[Plugin] Rendering Favourites (v1.1)
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Just what I (and I guess not only me) need!
Have you answered my request and problems with scenes, or is it coincidence? http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=49323In both cases - THANK YOU. This will be very useful for compositing visuals from SketchUp, and it works great!
There is only one step for fully automatic export, and that is a button for exporting images of favorites with corresponding names...
and importing and exporting predefined favorites! I'll make the first oneIt's even better - it works across different files! But, for this purpose, I think it would be better not to remember shadow and fog attributes, because they differs from model to model, except on or off state.
Here is the example. Favorites are numbered so they stack for compositing in Photoshop or Gimp ... so with "open as layers" they are stacked in logical order.
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Thanks, srx, glad you like it.
I read back your request post from earlier - I had missed that one, so it is an interesting coincidence that this works for your application, which is a very different style of work to mine.Thanks for the suggestions too, I think they could be very useful to enhance the plugin.
I have been reading some more of the Ruby API, as already I was wishing to add some options for the user to select which properties should be recalled. If I can do this, I'll certainly take up your idea of an 'on/off only' option for the subsections - your shadows/fog example shows well how this would be useful.
Cycling through the stored 'favourites' would also be relatively simple to do - the Ruby script methods are designed to handle any arbitrary number of stored 'favourites' by simply editing the MAX_RENDERS constant - at the moment the maximum is 8, simply to ensure that the toolbox icon files can be found. An 'auto export' dialogue should be simple , as it would only need to know the start and end indexes and a folder path. -
Thanks for the plugin! A couple thoughts on the subject. It occurred to me that a template with all the scenes saved without the camera being set would work. Import your model and save a new scene for each camera. Then cycle and export each scene after the camera position is set. Making the separate SU file helps from cluttering the working model with scenes.
How would resolution and file type be handled in export? Also sometimes edges need to be exported at higher resolution than the rest.
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@pbacot said:
Thanks for the plugin! A couple thoughts on the subject...
Thanks.
Your thoughts are interesting - my main reason for this plugin was just to speed up my modelling workflow using shortcut keys, so the whole subject of rendering layers for post-production is a complete mystery to me. I'll certainly consider any ideas that could make the plugin more useful to a wider range of users.Version 1.1 is now available in the top post, which includes the ideas suggested by srx...
- Automatic exporting of a folder of images, one for each render 'favourite'. They are placed in a sub-folder of the current model's directory named "<model name> Renders". Each file is also named after the model, suffixed with the 'favourites' index and name.
- A new options panel to set up the export settings, and also to set the shadow/fog sections to either load the complete parameter set, only the on/off status, or none at all. All settings are remembered between sessions.
- Ability to save and load the entire set of 'favourites' together with the options - default file extension '.rend'. Currently defaults to the plugin's own 'home' folder, but maybe the current model folder would be better?
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Ooops - apologies to the two people who loaded v1.1 - a typo in the code was stopping the previous settings from loading properly.
v1.1a uploaded with the variable names spelled right!NB) Adding the options dialogue has changed the file format slightly. If you have problems loading the plugin (Read past end of file error), it could be because of a file left over from installing version 1.0.
Inside your plugins folder, look for the "Trog_Renders" folder, go inside, and delete the file "Trog_Renders.dump" - this will reset everything to the factory default settings and enable the plugin to initialise properly. I'll try and add a routine to catch this error ASAP. -
Great! Thanks again. -
THINKYOU VERYMUCH!
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Troggluditte
Does your plugin work with 2013 yet, I was using it with Pro 8 but it seems to not work with 2013 (but it could just be me!). It is incredibly useful by the way so thankyou very much and I hope I can get it to work in 2013
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Hi Dan,
Thanks for the heads up.
To be honest I haven't even tried 2013 yet - I'm on a short deadline for a crucial project, and don't want to risk upsetting my system until that's out of the way (Got to arm-twist the bean-counters into paying the upgrade too!)
However, I'll see if I can find some time to play with the 'Make' version at home over the weekend, and give all my plugins a once over for compatibility. From the posts over the last few days, I would guess the problem is most likely to do with the new toolbar system, so fingers crossed, there won't be too much code to change! -
Steve,
This is cool! I apparently missed it before.
One thing I'd like to ask for if it is possible. You can tell me to take a hike if you want.
When I make multiple exports of a view in Sketchup, I often make hidden line exports larger than the textured and shadow images. Sometimes I make several different "lines" images at different sizes. I resize the larger ones to match the smaller images so that I can get thinner lines. Sometimes these exports combine different line styles, too. I've been working on some sets of styles that are intended to be used together. Your plugin would make the exports really easy and the user wouldn't need to create scenes for each style as I do now.
So, my question is: Would it be possible to specify different export sizes for different stored "favourites"?
Thanks.
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Hi Dave,
Glad to hear you find the plugin useful.
I don't think that your request should be too tricky to implement - though I'll need to try and find a way not to break any old 'favourites' that anyone might have stored.I don't to any rendering myself, so I wonder what you think the best way to implement this would be. I was thinking that maybe keeping the 'global' size option, and then allowing each favourite a 'scale factor' might be a nice approach, to save folks having to mess about with a calculator to ensure the same aspect ratio - but would that impose any limitations on your ability to combine the images the way you would like?
Naturally, I want to try and sort out any SU2013 issues before adding any new features, so it might take a little while before I can implement new scaling options. But don't be afraid to give me a kick if I appear to have forgotten - my project management goes to pieces the minute I'm not at work with the boss peeking over my shoulder!
(Note to self - must finish 'Quick Lathe' plugin!). -
Steve, I'll make some examples to show you what I'm after. Your idea of scaling the output dimensions for specific "faourites" could be workable.
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