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Saving Light Setups In Workspace
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These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Saving Light Setups In Workspace // Archive: Tech Forum
Post by jayr // Aug 9, 2007, 2:26am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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can we do this yet? i can't see that option when you go to save in the libraries, Have i missed something and we already have it? If not is it going to happen? |
Post by Steinie // Aug 9, 2007, 2:52am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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All I do is remove all objects except the lighting setup and save the scene. In the Library I name the scene some
Lighting Set Up name so I can recall later. This of course would work for a new scene and not an existing scene.
I'll let others answer that one. |
Post by prodigy // Aug 9, 2007, 3:14am
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prodigy
Total Posts: 3029
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You bring me an a idea Bob...
I try few tests and this works..
Go to Model Side.. selelect your best light settings...
Then.. Go to Workspace.. and click over any light + Ctrl to make a group of lights..
then, click on (Encapsulate object in 3D) (because you can save light as objects) but yes you can save lights if are encapsulated :p i think is a nice workarround.
So you can create a very simply light library.. Double click on the new light and voila..
The only bad the new lights doesn't remplace the old ones.. but i think can be usesfull, not for a long time but for now it's ok..
*Maybe someone with experience with scripts can make a NULL Light, so first you click on NULL and then you bring the new ligths and that fix the problem.. |
Post by Steinie // Aug 9, 2007, 3:22am
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Steinie
Total Posts: 3667
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Prodigy, that should work! I think the term Encapsulate has too many letters and would sound better as hmmmmm. Glue?:rolleyes:
Remember to UnEncapsulate (Stan's Glue Remover)use this:
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=3683&highlight=Encapsulate |
Post by prodigy // Aug 9, 2007, 3:26am
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prodigy
Total Posts: 3029
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Yes, Im agree..
jejejej...
Encapsulated object in 3D
VS
Glue
:D |
Post by prodigy // Aug 9, 2007, 3:28am
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prodigy
Total Posts: 3029
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That sounds like another brilliant tool from Stan with and very easy to Install.
that guy make usesfull tools :cool: |
Post by weaveribm // Aug 9, 2007, 5:41am
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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I think the term Encapsulate has too many letters and would sound better as hmmmmm. Glue?
lol
Don't forget Attenuation <runs away>
We need a JargonBuster Rolling Death Machine model. Huge tracks :)
Peter |
Post by Délé // Aug 9, 2007, 6:13am
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Délé
Total Posts: 1374
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Prodigy has got it. Encapsulate your lights and save them to a library. You can also set it up so the lights have an "invisible" check box so you can hide or reveal them. I had started copying the light libraries from the model side to create a workspace library but got distracted. Perhaps I'll get back on that project.
If you have a good light setup and wouldn't mind sharing it, upload the scene or light group object here and I'll include it in the library. |
Post by frootee // Aug 9, 2007, 6:29am
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frootee
Total Posts: 2667
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The only bad the new lights doesn't remplace the old ones.. but i think can be usesfull, not for a long time but for now it's ok..
*Maybe someone with experience with scripts can make a NULL Light, so first you click on NULL and then you bring the new ligths and that fix the problem..
Hm. Perhaps a script can loop through each light in the scene and delete them: Node.Delete()
Then load your custom light configuration.
Froo |
Post by prodigy // Aug 9, 2007, 6:31am
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prodigy
Total Posts: 3029
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Don't know you are the expert :D |
Post by Délé // Aug 9, 2007, 6:38am
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Délé
Total Posts: 1374
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Hm. Perhaps a script can loop through each light in the scene and delete them: Node.Delete()
Then load your custom light configuration.
