 Edit the index.html file to remove the references to the

pictures in the project. Do not ever remove the line that says
“The-Next-Image-Will-Be-Inserted-Here”.
6 Insert a line of the following form near the head of

index.html file (say after the </h1> line:
<hr>
<a href=projectidx.html>
Curvature Project
</a>
Release Notes
122
7 Save the file and select View JPEGs from the EvalViewer
window to test.
Limitation
Instances from Studio in a wire file are not correctly handled in
IRIX Solaris
EvalViewer.
Workaround
You can work around this by writing out an IGES file or an
STL file from Studio, and then reading that into EvalViewer.
Limitation
The entire path and file name must be specified in the Selection box of
IRIX Solaris
the Output File Lister.
A Motif Standard File Lister is used for file output. If you enter
only the file name in the Selection box, it will be saved in the
current directory, not in the directory shown in the Filter box.
It is recommended that you always hit the Filter button first
and then type in the name.
Limitation
The Name Filter option of the Multiple File Selector does not work.
IRIX Solaris
Limitation
The Motif Object List (a scrolled list) lists only 200 objects.
IRIX Solaris
It updates too slowly when more than 200 objects are listed, so
only 200 objects are listed by default.
Workaround
If you need to interact with more than 200 objects, select Misc >
Object List Size and set it to the number of objects you want
listed.
Limitation
To read IGES line data as line data (rather than as curves or clouds),
IRIX Solaris
you must use File > OpenAs > Open Clouds > IGES or File > OpenAs
> Open Clouds > IGES.
This occurs because the default IGES action is to read the IGES
file as if it were a cloud file or wire file.
Release Notes
123
Polygons
Limitation
Check Polygons as Solid does not seem to work correctly.
IRIX Solaris
Workaround
You must combine vertices before using the solid checking for
all data including STL file data.
Limitation
Polygons to Surfaces is not checking the distance to surfaces
IRIX Solaris
correctly.
Clouds to Surfaces and Polygons to Surfaces do compare to the
underlying B-Spline surface. To get a direct spline distance
comparison, convert the polygons to clouds.
Limitation
When you are using Xform options or View Mesh, sometimes the
IRIX Solaris
processed data ends up in the wrong coordinate system.
Workaround
Use the Xform Apply button first after a view mesh is finalized
for smoothing and curvature content, but before any section
cutting, etc.
Limitation
For the Optimizer tessellator, certain unusual types of control point
IRIX Solaris
configurations result in fewer triangles than are necessary to
maintain a given tolerance
EvalViewer uses a 3D chordal deviation tolerance specified in
millimeters, which are the native units of EvalViewer. We have
found that certain unusual types of control point
configurations result in fewer triangles than are necessary to
maintain a given tolerance.
Workaround
If you experience this problem (which should not occur for
most surfaces), then either:
● use a tighter tolerance than you actually need, or
● use Ctrl-N to activate the Maya tessellator.
Remember that any surface can be tessellated repeatedly at
different tolerances, either alone or with other model surfaces.
Release Notes
124
Clouds
Limitation
Delete Clouds deletes Cloud objects. If you have polygons and cloud
IRIX Solaris
data on the same object and you Delete Clouds, the whole object is
deleted. This occurs only for the Clouds to Polygons option.
Workaround
In general, “Delete X” means “Delete Objects containing X,“so
be careful in deleting objects. You can separate geometry types
(by writing specialized files and then reading them back in.
Use Save as > Clouds and Save as > Polygons.
These delete functions delete only the representation of the
geometry in your workspace; no files are deleted.
Limitation
If you read in cloud data and select Clouds > Quick-Render Cloud (or
IRIX Solaris
‘q’ from the keyboard), you may get an unsatisfactory render or no
render at all.
Workaround
Select Misc > Preferences > Cloud Tolerances and set the
Connection Distance to a higher number. This number should be
high enough to connect points in the cloud, but small enough
to avoid undesired connections. The default is 1 mm. If Quick
render displays nothing, try 5 or 10 mm. This number is
dependent on your scanner.
If you still see nothing (which is possible, and typical for some
types of scanners), then you probably have cloud data that is
not “quick-renderable”. You must then use the View Mesh
features to process your data. You can generally achieve much
better results with the View Mesh options than with the old
Multiple Cloud Section Cutter. It may take slightly more time
to process the data in this manner, but you will get much nicer
sections and a reduced polygon mesh (and faster displays).
See the View Mesh section in the EvalViewer manual for more
details.
Release Notes
125
Release Notes
126
A p p end ix
Release Notes
127
Environment Variables
Overview
Before using StudioTools, you may want to set environment
variables in order to specify directories in which StudioTools
searches for data files, or to set specific StudioTools behavior.
Setting environment variables in UNIX
You set and unset environment variables using the UNIX

commands, setenv and unsetenv. For example, to set the
environment variable AW_LOCATION to /usr/aw, you would
type the following (assuming you are using a csh shell):
setenv AW_LOCATION /usr/aw
You can specify environment variables individually before
each session, or you can place them in your .cshrc or
.login file so that they are automatically set when you log in
to your system. In some cases, you can also set environment
variables directly through the StudioTools user interface. To
see your environment variable settings, use the UNIX
command, printenv.
Note All environment variables that are required to run

StudioTools properly are contained in the default .cshrc
file included with StudioTools. If you make changes to the
environment variables in your .cshrc file and encounter
problems, run setupacct from /usr/aw/alias/bin
(or from the StudioTools install CD) to regenerate the
default .cshrc file.
Setting environment variables in Windows
Add and remove environment variables using the Windows

control panel. Select Start > Control Panel, then click System.
Select the Environment tab. Either select a variable that you
want to delete, or add a variable in the Variable: text field.
StudioTools Environment Variables

Environment variables used in StudioTools are listed below in
alphabetical order. They may or may not work on the
Release Notes
128
Windows platform. For those environment variables that have
been tested, Windows compatibility is indicated.
ALIAS_ALT_FONTDIR (Alias|Wavefront Studio)

The location the user can place alternate font files for use
in their StudioTools session.
Parameters: a valid path to a directory
Default: none
Windows compatibility: Yes
ALIAS_ALT_HELP (Alias|Wavefront Studio)

The location where the Help directory containing the
online help files can be found.
Default: $ALIAS_LOCATION
ALIAS_APP_PROJECT (Alias|Wavefront Studio)

Overrides the CURRENT_PROJECT defined in the
.AliasBrowserPrefs and defines the project that
StudioTools will start-up in.
Parameters: a valid project file name, which is a directory
name in user_data (not including dumpster)
containing all needed subdirectories.
Default: none
ALIAS_BITMAP_LOCATION (Alias|Wavefront Studio)

