[donb]

Hey JD,

For the next release of the plugin would it be possible to add a render button to the toolbar? Its OK to go through file/export the first time around when some of the global settings need to be made, but its a real pain when making a lot of changes and all you want is a quick test render. It should remember the last path/filename used and automatically overwrite so its a click-and-go render.

Thanks,
Don

[JDHill]

Hi Don -- the new plugin will have toolbar buttons for Render, Export MXS, and Export to Studio. Since the plugin will still be implemented as a SketchUp 3D Exporter, it will still show up in the Export 3D dialog, but it will no longer have an options page there, and I do not expect anyone will prefer to use that inconvenient route for exporting.

It needs no export options page because all scene parameters are contained in a Scene Manager dialog that you can always have open while you work; this dialog has tabs for Material, Camera, Environment, and Output; if you change anything there, it will be effective the next time you export or render.

The output path is defined by a Folder and Name in the Output tab; if Folder is blank, the output is written at the current SketchUp document's location; if Name is blank, the name of the current SketchUp document is used. If the current SketchUp document has not yet been saved, then a standard path under your user folder is used. Folder and Name, like all other scene parameters, are saved per-document.

I do have an 'mxs exists, do you want to overwrite?' dialog that pops up if necessary, but I will make it so that you can defeat this if you like. It's not very intrusive anyway though, since the OK button is focused when it pops up -- since you are rendering by clicking a toolbar button, even with the overwrite confirmation, it is not much different than executing a double-click.

[donb]

Wow, you have been busy. Everything you've described sounds great. Thanks and can't wait for the release (but I guess I have to).

Don

[Richard]

JD is it possible (in the future maybe) to have the plugin go both ways? ie: importing sky and camera settings used in MXS to SU?

[Half Life]

Oh, cool idea -- maybe go one step further and have drop down lists of presets like "sky" in studio, but when you save a preset in Studio OR Sketchup they appear in both programs on the drop down list.

This way you can have your favorite settings a click away wherever in the Maxwell workflow you are.

Best,
Jason.

[JDHill]

We can talk more about the .mxs angle after release, but to begin with, the plugin will be capable of reading/writing .sky files, and will have a built-in custom preset system for camera/environment/output settings. At any time, you can click a button to save the current state of the camera (or environment, or output) and it will be saved in a list that is accessed by drop-down at the top of the page. To start with, the lists of presets you build will be strictly per-machine, but I will add an import/export capability, so that you can share them.

[Half Life]

You're so good JD! way ahead of all of us

Best,
Jason.

[messire]

since it seems to be the request page
I have not been able to use efficiently HDI within SU...will it be a way this time to see where it is and ajust it in the scene like its done in studio? or is it impossible?

thnx
Nils

[JDHill]

The only way I know of for doing that is to do what Stefan shows here: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... 72&start=0. I'll surely not delay a release to add something like this, but theoretically it should be possible to implement an automated version of this strategy, controlled via the plugin UI. Of course, this is yet another example of a feature which should exist in SketchUp to begin with, rather than relying on plugins to implement such hack workarounds.

[Richard]

WOW again JD - this new plugin is going to be the bomb!!!! Mate you really are one step ahead on all this - I'm actually rather impressed by your depth of thinking on the functionalities we didn't even know we wanted.

I agree with you that so much functionality should be added to SU - I can tell you now as a tester for google, such things will never happen! They are determined to keep the core of SU VERY simple, it will be the likes of you and a few other gifted coders who will bring it to life and in the case of MR this is what will set it apart besides the obvious output quality which NL already holds crown! For god sakes they won't even stop the material browser pop up functionality as that extra function or risk to new users becoming confused is their thinking there!

[JDHill]

For what it's worth, Richard, I am implementing a 'material picker' tool for you, accessible from the plugin's material tab, which you can use to select materials from objects without needing to activate the SketchUp paint bucket. It will be a bit limited to start with, in that you won't be able, for example, to activate a component/group while it is activated -- the component/group would already need to be selected for editing -- but I can extend it according to your feedback as things progress.

[Richard]

Right that's it JD - my GF keeps hinting at kids, now I want you to be the father!

MATE! You will save my hair! This is the biggest break through in the history of SU IMHO, a workaround the material browser if I didn't have Maxwell would make me buy just to have! Oh though you won't then be able to paint with it? Hmmm? Maybe she goes childless! lol

No this is brilliant - hey and you suggested more than once that it is not your responsibility to overcome the shortfalls of SU, well you seem to be making it so!

[JDHill]

Well, some things are easier to do than others, and it all depends on priorities -- I'm not averse to implementing things that the host app should have, but they can never take a higher precedence than Maxwell-specific functionality. It also helps if the thing being worked around really bugs me, which is the case here.

Just for a little more info, the tool I have going here is something like a mix between the SU select and paint bucket tools; with the tool active:

- if you click an entity, its material will be selected in the mat editor
- if you hold down SHIFT, it will toggle the clicked entity's selection state
- if you hold down CTRL, the clicked entity will be removed from the selection set
- if you double-click, the selection set will be cleared
- if you hover over an entity, you will see its material, if it has any, in a tooltip

Combine this with a button in the material tab (which has a drop-down showing all your materials, each with a small color swatch -- color, but sorry, no texture), that assigns the current material to any currently-selected entities. Also, since the current selection is tracked by SU, it works in chorus with the SU Entity Info window. So, it's pretty easy to build selections and query/assign materials, without having the SU material browser popping up all the time.

Unfortunately, it looks to be a limitation of the SU sdk that I cannot let you click 'into' a group or component while using the tool -- you're stuck in the current context. We'll take what we can get though, I suppose.

[fv]

I am not sure anymore if I asked for this before but here is my feature request;
I am often adding bits and pieces of geometry to my mxms model. It would be great just to select a group or component in SU and rightclick export to mxs.

Now I just cut the group, delete the rest and paste and export and undo the deleting of the rest after export. I can not paste the wanted geomtetry in another file since at export it will loose its origin coordinates at export to Studio.
Francois

[brodie_geers]

Trying to wrap my head around the material picker you're talking about here, JD. Are you saying that rather than selecting a SU material, applying it, and then referencing that material to an .mxm, that instead we'll just be able to have a plugin panel open where we can pick an .mxm and apply it directly to a face which will automatically apply the texture to that face?

-Brodie