VRAY 4 MAYA SHADERLIBRARY - Version 1.1.1 including Videotutorials released!

[ultrasonic]

Hey Guys,

since this shaderlibrary was only discussed in the "vray materials" thread i wanted to stop hijacking this thread and create an own one.

I am still very proud of this script cause i get so much nice feedback from the community. This first startet as a vray-only library which i built with my friend Paul Dreisen at Parasol Island, but has now grown and supports other renderers as well.

I also created 3 video tutorials on how to install & use the library and how to use your own shaderPreviewScene.

Find everything over at my website
http://fullblownimages.servebeer.com/scripts.html


There is also a prepacked shaderlibrary containing around 170 materials at Pauls Website
www.dryzen.com


U can find the first post here if u would like to read from the start:
http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbu...209#post410209

or follow the thread over at cgtalk
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthre...?f=87&t=822324


RELEASE NOTES:

---------------------FBI_shaderLibrary INSTALLATION-------------------
-----Author:	Oliver Markowski
-----Company:	FULL.BLOWN|IMAGES
-----Mail:		oliver@fullblownimages.com
-----Web:		www.fullblownimages.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is just one MEL Script and a folder which u have to place in one of your maya script directories. e.g. 
"C:\Documents and Settings\omarkows\My Documents\maya\2009-x64\"

The folder contains just the previewScenes for each supported renderer and MUST be in the same directory as the script!

After copying restart maya and just type the following in the script editor
source FBI_shaderLibrary;FBI_shaderLibrary("YOUR_LIBRARY_PATH_HERE","");    <- DO NOT USE BACKSLASHES -> \ ONLY Forwardslashes /

Note that you must select the appropriate renderer that you want to use for the preview image before you hit export.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 This is what i consider a key feature of this library - when importing the shaders, it automaticly relinks all textures to your library location. To achieve this there  is a texturepath-namingconvention. When u export a shader from maya,the script will copy all textures to a subfolder in the directory where u export the shader to. 
 
If u dont want to have too much subfolders (although they not displayed in the UI) you can also create a folder called "TEXTURES" in the root folder of your library. This folder can exist anywhere above the directory of your exported shader. The script travels upwards to search. It is not allowed to use folders in "TEXTURES" (but i am working on it)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Please give as much feedback as you can!

You can also follow this thread on chaosgroup forums:
http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=410209#post410209

----------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------FBI_shaderLibrary ChangeLog----------------------
Fixes Version 1.1.1
[REQ] VIDEO TUTORIAL --- find them here -> http://www.fullblownimages.com/scripts.html

[UPD] update MR testscene....if u have a better one and want to share it, please tell me!!!

[NEW] ADDED PROGRESS BAR

[REQ] UPDATE DIRECTORY BUTTON is now back at the bottom of the window

[BUG] THE FIRST LINES OF THE SCRIPT GOT LOST ... THIS WAS WHERE U COULD PUT YOUR DEFAULT START DIRECTORY...THIS IS NOW BACK ;)

[BUG] Refresh preview now has missed a "_"

Fixes Version 1.1
[REQ] .TEXTURES doesn't work well on MAC/Linux ... renamed to TEXTURES without the dot You must rename your old .TEXTURES folder if you have one

[REQ] always use global textures folder instead of generating one texturefolder for each export - resolved - NOTE: if no folder named TEXTURES is found, then the script stills generates a folder called ".materialName" in your exportdirectory

[REQ] UI improved - only one button left - parent dir button moved in the folder structure and is named ".."

[REQ] Maya Ascii is used for export but only if there are NO unknown nodes in your file...otherwise export will use your current filetype - in most cases .mb

[REQ] other renderers now supported as well - you need seperate files for them - e.g. MentalRay=renderShaderPreview_mr.mb   MayaSoftware=renderShaderPreview_sw.mb - RfM will follow

[REQ] only browser part of the window should be scrollable - resolved


----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------PENDING REQUESTS & KNOWN BUGS---------------------

[REQ] better preview scenes - waiting for input from community

[REQ] support sub-directories in TEXTURES folder

[REQ] FTP community upload

[Michi3d]

Thanks a lot...