The location where more icon images can be found.
Default: .Alias/bitmaps
Default for Windows: %ALIAS_LOCATION%\bitmaps
ALIAS_FORCE_DEFAULT_ENVIRON
Sets a default environment in StudioTools upon start-up.
StudioTools loads files from the distribution area. The files
.Aliasprefs and .AliasBrowserPrefs will be
ignored.
Release Notes
129
ALIAS_HIDDEN_CASTS_SHADOWS (Rendering)
Causes hidden objects to cast shadows. You can also set
this in the UI under Render > Render Globals.
Parameters: none
Default: OFF when undefined
ALIAS_HPGL_CFG (Alias|Wavefront Studio)

The location of the plotter configuration file hp_gl.cfg.
Parameters: a valid path to a file
Default: $ALIAS_LOCATION/sys/install/
hp_gl.cfg
ALIAS_ILLUMINATED_SHADOWS_ONLY (Rendering)
Causes all objects to cast shadows, including objects not
linked with shadow casting lights (barring their own cast-
shadows flags).
Parameters: none
ALIAS_LICENSE
Sets your system to automatically invoke a particular
StudioTools product. Use this variable only if you
understand licensing and are sure you don’t want access
to any other products.
Parameters: st (Studio), as (AutoStudio),
ss (SurfaceStudio), ds (DesignStudio)
To disable this variable for UNIX:

◆ If you see the environment variable is defined, type:
unsetenv ALIAS_LICENSE
Note If ALIAS_LICENSE is set in a .login file or equivalent

you should remove the environment variable so that it does
not get redefined the next time you log in.
To disable this variable for Windows:
Release Notes
130
◆ From Start > Settings > Control Panel > System, click on
the Environment tab.
◆ Look for the ALIAS_LICENSE variable. If you see that
it is set, delete it by highlighting it and clicking the
Delete button.
ALIAS_LIGHTFOG_BLOBBY (Rendering)
Allows better fog integration with blobby particles,
assuming your dominant effects come from blobby
particles. (Renderers normally do fog integration well
with non-blobby particles (ex. gas, thin gas), but less so
with blobby particles.)
Parameters: none
ALIAS_LOCATION (Alias|Wavefront Studio)

The path that StudioTools will use to resolve references to
resource files required by the StudioTools executable, such
as DSO library files and scheme files.
Default: $AW_LOCATION/alias
Windows compatibility: In Windows, the environment
variable is automatically set by StudioTools while it is
being executed, and it points to the directory one level
above the bin directory where the StudioTools
executables and .dll files are found. Even if you
explicitly set this environment variable, it is ignored.
ALIAS_LOGO (Alias|Wavefront Studio, UNIX only)

Overrides the Standard StudioTools Splash screen with an
alternate image (specified by the absolute path to the
image).
Default: none
Windows compatibility: No
ALIAS_MAX_TS_PROCESSORS (Rendering)
Sets the number of processors used for tessellation by the
powertracer.
Release Notes
131
Parameters: an integer representing the number of
processors
Default: 1
ALIAS_MULTI_JITTER (Rendering)
Invokes a new, experimental point sampling technique for
anti-aliasing that is better at noise generation, but may
take longer.
Parameters: none
Default: OFF
ALIAS_NO_LOGO (Alias|Wavefront Studio UNIX only)

Disables the StudioTools Splash screen. Outputs to the
Splash Screen will appear in the UNIX shell or, if started
from the icon, in the Console.
Parameters: none
Default: OFF
ALIAS_OCRPATH (Rendering)
The path relative to ALIAS_RENDERLOCATION where the
Open Render Plug-ins reside. For example, if the .o files
for the Open Render plug-ins are in /usr/larry/
render/plugins and you are rendering in /usr/
larry/, then ALIAS_OCRPATH should be set to render/
plugins.
Default: ’.’ (the current working directory)
ALIAS_PIX_SEARCHPATH (Rendering)
The directory where file textures can be found. This is
defined in the .cshrc file as $ALIAS_LIB_LOCATION/
pix/*.
Default: ./texture if not set by the .cshrc file.
Release Notes
132
Windows default: .\
ALIAS_PLOT_INIT (Alias|Wavefront Plotting Control)

The plotter’s initialization string, placed at the beginning
of the HPGL2 files if wanted.
Parameters: the plotter’s initialization string
Default: <ESC %-1BBPIN (<ESC is the escape key for
HPGL2; its hex value is 0x1b)
ALIAS_POWER_STACKSIZE (Rendering, UNIX only)

Sets the maximum size (in bytes) of the per process stack
for the multi-processor renderers on UNIX systems
(PowerCaster and PowerTracer). 2MB of stack per
processor is sufficient for most renders; however, if the
stack becomes exhausted in a PowerCast or PowerTrace of
a given SDL (a stack error, not an out of memory error),
use this environment variable to increase the amount of
stack given to each processor.
The trade off is that there is only 2GB of addressable space
with 32 bit applications, and more address space devoted
to stack means less address space available for model and
texture data. The UNIX default stack size of 32MB will
quickly use up most of the available address space on
machines with large numbers of CPUs.
Parameters: an unsigned integer representing the number
of bytes to use for per process stack
Default: 2 (MB)
ALIAS_PROJECT (Alias|Wavefront Studio) (obsolete)

Setting this variable has no effect on the StudioTools
executable; however, in the default .cshrc file
distributed by Alias|Wavefront, it is set to the value of
ALIAS_DEFAULT_PROJECT from the .AliasPrefs file,
and is referenced in UNIX command aliases defined by
that .cshrc file.
Parameters: a valid project file name
Default: demo
Release Notes
133
ALIAS_PSPLOT_INIT (Alias|Wavefront Plotting Control)
Inserts Postscript commands just after the Postscript
initialization in the Postscript file generated by the plot
command. A knowledge of Postscript commands is
necessary to use this variable. See also
ALIAS_PLOT_INIT.
Parameters: strings of Postscript commands
Default: no Postscript commands are inserted
ALIAS_PSPLOT_INIT2 (Alias|Wavefront Plotting Control)

Inserts Postscript commands just after the viewport
commands in the Postscript file generated by the plot
command. A knowledge of Postscript commands is
necessary to use this variable.
Parameters: strings of Postscript commands
Default: no Postscript commands are inserted
ALIAS_REFLECTION_ONLY (Rendering)
Sets all reflection-only objects visible for reflection rays
only. Used for raytracer/powertracer only, when the
reflection-only tag is set on (under render stats).
Parameters: none
Default: OFF (all reflection-only objects are visible for
reflection and refraction rays)
ALIAS_RENDERLOCATION (Rendering)
The location from which you are rendering (used for Open
Render only).
Default: none
ALIAS_RT_BACKGROUND_ON (Rendering)
Sets reflection and refraction rays which do not hit
anything to return either the background color or black
(during ray tracing only).
Release Notes
134
Parameters:
1 reflection and refraction rays which hit nothing

return the background color
0 reflection and refraction rays which hit nothing
return black
Default: refraction rays return the background color;

reflection rays return black
ALIAS_RT_SHADOW_OFFSET (Rendering)
Sets the shadow offset to be used during ray tracing (to
avoid self-shadowing).
Parameters: a floating point value
Default: 0.0
ALIAS_SDL_LONGFORM (Rendering)
Allows many more comments to be included in the SDL
file. The quantity of comments was reduced to make SDL
files smaller as of V7.0.
Parameters: none
ALIAS_SHADOW_FARCLIP (Rendering)
Sets the far clipping plane of the shadow map. Use only
when light fog (and resulting shadows) is shone into the
distance.
Parameters: a floating point value
Default: OFF
ALIAS_SP_LOCATION (Alias|Wavefront Studio, IRIX only)

