Large projects (linked files) and materials

Rhino Rhino for Windows
1

Hi guys,

I am a bit confused about the materials and workflow regarding the linked files. I have a large project that needs to be divided between few people. Lets say that one is working on file "F.3dm" for facade, another one on "IN.3dm" for interior, another one on "L.3dm" for lobby. Lets say that concrete material has changed. I update the "F" file with new color of the material “concrete”, but people working on file "IN" and "L" don’t see the difference in their files (“concrete” color is not changed). In V5 I always got a nice “material name conflict” dialog, similar to “block name conflict” - but not anymore.

I tried worksession and block link, but no luck. Copy-paste creates a new material. The Vray “asset library” looks promising, but when I import the material from asset library in Vray material editor, it creates a new material with #1 at the end.

The only way I can see that works is saving each material separately from one file (lets say"F.3dm"), and in the other file use the command “Import from Material library” on the specific material":

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It is becoming crazy, if you have to keep track of which materials are updated or not. Also, I need to do it for each material, as well as my collegues working on their files).

I understand, that you have “fixed” the problem by renaming conflicting materials, but it is a huge problem when working in teams (see here https://mcneel.myjetbrains.com/youtrack/issue/RH-46445

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I also understand the problems that it causes with 3rd party plugins.I hoped that “Libraries” panel would work that way. So I can think of 2 possible solutions:

A) Inside Rhino - could there be an option of saving multiple materials to file at once (or just saving the whole library?) This way other team members can simply update their materials all at once with “import from Material Library”.

OR

B) Inside Rhino - could there be a way of saving and linking “material library file”, similar to the one in 3DS MAX, like this one:
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OR

C) Inside Vray - a possibility adding “Use As Replacement” on a material in the “Asset Library” in Vray material editor, here:

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I really really hope it would be resolved in at least one way.

Cheers!

PS: This thread doesn’t solve it

2

@pawel - see if the RenderImportConfilctOption command gives you a setting you can use to restore V5 behavior (“UseDialogToAsk”). There are other options as you’ll see, that may also avoid the dialog.

-Pascal

3

OMG @Pascal! That is absolutely fantastic - It works! I checked with import, and it works as it should.

Although if I copy from one file to the other, the material is automatically renamed by adding [impoted] at the end - but that is not a problem all.

Thank you!!!

4

@pawel - I forgot to mention - RenderPasteConflictOption…

-Pascal

5

@Pascal - you’re golden

6

I’m just the messenger, I had to ask the real brains in the back room, 'cause I’d forgot the command names.

-Pascal

7

Well, big kudos to the whole Rhino team on the hands of the messenger!

8

Hi @pascal,

Sorry to open it again, but is there a similar function when drag-and-droping from “Library” panel to “Material” panel? Right now I only have an option to cancel or import it with new name.

Best,
Pawel

9

Hi Pascal,

These are very helpful commands.

RenderImportConfilctOption
RenderPasteConflictOption

Is there any reason why they don’t autocomplete ?
I also could not find this setting in Advanced Options…

Thanks,

Jarek

10

Hi Jarek -
I must admit that I’m having problems following the development of things like this, but…

From RH-54844:

The above commands are test commands and do not need to be documented.

and also

prolly just to confirm the change away from a command to an advanced option.

So, I’m not sure if the intended way to set these is through the advanced options.

FWIW, the help file also states that these commands do not auto-complete.

To find these in Advanced, you can search for conflict:

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and for documentation on these settings, you can look in RH-55256 which is still in “Needs Doc” status.

PasteConflictOption:
0 = When pasting, conflicting render contents will be discarded.
1 = When pasting, conflicting render contents will be renamed with [imported] post-fix.
2 = When pasting, conflicting render contents will be replaced by the imported item.
3 = When pasting, if there is a conflict, a pop-up dialog will ask you what to do.

ImportRenameConflictingEx:
0 = When importing, conflicting render contents will be discarded.
1 = When importing, conflicting render contents will be renamed with [imported] post-fix.
2 = When importing, conflicting render contents will be replaced by the imported item.
3 = When importing, if there is a conflict, a pop-up dialog will ask you what to do.

-wim

11

Hi Wim, thanks for the clarifications.

For me this is quite important functionality and users will bump into this often. Not autocompleting the commands and hiding it deep into advanced options with additional need to decode what numbers to put for which behavior is very counterintuitive and virtually non-discoverable.
If the commands autocompleted (just by typing …conflict…) their command-line settings are pretty self-explanatory and there is no need to decode adv. options sets of cryptic numbers.

In the past I ran into a bunch of commands starting with Render… that did not autocomplete and when asked around the answer I got from here ( I think from Andy ) was: I don’t quite remember why they don’t autocomplete.

Maybe they should then ?

cheers,

–jarek

12

Hi Jarek - I agree that these two import/paste related commands should be documented commands or settings that users can get at - there is resistance, which I confess I do not quite understand.

-Pascal