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By bakbek
#48039
I Create this thread to HOLD in one place all the wishes you all have and i'll start with mine.... i'll update this first post as we go along (comments from the development team as to what is done, planned etc is shown in green - if i'm wrong in this please let me know)


0. Please support Windows & Mac users, sketchup has many users in both this platforms
OSX version is being worked on and it will be released in August 2005

1. Focal distance setting by point clicking on model. planned for alpha.03

2. Progress bar on export. planned

3. Setting materials in the material level if possible - not the object. if not then being able to set for group/component. setting in material level currently not possible

4. more SPEED on export (planned) without model size limits (if SU can model it then export should work).

5. not exporting hidden layers. done - alpha.02

6. adding more texture slots in a way for bump, gloass, etc... (@LAST might want to pick up on this - texturing needs a make over) planned

7. letting the user set export format for image and also locations for this files and the mxi, mxs also. planned for alpha.03

8. change the time frame for render to min ??? done - alpha.02

9. an ability in the 'time' window to set the mxs as a resume file so we can stop and start it again. planned for alpha.03

10. Glass - can we have the same choices as the other plugs. ie crown of basilcate etc. will be considered

11. rather than using the drop down to assing mat types can the same be added to the right click menu? will be considered

12. implementation via extension manager and ruby toolbars for all functions.

13. (...DOF Tools...) A. an ability to preview DOF. B. A slider for moving focus point along camera view line...

14. Aspect ratio preview on screen.
Last edited by bakbek on Tue Jul 26, 2005 3:44 pm, edited 9 times in total.
By RedRaven
#48043
in addition to 4. Not only speed improvement but the ability to export any size model (if su can model it then we must be able to render it - i can give u a model that im having problems with if that is useful). If there are limitations on model size then is it possible to have a means of the exporter to quickly check if it will have probelms and then suggest what size reduction is required)


9. an ability in the 'time' window to set the mxs as a resume file so we can stop and start it again.

10. Glass - can we have the same choices as the other plugs. ie crown of basilcate etc.

11. rather than using the drop down to assing mat types can the same be added to the right click menu?
By RedRaven
#48301
no. 12 - the ability to set image file types (ie. jpg, tga, tiff etc)
By pelias
#48323
Quick update:
  • #0 is planned as I've mentioned elsewhere - OSX version is being worked on and it will be released in August 2005.
    #1 is planned for Alpha.03
    #5 was done in Alpha.02
    #7 is planned for Alpha.03
    #8 was done in Alpha.02
    #9 is planned for Alpha.03
    #10 and #11 will be considered (no final decision on those yet).
Pavol
User avatar
By bakbek
#48430
wish #12

i know this will work only in su5 but now that we have the extension manager and ruby toolbars, it will be great if the maxwell plug will be implemented in this way with nice toolbars for material assignment... plus many other tools that come along the way.

wish #13 (...DOF Tools...)

call me a DOF freak but i like the ability to control it and preview it. how about a live preview of DOF... claculating the FOCUS area for a given focus point and presenting it on screen... could be implemented with FOG maybe or just two unactive section planes that appear on screen and visualize the focus area.

and also a slider for moving focus point along camera view line...
User avatar
By bakbek
#48460
wish #14

Aspect ratio preview on screen, so that the image cropping is visiable before render. providing some presets and ability to add to them (like the film & stage addon)
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By deesee
#49752
How about a seperate material browser that could pop up with just the derfault Maxwell materials in them? That way I can use the paint bucket and assign material that way and then then texture, etc.
User avatar
By Sheik
#50043
Could assigning Maxwell materials be something like this?
Image
There would be a separate Maxwell material editor (alternative to the SU Material Editor) with all needed settings and a material preview.
There would be a Maxwell materials library from where we would assign materials to the model as usual. The image on screen would be a “preview” of the rendering (as the MXS material editor would create a texture, colour & transparency resembling the materials render result). We would also easily be able to open standard SU materials used in the model in the new editor, from where they could then be placed in the Maxwell library when needed.
In components we would also have a Maxwell lighting fixtures library with IES lighting components…

Sheik
By pelias
#50061
Material editor like this would be great - it is certainly a norm in other applications. However something like this is not really possible at the moment in SketchUp. There are several limitations which we are against:
  • SketchUp export SDK (C++ based) does allow export of the model but no other integration with SketchUp is possible. It is not even possible to modify the model...Also access to some features (shadow info) is not implemented
  • Ruby scripting is nice (it actually enables more functionality that the export SDK) but it is very limiting when it comes to UI - that is a major roadblock when it comes to material manager.
  • The whole subsystem of materials/material manager in SketchUp is "closed". There is no way to acces it - the best we can do (and we are doing that) is to access materials on the model level.
Pavol
User avatar
By Sheik
#52525
The whole subsystem of materials/material manager in SketchUp is "closed". There is no way to acces it - the best we can do (and we are doing that) is to access materials on the model level.
So if I understand you correctly we will not be able to save any of the Maxwell material attributes in the SU material library? So every time we use Maxwell from SU we will have to set the Maxwell parameters for every material (or actually face/object) individually? If so that really is a shame…
Can other than the diffuse map be saved with the SU file, or will we need to link to the pictures?
Would it be possible to use the Maxwell material editor and its library (running simultaneously with SU but still as a separate application) for creating the materials, and then have the application automatically write a “SU representation of that material” in a SU library? We would use the SU version as usual, and then on MXS export the material would be swapped for the Maxwell version by matching the name.

Wish #15 Could we have the possible values for every setting written next to it, and also a help button for quickly finding an explanation of that parameter. Just to make it friendly…

Wish #16 Setting exposures by both F Stop and Shutter speed is difficult without a table to refer to. I understand it’s a physical camera model, but can’t we alternatively just set amount of DOF and have “automatic exposure control”. “Point and shoot” is what we usually need.

Sheik
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By bakbek
#52643
That automatic exposure control sounds interesting...

I don't know what is planned for this plug, but i have to say that if it doesn't incorpreate some kind of a solution for the material issue, then there isn't much of a reason to use it - having to setup every time from scratch alll the geometry of the scene for a maxwell render is just not logical. even updating stuff this way is a pain (think of a model of a big complex)

no matter what are the limitations of SU and Maxwell a solutions must be propesd... i just wish we could test the new version, it seems the delay is very long and for no good reason.
By RedRaven
#54512
back to the topic of materials library

I now understand that su is limited and will not allow editing of the materials within su. This being the case would it be possible to build a library of standard su materials BUT with the suffux 'maxwell' or similar so that when this material is assigned to a surface the export routine can then look up that material that has the necessary additional parameters from an ini file (like 3ds2mxs). This ini file could be edited via a ruby interface so that a re-usable liabrary of mats can be accessed. The ini file could be reproduced each time from a script that accesses a xml table of materials (like matador) each time an export is started.

Does that make sense? Is it possible? And does it give us our transferable materials - in theory doesnt this give us a resource as powerful as max?
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By Sheik
#54518
One minor request:
One limitation in SketchUp is it doesn’t do spherical mapping. (I seldom have a need for it, so I don’t se that as a big problem). It would be nice to be able to set a HDRI spherical sky dome environment to the scene from the menu. (The approach of having to make a sphere and to map the mxi image on the inside seems too complicated anyway, so I would change that in all plug-ins).

The default material for the tan front face renders as red. Why not tan?

Sheik

I hope we will hear the thoughts of Pelias on the mats library in a few days when he is back from his vacation.
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