The location of Studio Paint (defined in the .cshrc file).
Default: $AW_LOCATION/studiopaint
Release Notes
135
ALIAS_SWITCH_SCANLINES_ EVEN_ODD_SENSE (Rendering)
Causes field rendered images to be constructed in the
format that Composer expects, versus the (now obsolete)
format that the old Alias video output facility expected
(the default).
Parameters: none
Default: OFF
ALIAS_TEMP_DIR (Animation, UNIX only)

A temporary directory used when invoking movieplayer,
if TMPDIR is not defined.
Default: /usr/tmp (if neither TMPDIR nor
ALIAS_TEMP_DIR are defined)
ALIAS_TEMP_DIRECTORY (Alias|Wavefront Studio, UNIX only)

The temporary directory used by the StudioTools store
and retrieve routines. This path may be used as an
alternative to TMPDIR (for example, when you are
working with large models which generate large wire
images, and do not wish to, or cannot, have such a large
TMPDIR partition).
Default: none
ALIAS_TO_INVENTOR_OPTS (Data Transfer, UNIX only)

Specifies the default options to be used by the AlToIv
(Alias Wire File to Inventor/VRML file) conversion
program. Options specified on the command line when
AlToIv is executed override the default options specified
via this environment variable.
Parameters: see the following table.
-help output ALIAS_TO_INVENTOR_OPTS parameters (listed below)

-binary output binary inventor
-ascii output ascii inventor
Release Notes
136
-verbose display more detailed messages
-quiet operate with no feedback
-notransforms output world space objects
-alltransforms output full hierarchy with transforms at each DAG node and
object space objects
-transforms output required transforms at each DAG node and object space
objects
-tri tessellate all NURBS surfaces to triangles using render stats
window settings
-quad tessellate all NURBS surfaces to quads (where possible) using
render stats window settings
-nurb output NURBS surfaces
-cameras output cameras
-nocameras don't output cameras
-instances convert StudioTools instances to Inventor instances
-noinstances convert StudioTools instances to copies
-inline create inline texture data instead of references
-noinline create referenced textures where possible (for file textures only)
-inventory create a single Inventor material or texture per StudioTools
material or texture, and instance per object
-noinventory create an Inventor material or texture per object
-units <name> output units with specified name, where name is: MICRONS,
MILLIMETERS, CENTIMETERS, METERS, KILOMETERS,
INCHES, FEET, MILES.
-nounits don't output units
-scale <scale> scale Inventor file by specified amount
-xres <resolution> for non-file textures sample to this resolution
-yres <resolution> for non-file textures sample to this resolution
Default: -ascii -quiet -notransforms -nurb

-nocameras -noinstances -noinline
-noinventory -nounits -scale 1.0 -xres
256 -yres 256
Release Notes
137
ALIAS_V5_USE_BACKGROUND (Rendering)
Adds lighting on top of a use-background colored surface.
Parameters: none
Default: OFF
ALIAS_WORKENV (Alias|Wavefront Studio)

The location that becomes the current working directory
on execution of StudioTools (that is, the directory above
the user_data directory that the user wishes to use with
StudioTools). This environment variable is set to $HOME in
the .cshrc file.
Default: ’.’ (the current working directory) if not defined
in the .cshrc file.
Default for Windows: \aw\user_id\Alias
AW_LOCATION (Alias|Wavefront Studio, UNIX only)

The location of the installation tree for all Alias|Wavefront
products (defined in the Alias|Wavefront standard
.cshrc file). It can be an NFS mount point to another
machine that is acting as a software server, but is best
implemented as a local directory for performance reasons.
Default: /usr/aw
AW_PROD_ENV (Alias|Wavefront Studio, UNIX only)

The Alias|Wavefront Production Environment is set to
either studio, tav, or explore in the Alias|Wavefront
standard .cshrc file according to which package is
installed. It is used by Composer and other applications
that are common between environments to determine
which set of environment variables to use.
Parameters: studio, tav, or explore
Default: studio, tav, or explore
DISPLAY (UNIX: X Windows)

The host and/or screen that X11 (the window system) uses
for the display. Alias|Wavefront products do not respect
this setting and will only display on the local screen.
Release Notes
138
Parameters:
hostname:displaynumber.screennumber (for
example, spiff:0.0)
Default: ':0.0'
DRCTMPDIR (Rendering, UNIX only)

The temporary directory (TMPDIR) used by the
Distributed Render Controller (DRC).
Default: /usr/tmp
EDITOR (UNIX only)

A fall-back resource used in the databrowser if
ALIAS_EDITOR (ASCII Editor) is not set, or if
ALIAS_EDITOR is set to Custom and
ALIAS_EDITOR_APP (Custom editor) is not set under
Editor Options in Alias Preferences.
Default: none
FIXED_DISPLACEMENT (Rendering)
Sets displacement mapping to ignore the magnitude of the
tangents, and displace the geometry a fixed distance from
the original surface regardless of deformation or
parameterization of the original surface.
Parameters: none
Default: OFF
HOME (UNIX)
The user’s home directory. This system environment
variable is set automatically during login, and should not
normally be changed.
Default: the user’s home directory
ILICVT (Image Vision, IRIX only)

The user-settable input conversion program for ILIB.
Default: toimg
Release Notes
139
ILOCVT (Image Vision, IRIX only)
The user settable output conversion program for ILIB.
Default: imgcvt
PATH (UNIX)
A list of paths to bin directories where executables are
found. This environment variable is set in the .cshrc file.
Parameters: valid directories separated by a ’:’
Default: /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin
SEPARATE_GLOW_FILES (Rendering)
Writes an image <pixfilename>.glow that contains
only the glow aspects.
Parameters: none
Default: OFF
SHELL (UNIX)
The name of the current shell (for example, csh, sh, ksh,
bsh) generated during login from the last field of the
user’s entry in /etc/passwd .
Parameters: do not change
Default: csh (typically)
TMPDIR (UNIX)
The location for temporary files created by any programs
running in UNIX.
Default: /usr/tmp
UNIFORM_HAIR_NOISE (Rendering)
Sets uniform hair noise (to be used when hair shows
significant flicker during an animation).
Parameters: none
Default: OFF
Release Notes
140
USER (UNIX)
The current session’s user id name. This environment
variable is set automatically during login, and should not
normally be changed. It is modified by su and login
commands.
Parameters: do not change
Default: user id name
XAPPLRESDIR (X Windows, UNIX only)