FrooPerhaps. It would also be very easy to create a script that allows you to change the draw mode of all of the lights. So you could push a button and switch the lights to solid, solid/wire, transparent, transparent/wire, or wire. |
Post by stan // Aug 9, 2007, 6:47am
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stan
Total Posts: 1240
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this might come in handy writing any light sciipts
IsLight (file:///E:/trueSpace7/tS/PDFMan/ScriptObjects/structIRiNodeItem.html#a29) ([in] BSTR szNodeName,[out, retval] RtBOOL *pVal)
Example: Test if object is a light
if (Node.IsLight('/Project/Space 3D/SpotLight, 1')) System.Alert('the object is a light!'); |
Post by frootee // Aug 9, 2007, 7:04am
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frootee
Total Posts: 2667
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OK. Which command would be used to get the total number of nodes in the scene? I'm still figuring out my way through the documentation. Would this be a Space command, or system command, or ___ ?
I think it would look something like this:
Section.GetNumNodes();
for (NodeIndex = 0; x < Num_Nodes; NodeIndex++) {
GetNodeSomehow()
if (Node.Islight() Node.Delete();
}
Froo |
Post by spacekdet // Aug 9, 2007, 7:51am
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spacekdet
Total Posts: 1360
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Tell me again how great those new libraries are!
It should work like 6.6, where if you click a light setup in the Library it replaces all the lights with the new setup, but if you drag and drop the setup from the Library into the scene it *adds the lights to the existing setup. |
Post by 3dvisuals dude // Aug 9, 2007, 4:55pm
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3dvisuals dude
Total Posts: 1703
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Tell me again how great those new libraries are!
It should work like 6.6, where if you click a light setup in the Library it replaces all the lights with the new setup, but if you drag and drop the setup from the Library into the scene it *adds the lights to the existing setup.
http://bestsmileys.com/signs16/16.gif
- 3dvisuals dude |
Post by Norm // Aug 10, 2007, 6:40am
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Norm
Total Posts: 862
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Well if you can think outside the box, this is not so difficult a scenario to figure out.
What I do / did , was from a default scene, I have lights visible in the Link Editor. I gather all the lights and organize them neatly in the Link Editor, then draw a rectangle around them and encapsulate them in 3d. I call this new object defaultLights and save them to a new library I created called Lights.
I can then select the defaultLights object in the Link Editor and delete it. So now i have a scene that has no lights.
Now I can go about setting up a new lighting scenario to my taste. Once I have set up all the lights like I want, I draw a rectangle around them in the Link Editor and encapsulate them in 3d and call this new object myVeryFirstLightSetup. I then store this object in the newly created Lights library.
Now the neat thing about thinking outside the box this way is that instead of trying to find all my lights in the Link Editor in a scene (I figure with all the objects and such it can get cluttered in a scene), I now have one object I can easily select and enter and find all my lights there for editing and such.
So as long as you are willing to work with the structure that the developers have created, you can make things easier to work with and organize your light setups as desired. If you do all your lights in this fashion, it is pretty easy to delete one object in the Link Editor and simply drag a new light setup into the Link Editor when you want to change lighting setups.
Is a pretty slick scenario when you check it out!
Hope this is helpful :) |
Post by stan // Aug 10, 2007, 6:55am
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stan
Total Posts: 1240
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phase 1
I have the beginning of a Light Setups library system figured out..it groups all lights and saves them to the Light Setups library ..will still need to figure out the daleting existing lights and replacing part..and if they stay where you had them..
it maybe better with saving a selection rather than a group, but its a start
anbient lights don't work in this fot some reason.. |
Post by weaveribm // Aug 10, 2007, 7:57am
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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Very helpful yes Norm thanks
Once I have set up all the [objects] like I want, I draw a rectangle around them in the Link Editor and encapsulate them in 3d
Norm I'm interested in making many small objects into one unionised object because I understand from reading TS docs that having the one object all joined together is economical for memory and better for lighting - but not to make everything one big Boilermakers union, I understand that too from reading TS docs
Is encapsulation of objects via the way you describe (from the LE) equivalent to making this type of unioned object? Or should we still make the unions from Modelling space please? I have telephone, radio models and also Vizu's folding chair models and wondering how to go about this - thanks for helping!
