How to change materials from vrmesh imported from 3DSMax

[OzBoz]

What I do

I model a lot of architecture stuff in Sketchup and want to use props (exported from 3DSMax as vrmesh) in the scene to make it less empty.

What works

Importing a vrmesh as model works like a charm but it doesn't have the right materials. Importing a .vrscene does work -with- the right materials but you can't change them since it's locked inside the scene.

Exporting materials from 3DSMax as an entire library also works like a charm if I import them but there is no link between the names (real names) of those and the ones the .vrmesh uses.

What I want

I want a vrmesh model imported in Sketchup with all right materials but if I want for example to change a car colour I just can look for that material and change it's colour.

What I don't understand

Why can I export the library with the right material names but it's a mess when I use a vrmesh. The .vrmesh does have the materials or even a multimaterial which is nice but all the names are gone. When at least the names were like the original materials I could pick the corresponding material from the .vrmat librart exported by 3DSMax.

I might be stupid but I just don't get it why it changes the names of the materials so the only thing which is actually usable is a .vrscene file but that has the limitations the materials are locked.

Please enlighten me

Not only for me but I think lots of people have issues with it (my guess).

[georgi.georgiev]

Hi,

Please note that V-Ray Proxies do not store materials information, rather only geometric information for the mesh. When you import a proxy in SketchUp, V-Ray automatically creates a Multi material with as many sub-materials as there are material IDs stored in the proxy (.vrmesh) file. The submaterials have randomized diffuse colors and no other custom parameters. Their only purpose is to show which faces of the proxy object have different material IDs applied to them.

You would have to slot the desired materials in the corresponding material ID of the Multi Material.

[OzBoz]

You would have to slot the desired materials in the corresponding material ID of the Multi Material.

Hi Georgi,

Thank you for your reply! I actually want just all original materials to start with. So when I for example import this Citroën C2 as vrmesh I understand there is just a material ID. But when I import materials in Sketchup which I have exported from 3DSMax as one single vrmat file I do have the right names. So 22 id names and 22 real names.

The thing is, how do I know what material should be in which sub slot? If there is a simple way I would love to know. If there isn't one I think it would add really something to the functionality of V-Ray for Sketchup. Especially because while lots of architects use it Sketchup gets pretty nasty if you work with large models. So that's why I love the fact you can use those vrmeshes which have little impact on file size.

I get there are no materials in the vrmesh file but it would nice if there was a corresponding something (name/number/id colour etc) so I know where to put what material. And maybe some smart guy can fix a script to do so automatically. If I do want the materials render ready I can use a vrscene but it would be great if you could tweak them from Sketchup.

Hope you understand my wishes

[Peter.Chaushev]

Hello,

There is currently no way to directly load a .vrmesh proxy and have a custom .vrmat automatically associated with the proxy.
For simplified proxy loading, the usual workaround is to store a .vrmesh proxy with pre-set materials as a .3dm file and then import or link it in Rhino (or store a preset proxy as an .skp component for SketchUp). In both cases, however, this obviously does not work between different host-apps.
The main reason for this is that all the material info V-Ray for Rhino/SketchUp can store in a .vrmesh file is face id numbers. (Upon loading a .vrmesh file, a Multi material is automatically created. Each of its sub-materials corresponds to a different face id.)
Our developers have already made some advancements in the data which can be stored in .vrmesh files. This is part of a greater solution which will hopefully make asset storage and loading more user-friendly. More info about it will be available later on. In the meantime, any requests and feedback on this topic would be deeply appreciated!

Kind regards,
Peter

[NM-92]

Hello,

There is currently no way to directly load a .vrmesh proxy and have a custom .vrmat automatically associated with the proxy.

Hi ! I'm facing this exact same issue with some bought scenes that are in Max/Vray. Is there an efficient method to translate this into Rhino/Vray and keep things editable yet ? I'd love to know the best way to do this.

[jiminy-billy-bob]

Transmutr can help: https://help.transmutr.com/tutorials...v-ray-sketchup

[NM-92]

Transmutr can help: https://help.transmutr.com/tutorials...v-ray-sketchup

Hi, thanks for the answer. Correct me if i'm wrong but isn't this for Sketchup? I need to transfer data into Rhinoceros. Cheers!

[jiminy-billy-bob]

Oh indeed, my bad!
We are in the SketchUp subforum, and I read too fast, sorry.

[NM-92]

No problem! I'll open a new thread in the Rhino section. Just trying my luck here since this thread is exactly what i'm looking for but for Rhino. Thanks!

[natali.velcheva]

Hello,

There are a few different approaches you can try.

Firstly, if you prefer to stick to vrmesh and MutliMaterial vrmat files here are some possible scenarios:
- Import both, the proxy mesh and vrmat files. Disable the proxy material toggle in the right flyout menu. Then apply the imported MultiMaterial to the vrmesh and manually change the IDs starting with 0,1,2, etc.
- Import both, the proxy mesh and vrmat files. Slot each of the MultiMaterial's sub-materials into the Proxy Mesh material placeholders. Once this is done, feel free to delete the MultiMaterial from the scene as it will no longer be needed.

Secondly, a proxy with already assigned materials can be saved as a vrmat asset itself. This workflow allows transferring the proxy and its materials as a singular asset between Rhino/SketchUp projects (or from one program to another), keeping all the material and ID assignment information in it.

The third option is to export only the vrmesh file. In some cases the appearance of the materials is not preserved after being exported from V-Ray for 3ds max, that is why it is recommended to recreate them in V-Ray for Rhino/Sketchup from scratch.

Lastly, as you have already noticed, is by exporting a vrscene file. It will perfectly keep the appearance of the objects, but as a trade-off, it will not be editable.


Hope this helps!

Kind regards,
Natali

[NM-92]

Hello Natali. Thanks for breaking this down. I did try all of the options you mentioned above. Here are the problems i've encountered:

• Vrmeshes was the option i felt more comfortable with since somehow remains pretty editable. I can toggle visibility of each vrmesh individually, move them around, scale and all that stuff. Sticking with that procedure, i've found that exported .vrmats from 3Ds Max were not working for me. I've exported the whole scene mats, and upon importing in Rhino, most of them look black on the preview or are missing it's textures. Some of them also make Rhino crash when applied to an object or imported.

• I can export vrmeshes as textured assets, as you said, from Rhino, but can't find that same option in Vray for Max. Any clues about that ?

• Is there a way to export fully functional lights of the scene? The only way they were preserved was through the .vrscene.

Vrscenes are discarded because i can't edit them, and vrmeshes without materials are not convenient due to the time consuming process of retexturing the whole scene.

As for now, none of this methods is fully working for me and it's just the same as exporting the geometry to Rhino and rebuild the whole thing there.

Best regards,
Nicolas