The location used by X (the window system) to search for
resource files set by a user to override the defaults.
Example of a valid path: ~bob/lib/X11/app-
defaults
Default: none
Release Notes
141
Release Notes
142
Index ALIAS_OCRPATH 132
ALIAS_PIX_SEARCHPATH 132
CVs 78, 79
displacement maps 97
ALIAS_PLOT_INIT 133 image planes 81
Numerics ALIAS_POWER_STACKSIZE 13 lights
3D textures 3 particle emissions 100
Studio Paint 74 ALIAS_PROJECT 133 shader glow 65, 66
8-bit color ALIAS_PSPLOT_INIT 134 visibility 99
brushes 117 ALIAS_PSPLOT_INIT2 134 adjusting or animating 63
9.0 Round tool 46 ALIAS_REFLECTION_ONLY 13 warp parameters 71
4 Animation 99
A ALIAS_RENDERLOCATION 13 > Action 93
action curves 4 > Flipbook
not highlighted 95 ALIAS_RT_BACKGROUND_ON > Options > Dbl Buffered 84
Action Editor 94 134 > Playback 99, 100
Action Window 92 ALIAS_RT_SHADOW_OFFSET > Playback options >
Action window 20, 94, 95 135 Playblast 81
keyframe statistics 95 ALIAS_SDL_LONGFORM 135 > Run dynamics 96, 97, 98, 99,
Active Environment shader 96 ALIAS_SHADOW_FARCLIP 13 100
adding 5 animation
image planes 82 ALIAS_SP_LOCATION 135 and frame numbers 92
addMember function 103 ALIAS_SWITCH_SCANLINES 1 curves 94
addToSet function 107 36 flickering 65, 66
Adjust Clipping Plane 12, 5 ALIAS_TEMP_DIR 136 hierarchical 79
adjusting ALIAS_TEMP_DIRECTORY 136 not copied 76
visibility 63 ALIAS_TO_INVENTOR_OPTS 1 animation curves
After Modification option 40 36 instances 76
aim constraints 90 ALIAS_V5_USE_BACKGROUN Animation Notes 8, 76
AlAreEqual function 109 D 138 Anti-Aliasing Definition
AlCluster ALIAS_WORKENV 138 Change 75
addMember 103 AliasBatch anti-aliasing parameters 75
addMember() 103 error messages 49 API code
AlClusterMember AliasBrowserPrefs 7 for Windows NT and UNIX 105
removeMember() 103 AliasToRenderman 74 applications
Alias Preferences Align Tool 39 external 52
Safety Options 12, 9 allocating multi-processing 104
ALIAS_ALT_FONTDIR 129 memory for blind data 105 ApplyAMC plug-in 15
ALIAS_ALT_HELP 28, 29, 129 AlPerspectiveCamera artifacts
ALIAS_APP_PROJECT 129 setTwistAngle() 103 grid-like 70
ALIAS_BITMAP_LOCATION 12 AlPickList class 104 assemblies, large 50
9 AlPixFile class 105 available features
ALIAS_FORCE_DEFAULT_ENV AlPlayFrame class 104 by operating system 2
IRON 129 AlPrintf function 110 by StudioTools product 2
ALIAS_HIDDEN_CASTS_SHAD Alt key 9, 5, 14 AW_LOCATION 138
OWS 130 alternative input events 109 AW_PROD_ENV 138
ALIAS_HPGL_CFG 130 AlToIv function 53 aXe editor 23
ALIAS_ILLUMINATED_SHADO analytical geometry nodes 53
WS_ONLY 130 anamorphic images 63 B
ALIAS_LIGHTFOG_BLOBBY 1 Anim sweep 79 background color 14
31 Anim tool setting 118
ALIAS_LOCATION 131 Set motion 78 backslashes (\)
ALIAS_LOGO 131 View frame 99 in file path names 31
ALIAS_MAX_TS_PROCESSORS animating bake plug-in 15
131 blend surfaces 58 Batch Renderer 61
ALIAS_MULTI_JITTER 132 cameras 77 Batch Renderer (Renderer and
ALIAS_NO_LOGO 132 constraints 90 Raytracer) 61
Release Notes
143
Index
bending surface 39 number values 13 compatibility between
Birail surfaces 37, 40 transparency 68 platforms 115
black Character Builder compiles, C+ or C++ 105
objects rendered as 57 Modify 87 compositing product
windows 24 Check Polygons as Solid 124 environment variable
blanim plug-in 15 Checkpoint 12, 9 required 62
blend curves 35 checkpoint saves 35 compressed files 61
manipulators in 43 chord length 72 computers 2
blend surfaces circular filleting 37 concurrent installation, Solaris 23
rendering 58 clipping planes 12, 5 constraints
blind data 105, 106 closed or open surfaces 106 aim
creating memory for 105 Clouds multiple 85
destroying memory for 105 45 animating 90
blobby surface > Quick-Render Cloud 125 invisible objects 91
rendering 67, 68 to Surfaces 124 orientation 89
blocky artifacts 113, 117 clouds per object 85
BMP files deleting 125 remapping 85
opening 114 rendering 125 spline handles 89
Boolean tools 33 cluster effect 104 construction history 38
BOT files 72 Cluster Limitations 91 CVs
browsers, Web 27 cluster members animating 78
brush strokes copying 92 on construction planes 32
blocky artifacts 117 clusters surfaces with
brushes and IK 88 adjusting 40
8-bit color 117 copying 92 can’t be transformed 34
building not copied 76 construction planes
birail surfaces 37 pivot points 91 deleted 32
fillets 42 polyset vertices nod drawn 91 particles 98
buttons splitting 91 constructor curves
displaying 20 collisions scaling 40
particles 98 Control key 25
C with walls 96 cookies, online
C+ or C++ compiles 105 color accepting 30
C++ functions of particles 67 coordinate system 104
delete 105 color editor 14 Copy Node 76
new 105 opening 14 copying 80
callback handlers 104 color map cluster members 92
camera particles 69 clusters 92
Film Offset greater than Film color settings curves on surface 104
Back 59 grid and background colors 14 CV animation 80
camera presets Color tabs light animation 82
batch renderer 63 using with mouse 119 copying shaders 106
cameras colored shadows 58 core dumps 104
animating 77 Colors OpenModel 106
Caps Lock key 25 > Def (Default) 118 setFrameType 104
capture plug-ins 16 > Ran (Random) 118 corners
cards graphics cards colors 9.0 Round tool 46
Elite 3D 26 incorrect display 25 CPUs
CAT Direct Connect untrue display 21 limitations on Intel Pentium
CAI format 51 command pop-up III 19
CATIA 51 Expression Control Window 77 creating
CDE tool chest 26 comments in SDL 64 light animation 82
CGI scripts 28 Compare Lines 119 memory for blind data 105
changing comparing cross-section curvature 33
locator position 42 objects 109 cross-sections, visual 40
Release Notes
144
Index
current window > Del active 13 dolly icon 113
viewing snapshots of 12, 8 Delete Clouds 125 dollying
curvature maps 119 delete function (C++) 105 slow 11
curvature tool Delete key 13 double-click 7
with shell geometry 33 deleting 125 draw_footprint plug-in 15
Curve Edit clouds 125 drawing
> Create > Combine curves 41 types of geometry 125 particles 98
> Create > Duplicate curve 41 depth of field 64 pivots 80
> Duplicate curve 39 destroying DRCTMPDIR 139
> Modify > Curve editor 41 memory for blind data 105 DSOs 108
> Modify > Stretch 42 diagnostic shading 44 dual installation, Solaris 23
curve names 81 digitizer tablet 113 Duplicate Objects Options box 63
Curve Networks Direct Modeling Control Panel 44 duplicating
and triangles 43 direct render curve-on-surface 39
curve on surface 36, 41 after animation 57 objects 85
copying 104 Direct Render window 56 Dynamic Draw Mode,
curve-on-surface direct render window optimized 36
duplicating 39 incomplete rendering 56 dynamic objects
Curves direct renderer rotating 96
> Autotrace 42 fails to render 57 that intersect 96
Curves 41 directory paths 52, 115 Dynamically Shared Objects
curves disappearing particles 69 (DSOs) 53
appear faceted 34 disclaimer Dynamics 96
multiple knots 41 plug-ins 17, 107 dynamics
