Data Management Preferences

Sets file-management options and locations for features such as autosave, project lists, backup, and default paths.

To display: Choose File Preferences and click Data Management.

Files

Scene Save Options

Backups for each Scene Saved	Sets the number of backup scenes to be saved and kept per day in the project's Backup directory. If Additional Backups (Days) is zero, this is the total number of backups to keep.
Additional Backups (Days)	Sets the number of days for which to keep backups. This allows you to restore a backup from a previous day, no matter how many times you saved a scene during the current day.

Scene File Options

Load Last Sequence at Startup	Loads the last saved scene when starting up Softimage.
Create scene TOC (Table of Content) file	Saves certain scene information in a separate XML-based file, including external files (textures, models, actions sources, etc.) and render pass parameters. You can modify these values externally with a text editor, and the changes are applied when you reload the scene. The TOC file has the same name and location as the scene file, and has an extension of .scntoc. When you turn this option off and save the scene again, the existing TOC file is given the extension .scntoc_Obsolete and is not used.
Read scene TOC (Table of Content) file on load if available	When this option is on (and a scene TOC file is available), the TOC file is read and applied when you load the scene. When this option is off, the TOC file is ignored and its contents is not read or applied when you load the scene.
Path to default scene	The path to a scene to load at startup and when starting a new scene.

Recovery

Enable Autosave	Saves the current scene to the autosave.scn file in the System/username folder of the current project at regular intervals.
Autosave Interval	The frequency of automatic saves in minutes.

Project List

Enable AutoImport	Turns on the AutoImport feature so you can import a project list from a file on your hard disk or the network whenever you start Softimage.
Enable AutoExport	Turns on the AutoExport feature, which automatically saves your project list when you exit Softimage.
Auto Import/Export File	The path and file name for your AutoImport/AutoExport file.
Add New Projects to the Projects List	Controls the behavior when you open a scene from a project that is not in your project list: Always Ask. Prompts you whether you want to add the project to your list. Always Add New Projects. Automatically adds the project to your list. Never Add New Projects. Does not add the project to your list. You can still add projects manually using FileProject Manager.
Sort Projects by	Controls how projects are listed in the Project Manager: (none) simply lists projects in the order in which they appear in the defaults.xsiprojects file. Name sorts projects by name. Origin groups projects according to whether they are listed in the defaults.xsiprojects file in the factory, user, or workgroup location.

File/Project Locations

Paths to where the Softimage software components and custom application files are found. Set these paths to provide quick access in the Browser to specific application data. In the Browser, click the Paths button and select the path option to update the Browser contents.

Use UNC Paths when saving files	Uses UNC paths (e.g., \machine\directory) instead of drive letters (e.g., Z:\directory) for the project list, recent files lists, and scene TOC files.
Installation (Factory) Path	Displays the directory path where Softimage was installed. This can be a shared location if Softimage is run from a network, or local to each machine. This field is read-only.
User Path	Where your user information is saved such as preferences and other custom files.
Sample Project Path	Displays the directory path where the XSI_SAMPLES project is installed. To add this project to your project list, from the Project Manager click Add Project and navigate to the specified path, or click Scan Disk to find and add it automatically. This field is read-only.
Current Project Path	Displays the location of the current project. This field is read-only.
Workgroup(s)	Sets a path for shared presets, scripts, plug-ins, and so on. Multiple workgroup paths must be separated by semi-colons (;). If elements with the same name appear in more than one location, the first location listed has priority. The first workgroup listed is the default path for new elements, and is path that is used when you choose Workgroup Application from the Paths button in the browser. You can disable a path without removing the string by putting an exclamation mark (!) at the beginning. You can reference environment variables in the string using the Linux syntax, for example: $wglocation
Manage Workgroups	Opens the Plug-in Manager and activates the Workgroup tab.

