Alienbrain Integration for XSI
- To use the NXN alienbrain integration for XSI, you must have a properly licensed and working installation of both XSI and NXN alienbrain, including the NXN alienbrain for XSI plug-in.
- The external files manager’s alienbrain features are designed to work only with version 7.5 of NXN alienbrain and the latest version of the alienbrain integration for XSI version 5.0.
- The NXN alienbrain integration is not supported on 64-bit versions of XSI.
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Installing NXN alienbrain integration
- NxN alienbrain 7.0 and 7.1 integrations for XSI v4.2 can be downloaded from http://www.alienbrain.com/support/updates/7.1/ and http://www.alienbrain.com/support/updates/7.0/ respectively.
- NxN alienbrain 7.5 integrations for XSI 5.0, XSI5.1, XSI 5.11 and XSI 6.0 can be found on the installation disk under installations/integrations.
- for the latest updates on XSI Aliebrain integrations please contact support@alienbrain.com
Introduction to NXN alienbrain
NXN alienbrain is a content management system that keeps your files safe and can help improve the workflow within your project team. Essentially, all of the files that make up a project are stored on the server where they are protected from data loss caused by machine or program crashes, or by accidental deletion. When you need to work on a file, you “check out” a copy of it on your client machine and edit that local copy. When you are satisfied with the modifications you have made to the file, you save your changes to the master copy on the server through a process called “checking in.” If you make a mistake or need to retrieve an older version of a file, you can do so using the Rollback feature.
The NXN alienbrain integration for XSI provides seamless access to the data management and version control options of NXN alienbrain within the XSI environment. You can work easily on XSI scenes and referenced assets that are managed by NXN alienbrain without directly using the NXN alienbrain Client.
You should become familiar with the most basic NXN alienbrain procedures such as checking in, checking out, and importing. Read the documentation supplied with the NXN alienbrain Client and acquaint yourself with the commonly used tools such as the Tree View, the List View, and the various icons that represent the status of files and folders during the development of the project.
Connecting to NXN alienbrain
Any action you take that requires access to the database automatically connects you to NXN alienbrain. If you open a file from or save a file to a managed folder, the Connect or Work Offline? message box opens.
- To enable the NXN alienbrain file management features for this work session, choose Connect.
- If you choose Work Offline, XSI operates as if the plug-in was not installed and your work will not be automatically synchronized with the NXN alienbrain database.
Managing Files with NXN alienbrain
The NXN alienbrain integration extends XSI’s file management functions in the following ways:
- File management menu commands are added to the XSI File menu. These commands let you open, import, and upload files to and from the NXN alienbrain database. Choose File > Open from NXN alienbrain, Import To NXN alienbrain, Import Project To NXN alienbrain, or Upload To NXN alienbrain.
- You can also access the standard database commands from the NXN alienbrain menu embedded in the XSI main menu.
- Right-click in the NXN alienbrain Tree View to open a context menu where you can access commands that let you set the XSI active project or add a new XSI project. You can work with XSI projects directly from within the alienbrain Client or from an alienbrain view or layout in XSI proper.
- You can drag and drop files to easily move them between NXN alienbrain and XSI:
- To open a file in XSI, drag and drop it from the NXN alienbrain List View into XSI.
- To import a file into NXN alienbrain, drag and drop it from the XSI browser to the alienbrain List View.
- An AlienBrain column is added to the external files manager grid. This column displays information about the status of any external file that is a part of an Alienbrain project.
NXN alienbrain Layouts and Views
XSI provides an NXN alienbrain layout that you can work in when you want to focus on data management.
To open the NXN alienbrain layout
- Choose View > Layouts > AlienBrain from the XSI main menu.
If you do not want to work within a predefined layout, you can open specific NXN alienbrain views as floating windows in XSI. This allows you to pick the NXN alienbrain functionality you need, while working in the default XSI layout.
To open the NXN alienbrain views
- Choose View > Alienbrain > AlienBrain_ListPane, AlienBrain_Preview, or AlienBrain_Tree from the XSI main menu.
