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A bit off topic, but a big concern in my opinion: the amount of different programming languages that graphic software professional _users_ (not professional dev

A bit off topic, but a big concern in my opinion: the amount of different programming languages that graphic software professional _users_ (not professional devs) must learn if they want to control their workflow with scripting. Usually professional graphic software users use several software packages not just one. As far as I can keep up: autocad (lisp, .net, experiments on js) revit (.net, experiments on ruby) adobe suite (js) archicad (GDL) sketchup (ruby) 3Dmax (maxscript) blender (python) Is about time to create a lingua franca + a specific DSL that could allow to interact with all of them. edit: I know that this is not easy to implement, but as a professional user it would pay off to learn a lingua franca and be able to automate minor tasks by myself. Learning several languages doesn't.

cdumler 11y ago
https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/
jeremiep 11y ago
And usually different people will automate different parts of the pipeline and then share scripts. For larger productions you've got an entire department dedicated to this stuff leaving the artists free to create.
d166e8 11y ago
I agree it is a bit of a mess for graphic software professional users, but I have been noticing a convergence towards C# or Python over the last few years. * Many Autodesk 3D products now have a .NET API as either their primary or secondary interface for writing plug-ins. Off-the top of my head: AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, 3ds Max, Maya, to name a few. In the media-and-entertainment space, there is a strong trend towards Python as the de-facto scripting language. The list of 3D products used in games that support Python is too long to list. I still see a lot of usage of C# in games houses. Some older languages do have their own custom language (e.g. Maya has MEL, 3ds Max has MAXScript, AutoCAD had AutoLisp). I'm not sure if MCG will ever be a lingua franca for 3d but I'd love it if I could make that happen. I've tried to keep it relatively decoupled from the implementation technology (even though I map to .NET for now). It would be relatively easy for someone to reverse engineer the graph format (XML files) and map it to a dynamic language like JavaScript or Python. The only challenge is mapping the core set of operators to the host language.
ics 11y ago
Add Rhino/Grasshopper (Python) to that list.
Keyframe 11y ago
In 3D applications, these days, python is more or less everything you need for daily tasks. Even 3dsmax has relative python support now.
- corysama 11y ago
  As does Maya an several other packages > Some Programs that support Python: Maya, Modo, Houdini, XSI, Massive, Blender, Photoshop (indirectly),3ds max (indirectly) http://www.chadvernon.com/blog/resources/python-scripting-for-maya-artists/ http://www.chadvernon.com/blog/resources/python-scripting-fo...

cdumler 11y ago

https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/

jeremiep 11y ago

And usually different people will automate different parts of the pipeline and then share scripts. For larger productions you've got an entire department dedicated to this stuff leaving the artists free to create.

d166e8 11y ago

I agree it is a bit of a mess for graphic software professional users, but I have been noticing a convergence towards C# or Python over the last few years. * Many Autodesk 3D products now have a .NET API as either their primary or secondary interface for writing plug-ins. Off-the top of my head: AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor, 3ds Max, Maya, to name a few. In the media-and-entertainment space, there is a strong trend towards Python as the de-facto scripting language. The list of 3D products used in games that support Python is too long to list. I still see a lot of usage of C# in games houses. Some older languages do have their own custom language (e.g. Maya has MEL, 3ds Max has MAXScript, AutoCAD had AutoLisp). I'm not sure if MCG will ever be a lingua franca for 3d but I'd love it if I could make that happen. I've tried to keep it relatively decoupled from the implementation technology (even though I map to .NET for now). It would be relatively easy for someone to reverse engineer the graph format (XML files) and map it to a dynamic language like JavaScript or Python. The only challenge is mapping the core set of operators to the host language.

ics 11y ago

Add Rhino/Grasshopper (Python) to that list.

Keyframe 11y ago

In 3D applications, these days, python is more or less everything you need for daily tasks. Even 3dsmax has relative python support now.

corysama 11y ago
As does Maya an several other packages > Some Programs that support Python: Maya, Modo, Houdini, XSI, Massive, Blender, Photoshop (indirectly),3ds max (indirectly) http://www.chadvernon.com/blog/resources/python-scripting-for-maya-artists/ http://www.chadvernon.com/blog/resources/python-scripting-fo...