Misc

Drag & drop models at cursor location in 3D views	Places imported models at the position of the mouse pointer, instead of at the scene center, when you release the mouse button. This option applies when dragging and dropping models from views like the browser or NetView.
File Resolve Interval (milliseconds)	Sets the amount of time to wait before trying again if a file is not found.
Bake scene properties on model export	Makes a local copy of any scene properties that are inherited from the scene root before exporting a model. If this option is off when a model is exported, it will inherit its new properties from the scene into which it is imported. Note this preference does not affect properties that are inherited from anywhere other than the scene root, such as from intermediate objects in a hierarchy, groups, or scene layers.
Share layers and partitions on model import	Automatically moves objects in models to the scene layers and pass partitions that they belonged to when the model was exported, if there are layers and partitions with the corresponding names in the scene when the model is imported or updated. Turn this option off if you want objects in models to belong to the current layer and background partition by default. Note that if you explicitly move objects in referenced models to specific layers or partitions, those changes are stored in the delta and reapplied when the referenced model is updated if Group Relations is on in the model's Lock Property Manager.

Scene Debugging

Enable Crash Recovery	Attempts to detect a crash and save a version of the scene if possible. It may be useful to turn this option off so that the system can produce a core dump file that allows you to debug plug-ins more easily on Linux.
Load Recovery Journal File	The path and file name of a scene that stores a journal of models that loaded successfully when opening a scene. Activate this option only while you are trying to recover a scene that crashes when loading. To activate it, enter the name and path of a file that will store progress information as Softimage loads the scene. You must restart Softimage after activating it before it takes effect. Deactivate this option once you have recovered as much of your scene as possible. To deactivate it, simply clear the box contents. When this option is on, Softimage writes to the file when it begins to load a model within the scene, and again after it loads the model successfully. If Softimage crashes while opening the scene, when you try again Softimage notes the name of the model that did not load successfully and skips it. If several models in the same scene are corrupt, you may need to repeat this until the remainder of the scene loads successfully. In addition, some corrupt clusters and cluster properties such as texture UVs are automatically fixed. When this occurs, the cluster's full name is logged to the command history.
Disable All Geometry Operators on Load	Automatically disables all operators in modeling, texturing, and weight painting stacks when opening a file. If a scene crashes on load, you can activate this option before opening the file and then re-enable operators until you find the problem. Delete the problem operator, then save the scene and reload it with this option off. Do not continue working with this option turned on; it is a debugging tool only.
Detect corrupted polygon meshes and clusters upon load/freeze	Checks polygon meshes and clusters for corruption when loading scenes or models and when freezing. If cluster corruption is found, it is fixed automatically and the names of the clusters are logged to the command history. You should check these clusters to make sure that they still contain the same components and properties (texture UVs, vertex colors, weight maps, and so on) that you expect. There might be additional cluster corruption that you can find and fix by freezing all or part of the operator stack, because corruption is not detected in unfrozen data. If mesh corruption is found, the indices of the illegal components are logged in the command history and you are prompted to hide the mesh (to avoid potential crashes when drawing the corrupt mesh structure). You can attempt to recover your work by extracting all polygons to a new mesh object and then freezing the new object. If you can freeze the new mesh successfully, then the corruption has been repaired and you can delete the original mesh. Otherwise, you can try to recover part of your work by extracting the uncorrupted polygons (leaving out an area around the corrupted components) and then freezing. Unfortunately, some corrupted meshes cannot be recovered.
Skip loading of floating objects	Disables the loading of objects that are not owned by scene elements when a scene file is opened. This option should be activated only when instructed to do so by qualified support personnel. It may result in data loss, so always make a backup of your scene files first.
Disable cycle checking when applying animation operators	Suppresses checking for evaluation cycles when creating constraints and expressions. This may be useful for avoiding unwanted warning messages in some types of rigs where cycles are desired. Note that cycle checking is always performed when applying topology operators, connecting weight maps, and moving operators.
Disable cycle checking when editing ICE trees	Suppresses checking for evaluation cycles when connecting nodes in an ICE tree. This may be useful for avoiding unwanted delays that can happen when connecting nodes in an ICE tree where you know that desirable cycles exist.
Kills all notifs during Load	Disables internal program notifications during scene load. Some elements in the scene may not update properly until you force a scene refresh. Do not activate this option unless instructed by support personnel.
Records user and time information in deltas	Records information about the user and time when storing modifications to referenced models in deltas.