AlvarD

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  1. AlvarD
    I've managed to identify the source of all the default materials in Chief, except for one. The Roof -> Skylight Frame, which has a default of "Asphalt Roofing", which is not even a material. When you select it to see what it's using for default, it shows "Asphalt Roofing - Black", which is a material. I can't find any material default DBX where anything is specified as "Asphalt Roofing", so I don't see where I would go to change this. I've attached the plan that matches the material defaults of the screenshot below. BTW, here are the sources of all the roof materials, with the actual "Roof" material being the only one which doesn't pick up a default from anywhere else and you specify in the Roof Defaults DBX. Materials Usage Cross reference.plan
  2. AlvarD
    Thanks Eric and Mick . I see it now. It would be SO much easier if Chief was consistent and used the same naming convention everywhere. For example, in this case, instead of just saying "Default: Asphalt Roofing", it could say "Default Exterior Wall Surface: Asphalt Roofing", like it does for many other materials, so you can figure out where they are really set. That takes care of the Flush Eave, so now where does the "Default: Color - Bone" come from for the Soffit/Eave and Skylight Shaft?
  3. AlvarD
    I'm trying to understand the not-so-obvious default material assignment process on X10. I understand how a lot of the defaults in the Roof Defaults Materials DBX are inherited, like the Ridge Cap, and Fascia, but there are others that I can't figure where the actual default is set in Chief. For example, in the attached pic the Soffit / Eave usees a "Default: Color - Bone", and the Flush Eave uses "Default: Asphalt Roofing", but I can't find anywhere in the Defaults Setting -> Materials panel, where "Color - Bone" or "Asphalt Roofing" are used or specified. I can change, for example the "Soffit / Eave" to something other than "Default: Color - Bone", and then if I want to revert back to the default, I can choose the "Use default material" box in the material selection, but HOW is the "default material" being defined as "Color - Bone"? I attached a dummy plan that I'm using to test out the material defaults. material_test.plan
  4. AlvarD
    Graham, thanks for the glass texture! It certainly looks much better than anything I had tried with PBR. Unfortunately, playing around with you plan has really shown me how woefully inadequate my current system is to do a lot of PBR optimizations. It takes me more than a minute from when I open one of your kitchen PBR cameras to when the render is complete, and any small change I try to do after that takes around 30-40 seconds minimum. It's very painful... I will definitely have to upgrade at some point, and from reading the results that you and others noticed in PBR render times after upgrading, I know it will help a lot! Thanks, Alvar
  5. AlvarD
    Totally agree. Very much appreciated! Alvar
  6. AlvarD
    Graham, the kitchen render is looking awesome! Love the glass, the cabinets, and the lighting. I'm definitely interested in studying the materials and lighting that you used to achieve this. Any chance you can share some version of the kitchen plan? Thanks, Alvar
  7. AlvarD
    Thanks guys. Mick, good point about the stone and BMs. Here's with a different stone and added BM for the stone, walkway and pavers. I agree it gives it more realism.
  8. AlvarD
    Graham, a while back you took the plan that I was using to practice the exterior PBR renders and added some landscaping and did a night time render, which I really liked. I had never done a night time render, so I took it as a personal challenge and learning experience to try to replicate it as much as possible. Thanks for the inspiration! Here's the result.
  9. AlvarD
    Another great render Graham! It's amazing what a difference the furnishings and accessories make. With all that wine, I'm looking for the half-filled wine glass that you had in one of your other kitchens...lol I really liked that, and I wish I knew how you did it...
  10. AlvarD
    Your welcome. The multiple light select and the Adjust button are definitely a big time saver!
  11. AlvarD
    Did you expand the row? Here's a pic showing the light expanded, and lights 1 thru 8 selected and changed to 9lm. -Alvar
  12. AlvarD
    Thanks for the symbol Robert! You mentioned that it was very tedious to change the light output since you had to modify every light individually, but if you expand the light in the Adjust Lights DBX (with the arrow on the left of it), you can then group-select any, or all, of the 96 lights and change their intensity at once.
  13. AlvarD
    Nice work indeed Graham! As Giuseppe points out, a lot of this can change with the next release, but I do hope that they have listened to some of the issues in this thread with PBR and improve it's usability for X11. Graham, I especially like one of your suggestions of letting the user control whether the PBR render updates automatically when any changes are done, or on demand. For those of us who are still seeing 10s-15s delays in PBR rendering whenever we change anything, due to not having the latest and greatest HW, this would be a great help!
