Material Problem in TheaRender

cadmunkey · 28 May 2011, 16:05

Hi guys,
just purchased TheaRender a few weeks ago but I cant seem to post on their forum (cant find the new post icon!) so thought I would ask here.
I havent really gotten around to playing with the software yet, but yesterday used the material editor to start making some that I will use the most often, usually brickwork.
My materials looked great in the editor especially with displacement, but when I exported a simple box & ground plane from sketchup and opened up Thea and applied the materials I had made, they are not rendering correctly at all. The displacement scale seem to be completely wrong. Am I missing something really obvious here? I'm guessing the scale of the texture in Sketchup determines the scale of the texture in Thea, so I just dont understand why the displacement of the texture should be completely wrong?
Any ideas from any Thearender users?

Cheers!

notareal · 28 May 2011, 16:44

"NewTopic" button should do the trick.
Sounds like UV mapping is not done in SU. Use the texture that you are using for your own material also in SU (in SU import bitmap as texture). Apply and scale texture SU and (then use SU2Thea to apply your material from Thea library) export to Thea. Now if you apply material with same texture (if not already applied with SU2Thea), everything should be in correct scale.
Sorry, don't quite understand the issue with displacement sale, do you meant the height? You give that in centimeters. Maybe a example of your issue in Thea forums is needed. I'd recommend to continue there http://www.thearender.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=54

cadmunkey · 28 May 2011, 17:00

I think I'm basically doing exactly as you posted notareal, applying the texture from my Thea material folder into sketchup then exporting to Thearender.
For some reason the displacement map looks as if it is about 5 times too large once imported into Thea. So for example displacement on my brickwork should occur every 75mm (or 7.5cm in Thea) but it is showing at something like every 375mm, i.e. every 5th brick course. So the displaced grass that looked fine in the material editor also looks crazy within Thea after exporting from SU, the displacement is far too large. I'm not sure why the scaling of the displacement seems to be ignoring the mapping of the diffuse texture.

I dont see those 'New Topic' icons, I knew they had to be there but for some reason they are not showing for me, must be my browser problem. I'll try my other machine later, thanks.

notareal · 28 May 2011, 17:45

@cadmunkey said:

I dont see those 'New Topic' icons, I knew they had to be there but for some reason they are not showing for me, must be my browser problem. I'll try my other machine later, thanks.

Wonder if different forum style would work (but it would ruin the look). Firefox, IE and Safari seems to work fine for me... never tested with others, but this is the first time I hear of this kind of problem.
Workflow sounds correct. But it could be some SU2Thea issue... get latest test exporter from http://www.thearender.com/forum/download/file.php?id=7602. Try exporting without "Export Model's hierarchy" (it's know to cause issues). If that does not help, I think a simple example is in need... a scene tells more that thousand words

cadmunkey · 28 May 2011, 19:22

Tried the beta version and still the same result.
Here are screenies to show the result:
First screenshot in the material editor, quite clearly shows displacement correctly. Second showing what happens when exporting into Thea from sketchup using the same material.
The brick texture is fine, but the displacement map just completely goes nuts...

notareal · 28 May 2011, 21:07

It's hard to say what's going on by just looking the picture. Maybe sub division is too low... but that does not explain why displacement is in that scale.
Have you used any subdivision for the wall mesh (in SU)? Maybe you could post the Thea scene as pack.thea.

cadmunkey · 29 May 2011, 15:04

I tried subdividing the scene but it made no difference to the brickwork at all. On the grass all it did was introduce artifacts. The test scene I have emailed to the Thea developers doesnt have subdivided geometry as it didnt change the outcome.
Cheers.

notareal · 29 May 2011, 16:57

Had no change to look on that yet, but giannis will look on it. Here is a quick test, using flagstone texture for the test.

Workflow like described before.
Model, import bitmap as texture, apply/scale texture (I used projected texture in example, but it's fine without it).
Apply Thea material with SU2Thea and export.
In attached render I emphasis displacement a bit.
Note: set model geometry to "smooth" (right click, Geometry > Smoothing) when using displacement. Also for angular objects, it's good turn off "Normal Smoothing" under displacement properties.

Flagstone_test.skp

Contains Flagstone_test.pack.thea and Flagstone.mat.pack

nursill · 8 Jan 2013, 13:36

People pls help. I have a problem, when i do model in SU and export to the the THEA, add material and then look likes... on the wall build lines

tomasz · 8 Jan 2013, 15:02

In general it is better to apply all textures inside SketchUp.

If you have to do it in Thea Studio, then use cubic mapping for the piece of the model you have applied the new material (Tools/Transform Tool/Mapping Icon/Cubic).

I suggest you checking new integrated Thea for SketchUp!

gafia · 7 Dec 2013, 08:29

I have problem in scatter part in Thea Render Material Lap
i cant see it and it not working
i am asking if i need some program for make it working right

please answer me

solo · 7 Dec 2013, 13:14

@gafia said:

I have problem in scatter part in Thea Render Material Lap
i cant see it and it not working
i am asking if i need some program for make it working right

please answer me

You have a blank scene, try adding the material to a shape, a plane or something then check again.

gafia · 7 Dec 2013, 19:58

i did that
and not working it was working before i recover the laptop i guess its about the system files

notareal · 8 Dec 2013, 08:26

I'd try to reinstall Thea if you have not done so. Are you using latest RV
http://www.thearender.com/cms/index.php/downloads/thea-render.html remember also get latest presto GPU (if you have nvidia GPU) http://www.thearender.com/cms/index.php/downloads/presto-gpu.html

gafia · 8 Dec 2013, 09:09

i have the latest version and i tried all versions
not working right " sorry about my english "

i have this problem in other CPU and this LapTop
but it work right in other LapTop
and i am afraid to uninstall it from it cause if i re install and get that am going to be disappoints

gafia · 8 Dec 2013, 09:16

Note : i have registration but i didnt put it
i tried ro recover laptop and have same problem
i tried to update windows and the same thing and graphics card too

i tried many things nothing work
i need solution