That really helps organizing all the materials. Hope, there will come a lot of more vray-shaders for Maya either here on this forum or on vraymaterials.de .

Cheers,
Michael

[ultrasonic]

Thanks a lot...

That really helps organizing all the materials. Hope, there will come a lot of more vray-shaders for Maya either here on this forum or on vraymaterials.de .

Cheers,
Michael

Your're welcome! No need to thank! We have made this script for the community, so our biggest honor would be if many people use it and share their shaders!

I hope i can implement the upload functionality in the next few days! so stay tuned!

cheerio
Oli

[snivlem]

Wow, thanks for this update Oli. Thanks for the re-addition of the refresh button too! I think this script is perfect now. Although the upload community idea seems really unique.

The only issue that's been happening is that the shaders bundled with Paul Dreisen's zip, the textures don't work:
EDIT: My mistake. I didn't remove the period in front of the TEXTURES folder! It all works flawlessly now.

[ultrasonic]

Wow, thanks for this update Oli. Thanks for the re-addition of the refresh button too! I think this script is perfect now.

Thx man! But i wouldn't call it perfect...wait for the next additions

Although the upload community idea seems really unique.

It's already working in my testenvironment....maybe i can release it in the next few days!

The only issue that's been happening is that the shaders bundled with Paul Dreisen's zip, the textures don't work:
EDIT: My mistake. I didn't remove the period in front of the TEXTURES folder! It all works flawlessly now.

Ok...that was the only reason i could imagine....we are going to fix the archive soon, so that there is no need to change the foldername.

I will also include your shaderscene as an optional previewscene in the next release...

cheers form my holidays in hamburg!
Oli

[paulDryzen]

Done.

The new textures are online. http://rapidshare.com/files/303572444/txLibV002.rar

The links on my page are updated too.

[ultrasonic]

Version 1.2 released

Hey guys,

i have just released version 1.2 of the shader library here:
http://fullblownimages.servebeer.com/download/fbi_shaderLibrary_1.2.rar

Besides some bugfixes i added the long anticipated UPLOAD FEATURE!!!! Although it's the first beta i decided to push it in the wild...we'll see what happens!

U can see the online library in its beta stage here:
http://fullblownimages.servebeer.com/shaderlibrary/

for now,there is no information on who uploaded a shader, but this will change soon. maybe you can place your name at the beginning of your shadername. I will see how i can implement this in another release

Now please start sharing & rock'n'rollin'!

cheers
Oli

[ultrasonic]

version 1.2.1 is out
http://fullblownimages.servebeer.com...derLibrary.rar

Fixes Version 1.2.1
 
 [BUG] fixed directory listing on linux and mac - thx to dominik markota for finding on mac os and richard wardlow for finding and fixing it on linux
 
 [BUG] changed the ui a little to work on linux as well - thanks to richard wardlow 
 
 [NEW] window remembers your last directory when u close it and then reopen

[Intuition]

Can this work in linux as well?

[ultrasonic]

Can this work in linux as well?

Yes it work's on linux too! You must use v1.2.1 from my last post!

Tell me if you have problems!

Oli

[ultrasonic]

VERSION 1.4 released

Hey guys,

i have just released version 1.4 The only change is in the community FTP Upload function.

GET IT HERE:
http://www.fullblownimages.com/downl...derLibrary.rar

Please update your older version!

Changes in Version 1.4

I NEEDED TO MOVE THE COMMUNITY UPLOAD FTP.


Changes in Version 1.3

[NEW] changed MentalRay Testscene to the MatLab of mrmaterials.com - credits therefore go to Jeff Patton and Russell Thomas - the hdr in that scene is not allowed to be used for any other purposes than this MR-Testscene!!!

[BUG] update preview now also works if the shader is from a higher maya version

[REQ] MULTI EXPORT - you can now select multiple objects/shaders to export - if more than one is selected the previewrender will block maya instead of just opening a renderwindow!

