Material studio question

[Pixero]

I was under the impression that the Material Studio could be used to convert Vray materials (.mat files) to vismat material. I havent found a way to load a vray material though. Can someone clarify how to do it?

As a side note it would be great to save the material preview to a jpg.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Material studio question

There is a whole other tool, the Material converter that will convert the materials.

We allow users to save the output of the Material studio as a png. I don't know if your wish is to save as a jpeg or just to save the output in general, but thats how we set it up. Pngs are just as user friendly as jpgs, and the have lossless compression as well as integrated alphas, so I don't really see much of a need for jpgs as opposed to pngs.

[Pixero]

Re: Material studio question

Okay, didnt find the save png either but I'll have another look...

Sooo...when will the material converter be released?

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Material studio question

it is released. should be right under the material studio in the Tools section

[Pixero]

Re: Material studio question

Hi!

All I can find is a plugin for Max. (And there is no explanation on how to use it.)
I found the right click: Convert selection to vismat command.
Does that mean you'll need Max and Vray for Max to be able to convert the shaders from lets say vray-materials.de?
In that case not a very good solution.
Why can't you just make it possible to load .mat materials in the Material studio and convert them there?
I think most users of vRay for SketchUp don't have vRay for Max also.

I must stress that this is a very important issue for me.

If users are not able to easily convert and use vray materials created in other apps (and since there is no sdk availible for vRay for SketchUp) we really are up to your mercy when it comes to shaders. Coming from the open Mental Ray I'm unsure if I would buy a application that is so locked down.

I really hope I just misunderstood.

[joe_b]

Re: Material studio question

We made the current converter as a way for V-Ray for Max owners to bring their materials over to our products. In the future it may evolve into a standalone converter if that is possible. I'm not sure if the .mat format is actually explained anywhere, so it may not be possible to even parse the file outside of 3dsmax- but if it is we will move in that direction. Sorry if we mislead you about its capabilities or purpose.

[joesg]

Re: Material studio question

i got 3dmax but no vray plugin to it, does tat mean the converter cant works in this case??
does 3dmax alone converts .mat to vismat?

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Material studio question

You can download a free version of V-Ray Here. You will have to register there to be able to download.

[Pixero]

Re: Material studio question

You can download a free version of V-Ray Here. You will have to register there to be able to download.

That free version is only supported for Max up to version 7.
So with Max 9 its still a no no...

[ALTO]

Re: Material studio question

That free version is only supported for Max up to version 7.
So with Max 9 its still a no no...

You can download the 1.5RC4 Demo.

[Pixero]

Re: Material studio question

You can download the 1.5RC4 Demo.

The demo lasts for 30 days and then what?
Not a working solution IMHO.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Material studio question

Yea I think the free demo is 1.47 or something like that. Sorry I didn't realize that it was unsupported for Max 8/9.

As for the current solution, there is an issue with how the actual material file is written (the max format .mat file), so the reason why the current solution is done through Max is because thats the only way we could actually get the correct material information. In actuality the .mat file isn't really converted. Its actually simply loaded into Max and then the converter exports out the material into our file format by reading the given parameters directly through the max interface. I asked Joe about why we did the converter this way, and that was the explanation that he gave to me. Our hope was that the users who did have max/vray would take some of the materials that they got from the internet or wherever, convert them, and post them up on our site for the rest of our users. That way everyone can benefit ;D