Maxigo 1.03.5

[suvakas]

Suv...
Do you think about adding skin material and tabulated data (in nearer or farther future) to maxigo?

Skin material = maybe, but i'm not sure about the tabulated data. I know that I would never use it (or at least i don't have any need for it ). Should I add this only cause Indigo can do it? I mean there are people out there who doesn't even know what Shutter speed and EV are. I'm affraid, that this tabulated stuff could add un-needed complicity and I'm sure 99% of the users would never use it.
But what's everybody's opinion on this? Do we need the tabulated stuff?

[vansan]

I dont.
Just make Maxigo_ImportMat working(with saving path to .IGM file if it's chosen), that's enough. =).

[suvakas]

I dont.
Just make Maxigo_ImportMat working(with saving path to .IGM file if it's chosen), that's enough. =).

What? ImportMat isn't working?

[vansan]

It wasn't... Well, i didn't check it in 1.03.5
Just ran "showproperties meditMaterials[1]" with ImportMat and got "false".
Thought it has to have material properties stored.

[suvakas]

Yep, seems that it's broken. I didn't know that.
Oh crap! It's the most boring thing to fix

[sth]

Hmm.... I'm thinking about how to make tabuleted easy to use

I'm imaginating it could be done through import mat - guiding not to diffuse, medium, phong but to special type - tabulated (just textbox with possibility of entering numbers) or the second way...
You could make something like "maxigo tabulated map" not another kind of material there could be just few settings like "spectrum start length" and "spectrum end length" input for simple gradient grayscale map (ie. 1px*256px) and "multiplier" of the map. But I don't know is easy to implement reading intensity of bitmap pixel by pixel to convert it into list of numbers...

What do you think about the ideas?

[edit]
For me personally it would be useful option
But it's up to you Suv if you add it or not

[suvakas]

It wasn't... Well, i didn't check it in 1.03.5
Just ran "showproperties meditMaterials[1]" with ImportMat and got "false".
Thought it has to have material properties stored.

Hey van, I can't get the ImportMat to crash anymore. It started to work after restarting Max. Do you know when it doesn't work for you?
(and yes, it doesn't have any properties cause it only parses the igs file and nothing more. It doesn't store anything.)

@sth
I havn't looked into this tabulated stuff very seriously, so I don't know if your ideas are good or bad. I'll check it out at some point. But well..if it's only you who needs this, then I think i'm not going to add it. Let's see if we can get more opinions on this.

[Moses]

I think this should be done outside of exporters, perhaps someone can write an app? If it you just want enter the data simply enter it manually
in the xml. Wytraven's schottglass materials work by copy and pasting the text into the import mat, though i would assume it's approximated.

[Whaat]

Should I add this only cause Indigo can do it? I mean there are people out there who doesn't even know what Shutter speed and EV are. I'm affraid, that this tabulated stuff could add un-needed complicity and I'm sure 99% of the users would never use it.

+1
The fact is, it would be a lot of work to provide this option in a user-friendly interface (and make it work with all tags that require a spectrum element). Then consider the time it would take to make it work with IGM import.
I think suvakas would probably agree with me that if you are an advanced enough user that you have to use tabulated spectrum data, you are advanced enough to hand-code it yourself into your XML scene file.

[suvakas]

I think suvakas would probably agree with me that if you are an advanced enough user that you have to use tabulated spectrum data, you are advanced enough to hand-code it yourself into your XML scene file.

Yep, I copletely agree with you
That got me thinking. What about a material, that only has a text box? Advanced users could then copy and paste whatever material code into that box and assign that material to any models in a scene. The material will be exported exactly as it was written to that text box.
Good idea? Bad?

[Whaat]

Yep, I copletely agree with you
That got me thinking. What about a material, that only has a text box? Advanced users could then copy and paste whatever material code into that box and assign that material to any models in a scene. The material will be exported exactly as it was written to that text box.
Good idea? Bad?

Great minds think alike I had the same idea for SkIndigo over a month ago but am not sure if I will ever implement it. It would be an easy feature to add but I think when noobs see a large empty text box, it might scare them away! I'm also interested to hear other people's opinions on this idea (which I think is a good one).

[sth]

That got me thinking. What about a material, that only has a text box? Advanced users could then copy and paste whatever material code into that box and assign that material to any models in a scene. The material will be exported exactly as it was written to that text box.
Good idea? Bad?

It could be nice
It could be a part of import mat
i.e. next to the generate button there could be just apply (freezes written mat) and edit button (unfreezes)
That's my idea - who would like to edit mat could do it manually using text using apply and edit or graphically using generate

[edit]
my previous idea (with bitmap) were not how to use existing tabulated but my opinion about how to easily create custom tabulated and store it in handy form (as bitmap 1px bar and 3 parameters)

[Moses]

That got me thinking. What about a material, that only has a text box? Advanced users could then copy and paste whatever material code into that box and assign that material to any models in a scene. The material will be exported exactly as it was written to that text box.Good idea? Bad?

Sounds like a good idea to me