Getting Started

[p3taindigo]

I am having some operational issues.
I am able to run the Maya plugin.
When I select a polygon mesh object in my scene and then go to the MtI Menu and Assign IGM to selected.
I then select an IGM file I downloaded from the website called carpaint-yellow-orange.

It says 'carpaint-yelloworange' is not a valid maya name. You need to edit the IGM and change this material name for avlaid one and try linking again.

So.... I changed the name to carpaint and it still says the same thing.

In addition I downloaded some other materials and they have the extension .IGM and they do not even show up as options to load. Do I need to use a text editor to change the shader name?

OR is there a way to ASSIGN those shaders from within Indigo Render interface. I looked around and could not find it.

Thanks

[CTZn]

Hi p3taindigo

the name that must be changed is not the IGM file name (that one isn't error prone), but the material name found within the IGM file. Because MtI uses OBJ exporting for meshes, the Indigo material name within the file must be the exact name of a shadingGroup in Maya. That's why the hyphen (-) is causing an error, you can replace it by an underscore for instance.

To correct IGM's with no valid Maya name, you must open them in a text editor, search for the name causing an error and replace it by a valid Maya name. Side note, only the root material is of importance regarding naming.

In addition I downloaded some other materials and they have the extension .IGM

I assume you meant PIGM files. There is no direct way to use PIGM's within Maya. PIGM files are IGM files zipped. You must append the .zip extension and unpack their content in order to link to it.

There is currently no way to replace materials by external materials ((P)IGM) while rendering with Indigo, but the need is popular so that should be added soon.

[p3taindigo]

Many thanks. Appreciate the feedback.

Peter

[Lemo]

Welcome to Mti p3taindigo

CTZn maybe you should just write some code to convert hyphens into underscores automatically?

I agree this was kinda annoying at first

[p3taindigo]

THought of that for sure

Thanks

[CTZn]

CTZn maybe you should just write some code to convert hyphens into underscores automatically?

You want me to modify the IGM file, that's different. I wanted to avoid modifying external files but that is possible.

[Lemo]

I was thinking about converting it on-the-fly, saving it in memory somewhere
If not possible you could just make a temporary modified copy in the project folder
The few ko of an igm probably won't hurt hard drives much :p

[CTZn]

I was thinking about converting it on-the-fly

Blame me but I need you to explain this. I can fix this in a variety of ways but I didn't understand what your preference was

So far I see three methods:

a) (the method I first thought about) having MtI to edit the IGM with a valid Maya name for the root material.

b) producing and linking to a corrected IGM copy .

c) merging the corrected materials (the whole IGM content) into the main IGS file. Loosing a point imo.

[p3taindigo]

My perhaps obvious question is why does Indigo compress its materials in the first place and if you have to.... why not .ZIP

If the naming of materials is up to those who create them ... some of them will work and be single names like "ice" or bubbles and no special name changing is nec.

So your "script" would have to re-write a variety of "user naming errors" who do not have Maya naming restrictions.

But regardless of all these obvious things... if you have a menu that says load material in a Maya plugin you might as well make it load so the user just has the name re-written at the time of loading.
Does that help... or does my lack of technial skill mean I am asking something not possible?

Thanks for looking into this it will make Indigo renderer easier to use. Right now its too many steps just to get a shader loaded to make it practical

THanks

Peter

[CTZn]

So your "script" would have to re-write a variety of "user naming errors" who do not have Maya naming restrictions.

You are after the method a) (the silent correction) to start with... is it. ok.

[p3taindigo]

Yeah sounds great to me.

Thanks mate

Peter

[Lemo]

Pour moi c'est good aussi
Du moment que ça marche et que c'est simple
après tu gères comme tu le sent

[CTZn]

Okay let's go for it. ASK ME STRAIGHT AWAY DAMNIT that's my fuel