This repo contains a tiny bit (~30 lines) of c++ which compile to a .so file that allows you to dynamically change a Qt application's QSplashScreen::setPixmap() method to use an image you provide via the OVERRIDE_QT_SPLASH environment variable.

I created this because I was annoyed that it was impossible to change Nuke's opening splash screen the same way you can in other DCC apps like Maya and Houdini!

Instructions:

• Download code and cd into repo
• run make
• setenv OVERRIDE_QT_SPLASH $NEW_SPLASH
• env LD_PRELOAD=$PWD/libsplish_splash.so.so.1.0.0 $APP

where:

• $NEW_SPLASH is a silly other image (I recommend this as a fun starting point). Tragically animated GIFs don't work :-(
• $APP is a qt application that draws a splash screen using this method

Caveats:

• Might only work for nuke 10.0v5
• Will only work on linux / places where LD_PRELOAD is supported
• Might not work at all

LD_PRELOAD

The heart of this trick involves using LD_PRELOAD. For an explanation of this powerful feature of the dynamic linker, check out this writeup.

For more advanced LD_PRELOAD tricks, including some of the stuff used by this prank, check this out.

Process:

• nm -D /path/to/libnuke.so (+ studio?) -- grep for splash
• use c++filt -n to unmask function names
• explore header:
  • /usr/include/Qt/qsplashscreen.h
  • QSplashScreen::qt_metacall(QMetaObject::Call, int, void**)
  • QSplashScreen::qt_metacast(char const*)
  • QSplashScreen::showMessage(QString const&, int, QColor const&)
  • QSplashScreen::drawContents(QPainter*)
  • QSplashScreen::mousePressEvent(QMouseEvent*)
  • QSplashScreen::event(QEvent*)
  • QSplashScreen::setPixmap(QPixmap const&)
  • QSplashScreen::QSplashScreen(QPixmap const&, QFlagsQt::WindowType)
  • QSplashScreen::~QSplashScreen()
  • Nuke::setSplashScreen(QSplashScreen*)
  • QSplashScreen::metaObject() const
  • typeinfo for QSplashScreen
  • typeinfo for Foundry::About::NukeAboutScreenT
  • typeinfo for Foundry::About::NukeSplashScreen
  • typeinfo name for Foundry::About::NukeAboutScreenT
  • typeinfo name for Foundry::About::NukeSplashScreen
  • vtable for Foundry::About::NukeAboutScreenT
  • vtable for Foundry::About::NukeSplashScreen
• put function signature into own file
• Get some help with the c++ metaprogramming stuff...
• setenv QMAKESPEC /usr/lib64/qt4/mkspecs/linux-g++
• Generate pro file
• TODO: explain changes to .pro file (disable linking)
• generate a makefile from the .pro file also using qmake

TODO:

• stop with the ln'ing