How can I "go back" to the mesh importer if I accidently close it?

[adamkewley]

AK: this question was ported from an email and then edited/redacted for use in a public discussion.

I accidentally closed the Mesh Importer tab after exporting my scene to an OpenSim model. This left me with the OpenSim Model simulator tab open. I couldn't find a way back to the Mesh Importer with my current *.osim scene to edit my mesh/other plot (station, body, etc.).

I would like to know if there is any way to get it back? Or, for now, it has to be redone (which means the Mesh Importer tab can't be closed until the model is complete). The version I use is v0.3.0.

[adamkewley]

Unfortunately, there isn't a "guaranteed" way to recover your work in that scenario - but there are "probably o.k." ways.

The mesh importer works with its own data structure (a "mesh importer graph"). That data structure is very simple: too simple to store what can be edited in an editor/simulator tab (an "opensim model/osim"). This is a technical way of explaining that if you close a mesh importer tab, the "mesh importer graph" is also destroyed. There is no way (at least in 0.3.0) of perfectly recovering that lost progress, because the data that is stored in other tabs is different.

However, the mesh importer tab does support both importing from and exporting to osim files. This is available from the "File" menu in a mesh importer tab. The "Export" option effectively performs the same operation as clicking the green "Convert to OpenSim Model" button - it just also prompts for a save location. The "Import" option will load any osim file and use an algorithm that tries to convert the model into a "mesh importer graph".

However, attempt and convert are important words here: the import process will try its best to produce an accurate scene from an OpenSim model but, because the "mesh importer graph" is simpler than an opensim model, the conversion process will ignore anything it does not understand (e.g. muscles, which aren't supported in the mesh importer). Usually, though, the conversion process is close to perfect if the thing being imported is effectively exactly the same as the thing that was exported (e.g. if you converted your importer scene into an osim, saved that, and then imported the result into the mesh importer, you'll probably mostly regenerate the scene).

I'll look into providing some functionality for autosaving/loss recovery in the UI: the software is still in early versions and doesn't yet support stuff like that