SU2LUX Exporter for Sketchup 0.1-dev

[Seo]

I did a test with textures and here's the result I got, untouched. Everything's working great for me!

It wasn't finished, so you can see a few specks here and there, but in my experience that's pretty normal.

VERY cool!

[2kemon]

I admire the progress already made with this exporter. Supporting sketchup is a big thing, since it is including a really big community. And since indigo went commercial, you're filling a niche, which is always a good thing. I've played with the exporter a little, and it seems pretty straight forward so far. It would be cool if it stayed that way, once demanding tasks, such as integrating a material editor and such and such, are done.

I'm by no means a programmer, but if there is any other tasks left, I would be glad to help. GUI wise, or whatever...

[lfrisken]

I'm by no means a programmer, but if there is any other tasks left, I would be glad to help. GUI wise, or whatever...

Html & Jquery mockups for the material interface would be fantastic. Just take a look at the existing html stuff (it should work in most browsers outside of sketchup). I didn't know much about html or javascript before I started helping on this project, but it isn't that hard to learn, just make sure you have a good html editor to help you with all the expressions and their meanings. I use netbeans for html stuff if I'm constructing something new, and notepad++ for small edits. If you want to avoid downloading the whole netbeans package, I recommend just getting the basic c++ version at http://netbeans.org/downloads/index.html and if necessary, install any html/javascript/ruby plugins you need for editing.

If you manage to get something working, just post it here, and we can discuss integrating it with su2lux. (adding interaction with sketchup)

Code: Select all

And since indigo went commercial, you're filling a niche, which is always a good thing.

I was interested in doing/helping with something like this ever since it first went commercial, (I discovered luxrender only a couple of weeks before), but at that time I had nil programming experience what soever, so it's been real a learning process. If we can get this right, then I'm sure that Lux can provide plenty of healthy competition for Indigo, especially now the SU crowd is in on it.

Great to see your enthusiasm!

lfrisken

[2kemon]

Html & Jquery mockups for the material interface would be fantastic. Just take a look at the existing html stuff (it should work in most browsers outside of sketchup). I didn't know much about html or javascript before I started helping on this project, but it isn't that hard to learn, just make sure you have a good html editor to help you with all the expressions and their meanings. I use netbeans for html stuff if I'm constructing something new, and notepad++ for small edits. If you want to avoid downloading the whole netbeans package, I recommend just getting the basic c++ version at http://netbeans.org/downloads/index.html and if necessary, install any html/javascript/ruby plugins you need for editing.

If you manage to get something working, just post it here, and we can discuss integrating it with su2lux. (adding interaction with sketchup)

I don't know jack about html or Jquery, but as you pointed out, you did it without any prior knowledge. And my girfriend is webdesigner and programmer, so I might send a challenge her way
;)
For now though, I'll just post a quick idea of how the material editor could look if it is integrated in the existing 'settings window'. I know it's not a big help, and you might not even like the idea, but at least it's input. I was thinking about how the material editor could be as simple as possible, and made a quick and dirty mockup in illustrator.
If you haven't already decided on the look and feel, maybe this could help to open a debate on a good interface for the material editor.

PS: I know there are quite a few quirks with the attached preview image. I realize, that an alpha map has no use for a slider and so on. But there are several things I didn't have an immediate solution for, so I just left them out. Maybe you guys have better ideas? You don't have to like my idea, but wouldn't it be cool to post som images of how people would like the GUI to look. If we all throw something at it, the end result might end up better...

I attached the illustrator file, if people want to use it as a template for another idea...

By the way. Shouldn't the exporter be called LuxUP? ;)

[ARK]

Looks interesting 2kemon!

Here's some comments I find relevant:
- There has to be a way to scale the used textures according to the metric system.
- Why not make the large materialpreview in 3D? A cube or a ball!

Looking really forward to this exciting exporter!

[Greenkot]

2kemon,
idea of such a design involves, here's just a better setup to do next to each window, and not under all.

ARK,
Here's some comments I find relevant:
- There has to be a way to scale the used textures according to the metric system.
- Why not make the large materialpreview in 3D? A cube or a ball!

it would not hurt.
Well, if all implemented, then it is better to make the editor in a separate window.
still need to place the component of light and their settings.

[2kemon]

Looks interesting 2kemon!

Here's some comments I find relevant:
- There has to be a way to scale the used textures according to the metric system.
- Why not make the large materialpreview in 3D? A cube or a ball!

Looking really forward to this exciting exporter!

I think scaling and possibly other details could be in a window that appears when you click the relevant texture (diffuse, bumpmap or whatever).
If the texture is applied in sketchup, the texture should follow the sketchup UV set, by default.

The 3D material preview could easily be implemented via either exhanging the image in my example, providing it in a pop-up or simple changing the image by clicking it or a small icon.

2kemon, idea of such a design involves, here's just a better setup to do next to each window, and not under all.

it would not hurt.
Well, if all implemented, then it is better to make the editor in a separate window.
still need to place the component of light and their settings.

I'm not entirely sure i understand you. Do you want the material editor to be in a seperate window because it is more programming friendly, or because of usability?
I know emitters aren't really covered in my example, but the skindigo exporter managed to implement light setup with minimal fuss. It could be an example to follow.

[lfrisken]

Looking good there 2kemon! Although, the material editor will probably go in a seperate window or tab. I'm not able to do much for a few weeks (school again), who knows what will have happened by then? maybe it will be finished.

When I get back I'll polish off the luxtypes module, along with lux materials which should make the multilayered materials really easy to do.

[lfrisken]

I've started working on a colour selector for the material editor (implementing one from the internet), but this is hardly trivial I have found. Hardly any of them do what I'd like, and the few that do are buggy! I'm thinking I'll stick to the simple option for now and then perhaps make one myself later.

I've also gotten the cube primative to draw properly (through a little hack, and I still don't understand why it wasn't working properly )

next thing, because there are no "cube" primatives will be to get that cube to represent a sphere or a cone or a cylinder (probably a sphere for now)

I'm thinking that I should be able to easily get luxtypes integrated with the current system now, but, perhaps, later change things a bit to take advantage of the features that it exposes.

EDIT:
I'm now able to just plug the luxtypes stuff straight into the exporter (it only uses default values for settings), so now that I know that works, I've come to the stage where it would be nice to know how things will be handled on the javascript side so I can make a generator for that (or at least know what I have to make the html compatible to). Exvion? Mimhotep? . Well for now I'll just work on getting the old system working side by side the new one, until, when the javascript side is ready, I'll replace the old one. I'm also thinking... It would be nice to have javascript that generates html on the fly (if that is possible), so that, like the luxblend exporter, materials can easily be visualized when linked together. Well for now it will be sufficient to just use a system like blender internal textures or skindigo's material editor.

[lfrisken]

Having Fun with blocks

I've yet to implement something useful with the primatives tool, but here is something I mucked around with it in its current state!