Physics Simulation Forum

I've got just installed DynamicaBullet-2.78ForMaya2009_32bit. Windows 7 64 bit. Maya 2009 (both 32 and 64 bit installed in different directories).
First of all, right after installation there was no new plugin in Plug-in Manager. So I've installed it manually:

1. added Dynamica.module file into my mayaPrefs/modules folder. That file contains the following text:
   
   Code:
   + Dynamica 2.78 C:/Dropbox/Public/Maya_settings/0-addons/Dynamica
   
   My mayaPrefs folder is C:/Dropbox/Public/Maya_settings.
2. copied installed contents of Dynamica's folder into the directory specified in Dynamica.module file (C:/Program Files (x86)/Dynamica/* -> C:/Dropbox/Public/Maya_settings/0-addons/Dynamica/*).
3. copied msvcp90.dll and msvcr90.dll to the system32 folder.
4. removed dynamica installed in Program Files using Windows Add/Remove programs utility
5. restarted Windows
6. launched Maya again.

So now it should work properly. And yes, BulletMayaPlugin.mll plugin appears in Plug-In Manager window and successfully loads when I click the corresponding checkbox. It also automatically creates new Dynamica shelf.

But when I click into the first shelf button (Open Main Dynamica Window) Maya freezes for a while (about 5 seconds) and then writes the following error in script editor:

And there's no Dynamica window appeared. Here's a screenshot:


Next, if I click the same button on the shelf for the second time, the main Dynamica window appears. But something obviously wrong happens to the tab names and (maybe, I don't know) there's some tabs or buttons missing. 'Cause previous error mentioned something about that. Here's second screenshot:


I've tried it in both versions of Maya (32 and 64 bit, installing corresponding version of Dynamica). And the error is still there. I've even cleared my entire mayaPrefs folder (except for mayaPrefs/modules/Dynamica.module file and mayaPrefs/0-addons/Dynamica folder with all contents). But result is the same.
Looks like Dynamica is working (at least it creates active/passive primitives), but it's kinda weird to press the button twice for getting window pop up. And red error in command line is annoying, too.

I'm not sure if this version of Dynamica is stable. And if not then is it a bug or I'm doing something wrong. But it would be nice if someone explain how to fix that.

P.S.: sorry for my bad english I've tried to explain the problem as best as I can.

Something might have gone haywire during the manual install process. The errors you are seeing are associated with the scripts which manage the UI. Ensure that ALL the files are present in the Dynamica install dir. Mine looks like the attached image.

You might consider downloading a fresh copy of the installer and running the install process again. Under Windows, the default install dir is /Program Files/DynamicaBullet2.78/.

Yes, something did go wrong. And yes, the problem is somewhere in the scripts.
But no, there's no my mistake in manual installation. I have double-checked everything before posting here.
I have the same version as you, the last, 2.78.

To be a 100% sure, I've just have reinstalled dynamica to the default path that appear in installer (I've edited it during the previous installations). Of course, I had to modify Dynamica.module to point to that path because for some reason Dynamica's installer doesn't tell Maya where plugin is installed (it should either create similar file in the modules directory or add installation path to the "MAYA_MODULE_PATH" system variable).
But, as you can guess, the problem is still there.

I've checked before that all the files were successfully copied to my 0-addons folder. I even checked that by binary comparison of this 2 directories. And they were the same, byte to byte.

Looks like there's some bug in installer itself which doesn't unpack some scripts.

Here's list of files in my Dynamica/scripts directory:


And here's md5 checksum:

I'll dust off my Maya2009 install and try to reproduce these errors.

I've just reinstalled entire OS (Win7 64) in case it was the source of problem. And installed maya (and then Bullet) in that completely clean system.
But problem is still there.

I was able to reproduce and resolve the problem. overwrite the installed script file "dynamicaUI.mel" with the version attached here. Find it under /DynamicaBullet2.78/scripts/.

