[Aria]

If I have an instanced object that consists of several materials the instanced object in studio has multiple materials applied to it, however if you want to change one of the materials studio sees only one object vs a multi sub objects like i.e. in 3dmax.

I know you could select the faces and change the different materials but that's extremely time consuming. Was this aspect taken into consideration, am I the first to come across this or am I exporting it the wrong way?

For clarification: I'm referring to a group of objects consisting of different materials (A painted window frame/pain of glass/ window shade) that is then instanced.

[Richard]

Wow that is really freaky!!!

Does it create a new material or just keep the old settings for the other instances?

[pelias]

The crucial point here is that Maxwell cannot instance groups - it can only instance meshes. That means if a SU component uses multiple materials (they frequently do) and we want to use instances (again we mostly do) than I have to turn component into a single mesh with multliple materials - this is what is implemented in the plugin. Note that Maxwell also doesn't support grouping instances (that would be potentially a different way to handling SU components).

On the other hand I agree that handling meshes with multiple materials in Studio is not really great. The best would be if triangle groups can be constructed automatically based triangle material - I will propose this to Studio developers. The other option (if the above fails) is to export triangle groups from SU directly (again based on material assigned to a triangle). I will consider that for the next version of the plugin.

Pavol

[Richard]

Pavol

Mate if we have a tree with the leaves as nested components within the tree component and make the tree an instance is that an issue if we don't wish to make changes to either geometry or materials in studio????

Thanks mate!

[pelias]

Mate if we have a tree with the leaves as nested components within the tree component and make the tree an instance is that an issue if we don't wish to make changes to either geometry or materials in studio????

Definitely not. The whole tree (including leaves) will be exported as a single mesh (the first instance of it in SU) and all additional instances of the tree component will be exported as the instances of the mesh. Thus you can easily manipulate the tree in Studio but you will have harder time changing the tree (which apparently you do not plan to do anyway).

One thing I should add for anyone not using instances in Studio before. Note that you do not see the instances right away in Studio! The default setting is you see only the bounding box of the instances and only if you select the original object. Note that you can change this behavior in Studio by opening the instances panel and setting the options. You may want to check Studio documentation for details. Obviously all instances will be render in MCL without any additional work...

Pavol

[Aria]

Richard,

The instance has multiple materials applied to it but in the object panel only one of the materials is assigned to it.

Thanks Pavol,

After playing around with it I discovered that all of the materials are exported separately. If you label your materials properly in SketchUp you can then manipulate the corresponding material in studio per the multi material instance you just can't select the instance and apply a different material beyond the main assigned object material. This doesn't solve map scaling issues though.

[Mihai]

you just can't select the instance and apply a different material beyond the main assigned object material.

There may be some confusion here. An instance is an exact copy of it's main object, including what materials are assigned per triangle. That's why instances are so efficient. If you apply a different material per triangle on that instance then it can no longer be an instance.

Also, I don't see the point of suddenly wanting to use instances for everything. You don't have to export everything as instances if your scene geometry isn't getting very heavy. If you have 500 windows and each only has 200 polys, it makes no sense to export them as instances. If you have 500 trees and each one has 40 000 polys, then it makes sense

[Aria]

...

No, I think your missing the point. If you have per say a component (which is what an instance in studio becomes) is composed of several objects with corresponding materials, which is the typical way to maximize a SketchUp model. One uses components in SketchUp under the same principle one uses instances in studio or even a block in AutoCad, that is to save on file size and to render quickly. One also uses components in SketchUp to save time i.e. I need to change a door type, window type etc you can just cange the component and the rest change vs. changing them individually. This is why a block in AutoCad becomes a Component in Sketchup or if you convert the same file into a .3ds from either a sketchUp or Autocad, the same blocks and Components become instances in 3dmax. In 3dmax however you get multi sub materials, in studio you don't.

Once converted into Studio this component becomes an instanced object comprised of several materials, however in the objects panel there is only one material even though the object has several materials applied to it. If you know what the other materials are you can select the materials in the material panel and edit the multiple materials that are applied to the instanced object inside of studio. And as I said before it doesn’t solve mapping issues, which you would have to select the faces individual and apply a different mapping channel on them. So yes a instance with multiple materials can have it's materials edited/changed and still be an instance inside of studio.

[Mihai]

You mentioned applying a material different than what is applied to the main objects triangle groups, and you can't do that with an instance. You can just update the material settings on the main objects triangle groups, OR change the entire material on the instance.

The mapping issue, as long as you update the tiling/UVs on the main object it will update across the instances. So you can edit the main object as any other object, change the material tiling, UVs etc. The material triangle groups are listed in the Object parameters panel, triangle groups section. This way you can see what materials are applied to those triangle groups.

[Aria]

Inside of studio there is a panel that says "Objects" inside this panel is the object / instance with the main assigned material.

There is another panel were all of the materials that are loaded up with the scene which is labeled "Material" .

It happens to be that the multiple materials that are in the multi material instance are there, if you modify them granted you know which materials they are, you can in fact change the other materials assigned to the instance independently of the main assigned material.

The trick is to name your materials in a way that you can identify them because like your saying, if you select the object you can only manipulate the main assigned material. Or if you apply another material it overrides the multiple materials to one. So to modify the different materials on the instance is done by simply modifying the materials in the material panel.

[pelias]

Mihai - I believe Aria really meant modifying material for the original mesh which is instanced as well - I understood it that way from the original post. The trick in SU plugin is that component in SU is converted to a single mesh (with potentially multiple materials) if instances are enabled (this has to be the case as Maxwell cannot instance groups) but it is typically converted into a group with separate meshes for individual materials for easier editing. That means SU users are not used to work with meshes with multiple materials (until now such meshes were not exported from SU) so that is what we are clarifying here.

The use of instances in SU even when it is not necessary. The plugin at the moment doesn't allow per-object control on usage of instances. You can either use instances - in that case all SU components are exported as 1 mesh + additional instances (based on the number of occurrences in the SU project) or you can turn instances off and in that case all components are exported as groups. I personally believe per-object control whether to use instances or not is not needed but it can be added if users request it...

Pavol