Version 1.5 Released!

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Chris
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Joined: Sun Mar 08, 2009 3:00 am
OS: Win10
SketchUp: 2016

Version 1.5 Released!

Post by Chris » Mon May 14, 2012 7:53 pm

Announcing Twilight Render Version 1.5!!
twilightlogo_final_826x462.jpg
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It is safe to simply install v1.5 over your current version of Twilight Render.

http://www.twilightrender.com/public_da ... v1_5_0.exe

In this release we set out with two main goals, to create a common software code base with the OSX version fixes, and to fix all the "hangups" that we commonly see with new users (and not so new :) )

In 1.5...
  • Options
    Directory set up just got a whole lot easier for new users - No longer requires an explicit list of any of the pre-installed scenes, directories, or presets. Twilight Render will always load the installed data regardless, allowing you to have SketchUp 7 and SketchUp 8 separate. It also means you don't have a horrible long list of directories in the options dialog to deal with. You can still add your own directories of course. You will notice that the Options -> Dialogs and Files section has a lot fewer entries in it, maybe none.
    The Options Dialog became much easier- If you have SketchUp 7 directories hanging around in your SketchUp 8 installation of Twilight Render, creating long lists of materials or render settings, there is a 'Clear' button at the bottom of the Options Dialog to erase all the entries from earlier Twilight installations.
    Render Settings locations are now clear as a bell. The installed render settings are always displayed in the render editor. But if you have additional 'user-set' render settings directories, you will notice that the render settings panel in the Render Dialog will list the folder location of that set of presets.
  • Material Tools
    There is a new tools menu in the Twilight Material Editor Dialog
    Install Material Library- this allows you to pick a ".zip" Material Library file available from Twilight Render's forum, or the free ".mat.zip" Material Library files available from Kerkythea and will automatically unpack it into the 'user-installed' materials directory. No more messing around with how to install a library or getting the names wrong.
    Import Material Attributes from any past project - this allows you to load the Twilight Render Material Attributes (actually any attributes) stored in a .skm SketchUp Materials Collection file, and brings them into your current scene. It matches materials in the .skm file to materials in the scene by name. It will also overwrite any existing Twilight Material settings already applied to your scene. It only effects materials that already exist in your scene; it can not effect new materials added later. SketchUp gives no access for plugins to its material libraries; you can only work with materials that are already in your scene. HOW IT WORKS: After completing a rendering of a scene, now you would like to save those materials so that you can use them later, right?
    • Inside SketchUp's material dialog, make sure you are looking at the "In Model" materials list.
    • Now export the materials as a SketchUp Materials Collection (.skm) by clicking the little "Details" button and choosing "Save Collection As". Specify your directory location where to save the Collection. It will save the collection as a .skm file.
    • Now you're building a new model for a new project, before you apply any textures, in the SketchUp materials dialog choose "Open or Create a Collection" and navigate to and open your previously saved Project Materials Collection (.skm). Now apply those materials to the new model so that all the names and colors and textures will be correct.
    • When you are ready to render, these materials will not yet render correctly with the Twilight Material Attributes. Open the Twilight Materials Dialog and choose "Import Material Attributes" and choose the SketchUp Materials Collection (.skm) file location. Now Twilight can match up all the materials by name and apply the correct material attributes.
    • Now render, and all is well with your materials.
    Reset All - this allows you to quickly revert a SketchUp model back to basic SketchUp materials and "start over" with Twilight materials application.
  • Fixed the colors for the view tool that was caused when SketchUp 8M2 was released.
  • Fixed a texture problem that came up rarely due to UV mapping issues.
  • Changed the Light Editor Dialog Eye Dropper to be yellow, in order to differentiate from the Material Editor Dialog Eye Dropper, which is white.
We are still testing the OSX version of Twilight Render. As soon as we get the major render engine bugs fixed we are still planning for a public beta test, then a full release. We will keep you all up to date on that.

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