[Plugin] Physically-Based Rendering - v1.5.9 - 19 Apr. 2020

samuel_t

@jql said:

The problem is that a sketchup material hasn't got a direct link to textures residing on disk. So, if I change a texture like color, normal or metal-roughness map, it won't refresh. Or, will it?

No. Texture is embedded. You must update manually SketchUp material if you change texture on disk.

Linking textures can produce late errors like "missing file". I will think on this.

JQL

Hi,

I did what you suggested. Erased the pbr plugin and folder from my appdata's plugins folder, restarted everything and installed, following all your suggestions.

Still no good with 1.2.5:

samuel_t

@jql said:

Hi,

I did what you suggested. Erased the pbr plugin and folder from my appdata's plugins folder, restarted everything and installed, following all your suggestions.

Still no good with 1.2.5:

Hi JQL, please follow these new instructions:

Close SketchUp if it's open.
Open Windows's File Explorer.
Go to %APPDATA%\SketchUp\SketchUp 2018\SketchUp\Plugins\pbr
Right click on web_server.cmd file. Choose "Edit" in contextual menu.
Replace this line:


cd %~dp0 && cd Web Server

by this line:


cd /d "%~dp0%Web Server"

"File" > "Save".
"File" > "Exit".
Open SketchUp.
"Extensions" > "Physically-Based Rendering" > "Open Viewport".
Do you see SketchUp model in PBR Viewport?

samuel_t

@jql said:

Also, I found you removed support for emissive materials, which would be a shame, as I use them for all my lighting applications in Thea for Sketchup and would find them cool to test on this pbr plugin.

Today, I think it's better to implement glTF KHR_lights extension. So PBR plugin users could:

Add and place lights in SketchUp (Maybe as hidden geometry? I'm looking for solutions.),
Set light type (point, spot, etc.) and properties (color, intensity, etc.) again in SketchUp,
Export lights (embedded in glTF file) to PBR Viewport and possibly to other platforms...

samuel_t

@jql said:

It's easier for most users to have a separated roughness and metallic maps as they are very common, instead of the metallic-roughness map required by the plugin. [...] is there any chance the separated maps could be implemeted?

~~I agree it's easier but it's not so much long to pack metallic and roughness maps in third-party software. For example, it takes less than one minute in Photoshop following these instructions:

Open roughness map in Photoshop.
Convert Grayscale to RGB Color.
Unlock (roughness) layer.
Select (roughness) layer. Open Blending options.
Uncheck all Channels except G(reen).
Place Embedded... metallic map.
Select metallic layer. Open Blending options.
Uncheck all Channels except B(lue).
Save as... metallic-roughness map.~~

Update: Since PBR plugin v1.3.0, Metallic and Roughness maps are separated in PBR Material Editor.

JQL

@samuel_t said:

[*]Metallic & Roughness maps are separated in Material Editor.

Good news indeed. Will try it again.

samuel_t

Good news! PBR plugin becomes really handy with the new version (1.3.0).

Features

Change environment map from SketchUp "Extensions" menu.
Tip : Changing environment map changes ambient light map.
Metallic & Roughness maps are separated in Material Editor.
Access online help document translated in FR from Viewport.

Bugfixes

Fixes pan (middle button) control issue in Viewport on Firefox.
Fixes a little gamepad control bug. Improves maybe performance.

As part of an update, remember to disable plugin before uninstalling-reinstalling it.

samuel_t

Next PBR plugin version will include a (micro) library of royalty-free PBR materials.
These will be available in "Materials" tray. Render-example with "Wooden Palisade 01":

Wooden Palisade 01

This should allow new users of plugin to become familiar with PBR materials.

nlipovac

Hi, I have one question.
What is stopping you in developing this plugin as synced rendering plugin for Sketchup (or maybe as an overlay to SU window)? Is this far-fetched for me to think like this?

samuel_t

@nlipovac said:

Hi, I have one question.
What is stopping you in developing this plugin as synced rendering plugin for Sketchup (or maybe as an overlay to SU window)? Is this far-fetched for me to think like this?

At dev. beginning, I've thinked about a PBR Viewport synced with SketchUp...
That implies using internal browser but external browser is more up-to-date.

JQL

Thea has viewport rendering which, for single monitors brings sketchup to life. Your plugin, as it is realtime, would be amazing with viewport rendering.

nlipovac

Right like that JQL, I am quite impressed by this plugin and like to Blender is Eevee this would be a great plugin for SU if it would be implemented as an overlay to SU.

samuel_t

@nlipovac said:

Right like that JQL, I am quite impressed by this plugin and like to Blender is Eevee this would be a great plugin for SU if it would be implemented as an overlay to SU.

By "overlay", you mean a top window a bit like PBR Material Editor? Fullscreen or splitscreen?

nlipovac

This is Thea rendering in SU window, the same thing Vray have also.

nlipovac

@nlipovac said:

This is Thea rendering in SU window, the same thing Vray have also.

nlipovac

It was just an idea, thank you for this that you already accomplished with this plugin.

samuel_t

Overlay feature request is out of my skills for now. Maybe another dev can, since code is open-source.

samuel_t

Thank you for your idea.

JQL

I will talk about this case with someone...

samuel_t

@jql said:

Thea has viewport rendering which, for single monitors brings sketchup to life. Your plugin, as it is realtime, would be amazing with viewport rendering.

Yeah. There is an expensive workaround: to buy several monitors. More seriously, I will try to find a way to synchronize PBR Viewport with SketchUp.