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Objects and materials, and the library..
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These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
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Objects and materials, and the library.. // New Users
Post by om1nous // Jun 14, 2007, 4:46am
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om1nous
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I just downloaded the new manual and haven't looked at it yet regarding what I'm going to ask about, mostly because I find this part of truespace to be entirely unintuitive. In that light I'd rather ask about it here to either find out it's really easy and I'm (as usual) a noob, or if these parts of TS should be made a bit more newbie-friendly. Nobody wants to be a coder just to do some interesting 3d (even though.... I'm a programmer)..
In Workspace view, I have no bloody idea how to load a model I downloaded. I can't find anything obvious on the interface to do this. I click Model view and sure enough, there's the file menu, and I can File->Load->Object. Where is this in Workspace?
Also, how do I get an object into the library itself? I tried the usual right-click in the library to load an object (the same way I mentioned above) but it only seems to let me import libraries into the library (????). So I'm confused as to the method I should be putting objects into the library. To me, it seems like I should just have a button/menu item to load an object from the filesystem into the library. So how is it done?
Aside the library being a bit weird, materials are also a bit complicated to me off the start. What is the defacto-standard way to make a material to use? I read some of the old manual and it essentially seemed to say to copy the blank directX material and make a new material from it. I played with that in the link editor and could change the few settings it comes with but in creating more sophisticated textures (with bump mapping/specular/alpha/etc), I honestly couldn't find the traditional material editor I used from TS3 (back in the day) with the sliders for each setting. That old material editor was easy to understand. Is there an easier means of configuring materials WITHOUT the link editor or should I just get used to using it as it's vital? For instance it seems that I'm supposed to CTRL-RIGHTCLICK the material in the link editor to change it, but who in hell would EVER think that this is the ideal, intuitive way to change the color map on a material, rather than just providing a bloody button to do it?
Just curious on why the way TrueSpace is doing things is ideal, and just wondering plain old how someone is to do a lot of this stuff without reading the manual edge to edge. I'm working on reading it all now but it's quite long in the tooth.
Thanks for any input on importing models and putting them in the library as well as creating materials. I am not under the impression that this is a simple to use application, but other fairly sophisticated applications like After Effects are far, far more intuitive to use. I guess I just need some basic concepts explained that I'm not finding after reading hundreds of pages in the manual (read all about the UI (most of which isn't 7.5), modeling, some surfacing, some animation). |
Post by jayr // Jun 14, 2007, 5:30am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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in 7.51 there is a file menu in the top right by the X to close the program, you can laod what you want from there
As for the libraries, i was confused by this too. If you open the library browser and right click on an empty space, a menu will pop up asking if you want to 'create library place', click it and it asks you to name the place (just name it after what ever project your working on) and the path where it's stored, click the '...' button and just find the folder you want it then adds it to the library. Sorry if that sounds condecending.
I hated the library thing at first but i like it now, i feel more organized, like i can get to my scenes quicker |
Post by weaveribm // Jun 14, 2007, 7:03am
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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just wondering plain old how someone is to do a lot of this stuff without reading the manual
Don't worry mate just ask questions in here when you're stuck and just don't care if they sound very I-really-should-know-this. You won't suffer ego-loss because all the people helping have been there and are very supportive
The Libraries really are excellent but everything in reply will sound condescending sorry - but why that is is because using them is very simple indeed. Without asking the questions though and trying to plough on regardless gets a bit messy have to agree with you I had a nightmare eek and probably still will it's all famous last words isn't it :)
'Import' really means 'Load' rather than 'Get a file and translate it to TS version' which is Import's usual meaning
I guess I just need some basic concepts explained
Yes that's the ticket and while you're asking, beginners like me can also earwig and pick up a few tips :)
Peter |
Post by om1nous // Jun 14, 2007, 9:37am
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om1nous
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7.51 there is a file menu in the top right by the X
Great! I thought this was hiding somewhere unobvious, glad that it was just altogether missing and I'm not insane haha (er, much).. Thanks for that tip!
'create library place'
Yep, did that. I made a new library that I planned on populating with a bunch of stuff I can re-use. I do a lot of work for a single large company and I just wanted to populate a master library with commonly re-used objects. So, I made that library. Though my initial question was, how do I get objects into this library now that I have it ;). It's why I mentioned that I right-clicked on an empty space inside the library itself (in the stack) and expected to see some sort of "load object" command. Because I'm IN the library, so I presumed it would realize I wanted to add something to this library. But it wants to load a library in that right-click menu. So I'm totally confused on how I'm supposed to put objects into the new library I made :confused:
After I made a new library place, I made a new library inside the place and called it Objects (the type of it was a object library also).. Now I'd just like to actually get some objects into it.. So how do I put 'objects' into that library?