NURBS 106 source code examples 17, 107 and instanced geometry 97
projecting 23 displacement mapping 72 dynamics simulation
radius 42 displacement maps 69, 84 restarting 99
revolving 37 animated 97
rotating, scaling, or moving 34 Display E
segments 77 > Tgl Render Status 61 edges
stretching 42 DISPLAY environment 9.0 Round tool 46
tangent alignment 43 variable 138 edgescan plug-ins 16
with CVs 34 Display Options Edit
custom shaders 74 > Draw Mirror Half 120 > Cut 93, 94
CVs display options, changing 35 > Duplicate channels 80
animating 78, 79, 80 Display Tools > Duplicate object 63, 92
face-surface 83 >Tgl Stats 95 > Paste 94
invisible 35 displaying > Paste keyframes 93
multiple 39 multiple files 60 > Paste segment 93
multiple or piled up 34, 36 templated objects 8 > Undo 42, 94
piled up 33 DisplayTgls edit points 104
warped position 104 >Shade 35 editing
Cyberware 45 DisplayTools an icon 6
> Tgl sound graph 95 EDITOR 139
D distorted editor windows 17, 6
DAG nodes 78 image planes 116 saving 10, 6
invisible 104 Distributed Shared Objects 108 Elite 3D graphics 26
data packets 106 dithering 84 Elite 3D graphics cards
Data Transfer doChannels plug-in 15 flashing windows 25
input 48 documentation incorrect colors 25
Data Transfer Notes 48 limitations 30 emitting
deformation notes 27 particles 67, 69
ShapeShifter 83 reading from a Web server 27 in checker pattern 98
degenerate points 36 searching 29 encapsulated PostScript 48
Delete setting location of 28 end tangents 41
Release Notes
145
Index
environment variables 128 > Show > Pix 59 for online documentation 29
for online help 28 showing full-screen render 26 frame extension names
Project 7 > Show pix 60 padding 82
using 128 file browser Frame Type 57
error messages icons 10 freeing
AliasBatch 49 file extensions memory for blind data 105
Evaluate negative 75 functions
> Cross section 36 padding 62 addToSet 107
> Min/Max 33 file paths 115 AlAreEqual 109
EvalViewer Notes 118 File Reference editor 10 AlPrintf 110
event handlers 109 file textures 82 AlToIv 53
EVScript 121 file types expresssionString 104
Explicit Control BOT 72 firstShader 106
Align setting 39 EPS (PostScript) 48 gauss 79
exporting GIF 105 IvToAl 53
editor windows 10, 6 IGES Cloud 123 plugin_exit 108
screens 10, 6 IGES PolyLine 123 rand 79
Expression Control window 77 IGES wire 123 removeMember 103
expressions 81, 104 JPEG 122 setFrameType 104
expressionString function 104 mask 75 setGroupCopy 109
extensions OBJ 119 setPrompt 110
padding 62 particle 100 st 107
External Applications Window 52 PIX 61, 82 toalias 5
Extrapolate option 39 SDL 87 undo 93
extruding STL 52 FX-6 graphics card 21
swept surfaces (Tube) 39 TIFF 61
wire 10, 6, 123 G
F filenames gauss function 79
F5 key 10 extensions 82 General Notes, StudioTools
faces files products 2
emitting particles 67 compressed 61 generation curves, long 40
with CVs 34 from older versions 62 geometry 80
Face-surface CVs 83 locked 7 CATIA Planar FACE 51
facets on surfaces 34 sharing 7 degenerate 33
faint shadows 58 SID 114 flipping 89
FCheck filleting in large-scale models 34
untrue color 21 circular 37 in layers with symmetry 101
fcheck function 60, 61 over surface poles 38 in Perspective window 62
features fillets instanced 97
on platforms and products 31 building 42 shells 33
StudioTools filters symmetric 76
by operating system 2 Expression Control 77 symmetric layers 33
by product 2 firstShader function 106 templated 8
File fixed limitations ghost images
> Checkpoints 12, 9 OpenModel and APIs 102 of option boxes 19
> Export > Current window 10, FIXED_DISPLACEMENT 139 of Stage Editor listing 8
6, 8 flashing screens 82 GIF files 105
> Export > Screen 10, 6, 8 Flipbook 84 glows
> External Applications dithering 84 missing 64
Window 52 Flipbook 75 shader 65, 66
> New image plane 82 FLOW option 78 shine through objects 65
> OpenAs > Open Clouds > fog 68 Glows, Fog, and Special
IGES 123 rendering 67 Effects 64
> Output > Plot 10, 31 fonts, non-standard 13 GMX2000 video cards 20
> Output > Print 21 footprint plug-in 15 graphics cards
Release Notes
146
Index
Elite 3D 25 missing 26 geometry 97
FX-6 21 textures 68 invisible 63
HP FX4+ 20 IGES particle emitters 101
limitations on SGI Visual Cloud data 123 integer sliders 109
PCs 19 point clouds 45 Intel Pentium III CPUs 19
grid color 14 PolyLine data 123 Intergraph video cards 20, 92
grid not updated 77 Version 5.3 52 Internet Explorer 27
grid snap 9, 5, 78 IGES files cookies 30
group copy 109 with trimmed surfaces 51 intersecting
group nodes IK and Constraint dynamic objects 96
locators 33 Limitations 84 objects
IK animation picking 36
H joints lock up 86 surfaces 36
hair splitting 98 IK handles Intersections and Projections 36
hardware 2 goals 88 Inventor
hardware limitations resetting options 85 import and export 53
Hewlett-Packard 20 IK skeletons VRML translator 51
IRIX 22 symmetric layers 86 Inventor files 53
Solaris operating image files Inventor Import/Export 53
environment 23 compressed 61 invisible
UNIX 22 directory paths 115 instances 63
Windows 19 managing 122 objects 77, 80, 99
hardware transparency switch 120 image layer constraints 91
Help won’t load 116 particle emitters 99
> Help on Function 30 image layers surfaces 67
> Online Docs 102 importing 115 IRIX 2
see documentation 27 moving unsupported version 106
Hewlett-Packard machines moves image plane 116 IsoAngle tool 57
limitations 20 image plane isoparms, multi-colored 35
hidden line option 56 moves unexpectedly 116 IvToAl function 53
hidden-line rendering 62 image plane animation 57 JavaScript 27
hierarchical animation 79 image planes 115 jitter
high-degree surfaces 48 adding 82 on shadows 71
Highlight tool animating 81 jointlib plug-in 15
Surf curvature tool 57 importing 116 joints
high-resolution retrieving 82 limits 90
sketching 117 updating 10 locking up 86
HOME 139 with transparency 116 JPEG files 122
hot keys images JPEG Image Gallery 122
fail to respond 11 anamorphic 63 jpt plug-ins 15
losing definitions on installation display problems keyboard layouts 25
(UNIX) 22 with HP VisualizeFX 21 keyframe statistics 95
special characters 13, 11 implied tangency keyframes 93
hotkey editor and triangles 43 not highlighted 95
entering text 12 ImportASF plug-in 15 randomizing 95
using 12 ImportHTR plug-in 15 knots, multiple 41, 62
HP FX4+ graphics card 20 importing large assemblies 50
hulls image layers 115 layered shaders 72
invisible 35 image planes 116 faint, colored, or absent
paint textures 60 shadows 58
I periodic (closed) surfaces 50 layers with symmetry 101
icons 19 in EvalViewer 118 Layouts
editing in Xpaint 6 installation >Display 35
in file browser 10 dual, on Solaris 23 light decay 74
in Multi-lister 74 instances 105 light glows
Release Notes
147
Index
not fully occluded 66 menus mapping 20
Light tabs illegible in EvalViewer 120 new function (C++) 105
using with mouse 119 menus remain selected 12 new session 10, 35
