SkIndigo 0.7test5

Announcements, requests and support regarding SkIndigo - the Sketchup / Indigo exporter.
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Whaat
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SkIndigo 0.7test5

Post by Whaat » Sun Apr 08, 2007 8:00 am

I thought I would release SkIndigo 0.7test5 even though Indigo 0.7test6 just got released today. You can expect SkIndigo 0.7test6 to be released before the end of the weekend. I will also release a SkIndigo tutorial within a few days. However, I will post the updated "How To" list below. This can also be found in the "About SkIndigo" menu item.

To install the exporter, copy SkIndigo_07.rb into your Sketchup/Plugins directory.

Important: You can no longer adjust the tonemapping settings in the exporter. This is now done with the Indigo Tonemapper GUI "Violet" which is available at this link http://www2.indigorenderer.com/joomla/f ... php?t=1332
Let me know if you want to see tonemapping back in the exporter Render Settings.

Version 0.7test5 Changelog:

#Added: Environment Map Support
#Added: Up to 4 threads selectable
#Changed: Mirror preset is now a specular material with high IOR (perfect dielectric)
#Added: Support for most features of Indigo 0.7
#Changed: Removed tonemapping from render settings - use Indigo tonemapper GUI
#Added: Bump map support to metals (complex IOR)
#Changed: Changed default exponent to 1000
#Added: New sss material and light presets
#Changed: aperture setting is now specified as f-stop
#Changed: minor UI changes
#Added: autofocus is selectable through focus tool
#Added: reverse gamma correction to rgb meshlights
#Added: context menu to apply material presets and quick export
#Added: New Render Modes - Export All, Separate Settings, and Settings Only (Quick Export)
#Added: Option to run Indigo in Low Priority (creates batch file) - May only work with PCs
#Changed: Material Table to Query Material Types
#Changed: Only visible geometry is exported
#Changed: Auto-render only allowed when file is exported to Indigo directory
#Changed: BPT always turned off (not working in Indigo 0.7test5)
#Changed: Default MNCR to 500 from 100. 500 works better for SSS

HOW TO:

Render with Sun and Sky Light
1. Turn on shadows
2. Turn on Sun and Sky in SkIndigo Render Settings

Render with Custom Lights
1. Use either an RGB Light or a Blackbody Light material in your scene.
2. RGB lights will emit light according to the material color
3. Blackbody lights will emit light according to the temperature
4. Light is only emitted from the front side of the face

Render with Uniform Background Light
1. Turn on Background in SkIndigo Render Settings
2. Scene will be lit with a uniform background light matching the current Sketchup background color

Render with Environment Map
1. Turn on Environment Map in SkIndigo Render Settings
2. Set your Environment Map using the SkIndigo menu item
3. You can use EXR maps in Lat_Long format or FLOAT maps in Spherical format

Monochrome Render (Clay)
1. Change Sketchup render mode to monochrome
2. Choose Clay to render clay mode or any other material
3. Choose Default to render using the current default material color

Adjust the Rendered Image Tones
1. Make sure you have downloaded the Indigo Tonemapper application.
2. Load the appropriate .igi file using the Indigo Tonemapper application.

Create Transparent Material
1. Enable transparency in Sketchup material settings using the opacity slider
2. Set the material type to SPECULAR
3. The opacity slider will change the amount of RGB absorptivity. Set to 0 for no absorptivity (i.e. clear glass).
4. SPECULAR materials should have thickness to render properly.

Create Material with Specular Highlights
1. Set the material type to Phong
2. Set the index of refraction to >1.0
3. Use the exponent value to control the glossiness.

Create Diffuse (Lambertian) Material
1. Set the material type to Diffuse

Use BLEND materials
1. Set the material type to BLEND
2. If a texture is applied to the material, it will be used as the clipping map
3. If no texture is applied, the blend factor will control the weight of the materials

Use Sub-surface scattering
1. Enable transparency in Sketchup material settings using the opacity slider
2. Set the material type to SPECULAR
3. The opacity slider will change the amount of RGB absorptivity. Set to 0 for no absorptivity
4. Enable SSS with the material editor
5. Input the Uniform scattering coefficient or the 3 RGB scattering coefficients separated by spaces
4. SPECULAR materials should have thickness to render properly.

Use Material Presets
1. Presets are intended to give you approximate starting values that you can further refine to suit your needs
2. These values will be updated in future releases as the Indigo material library continues to be developed

Use Textures
1. Apply textures directly to individual faces, not groups or components
2. Currently, textures distorted with the position texture tool are not supported
3. JPEG and PNG textures are supported but PNG textures may cause Indigo to crash

Use Bump and Exponent Maps
1. You can select any texture that is currently in your model
2. The map will be positioned using the same coordinates as the currently applied color texture. If no color texture is applied, the bump map will not render correctly
3. If you wish to use a bump map different then the color texture,they should be the same size or you will get strange results.
4. Your maps will have to be manually exported to the TX_EXPORTNAME directory if they are not currently applied to a visible face in your model. Right-click on material in Paint Bucket
5. Set bump or exponent gain

Resume a Render from an .igi file
1. From the command line type \"indigo.exe -r renders/your_igi.igi your_xml.xml\"
2. In this case, the .igi file is located in the indigo/renders directory and XML input file is located in the indigo directory.

TIPS:

1. Use Sketchup shortcut keys! Especially for assigning properties to materials
2. Be sure that no faces are reversed. Use monochrome mode to check for reversed faces
3. Use layers to separate geometry and lights. For example, put different lighting set-ups on different layers. If you are doing material tests, put unnecessary objects on a hidden layer
4. Always export your model to the Indigo directory. This allows use of Auto-render
5. If you are getting strange shadows in your render, try disabling smoothing. Also, check orientation of faces
6. Modify the aperture size to control depth of field
7. If your image is blurry, use the Set Camera Focus Tool

Indigo 0.7 features currently not supported:
1. Peak spectra
2. Henyey Greenstein phase function
3. Dermis and epidermis media
4. a and c texture coefficients
5. Comprehensive nkdata list
6. Instancing
7. Primitives and rectanglelight

KNOWN ISSUES/BUGS:
1. Distorted textures not yet supported
2. Textures applied to groups and components not yet supported
3. Quick Export and Low Priority modes are experimental and may be prone to bugs.

Enjoy!

Whaat
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Big Fan
Posts: 745
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:37 am
Location: Nelson NZ

Post by Big Fan » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:04 am

edited to remove all
Last edited by Big Fan on Mon May 07, 2007 1:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

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kwistenbiebel
Posts: 496
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2007 12:31 am

Post by kwistenbiebel » Sun Apr 08, 2007 12:59 pm

Thanks Whaat....
This is a great eastern present.
I hope a lot of people will try it and post their renderings.
Will be experimenting ... :P

Cheers,
kwistenbiebel

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