Peter |
Post by Norm // Aug 10, 2007, 9:41am
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Norm
Total Posts: 862
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Very helpful yes Norm thanks
Once I have set up all the [objects] like I want, I draw a rectangle around them in the Link Editor and encapsulate them in 3d
Norm I'm interested in making many small objects into one unionised object because I understand from reading TS docs that having the one object all joined together is economical for memory and better for lighting - but not to make everything one big Boilermakers union, I understand that too from reading TS docs
Is encapsulation of objects via the way you describe (from the LE) equivalent to making this type of unioned object? Or should we still make the unions from Modelling space please? I have telephone, radio models and also Vizu's folding chair models and wondering how to go about this - thanks for helping!
Peter
Encapsulating in 3D is equivalent to gluing over on Model side. Boolean unioning or boolean operations are not available on Workspace side ... yet :), so you would have to do those type of operations over on model side. Where you want to keep parts of an object together is where encaps in 3D is helpful. Say the radio had 3 circuit boards and all your transistors and resistors and such were all created and ready to go. You could create first circuit board, place all the components onto the board and then encapsulate the board and all its components into one tidy encapsulated object. You can then name that object circuit board 1 or such. This way you can repeat the procedure for the other two circuit boards and encaps them as well. So rather than having hundreds of components loose in the link editor and not knowing what was what, you can simply enter your encapsulated objects and work on the components that way. If you treat your whole project like this, you not only get a good grip on what the Link Editor can do, but you begin to organize your work so it is easier and faster to work with.
Hope is helpful :) |
Post by 3dvisuals dude // Aug 11, 2007, 5:52am
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3dvisuals dude
Total Posts: 1703
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@ Norm -
Thanks for the explanation and screenshots - makes life a lot easier on this old man for sure! I'm not sure whether I can think outside the box just yet though Norm... I'm still trying hard just to think outside the cone.:)
@ Stan -
phase 1
I have the beginning of a Light Setups library system figured out..it groups all lights and saves them to the Light Setups library ..will still need to figure out the daleting existing lights and replacing part..and if they stay where you had them..
it maybe better with saving a selection rather than a group, but its a start
anbient lights don't work in this fot some reason..
This idea of your looks interesting indeed Stan. It appears to be a kind of hybrid between what Spacekdet said (and I do like that) and what Norm said (which I also like but I'm not used to it yet) and shows me yet again that with the right basic knowhow of LE procedures and Scripting you can almost do anything you want to at all with trueSpace 7.51. Of course the downside of that compliment for the rest of us is that only a handful of people here including you and Norm actually HAVE that "basic knowhow" already.
Anyhow, I do like what you're doing with this and it does look promising.
Is it possible to easily save an icon-sized render of the scene lights for use as a library icon for those saved lights under your new creation here?
One thing I do like about 6.6 is being able to select light setups at a glance that way in addition to the drag versus click methods which I also still like.
- 3dvisuals dude |
Post by stan // Aug 11, 2007, 10:27am
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stan
Total Posts: 1240
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3dvisuals dude, I don't think we can get images of the lights like on model side..we can create screengrabs as thunbnails but what I've tried sofar text would be the best..
not really liking the group idea completely either, because you can't locate lights to remove them with this script in a group..I can collect them into one group, put it in a library..that works..so changing out setups wouldn't work unless they get unencapsulated..
loading an existing setup from the light library would have to be done via a script too, so you could delete the existing lights [ if you wanr maybe leave them..we couldn't do that before}
naming each library file differently so as not to overwrite the last setup is issues at the moment..it must be done manually
lots to consider..;) |
Post by 3dvisuals dude // Aug 11, 2007, 3:36pm
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3dvisuals dude
Total Posts: 1703
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3dvisuals dude, I don't think we can get images of the lights like on model side..we can create screengrabs as thunbnails but what I've tried sofar text would be the best..
