[rdo2000]

So, I really like the material database that's built into the new (1.6) SWx plugin. Actually, I'm loving the new plugin overall--light-years ahead of what we had previously.

One thing I'm wondering is, where is the material database data being stored? It seems as though MXMs are copied into the database, and any changes that are made happen in the db only unless explicitly written out back to the original MXM. That's fine, but I will probably want to share my materials database between multiple machines / SWx installations. Will this be possible?

Thanks

- rdo

[JDHill]

Hi rdo,

I'm glad you're finding it useful. If you start the plugin, then open the Log Viewer, you should find one fo the first entries has a link to a readme outlining a list of supported user-config files. These files are located in the plugin's 'Config' directory, which is located somewhere under your user-account's roaming profile directory. One of the configurable aspects is the location of the db, which may be redirected by placing a file named 'db_redirect.txt' in the Config directory. If this file is found at startup, the plugin expects there to be a path to another directory as the only text in the file - this directory will then be used instead of the default location.

Now, the database is a home-brewed file-based setup, not an actual 3rd-party transactional database. Therefore, it is not yet known exactly how many users it can support simultaneously, but considering the relatively-low frequency at which data needs to be pulled from it, it may very well serve an entire office from a common network drive.

It is also possible then, to move or copy the two directories which contain the database ('Collections' and 'DB'), and then redirect the plugin to the new location. However, the plugin has its own format for storing Maxwell materials, apart from MXM, so you won't find any MXMs in the database - to get MXM files, you would need to export them using the Material Editor. In the future, there will be more ways to do this type of thing - at this point in time it is still a very young concept.

Just let me know if you run into any other questions.

Cheers,

JD

[rdo2000]

Excellent, I was hoping it would be something like that. I plan to move the db to a network share. Sounds like it's a SWx plugin thing so no accessing the db from Studio I guess? (I assume I'll still have to go through Studio for things like UV mapping until SWx provides a better API for that)

Thanks

- rdo

[JDHill]

You assume correctly, as materials are always embedded into an MXS when its written. As I say, the db is a very young concept for this system, and hasn't been tested extensively this way (network). So definetely let me know how it goes, and any issues you find along the way.

Regarding UV mapping, the plugin does what the API allows, and for a 2007-compatible plugin, this means that it can show you textures used in Maxwell materials, scaled in the viewport, using the plugin's Texture Editor. Maxwell doesn't support texture rotation, so this is not possible, and SW uses a tile X = tile Y constraint, so the Texture Editor also maintains x = y for tiling. Texture Offset will be exported, but SW has no way to show this parameter in the viewport. Similarly, multiple Channels will be exported, but SW has no way for you to work with multiple UVs, so each Channel will be exported using the same UV coords.