Changes in Version 1.2.1

[BUG] fixed directory listing on linux and mac - thx to dominik markota for finding on mac os and richard wardlow for finding and fixing it on linux

[BUG] changed the ui a little to work on linux as well - thanks to richard wardlow 

[NEW] window remembers your last directory when u close it and then reopen

Changes in Version 1.2
[NEW]  UPLOAD FUNCTION!

[BUG] fixed issue when u want to use Mental Ray and have no vray installed

Changes in Version 1.1.1
[REQ] VIDEO TUTORIAL --- find them here -> http://www.fullblownimages.com/scripts.html

[UPD] update MR testscene....if u have a better one and want to share it, please tell me!!!

[NEW] ADDED PROGRESS BAR

[REQ] UPDATE DIRECTORY BUTTON is now back at the bottom of the window

[BUG] THE FIRST LINES OF THE SCRIPT GOT LOST ... THIS WAS WHERE U COULD PUT YOUR DEFAULT START DIRECTORY...THIS IS NOW BACK ;)

[BUG] Refresh preview now has missed a "_"

Changes in Version 1.1
[REQ] .TEXTURES doesn't work well on MAC/Linux ... renamed to TEXTURES without the dot You must rename your old .TEXTURES folder if you have one

[REQ] always use global textures folder instead of generating one texturefolder for each export - resolved - NOTE: if no folder named TEXTURES is found, then the script stills generates a folder called ".materialName" in your exportdirectory

[REQ] UI improved - only one button left - parent dir button moved in the folder structure and is named ".."

[REQ] Maya Ascii is used for export but only if there are NO unknown nodes in your file...otherwise export will use your current filetype - in most cases .mb

[REQ] other renderers now supported as well - you need seperate files for them - e.g. MentalRay=renderShaderPreview_mr.mb   MayaSoftware=renderShaderPreview_sw.mb - RfM will follow

[REQ] only browser part of the window should be scrollable - resolved

[timdog]

Great tool! Keep it up and running! I happened to disrupt your nice squarish order at the website , sorry about that.

[jensl]

I just set up FBI_shaderLibrary v1.4 and it's great. First off I want to say thank you! It's a very useful tool that will only grow more useful. I think it would be ideal to keep it a library, and when importing shaders, file textures should also be copied over to the current project, as this also ensures people won't go and modify or work in the \TEXTURES\ folder. This might be best set in a preference/options window, so that someone can set it up properly for various artists to use. This can be done using the bonus tools 'Organize files' tool, but to have things copied automatically would be so seamless! I also wonder about an option to add notes somewhere (maybe tooltip pop up?), as I have seen some reference to 'slow' shaders, so that you know what you're getting into before-hand.

Initially the 'renderShaderPreview_vray.ma' file wasn't working for me, since I'm using Maya 2009. I cleaned out a version of this (removing MR stuff), optimized scene and dropped the max subdivs from 10 to 6. I also noticed the ENV.exr file is 2k by 1k, GI.exr is 1k by 512, and given the small render size I crunched it down to 512x256 to speed up the preview renders (let me know if you'd like the maya file). I'm also wondering if there's a reason why this isn't a .mb file.

Looking forward to texture subdirectories! I think this would be ideal, as having everything in one folder is a bit disorganized. This great tool gets me going, now I'm starting to think about if you could also export full groups with the shaders, and use that as the previewObject, but that's going more in the direction of a full-on asset archival library, haha! My last request is to add the "\.. (parent dir)" button to the bottom of the list, so you don't have to scroll up in a big folder to move up a directory. Thanks again!

Jens

[snivlem]

Ascii files are great!

Not everyone has Maya 2010 so it enables people with lower version of Maya to cleanly edit out the requirements.

[ultrasonic]

Hey,
thx for all your feedback...i have got lots of other requests too and i hope i can implement all of them soon. Since i am currently involved in a heavy project i hope u understand that it could take some time.
Please keep writing feedback even if no newer version are released!!!
cheers
Oli