[ask] How to use material database in skindigo?

Pibuz · Post by **Pibuz** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:46 pm

..i'm a little puzzled: how can we sketch users use the .igm or .pigm files? generally, we need at least one map to correctly UV-map it on our surface..

so so sorry for the stupid question, but i see some very interesting mats, and i just wanted to study them a little..and use them, of course!

kwistenbiebel · Post by **kwistenbiebel** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 7:59 pm

Hi Pibuz,
You can load .igm at the top of the material editor, but you probably know that.
Loading the .igm will create some extra SU materials. (blend mats etc.).
My guess is that you paint your object with the newly generated mat that contains the diffuse texture of the .igm.

I'll try and see how it works.

Pibuz · Post by **Pibuz** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:17 pm

Yes, great tip kwisten thanks!

The workflow you tell works fine with .igm, but in SkIndigo you can't load .pigm, in fact no additional SU mat is created.. We have to transform pigm files into igm for to use them. You know how?

kwistenbiebel · Post by **kwistenbiebel** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:21 pm

nope....

Whaat?....Whaaaaa-h-aaaaat?!

Post by **OnoSendai** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:28 pm

Hi guys,
I just added an option in Indigo v1.1.2 to unpack PIGM files. This should allow Whaat to load pigm files, but you have to give him time to code it

PIGM files are just zip files, so if you change the extension to .zip, you can unzip the file and get the igm.

Pibuz · Post by **Pibuz** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:34 pm

Oh: thanks Ono! Will try it immediately!

kwistenbiebel · Post by **kwistenbiebel** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 9:36 pm

Yes, Whaat, take your time.
I was only joking around.

Whaat · Post by **Whaat** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 11:07 am

SkIndigo cannot yet load all types of Indigo materials. I have not updated IGM loading for Oren-nayar, and displacement maps for example.

What are people's thoughts on IGM linking? There could be a new material type called 'Linked IGM'. The user would have to manually load the maps to do the UV mapping SketchUp, but when the scene is rendered, the IGM would take the place of the SketchUp material.

In this way, SkIndigo users would always be able to directly use any material that comes from the Material database. The only disadvantage is that you cannot tweak the material settings using SkIndigo. You would have to manually edit the settings in the IGM file (if you feel the need).

Maybe someone could give me some suggestions on how to implement this from a users point of view....

Pibuz · Post by **Pibuz** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 1:49 am

Hi Whaat

I think there is no need to add a linked IGM material: after all, after having imported the IGM in SkIndigo, we already have the possibility/need to map at least one texture from the newly created sketch materials to give indigo the object's correct UV-mapping AND we can tweak them as we like if the result doesn't satisfy us. So, for me there's no need to add new materials.
..maybe just to update the loading of oren-nayar and displaced mats, so we can use them too, if needed.. But, take your time: no hurry at all!

I prefer by far waiting a little more and have at he end a perfectly working program instead of having an uncomplete/untested instrument in my hands in a short time

Whaat · Post by **Whaat** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 5:39 pm

update:

I have now implemented loading of oren-nayar, displaced materials, and specular reflectivity materials.

I have also implemented IGM linking. Trust me, this is extremely useful! For simple materials, it may not be required but if you try to load a very complex material (nested blends with lots of textures), SkIndigo will create a LOT of new materials that you may not want in your scene.

Another reason that IGM linking is required is because SkIndigo does not support (and will not support) every possible material attribute that Indigo has. For example, dermis and epidermis media, peak spectra, and tabulated spectra are not supported by Skindigo. However, with IGM linking, SkIndigo users can now use these types of materials. (They still can't create them though)

The last few days I have been focusing completely on making the IGM/PIGM loading code as robust as possible so that SkIndigo users will be able to take full advantage of the material database.

Post by **OnoSendai** » Sun Jun 08, 2008 7:00 pm

Awesome, thanks Whaat.
Is there anything you need Indigo to do in this regard,
apart from fixing the bugs with unpacking dirs and to absolute paths?

Whaat · Post by **Whaat** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 2:44 pm

OnoSendai wrote:Awesome, thanks Whaat.
Is there anything you need Indigo to do in this regard,
apart from fixing the bugs with unpacking dirs and to absolute paths?

Don't forget the bug with packing displacement maps.

The most important thing that needs to be done is to finalize all aspects of the IGM spec (nkdata, uv sets, paths, etc.) and make sure that all materials that get uploaded to the material database are 100% valid.

If this doesn't happen soon, the material database will not be used by anyone except the hard-core indigo-heads. To all other users, it will be seen as a good reason to switch to another app...

Thanks, fused, for working on this extremely important task!

Post by **OnoSendai** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 7:50 pm

Yup, fixed the displacement map packing bug.
IGM spec has been updated:

http://www.indigorenderer.com/joomla/fo ... php?t=3301

Pibuz · Post by **Pibuz** » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:21 am

Thank you Whaat!
So, did you upload your updated SkIndigo already somewhere? Just to know, so i can download it and try it full-featured..

(it only works with Indigo 1.1.2 obviously, does it?)

[ask] How to use material database in skindigo?

[ask] How to use material database in skindigo?

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