Compiling a debug version

Genr8 is quite an extensive plug-in, and it could seem like a daunting task to try to decipher the source code of such a plug-in.

It is not as straightforward as compiling the source code, because the variables and function calls seem endless. However..... Set up the code, link it right, compile the debug solution, and you can start visualizing it through Visual studio UML Tools(read more on these tools here). For most people this would be a crucial step, since trying to read someone else's source code( and understanding it) will more than likely be way too much to process without proper visualization.

Starting with the basics, you should have Microsoft Visual studio. The project was written and compiled originally in Visual Studio, and because of ease of use, it is most convenient to continue with this combination. In addition you should know how to use these tools. Some use Maya Plug in Wizard for automatically setting up the Autodesk Maya plug- in environment, but ultimately, if you are going to do anything useful with this, set it up yourself. I will put a pdf here showing an example. Ultimately, you may have to makeshift this to be able to run it on any given system and software version.

All this being said once you have a grasp of an extensive plugin like this and would like to redevelop/update it, or develop your own, you probably should do as I have make scripts for cross-compiling the software. That means writing something like the cmake module for compiling for Windows, Linux and Mac. In this way we can cater for several platforms and at the same time generalize the process so that we can get rid of the cumbersome VS - compiling each time a new version of VS or Maya surface.

Click here to view an example of a debug compile setup.