Add materials pack v2

[Layer One]

I'm trying to add 'Twilight_GlassLampshade' to my materials templates list in V2 but can't find the folder to put it in, can anyone tell me where it is now?
Thanks

[Chris]

Are you using Twilight Render V2 Professional or V2 Hobby?

V2 Hobby can not (currently) load materials from libraries. If you have a V1 scene that uses those library materials and you are converting to V2, you should unzip and place the material library in C:\Program Data\Twilight\Materials\.

If you are using V2 Professional, you can unzip and place the material library anywhere that makes sense, such as a Materials folder in your Documents directory. Then you import the material from the Deep Material editor using Tools -> Import and browsing to where you paced the materials folder.

[Fletch]

It is a library, not a template, so you can not add it to the template list.
For good lampshade material, apply any color to your model, then
Use the Translucent>Leaf template instead of a library material. Set opacity to 75 and scattering to 90.
It will not have the reflections of the glass lampshade template you mentioned, but we may add that quality in a future update.

[Layer One]

Thank you both for your replies, both very helpful.
What I'm actually trying to do is create some fairy lights and hanging bulbs in a scene. Do you have any suggestions as the first thing I tried with lots of small bulbs in translucent spheres was taking too long to render. I was thinking of making a light buld 'face-me' component is sketchup and trying to make it an emitter.
I am on Pro v2 btw.
Thanks.

[Chris]

What render method will you be using? If you are planning on using the biased methods (low/+ - high/+) then making a single face 'face-me' component and setting it as an emitter will probably render well as long as you use fake emitter. But of course it won't cast light. You'll have to fake the overall lighting effect.

Maybe something like this:

bulb.png (36.43 KiB) Viewed 10594 times

BTW, the image is actually transparent.

I haven't actually tried it but hopefully it can be used effectively.

[Layer One]

Are you using Twilight Render V2 Professional or V2 Hobby?

V2 Hobby can not (currently) load materials from libraries. If you have a V1 scene that uses those library materials and you are converting to V2, you should unzip and place the material library in C:\Program Data\Twilight\Materials\.

If you are using V2 Professional, you can unzip and place the material library anywhere that makes sense, such as a Materials folder in your Documents directory. Then you import the material from the Deep Material editor using Tools -> Import and browsing to where you paced the materials folder.

Hi Chris, Further to this I'm trying to import "Volumetrics_Twilight.xml" to see if I can get a light beam effect but when I'm in the Deep Material Editor there is no way to browse to it.
Also can you point me to any tutorials on how to use it. I've been going round in circles in the forums trying to figure it all out.
Thanks,
Adam

I'm on V2 pro. Windows 7.

[Chris]

Sorry about that. We made a change to how all that worked a few versions back and it's easy to miss.

We removed the "Browse" element of importing Material Libraries in order to make it easier (and more reliable!) to find image textures. Also, it allowed us to auto-load large collections of libraries to make it easier to locate and load a material.

So, how to import a new library in Twilight Render?

1. Pick a directory (any directory). Probably, it should be one that makes sense like C:\Users\your user name\Documents\Graphics\SU_Materials.
2. Copy your material library to this directory. It's probably a good idea to put it in a sub-directory like Volumetrics. But its not required.
3. Launch SketchUp and open the Twilight Render Options window.
4. Click on Directories
5. Under 'Search paths for material libraries', click the '+' button.
6. Navigate to your chosen directory (ie. C:\Users\your user name\Documents\Graphics\SU_Materials), select it and choose Select Folder
7. Close the Options window.

Now, the next time you open the Import window, your library will show up in the list. And any other material library you put in that directory will be loaded too.