[polynurb]

i only noticed this now, never needed scene rotation much, but right now here it seems as if this parameter is not stored in the location & time preset

thnx,
daniel

[JDHill]

A little confusing, since the spinner appears in the Time & Location panel, but Scene Rotation is actually an attribute of the environment, and is indeed saved in Environment panel presets.

[polynurb]

asoooo... i guess that is due to how maxwell handles these settings internally.

the thing is, it really makes sense where you placed it, but it is not very practical to save 2 presets in order to make the sun come from where one wants it to.

thanks for telling!

[JDHill]

Well, it's not really restricted by any Maxwell-related factor, it is just that I initially chose to separate date/time from environment in the plugin...when scene rotation was added, I put it in the environment data, but then chose to put the spinner in date & time, since it made sense UI-wise. And that would've been fine, if not for the presets, which never crossed my mind.

[polynurb]

i see, i meant you wanted to keep the settings grouped as they are in studio (which i don't use much)

taking a look there though, the values are grouped like you store them, meaning the rotation is with the sun settings, but lat/long are also with the sun..

knowing it, it is not a big deal, although if somehow easily possible to respect legacy rhino files, i think it would be an improvement if it would actually be stored in the location tab preset.

[JDHill]

I hear you, but it is actually a bit more complicated than it sounds changing this after the fact, at least to the point that I would not choose to add complexity just to change a behavior which, while confusing, is not technically broken. Beyond this, I would recommend that you prefer .sky files as often as possible, since theoretically, they will completely replace the date/time/env presets functionality at some point.

[polynurb]

I would not choose to add complexity just to change a behavior which, while confusing, is not technically broken.

true, true.. good hint with the sky file. it is just very handy how one can pick a preset quickly without browsing for files (they could be in very different places)

thinking about it from a user perspective, sky files could be in the db manager too.. just drag and drop onto the tab or the viewport could enable them. guess that would make more sense than accessing them in a preset style drop-down menu from the tab where they are stored for convenience (which would be another suggestion)

let me say here, that the db manager is a really great invention, and i still hope that it will at some point become a standalone management system for maxwell materials/scenes like the material editor is. (with a bit more parametric parent-child control of materials and their sub-components)

[JDHill]

Using .sky exclusively would not mean that you have to go browsing files -- we just designate a given directory as the plugin's .sky file directory. Then, when you hit the presets dropdown, rather than showing you stuff saved in plugin-specific .xml files in your appdata directory, it shows you the .sky files. And when you save a preset, you're writing a new .sky file, so from the surface, you really can't tell the difference. Of course, if .sky had existed beforehand (and included sky dome & IBL), this is how it would work right now. Or, they could go in the db manager, but honestly, I do not believe that most people ever really take the time to understand and make use of that window.

[polynurb]

alright! thanks for the clarification. it makes sense to have it like that, too.

concerning the db manager, i'd say putting it there would make it more complete, but i get your concerns, although i'd not be so pessimistic about it

photoshop didn't have layers in the beginning either

[kami]

the .sky file works pretty good for me too! I prefer it, because the data is not stored on your computer (like the presets are) but can also be used from another computer.
the only downside is, that it's only usable for physical sky, not if you use a hdri or skydome setting.
Loading and saving is pretty convenient because it remembers the last folder used for .sky files. If you keep them all in one place or don't have too many project to switch between