'Import' really means 'Load' rather than 'Get a file and translate it to TS version'
This is really my hangup.. I'm expecting typical behaviour for the program as compared to other programs. In After Effects, I go in my library and right-click and hit import, and it means I want to bring a file on my filesystem into the library. In premiere, it means the same thing. In dreamweaver it means the same thing. In Flash it means the same thing. In 3DS it means the same thing. In TrueSpace, it means I want to load a library?!?
It's just downright confusing when you change something that is fairly standard, even amongst a multitude of dissimilar products. Import should mean what it does everywhere else.
In light that it doesn't mean import, and that it means load a library, how do I actually 'import and object' into that library without well, using the import command (as it does something else)?
Thanks for the help! I will be reading up on all of this as much as I can later tonight in the manual itself but hearing other people say they're initially confused too is consoling. It should at least be food for thought for Caligari. There is power in innovation, but some things are fine just the way they are and need not be tampered with. |
Post by jayr // Jun 14, 2007, 12:11pm
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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After I made a new library place, I made a new library inside the place and called it Objects (the type of it was a object library also).. Now I'd just like to actually get some objects into it.. So how do I put 'objects' into that library?
right click in the library in the stack and choose 'insert as' then pick waht you want... scene, object, whatever. You were almost there! |
Post by weaveribm // Jun 14, 2007, 12:22pm
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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I've just spent a frustrating half an hour simply trying to load a scene from 7.11 into 7.51
Thanks both will walk through your advice tomorrow I'm sure it will turn out to be simple once we get going :)
Looks true about Vray 1.51? being faster than 1.5 when rendering one of the Base scenes, swiiiish! - bit excited forgive. Could be the placebo effect :)
Peter |
Post by weaveribm // Jun 15, 2007, 1:13am
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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in 7.51 there is a file menu in the top right by the X to close the program, you can load what you want from there
Thanks jayr although there's a slight confusion here about allowable filetypes under that function
File menu
Load
Looking for dot scn files (to bring in from 7.11)
Seems straightforward but-
Dot scn files are 'not supported format' and an Error Event message
Load Object: Invalid version: 22048
Not to worry and I'm not complaining at all, it's just getting used to the new protocols. I think this means that I need to go back to say 7.11 and save my scene as a library scene file dot RsScn
Ah even quicker is to load the RsScn (that I'd added to a library in 7.11) from the 7.11 folder and that loads perfectly, then add it to the 7.51 scenes. No textures (lots of bitmaps and Simbiont) are lost, very nice. Back on Vista now :)
Peter |
Post by om1nous // Jun 15, 2007, 3:20am
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om1nous
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I must be once again lost. I of course inspected the "Insert As" menu but it has 4 options, Scene (.RsScn), Layout (.rsl), Rosetta BVH Format (.bvh), Rosetta Collada Export (.dae), Project (.RsPrj). Which one of these is an 'object'? I don't want a scene, perhaps a layout (but that seems like a lights setup or something), etc... I'm just confused on the terminology.
I know I can ctrl-drag an object into the library (or a texture, etc), but I'm just trying to do it with an import-esque command.
Aside that, I still have no drop-down near my [X] button in Workspace. There is a down arrow but int he menu options it only has 1D, 2D and Reset.
I read most of the surfacing manual last night. I can see a lot of it is updated for the new workspace (and much better written), so I presume these UI changes will be in the new UI portion of the manual. Thanks all! |
Post by jayr // Jun 15, 2007, 5:35am
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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you have to have an object selected to add it it should say 'object (RsObj)' at the top of the list. if you're doing all this i'm not sure whats going wrong, maybe you could uninstall it, restart your pc then do a reinstall, see if that helps. |
Post by om1nous // Jun 15, 2007, 5:41am
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om1nous
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So I can't load an object into the library directly from the filesystem? I can load it into the library by ctrl-right-click-dragging it in already but I just wanted to add it into the library directly by importing it off the filesystem. :confused:
If it can't do it right off the filesystem, it's no big deal. I just got used to doing this in many other programs.. I'm learning! :D |
Post by jayr // Jun 15, 2007, 12:20pm
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jayr
Total Posts: 1074
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So I can't load an object into the library directly from the filesystem?
Don't think you can, you need the object in a scene before you can add it to a library as far as i'm aware. Once you have an object in a scene selected, then you right click in the library in the stack, select add object and that's it it's added |
Post by weaveribm // Jun 15, 2007, 2:26pm
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weaveribm
Total Posts: 592
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surfacing manual
Tarmac texture
Peter |
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