not really liking the group idea completely either, because you can't locate lights to remove them with this script in a group..I can collect them into one group, put it in a library..that works..so changing out setups wouldn't work unless they get unencapsulated..
loading an existing setup from the light library would have to be done via a script too, so you could delete the existing lights [ if you wanr maybe leave them..we couldn't do that before}
naming each library file differently so as not to overwrite the last setup is issues at the moment..it must be done manually
lots to consider..;)
Well, as I recall from a few years ow writing BASIC code, whatever you set out to do with coding usually spawns handy routines along the way. So whatever the outcome in all of this I'm sure some useful stuff will emerge for you from the effort. Keep us posted here on it if you can, it's interesting to see what you encounter in these kinds of things and especially what you end up discovering, let alone accomplishing.
Thanks,
- 3dvisuals dude |
Post by Norm // Aug 13, 2007, 5:37am
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Norm
Total Posts: 862
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No one should be put-off by the Link Editor. Some will use it more than others, but everyone should be able to utilize it fairly easily. For the light setup scenario, it is a good idea to use it like this. The only real hassle is zooming into the scene and doing a thumbnail for the setup. It is not really a hassle either becasue you can tinker a blt with the first few setups you create and get a good idea of how to create a good thumbnail to show off the setup. Remember that you can set thumbnail size for each library as desired, so for light-setup library, change to big thumbnail size. :) |
Post by trueBlue // Aug 13, 2007, 7:18am
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trueBlue
Total Posts: 1761
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There is also an option to save your thumbnails Manually too. |
Post by weaveribm // Aug 15, 2007, 2:50am
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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Remember that you can set thumbnail size for each library as desired, so for light-setup library, change to big thumbnail size
This sounds very interesting Norm can you outline how to make bigger thumbnail icons (I choose 'Screen') show in the Libraries please?
But anyway I wanted to thank you Norm for showing us how to Encapsulate in 3D earlier it worked a treat on Vizu's folding chair which I took apart using a Modeller function 'Split hierarchy into polyhedra and IK linked branches' which was a bit scary I can tell you :) - worked on it in Workspace but then how to get back to one folding chair object? and I remembered your Encapsulate in 3D post. I deleted every other object in the scene so only all the folding chair parts showed in the LE, gathered the flock then surrounded them and encapsulated them to get just the one object - nice :)
Peter |
Post by nowherebrain // Aug 15, 2007, 4:58am
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nowherebrain
Total Posts: 1062
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Could you map that to a button?? If not it would be easier to just close them all in LE. |
Post by nowherebrain // Aug 15, 2007, 5:00am
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nowherebrain
Total Posts: 1062
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OOPS! I did not look to see this thread was 3 pages...I answered the last thread on the first page....disregard I guess. |
Post by Norm // Aug 15, 2007, 5:19am
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Norm
Total Posts: 862
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Remember that you can set thumbnail size for each library as desired, so for light-setup library, change to big thumbnail size
This sounds very interesting Norm can you outline how to make bigger thumbnail icons (I choose 'Screen') show in the Libraries please?
Peter
What I mean is you right-click in library area (empty area) get menu and select thumbnails as images show. Bottom of thumbnails menu is big size :)
Before: 7948 Accessing menu: 7949 Afterwards (selected 128x96 size): 7950 |
Post by 3dvisuals dude // Aug 15, 2007, 5:29am
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3dvisuals dude
Total Posts: 1703
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What I mean is you right-click in library area (empty area) get menu and select thumbnails as images show. Bottom of thumbnails menu is big size :)
Before: 7948 Accessing menu: 7949 Afterwards (selected 128x96 size): 7950
Very cool!
Thanks for that Norm.:)
- 3dvisuals dude |
Post by weaveribm // Aug 16, 2007, 4:39am
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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Lovely thanks Norm!
Peter |
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