Issue with Skatter

Announcements, requests and support regarding SkIndigo - the Sketchup / Indigo exporter.
jiminy-billy-bob
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by jiminy-billy-bob » Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:46 am

I'm sorry but I don't. Indigo now fully supports Skatter's "render only". What is the issue?

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Pibuz
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by Pibuz » Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:51 am

Okay..maybe I missed something. I was asking for the "render-only" feature while using Indigo and the vegetation library embedde in Skatter. Is that already working?

jiminy-billy-bob
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by jiminy-billy-bob » Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:52 am

Yes, but be sure to select "full geometry" when loading items from the library.

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Pibuz
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by Pibuz » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:18 am

No: some time ago I asked you here and/or in the Skatter forum if it would be possible to develop the proxy system skatter uses for thea maxwell and vray. You told me you were not aware of the fact that Indigo also supports dummies. :D I left you there, with you saying you would have had a look into this.

Actually, now I'm randomly testing the "load full geometry/render only" features, and they're working quite well!
No weight inside sketchup and supergeometry in the rendering!

Wonderful work!

jiminy-billy-bob
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by jiminy-billy-bob » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:30 am

As far as I know*, Indigo has a proxy system that works only within the model : a light placeholder is swapped with a heavier component at render time.
Vray, Thea and Maxwell have a proxy system that load external files at render time. So the heavy component is not even in the current model.

It would be pointless to use Indigo's proxy system with "render only" enabled in Skatter.

(*or did I miss something?)

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Pibuz
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by Pibuz » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:31 am

You did miss it :lol:

As I already told you, Indigo can load external complex models too! Ask Ono!

jiminy-billy-bob
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by jiminy-billy-bob » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:34 am

I can't seem to find any documentation on this, only dummy proxies : http://www.indigorenderer.com/documenta ... instancing

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Pibuz
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by Pibuz » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:42 am

....YEAH..........

The developers DEFINITELY should take some time to write a manual or something similar....

I use the xref feature all the time, it's also very simple.
1. Make a simple component
2. Enter the component
3. right-click -> edit active mesh
4. Check "External mesh" and select a path.
Once done this, you can spread around the simple components (working now as dummies) with minimum amount of memory consuption; I always use obj models.

BTW, the "render only" feature is now perfectly working, without the need to GENERATE even a single geometry (which could have been very heavy in some cases). So I guess that generating dummies is somehow uselss to my needs. Don't know about the needs of other though :mrgreen:

jiminy-billy-bob
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by jiminy-billy-bob » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:46 am

Ok thanks for the detailed steps.

Please note that when loading as "full geometry", the components are loaded in the model (and a copy is placed hidden and locked at the origin to prevent purging), even though they are not generated when scattered. This allows Indigo to read the geometry.

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Pibuz
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by Pibuz » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:52 am

OH! I understand!
Still, the base components are still light enough not to clunch the model, at least in my tests.

So, it could still be useful to load proxies as in vray, maxwell and thea cases so that with the future possible other complex models our SU base file will keep on being lighter (that is the aim of the proxies loading system you worked on, if I got it right)

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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by jiminy-billy-bob » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:53 am

You got it right!

But indeed, even the full geometry items are made as light as possible.

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Pibuz
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by Pibuz » Fri Nov 11, 2016 3:57 am

Well, the xref models can instead be really hi-detailed!
And that makes the difference sometimes.

So I'd ask you if you can try and put Indigo in the Olympus of the render engines and try to include its proxy system in the skatter workflow. Maybe Lycium can support you with the technical aspects I don't know (nor understand)

jiminy-billy-bob
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by jiminy-billy-bob » Fri Nov 11, 2016 4:00 am

Yes I added it to my todo list.

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Ludwolf76
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by Ludwolf76 » Fri Nov 11, 2016 9:13 pm

Thank you so much Ono and Bob! Good job indeed...and Pibuz, keep pushing for new releases and wonderful features ;-) ... so do I ... ciao!
Carpe diem...quam minimum credula postero...

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Pibuz
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Re: Issue with Skatter

Post by Pibuz » Fri Nov 11, 2016 9:43 pm

:lol:

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