New SoulburnScript: Keyshot like workflow for 3dsmax

[soulburn3d]

soulburnAssetLoader (SAL) has been released for 3dsmax!

The soulburnAssetLoader is a quick way to let you merge various assets into your scene from a nice icon based interface (including Environments that consist of lights and hdris, material presets and individual models). I got the idea from looking at keyshot, while keyshot is a nice piece of software, it's quite limiting when you want to do something more complex (like adding rust on an object for example.) But it's great at quickly swapping materials and rendering them in a realistic environment. So hopefully this script can help you achieve the speed but lets you to customize your materials and rigs more than keyshot allows.

Go here to download the script:
http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_tools/...urnscripts.htm

Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edvfB7Tc-lU to watch a video showing how the software works.

And here's 4 asset packs of environments, materials and models. 3 packs are free, and 1 pack of advanced vray hard surface materials is $9.99. Please consider buying the Hard Surface pack to support the further development of SAL:
http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_tools/...ets_3dsmax.htm

Thanks!

- Neil

[Preisler]

Hi Neil,

Testing in 2014 design and 2011 64bit and so far everything works - just love it!!

Minor things to the wishlist:
- When loading enviroments it would be nice if "Environment Map" could be loaded as well.
- In 2011: An override of the Gamme on the icons - or a "Display icons in sRgb mode" like in theVFB.

[soulburn3d]

Thanks Preisler, glad you like it!

> When loading enviroments it would be nice if "Environment Map" could be loaded as well.

It would be nice, but unfortunately can't be done using current maxscript. That's why I place my environments inside a domelight, which can be properly merged.

> In 2011: An override of the Gamme on the icons - or a "Display icons in sRgb mode" like in theVFB.

So are you seeing the icons appear too bright or two dark in the sal interface? The icons shouldn't contain any gamma info, and I'd assumed they appear in the interface correct like a regular max icon.

- Neil

[MoonDoggie]

Neil, I haven't testing it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

I assume the buttons are using imgTag controls? If so, it's annoying, but you can specify the gamma of the icons bitmaps before loading them into the imgTag. I can find some reference for the scripting of it if you like.

[soulburn3d]

Yes, they're imgtags. But I'm confused though why the icons would need to be gamma corrected, as far as I know, max ui stuff doesn't get gamma corrected and so should need that to happen. If someone is seeing a gamma correction issue, please post a pic and tell me what max version you're running.

- Neil

[Preisler]

Hi Neil,

For me scripting is like walking on water - not very easy at all ...so I am guessing here! Maybe it has somthing to do with my lwf settings. In Preferences - Gamma and LUT - Bitmap Files the input gamma is set to 2,2. Maybe the icons are getting gamma applied here? - the turn up dark.

[soulburn3d]

For me scripting is like walking on water - not very easy at all

Same for me believe it or not

...so I am guessing here! Maybe it has something to do with my lwf settings. In Preferences - Gamma and LUT - Bitmap Files the input gamma is set to 2,2. Maybe the icons are getting gamma applied here? - the turn up dark.

So this is max 2011 correct? So I managed to reproduce your problem, looks like max2014 works fine in all gamma settings, but max 2011 for some reason does the wrong thing with gamma and makes the icons dark.

I can't fix it automatically, but I suppose its possible to provide a gamma value you can manually set in the script. But I need a way to gamma correct the icons. Colin, do you have that code that would let me do that? I don't see it in the help file for imgTags.

- Neil

[Preisler]

Niel please don't fix it just because of me I am not working that much in 2011 anymore. It was just installed on the workstation where I tried SAL and I had some extra sparetime to give it a go!

[soulburn3d]

Well, if I find an easy fix, then I'll add the feature. But otherwise if you're not using 2011, there's a few other bigger bugs to fix. Let me know if you run into anything else. Thanks!

- Neil

[MoonDoggie]

Yeah, I have the code. I'll get it for you this evening. IIRC you check for set gamma/lut in 3dsmax and adjust your gamma for your loaded bitmaps accordingly, but I don't remember exactly.

[pixela]

Glad to hear it is out!
I will have a chance to install and test after May 19.
Looking forward to it

[Preisler]

Hi Niel,

So I tested with 500+ models in 15 categories and it's running fairly smooth One thing though when placing a lot of objects it would be nice to have the objects selected and the Move tool activaited so you can move them right away.

I have used Advanced Renamer to rename files for categories. There might be other ways or tools to do that but this one works ok - one great thing is that you can revert a renaming action if you made a mistake.

So if I want to make a small preview of all the models/ max files does anybody know a way to do that easily? ...maybe a script something so I would not have to do that manualy