  14. AlvarD
    To me seeing many materials with the same name in the Plan list has always been very confusing, and I think I've had the same problem with applying materials that you mentioned. I'l prefer it if Chief required them to always have unique names.
  15. AlvarD
    I see. That was the difference. I was painting them all first and then trying to change it. I guess having CA automatically create the other materials when it detects a change in one helps a bit, but like Graham said, it's hard to tell the different materials as they all have the same name...
  16. AlvarD
    I guess this, from the X10 reference manual, makes it pretty clear that different material offsets for different objects aren't currently supported, as it's a property of the material, rather than the Object, so different materials are needed to have different origins of a texture on different objects. Seems like a very basic CA program structure issue, so I doubt that they would entertain changing it, but I started a "Suggestion" thread in hopes they may consider it. -Alvar
  17. AlvarD
    Thanks Mick! Indeed the default of Textures and Patterns referencing the global Grid coordinate system of 0,0 make a lot of sense. It would be nice, if there was an OPTION, for things other than Symbols since they seem to be covered by the Global Symbol Mapping option, to control the texture offsets individually on each object.
  18. AlvarD
    Eric, if I could get it to work the way you show in your video, that would be perfect. Unfortunately, when I try doing exactly what you did (I tried it just like you did, making a copy of the Cedar Tongue & Grove and applying it to different walls), it doesn't work the same. For me, when I use the "Adjust Material Definition" on one of the walls to change the offset of the texture, it changes it for all the walls that have it. This is as I would've expected, since I'm changing the material definition, which is supposed to be global. Could there be some other default/preference setting in X10 that perhaps can account for the difference in behavior between your video and what I'm seeing? Thanks, Alvar
  19. AlvarD
    I submitted a suggestion on this to the "Suggestions" thread. Let's hope they are listening!!
  20. AlvarD
    Yeah, I think you are right. Sounds like this one falls under the "request for new feature" category...
  21. AlvarD
    Graham, the method you describe of copying the texture would certainly work, but it would be great if we didn't have to resort to that. From the description it seems like the Global Symbol Mapping option is there to address just that scenario. Perhaps it's a bug? Or I'm just misinterpreting the Global Mapping option...
  22. AlvarD
    I have a texture which I would like to have start at the same offset of 0,0 on every object that I apply the texture to, and from what I see in the Chief Manual "Check Global Symbol Mapping to map the texture using the same origin on all objects. When unchecked, the origin is defined individually for each object". this should be the case if I have the Global Symbol Mapping in the Material DBX unchecked, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I defined a texture of a paver block, which when applied to a 4" wide polyline solid (the one on the left in the pic below) looks the way I want it. The problem is that if I apply it to another polyline solid, depending on where the origin of the polyline solid is, the application of the pattern is applied as if "Global Symbol Mapping" is checked. Checking or unchecking the Global Symbol Mapping button doesn't change anything. Plan is attached. Thanks, Alvar Chieftalk global symbol map bug.zip
  23. AlvarD
    I changed the material to a "Predefined Metal", "Stainless Steel", NOT Brushed (so it's more like a Polished metal), and set the roughness to 15%.
  24. AlvarD
    After reading thru the posts in this thread and applying some of the tips and techniques shared in it, I thought I would post three pics showing the results of adjusting lighting and materials on a kitchen using PBR, not because they are great examples of PBR renderings, but to show what a difference some minor changes can make. I also wanted to thank all the people in this CA community which are so generous with sharing techniques and tips, as well as provide helpful critiques, to help a rendering newbie like myself learn come up to speed quicker. To me, CA is a very good program, but what really makes it great is the CA community helping each other in the Chief Talk forums! The first pic is the basic render using the pendants, recessed, and under-cabinet light, with no sunlight. With some added area lights and sunlight. With material changes using some of Graham's techniques for the floor, counter-tops, cabinets and bar stools, as well updating the texture and bump map for the subway tile. Also changed the temperature of the sun and lights to warmer tones. -Alvar
  25. AlvarD
    WOW Graham, this, and your light shadow depth control techniques are very creative AND very useful. Thanks for sharing them!! -Alvar