Specify Default Materials Directory

[dcrosssvpa]

Is there a way that I can modify the default materials directory? I currently have all of my materials on a network drive. Every time I go to import a material or something like that it defaults to the local drive where Vray for SketchUp is installed. Anyone mess with this at all?

[thomthom]

Re: Specify Default Materials Directory

I use a program from Stardock called Enhanced Dialog, which is part of the Object Desktop suite. It enhances the default file dialogue with a few things, one of them is a folder history list which makes it easy to click back to my last used folders.

[Jackson_cg]

Re: Specify Default Materials Directory

Sorry if this a bit of a hijack, but it's very much on the same subject and I tihnk it'll be easier for Damien to answer all our "material directory" questions in one go. I asked a similar question a few months ago as I was rendering out a VfSU file on my colleague's machine and realised that although I moved the diffuse, bump and clip bitmaps onto our server it didn't find them after moving the actual VfSU skp file across- I had to manually re-assign them all. I asked Damien about this and I'm sure he replied that the paths were relative, i.e. if you had a folder in My Docs called SKP FILES and a folder called BITMAPS and identical folders on another machine, then provided you copied all the files in the folders from the first machine to the other VfSU would render perfectly on the second without having to manually assign bitmap paths.

However, if I remember correctly I also tried creating a folder on my machine, putting the VfSU skp file in it plus all the texture bitmaps, re-aasigning them so the path between VfSU skp and bitmaps would be simply "look in the same folder dammit", but again after moving this whole folder across to my colleague's machine the bitmaps paths were lost.

Can you shed some light on this Damien?

p.s. I recently did a full OS reinstall and despite cloning My Docs all my VfSU texture bitmap paths were lost. It's very easy to reassign them again as the bitmaps names are still in the VfSU material editor bitmap slots, but it's a bit of a drag making sure they're all in place when I open up an old VfSU file.

[thomthom]

Re: Specify Default Materials Directory

They are not relative. They are fixed. Meaning that if yiou have textures located in your Documents folder and you transfer them to another machine you must use the exact same login name.

For instance, on the machine I'm using now, my logon name is "thm", so the path to my Documents folder is "C:\Documents and Settings\thm\Mine dokumenter"

but if I transfer to another machine, using another username, that path won't exist.

What you could do though, is use the All Users folder. That should be the name across computers.

[thomthom]

Re: Specify Default Materials Directory

hmm... All Users folder might not be 100% that either... Could be differences if the computers doesn't have the same language...

[Jackson_cg]

Re: Specify Default Materials Directory

What would be extremely useful would be if there was setting in VfSU where you could chosse to set the paths to be relative (so people's existing working methods aren't screwed up) and a magic button which copies all the associated bitmaps into the same folder as the skp file. I certainly wouldn't use that system day to day (I prefer having all my texture bitmaps in one organised folder which is backed up very regularly, in two different locations, but when a colleague needs to work on the same VfSU skp file it'd be extremely useful. That is, unless future versions of VfSU save all bitmaps as part of the actual skp file, but I'm guessing that's not possible

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Specify Default Materials Directory

As Thomas said, V-Ray paths are fixed. V-Ray will however search for maps in alternate locations when another folder location exists in the file. This "finding" only happens at render time though (ie the actual paths saved in the material will still be to the original, non-existing map).

Personally, I don't know what the situation is with relative pathing. I will have to ask our programmers for details on that.

As to the first issue, the default folder location, this is not adjustable at the moment. I would like to pull a number of items, similar to this, out into a "V-Ray Preferences" kind of a thing. I'll try and refine what may or may not be in these preferences, but I'll see if we can have the default material folder and default options folder to be available.

Is there anything else I missed on this one?

[Jackson_cg]

Re: Specify Default Materials Directory

Just while we're on the subject of VfSU Materials, is there a reason why, when you reassign the diffuse texture bitmap via VfSU Material Editor the UV scale always reverts to 254.0 in SU Material Editor? As far as I can tell, it doesn't alter the UV position, just the scale. It's no biggie, you just have to remember to reaasign diffuse texture bitmaps in SU first before fiddling with VfSU's Material Editor.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Specify Default Materials Directory

No clue...didn't even notice it actually. I generally do all of my material modifications within the V-Ray MatEd and barely open the SU editor except for applying materials.