If it works, I will update the code base.

Thanks.

Thanks a lot! It helped.
I can finally play with dynamica.

Also, you could take a look at the installer itself. Because I don't think that a lot of maya users can find installation problem by themself and fix it by manually adding "module" file or modifying environment variable.

what is the issue with the module? it points to the wrong dir? can you attach it here?

Installer doesn't tell to maya anything about plugin. So maya doesn't know that Dynamica is installed.
Installer should either:

• Create a ".module" file (say, "Dynamica.module") in "modules" directory (which is located inside maya installation dir, or "mayaPrefs" dir, or "mayaPrefs/mayaVersion" dir). And write to the created file a text about where the module is installed. Text's format I showed in previous posts (without <>, of course):
  
  Code:
  + Dynamica <dynamicaVersion> <dynamicaInstallDir>
• add Dynamica's installation path to the "MAYA_MODULE_PATH" environment variable
• add the same env variable to the "Maya.env" file which is located inside "mayaPrefs/mayaVersion" dir.

When I installed Dynamica, it didn't do anything of listed above. So I had to manually add ".module" file in my "mayaPrefs/modules" dir (I personally prefer this way of adding modules into Maya).

the installer does use module files which are config'd based on chosen install dir...not sure why this is not working for you. My test installs (run straight from the downloadable installers) of Dynamica 2.78 for Maya 2008/2009/2010/2011/2012 look like this:

winXPx32:
C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\maya\modules\BulletDynamica.6_module
it contains: + BulletDynamica2.78 1.0 C:\Program Files\DynamicaBullet2.78

win7x64:
C:\Users\<user>\Documents\maya\modules\BulletDynamica.6_module
it contains: + BulletDynamica2.78 1.0 C:\Program Files\DynamicaBullet2.78


perhaps it's a win7 path/permissions issue on your end?

I've got "MAYA_APP_DIR" environment variable set, which allows me to move mayaPrefs folder to the custom path. Maybe that's where problem comes from. But installer should take this env variable into account because it's pretty used. I personally know a lot of maya users (every maya user I know, actually), who use this env var to place mayaPrefs folder to the other directory/disk.

I'll test reinstallation of Dynamica under my new (reinstalled and clean) OS tomorrow.

Sorry for replying only now. I've been too busy during the week.

Yes, installer does create module file under C:\Users\<user>\Documents\maya\modules\ folder.
But since I have "MAYA_APP_DIR" env var set, this file has no effect, because default C:\Users\<user>\Documents\maya\ folder is no longer in use.
You may update installer, making it to test whether "MAYA_APP_DIR" is set. And if so then use path defined in this env var instead of default one.

Also, it would be nice if newer versions of Dynamica will be published in 2 variants: as executable installer and as simple rar/zip/7z archive with manual installation instructions. AFAIK, many maya users like to keep their mayaSettings folder nice and clean, with all possible plugins installed right inside it. So that they can easily copy this folder to another computer and they have their maya there.
For example, I'm using this technique in combination with Dropbox service. So my MayaSettings folder is located here: C:\Dropbox\Public\Maya_settings\ (keeping it inside Public folder allows me to share my scripts easily). And I've added one extra subfolder where I copy all the plug-ins. It's named 0-addons and obviously is located here: C:\Dropbox\Public\Maya_settings\0-addons\. Each plugin has it's own subfolder inside it. So, for example, Dynamica is copied into C:\Dropbox\Public\Maya_settings\0-addons\Dynamica\

The installers are in fact archives - decompress and distribute as needed!

I tried to unpack installer using WinRAR before. But WinRAR didn't allow to open installer as archive.
Just tried to open it using 7zip and yes, it can unpack istaller as simple archive.
Thanks!

The latest trunk for Dynamica now checks for MAYA_APP_DIR in the NSIS installer.
(so the future Dynamica releases use it)

Using 7zip manually is a good tip though,
Thanks!
Erwin