MotionBuilder 2013

Programming Environment and Code Refactoring Changes

• MotionBuilder and its distributed plug-ins are now compiled using Visual Studio 2010 (Service Pack 1).
• Environment Variables:
  • MOTIONBUILDER_PLUGIN_PATH - The list of directories contained in this environment variable determines the location from which MotionBuilder will load compiled plugins.
  • MOTIONBUILDER_PYTHON_STARTUP - The directory contained in this environment variable determines the location from which MotionBuilder loads the Python startup scripts. Setting this environment variable overrides the default Python startup path in MotionBuilder.
  • FILMBOX_CONSOLE - Setting this environment variable to 1 allows the console to appear, otherwise the console will not appear.
• FBContainer has been renamed to FBVisualContainer to increase the uniformity of cross-product naming schemes.
• const correctness improvements.
• Although not enforced in this release, we recommend that the "H" prefix in classes such as HFBPlug be removed and replaced by the pointer suffix "*", for example: FBPlug*. This change is intended to facilitate the use of the documentation system in the near future.
• FBShader has been heavily refactored for performance.
• The FBModelTransformationMatrix enumeration type has been renamed to FBModelTransformationType.
• FBFindObjectsByNamespace has been deprecated. Use FBFindObjectsByFullName or FBFindObjectsByName instead.

New Classes

• FBSyncReference - Allows the MotionBuilder application to sync its time with a device's time. For more information, consult the ordevicesync_device plugin.
• FBTimeCode - A timecode contains the time and frame information used to identify a specific moment in a timeline, often used in video and audio production. This class can namely help in the conversion of a point in time from one frame rate domain to another.
• FBHUD, FBHUDElement - These classes represent the new Heads-Up Display (HUD) feature in MotionBuilder. A HUD is connected to a camera, and appears as a 2D overlay. This overlay can be used to display information about the take, such as the current time, frame number, etc.
• FBFileMonitoringManager - This class can be used to monitor operating system file events. By contrast, the event properties in FBApplication only monitor events triggered within the MotionBuilder application.
• FBNamespace - This class has been exposed to facilitate the use of namespaces among scene elements. Functions such as FBFindModelByLabelName(), FBFbxOptions::NamespaceList, FBFbxOptions::SetNamespaceList(), FBFbxOptions::GetNamespaceList(), and the FBScene's namespace related functions (FBScene::NamespaceImport()) can filter, select, import and export scene elements using namespaces.
• FBAudioRenderOptions() - This class has been added to specify audio rendering options, which can be passed as a parameter to FBApplication::AudioRender(). Consult the Scripts/Samples/Audio/AudioRendering.py sample for more details.

New Methods and Added Functionality

• FBAnimationNode::KeyCandidate(), FBPropertyAnimatable::KeyAt() - These functions now provide the ability to key at a given time without moving time.
• FBSystem.ConfigPath, FBSystem.UserConfigPath, FBSystem.TempPath - These properties respectively define MotionBuilder's directory paths for config files, user config files, and temporary files.
• FBAudioClip - A substantial amount of functionality has been added to this class. Consult the header files and class documentation for more information.
• FBMenuManager - Functionality has been added to this class to manipulate and remove MotionBuilder's UI top menu bar.
• FBComponent::GetFullName() - Retrieves an object's unique name.
• FBStory, FBStoryFolder, FBStoryTrack - Added the capability to record stories on disk with properties such as FBStory::RecordToDisk and FBStoryFolder::RecordClipPath.
• FBDevice::ModelBindingCreate, FBDevice::ModelBindingRootsList - These functions allow you to create a model binding from a device, or obtain a list of all possible root models which can be bound to the device.
• FBModel - Exposed additional properties to facilitate custom rendering. For example, viewport dimensions can be set in the model, which are only updated and valid during custom renderer callbacks (FBModel::CameraViewportX, FBModel::CameraViewportY, FBModel::CameraViewportWidth, FBModel::CameraViewportHeight). Motion blur properties have also been added: FBModel::MotionBlurIntensity, FBModel::UseMotionBlur, FBModel::UseRealTimeMotionBlur.
• FBModelNull, FBModelMarker - Overloaded several FBModel base class functions in these subclasses to increase user customization. These functions are: FBModelMarker/FBModelNull::FbxStore(), FBModelMarker/FBModelNull::FbxRetrieve(), FBModelMarker/FBModelNull::FbxGetObject(), and FBModelMarker/FBModelNull::FbxGetObjectSubType().
• FBMaterial - Custom material support, and added sample project (OpenRealitySDK/Samples/miscellaneous/material_template)
• FBRenderer - Added new functionality such as FBRenderer::GetViewingCamera() to obtain the current camera, FBRenderer::InPicking() to determine if the renderer is in the picking phase, and a variety of other functions and properties related to picking.
• FBEvaluateManager - Added functionality allows for computationally intensive tasks to be registered and run as callbacks in a background thread (FBEvaluateManager::RegisterEvaluationGlobalFunction(), FBEvaluateManager::UnregisterEvaluationGlobalFunction())
• The local time can now be obtained by calling FBSystem().LocalTime.GetFrame(). An optional FBTimeMode parameter may be passed to GetFrame() to specify the time mode. The default time mode is kFBTimeModeDefault.

Optimizations

• Optimized functions FBFindObjectByFullName() and FBDeleteObjectsByNames().
• Optimized the merging of multiple files transaction workflow: FBMergeTransactionBegin(), FBMergeTransactionEnd().

SDK Bug Fixes and Improvements

For information on SDK Bug Fixes and Improvements, consult the MotionBuilder 2013 Release Notes.