Light Warps 69 micro-sliders 13 no shadows 58
lights minimizing No. of Papers option 31
animating Studio windows 13, 14, 61 nodes
particle emissions 100 missing not supported 53
animation icons 26 non-alphabetical characters
creating and copying 82 Modeling Notes 32 in hot keys 13, 11
linked 96, 104 models non-standard fonts 13
position of geometry 34 normals
motion blur 70 modifier keys 119 reversing 38
textures 104 modifying normals plug-in 16
with same attributes 94 in character builder 87 null nodes 92
line cuts 120 Motif 119, 123 nullobj plug-in 16
linear tangents 77 Motif Object List 123 Num Lock key 6, 37
lines Motion Blur 70 number values
comparing 119 motion blur 86, 89, 90 changing 13
resampling 119 position of lights 70 NURBS curves and surfaces 106
linked lights 96 raytracing 70 OBJ files 119
listing shadows 70 Object
more than 200 objects 123 motion path curves Text
loading with knot multiplicity 62 text not displayed 20
image layer 116 motion paths 78, 79 Object Edit
local axes 84 mouse buttons 10, 5, 119 > Align 39
local links 96 moving 34 > Edit comment 17, 6
locator position image layer > Extend 39
changing 42 moves image plane 116 > Fit b-spline 41
locators Studio windows 61 > Offset 34
are deleted 33 windows 20 > Smooth 41
locking MS Imaging 114 Objects
files 7 multi-chain IK > AddIKHandles 85
Magnify window animation 86 > Text 13
sketching in 117 orientation vs. position 88 objects
making objects visible 80 Multi-Lister 73 appear black when rendered 57
managing Multi-lister comparing 109
image files 122 icons 74 constraints 85
manipulator axes 43 multiple aim constraints 85 deleted 32
manipulators 43 Multiple File Selector duplicating 85
disappear 43 Name Filter 123 hidden by View Panel 10
mapping multiple files in focus against blurry 64
networked drives 20 displaying 60 inactive 11, 8
textures multiple knots 41 invisible 80, 99
to particle parameters 68 multiple Power Renders 60 listing more than 200 123
marking menus 9 multiple stages 12, 8 picking 9, 11, 5, 8
appear green multiple users 7 transforming after stitching 52
HP Visualizer FX 21 multi-processing applications 104 transparent 68
mask files 75 multi-processor machines 60 visible 80
incompatible between Name Filter warped 69
platform 57 Multiple File Selector 123 occlusion, incomplete 65
maximizing negative file extensions 75 Octane Duo
StudioTools windows 13 Net Session 121 moving windows crashes
memory leaks Netscape Navigator 27 StudioTools 22
VisualizeFX graphic video cookies 30 odd and even fields
card 21 networked drives particles 68
Release Notes
148
Index
online documentation parameter curves 77, 81 Playback 78, 89
searching 29 parameters plot files
to read 27 anti-aliasing 75 overwriting 10
online help parent color 67 plotting options 31
location of files 28 particle files plug-in 16
relevance 30 saving 100 plug-in code examples,
technical manuals 30 particle run-up 99 changes 110
Onyx system Particle Systems 66 plugin_exit function 108
windows disappear 22 particles 68 plug-ins 17
OpenAlias methods collisions 98 auto-loading 104
limitations fixed 102 deforming surfaces 97 availability 15
opening color 67 disclaimer 17, 107
BMP files 114 color map 69 DSOs 108
color editor 14 disappearing 69 have been renamed 15
OpenModel display 100 polyhist 105
libraries 106 emitters scheme editor 108
OpenModel and OpenAlias instancing 101 unloading 108
Notes 102 invisible 99 viewing help 18
OpenModel methods emitting 67, 69 Point of Interest viewing 11, 9
limitations fixed 102 as checker pattern 98 points
Operating System and Hardware hair 98 clouds
for the Solaris Operating information about 104 IGES 45
Environment 23 odd and even fields 68 degenerate 36
Operating System and Hardware rendering 66, 67 Polygons
Limitations for IRIX speed and size 99 to Surfaces 124
Systems 22 updating 100 polygons
Operating System and Hardware Particles (Animation) 97 emitting particles 67
Limitations for UNIX passive surfaces 96 polyhist plug-in 105
Systems 22 patches polysets
Operating System and Hardware specifying 37 per polygon textures 107
Notes 19 path names 52 prelighting 107
operating system limitations Pentium III vertices
IRIX 22 limitations 19 in cluster 91
Solaris operating percentage effect parameters 91 PostScript files (EPS) 48
environment 23 periodic (closed) surfaces Power Render 60
Windows 19 importing 50 powerToon plug-in 16
operating systems 2 PERL ppt plug-ins 16
Optimizer tessellator 124 for online documentation 28, 29 Preferences
option boxes Perspective window > Interface Options 10
ghost images 19 geometry 62 > Palette/Shelves layout 22
options file pick list 77 > Performance options 36, 40
AliasBatch 49 picking 41 primitive object
orientation constraints 89 pivots manipulator disappears 43
output drawing 80 print problems 21
plot files 10 transforming 91 print_wire_header 102
Output File Lister 123 Turntable 78 Project environment variable 7
overlay widgets 120 PIX files 61 Project Tangent
padding referenced 82 manipulators in 43
frame extension names 82 pixel squeeze 63 Project Tangent Editor 43
page numbers 30 pixels projecting
paint shifts in display 81 curves 23
shimmering or wriggling 117 squeeze ratio 63 prompts not displayed 110
painting applications 113 Planar FACE geometry 51 Query Edit 85
Palette layout 22 platform compatibility QuickRender
Parameter Control window 94 rendering 59 camera animation 77
Release Notes
149
Index
cloud data 125 TIFF16 files 59 saving 87
thumbnail images 10, 6 transparent objects 68 searching 29
wire files 57 without lights 12, 8 online documentation 29
radius of curves 42 rendering error 57 online help
rand function 79 Rendering Notes 55 relevance 30
randomizing keyframes 95 Rendering, General Notes 56 segments
ratios 63 rendering, hidden-line 62 change shape 93
Raycast 63 RenderMan 75 SEPARATE_GLOW_FILES 140
Raytrace 63 Resampling Lines 119 server, Web 27
raytracing resetting setFrameType function 104
motion blur 70 IK handles options 85 setGroupCopy function 109
Rebuild Type resolution setPrompt function 110
of curve 41 improper setting with setting
referenced PIX files 82 VisualizeFX 21 background color 118
refreshing restarting setupacct utility 26
user-defined editors 17, 6 dynamics simulation 99 SGI Showcase 48
windows 20 Retrieve Anim 81 SGI Visual PC workstations 19
relevance ranking retrieving shaded mode 35
online help search 30 deletes locators 33 shaded wire
Reload Active 84 image planes 82 display of 61
remapping reversing shader balls 74
constraints 85 surface normals 38 shader glows
remote test render 58 revolving flickering 65, 66
removeMember function surfaces 40 shader list 106
functions unpicked curves 37 shaders
addMember 103 RIB output 74 copying 106
Render Rotate About Origin 78 custom 74
> Quick render 73 rotating 34, 78 first 106
> Show render 60 dynamic objects 96 layered 58, 72
>Show Render 14 Round tool 38, 46 RenderMan 75
render Status bar 59 rounding with same attributes 94
