Save material option ?

[dtr]

Hi all

Yes I really have read everything and one question please.

How does one save a SU material that has been modified by a TR template to a TR library or.... ?
Same question when the template or TR material has also been modified. ?
Especially needed for custom water and glass settings that may be faked a little too.

Thanks

dtr

[Fletch]

Hi dtr! Welcome!

Yes, there are several ways to save a material's "settings".

Option 1 Leveraging Components
Saving a SketchUp model saves the settings. But there is, for the moment, not a way to simply save a setting for reloading.

• Create a component and create your own personal Component Library in your SketchUp/Components folder, and call it something like "Twilight".
• Paint your water in your current scene with any SketchUp material you prefer.
• Then, any time you need your special water material, or whatever it is, you can simply insert the component, and the material definition is now in your scene.

To copy a material from one surface to another, while the Twilight Material Eye Dropper Tool is activated, Hold down the shift key, click-and-hold the mouse button down on the surface of the material you want to copy, drag the mouse to a face painted with the material you want to over-write, then release the mouse button. This is handy for dragging materials one likes from different past models into a new model.

Option 2 Leveraging .skp Models/Scenes
The other way is to save a simple "storage" model somewhere on your hard drive.
Call it "MyTwilightMaterials.skp"

• When you have a material you like in Twilight, copy a face containing the material from your model and paste it into your "MyTwilightMaterials.skp" model.
• Then when you need the material, you can open the "MyTwilightMaterials.skp" and copy that face and paste it back into your new model, then shift-drag the material onto your current model as described in Option 1 above.

*EDIT*
As mentioned in the Share a Scene thread, to share a material pack or scene with a fellow user, one can export the scene to a clean new folder with the .XML export function, it will now contain all IES and Hi-res image texture files (including bump and reflection maps). Then (optional) simply delete the .xml file. Then zip and share the folder. The other user need only open the file to render it with the correct textures.

[dtr]

HI Fletch

TRender is a very clever idea and new life for KT too.
Thanks for the options on materials and I have used the dummy file to store textures in SU for a long time.
It would be better if this was a feature in TR but OK for now.
I guess one could xml to KT and add to an existing library and then back to TR but some automation would be better.

Many thanks for the get-back.

Dave

[Fletch]

This is definitely something we've discussed a long time. We agree its a needed feature, and will try to figure something out that will make us all happy.

That said, we feel strongly that using Templates is the "genius" in Twilight, and that when you can finish making the mental shift to them (even took me a while), the advantages are many-fold. So if you give it a couple weeks, I think you will see the logic in wanting to leverage templates. I now avoid libraries as much as possible, unless they are the native Twilight Libraries because the libraries can not be edited, nor are they as portable as just sharing a SketchUp file with another Twilighter.

Yes, for experienced Kerkythea users like yourself:

1. Export scene to KT
2. Open Mat Editor
3. Send Scene Mats you would like to save to right pane
4. Save Mat Library/give it a name
5. Point Twilight to see the Material Library of Kerkythea, next time you open SU, Twilight will see the libraries.
   -or-
6. Copy the new Library File from the Kerkythea/Materials/Libraries folder into the Twilight/Materials folder.

DISADVANTAGES TO REMEMBER WHEN USING LIBRARIES:
In the setting of an office or network, when sharing a scene, the library must also be sent with the file.
Library materials are 'dumb' materials, that is, they can not be easily edited. They can of course be exported to Kerkythea, edited, and saved into the library, etc.

[majid]

nice tips. hope to make some handy material packs soon , to be shared .

[MtnTrails]

One thing that I found out using the save a face method to store materials is that if there is already a material with the same name in the model, SU's default properties over-ride the properties set with TWR. No texture, no reflection, etc.

By changing the duplicate name in the model, the material can be brought in, but does NOT automatically replace the faces painted already painted with the material with the (former) same name.

Regards,


Brian

[Fletch]

Thanks Brian, yes, this is a known issue and a drawback of SketchUp's material handling. It is best, and should have been mentioned before, to always give a material saved by this method a unique name to begin with, then you may use the Twilight drag-n-drop material feature to paint the material quickly replacing another existing material in your model.