Vray 2.0 importing proxy issue

jackwatson

Hi guys,

I have had some trouble using proxies with sketchup 2.0, and wanted to see if anyone else had come across the same thing or knows how to fix it.

I have a high poly model of a tree which you can see below...
Capture 01.JPG

When I render this model it comes out nicely like this...
Capture 02.JPG

After exporting the tree as a mesh (following the default export settings) the original model is replaced with the proxy like this...
Capture 03.JPG

But when I import the proxy into a new sketchup file and try to render, all the materials seem to be scrambled and I get something that looks like this...
Capture 05.JPG

If anyone has experienced similar or knows how to fix it, it would be good to know.

On another note with creating realistic grass proxy in vray, does anyone know of a plugin to scatter objects randomly over an area. I can't seem to get Compo Spray to work in SU 2013. I can install it, but clicking the tool causes nothing to happen. Again, any ideas would be much appreciated! Thanks

Jack

valerostudio

If you go the Chaos forums under Beta, you will see an entire series of tutorials I put together regarding proxies and grass scattering.

You can also see this tutorial here.

http://help.chaosgroup.com/vray/help/sketchup/150PB/tutorials_2d_proxies.htm

TeKnoel

Hi

I've found your proxy tutorial very helpful so thanks for those.
I've been doing some experimenting into using the ply2vrmesh command application to convert obj files into vrmesh which I plan to use in Vray for sketchup. The process works well for the model geometry but it does not load the material from the OBJ. I can open the files in modo and rhino and the textures are visible but i get a completely white model when creating my vrmesh. I have the .mtl file in the same folder when i run the command. Perhaps you have some advice? Thanks

Noel

valerostudio

Take note, if you download an OBJ from the web or another resource, and the UVW coordinates are not applied to the OBJ, then when you convert the file using the ply2vrmesh utility, you will not get the proper ID channels and the mesh will not have any UVW information. These OBJs are basically useless.

I found this to be true with the OBJs that come from Evermotion. Their files break the materials into subgroups in the OBJ and currently, the ply2vrmesh utility will not create ID channels from these groups. The other way around this is to import the OBJ into SU and texture it there and then export the vrmesh file directly in SU, but my experience is that SU will not be able to import very large OBJ files. Maybe 20MB max, not sure.

Another option is to texture and create the mesh in Blender using my other tutorial on the Chaos forums.

jackwatson

Thanks so much for the link to your tutorial, I will give it a go today.

rspierenburg

Thank you for the tutorial it was amazing!

jackwatson

For some reason if I rightclick the group with the proxy inside and 'save as', then the materials are lost again... but if I just save the file I've imported the proxy into then it works.

One more question though.. if you have a tile of 3D grass saved as a proxy, how do you distribute that proxy over a designated area, particularly if it's an organic shape?

rspierenburg

Jack,
I'm not sure about your first question, but as far as the second is concerned you can use a Plugin called Component Spray by Didier Bur.

jackwatson

@rspierenburg said:

Jack,
I'm not sure about your first question, but as far as the second is concerned you can use a Plugin called Component Spray by Didier Bur.

Hi there,

Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried using that plugin before but it wouldn't work, not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if it's not compatible with SU 2013. Basically I've installed it and the interface shows up on the toolbar, but when I click either of the spray buttons nothing happens....

Just looked into the plugin thread for compo spray where I mentioned this happening and apparently it's a permissions issue. Will try to fix

Thanks again

jonathanckf

@valerostudio said:

If you go the Chaos forums under Beta, you will see an entire series of tutorials I put together regarding proxies and grass scattering.

You can also see this tutorial here.

http://help.chaosgroup.com/vray/help/sketchup/150PB/tutorials_2d_proxies.htm

Thanks Valerostudio for the tutorial! That's very useful.

So we can just create proxy by using Export and then copy&paste. What about the Import button then?

renderman5000

I've had similar issues with creating vray proxys. I've exported the vrmesh from 3ds max, imported into sketchup via vray, then apply textures to the proper materials. Then I save that SU file as "tree 1.skp" or whatever. I usually have no problem opening this file later and rendering - the textures/materials are still showing up.

However, when I'm working in another scene and import that same SU file with the proxy, the textures will not consistently render.

When I sample the materials of the proxy, the texture shows up in the SU material editor for about a second, then it disappears, it seems like the vray material editor which has lost the link to the texture overwrites the SU material - so it defaults to a solid color.

Not sure that helps, I could be doing something wrong but in the end I need to place proxies without re texturing all the time.

Chuck