render, remote 58 surfaces 46 shadewire 72
rendered images saddle points 36 shadows
appear incorrect 59 saving and layered shaders 58
rendered surface deletes locators 33 jittered 71
appears incorrect 58 editor windows 10, 6 motion blur 70
renderer particle files 100 ShapeShifter 83
crashes 56 preferences 10 sharing 105
fails to render 57 SDL files 87 blind data 105
won’t start 59 scaling 34 files 7
Renderer, batch 61 CATIA 51 sheared
renderers constructor curves 40 image planes 116
fail 58 objects 33 SHELL 140
starting 59 skeletons 88 shell objects
rendering stitched objects 33 emitting particles 67
blend surfaces 58 STL 52 shifts in pixel display 81
blobby surface 67, 68 scan lines 62 Show Render options 14
clouds 125 scheme editor plug-in 108 ShowImage
fog 67 screens untrue color 21
full-screen pix file 26 exporting 10, 6 Showpix
imported paint textures 60 flashing 82 untrue color 21
on different platforms 59 viewing snapshots of 12, 8 SID temporary files 114
on fields 62, 89 SDL files signal events 109
particles 66, 67 comments 64 simpdisp mode 80
thumbnail images 10, 6 file references 115 single-chain IK
Release Notes
150
Index
with clusters 88 starting a second 58 Fillet Surfaces > 9.0 Round 46
size and speed static destructors 108 Surfaces 37
of particles 99 stereolithography files 52 surfaces
skeletons stitched objects appearing faceted 34
scaling 88 emitting particles 67 bad rendering of holes 58
scaling IK handles 88 scaling 33 Birail 40
sketching STL files 52 birail 37
and Crop to Window 114 stowing closed or open 106
at high resolution 117 Studio windows 61 displaced 69
in Magnify window 117 stretching invisible 67
undoing 114 curves 42 linked to lights 104
sketching tablet 113 Studio 9.0 38 NURBS 106
slashes (⁄) Studio Paint of high degree 48
in file path names 31 3D textures 74 poor quality 37, 40
sliders, integer 109 Studio windows revolving 40
slow system 42 disappear 22 rotating, scaling, or moving 34
smooth line display 44 lowered 13, 14 smoothing 69
smoothing minimizing 61 Square 40
surfaces 69 moving 61 Swept 40
snapj plug-in 17 stowing 61 transparent 68
snapping StudioPaint for IRIX 60 trim divide 38
alignment 43 StudioTools icons 26 trimmed 38
snapshots StudioTools windows untrimming 103
cannot view 8 maximizing 13 warped 97
viewing 12, 8 stylus surfaces, transparent 113
software libraries 106 using with icons 113 SurfaceStudio
Solaris operating environment 2 super texture features not available 2
dual installation 23 on shader balls 74 Swept surfaces 40
solid projection texture 104 surf plug-in 17 swmtool (Solaris)
sound graph 95 surface won’t update 25
source code examples bending 39 symmetric geometry 76
disclaimer 17, 107 surface boundaries, multi- symmetric half 33
source texture 104 colored 35 symmetric nodes
spans surface degrees particle emission 97
changing number of 44 changing number of 44 symmetry 32
large number of 39 Surface Edit IK skeletons 86
special characters > Create CurvesOnSurface > layers with 101
in hot keys 13, 11 Intersect 36 system, slow 42
spline handles > Create CurvesOnSurface > tablet, digitizer 113
solver 89 Project 23, 36 tangents, end 41
with rotation 89 > Trim > Trim Divide 38 technical manuals
spline IK surface form online help 30
with clusters 88 API vs. StudioTools 106 templated geometry 8
Spline Type option 51 surface normals templated objects 11, 8
splitting hair 98 reversing 38 temporary SID files 114
Square surfaces 40 Surfaces tessellating
Square tool 37 > Boundary surfaces > point clouds 45
st function 107 Square 37 tessellator
Stage Editor listing 8 > Fillet surfaces > Bevel 34 Accurate setting 58
stage sets 7 > Fillet surfaces > Round 37, 38 test render 58
stages > Revolve 37, 40 text
ghost images 8 > Swept surfaces > Anim preview 13
multiple 12, 8 sweep 79 Texture Mapping 71
starting > Swept surfaces > Extrude 39 texture mapping 72
renderer 59 >Swept surfaces > Birail 37 and instanced objects 72
Release Notes
151
Index
texture maps 72 tree plug-in 17 animating 77, 99
Quick render 73 tree2 plug-in 17 visible objects 80
textures triangles visual cross-sections 40
icons 68 disappearing 70 VisualizeFX graphics card 21
lights 104 in Curve Networks 43 volume lights
mapping trim construction history 38 missing glows 64
to particle parameters 68 trim curves 51 warp parameters
paint trim divide 38 animated
importing 60 trimmed surfaces 103 motion blur 71
parameters 94 removed with Undo tool 118 warped position of CVs 104
per polygon 107 updating construction history 38 warps 33
solid projection 104 Tube option 39 smoothing 69
source 104 tumbling 11, 9 Wavefront OBJ files 119
super 74 turntable 78 Web browsers 27
with same attributes 94 types of geometry 125 Web server 27, 29
Tgl Shade 73 u direction 37 window
TIFF files 61 UG_ROOT_DIR 49 freezes 59
TIFF16 files UGII_BASE_DIR 50 window borders 14
render incorrectly 59 UGII_LICENSE_FILE 50 window manager pop-up menu 10,
Time Slider 77 undo function 93 5
time sliders 92 Undo tool Windows
time warps 80 removes trimmed surfaces in > Camera editor 82
timer events 109 EvalViewer 118 > Deformation cntrl 92
title bars 14 undoing > Information > Information
TMPDIR 140 sketching 114 window 42
toalias function 5 Ungroup 76 > Multi-lister-particles 98
Toggle Shade mode 73 Uniform Knots curve option 41 > SBD 43
toggles UNIFORM_HAIR_NOISE 140 windows
incorrect display 119 Unigraphics 49 editor 17, 6
toggling importing 50 exporting 10, 6
particle display 100 units for joint limits 90 flash to black 24
Tool Palette 14 UNIX flashing 25
tool palette 7 mask files 57 moving 20
menus remain selected 12 unloading plug-ins 108 Studio 61
tool shelf 7 untrimming Windows NT
track icon 113 surfaces 103 mask files 57
tracking updating Windows systems 2
slow 11 image planes 10 wire files
transferring particles 100 cross-platform compatibility 9
image planes 115 useMidi plug-ins 17 in EvalViewer 123
transforming USER 141 old versions 49
objects after stitching 52 User Interface Notes 9 opening
pivots 91 using environment variables 128 in new session 35
surfaces 34 UV constraints 84 saving thumbnails 10, 6
translators variables, environment 128 WireConvert utility 49
Inventor 53 video cards workstations
transparency GMX2000 20 SGI Visual PC 19
changing 68 Intergraph 20, 92 world orientation 87
hardware switch 120 View Mesh 124 worldspace texture mapping
transparent view panel instanced objects 72
image planes 116 opaque 10 Write SDL Per Frame option 58,
objects 68 Viewframe 78 59, 62
shadows 58 viewing wrl function 59, 61
surfaces 68 snapshots 12, 8 XAPPLRESDIR 141
sketching 113 visibility Xform
Release Notes
152
Index
> Local > Set pivot of deforma-
tion clusters 91
> Randomize 95
Xform > Move 20
Xform options 124
Xpaint 6
xpaint plug-in 17
Xserver default visual
setting for Sun workstation 24
Zero Transforms
on skeletons 87
zoom icon 113
zooming
in EvalViewer 120
Release Notes
153
Index

Alias - Wavefront ReleaseNotes

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Alias - Wavefront ReleaseNotes

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Release Notes

StudioTools Version 9.5

The following are trademarks of Alias|Wavefront:

Maya is a registered trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc. exclusively used by Alias|Wavefront.

Not all features described are available in all products.

Alias|Wavefront, 210 King Street East, Toronto, Canada M5A 1J7

Operating System and Hardware Notes 19

Data Transfer Notes 48

OpenModel and OpenAlias Notes 102

Sketching for Industrial Design Notes (Windows

EvalViewer Notes (UNIX Only) 118

A p p e n d ix Environment Variables 128

Fixed The sla command (a stand-alone command line utility) is no

Windows IRIX Solaris

Fixed A warning message now appears when you are about to

Please ignore the Safety Options in Alias Preferences and use

If this happens, do not disable window borders and title bar

Fixed Video cards that do not support overlay planes no longer

Fixed After hardware texturing is done in TglShade or DiagShade,

Fixed You can now reverse surface normals on surfaces created

Fixed Updating construction history with Trim surfaces no longer

2 To create the starting point (origin) of a reference vector

3 To set the direction of a reference vector, you can:

4 To modify a reference vector, you can:

Fixed The curvature display of a curve in the perspective window

Fixed You can now create a highlight evaluation with surface

Fixed Transformations applied to objects while in construction plane

Fixed Using Evaluate > Surface Evaluate on a trimmed surface no

Fixed Previously, if you selected Show Deviation from Control Panel on

Fixed Previously, if you projected a curve onto a surface using a

Fixed Previously, when creating a 2+ birail surface using periodic

Fixed Previously, the checking of continuity would not

Fixed Previously, when you tried to assign a construction plane to a

Fixed When rendering sections in the direct render window, the

Sketching for Industrial Design (Windows only)

Fixed It is no longer difficult to use a stylus with track, dolly, and

Fixed When you convert an animation image plane to a sketch

Fixed It is now possible to load an image layer if the image filename

Fixed Moving an image layer with curve snap on no longer moves

Fixed Paint no longer appears to shimmer or wriggle when you are

Fixed Switching between 3D modeling layers no longer causes

Fixed When you use a light marker to paint on an existing stroke

Fixed An extra flag is no longer required for C and C++ compiles

Fixed The AlUniverse::nextLocatorD() and

6 Magnet snap the endpoint of the curve or the Curvestretch

Features Available for Your StudioTools Product

Feature Windows IRIX Solaris

Disclaimer: While every attempt has been made to ensure that

General Limitations Fixed

User Interface Notes

Plug-in Name Note

ApplyAMC.plugin No longer shipped.

jptDeletePolys.plugin Renamed deletePolygons.plugin.

jptPolyPrimitives.plugi Renamed createPolyPrimitives.plugin.

pptExtractGrid.plugin No longer shipped.

setDevice.plugin No longer shipped.

Operating System and Hardware Limitations for

Specific to Hewlett-Packard machines

Operating System and Hardware Limitations for

Operating System and Hardware Limitations for

Note on Dual Installation

2 From the Properties menu, select Package Administration.

3 From the pop-up list next to Existing Packages change this