New User... Many questions

[chippwalters]

Okay. Bought the $500 plugin + standalone. Working on a pretty nice PC rig with 2 NVIDIA cards: 980TI and GTX1080.
No problem getting a 'hello world' scene to run. Create a box and a plane, execute the plugin and things work fine.

Huge problems trying to 'map' SU materials to Octane materials and/or edit them. Using 3.04.4.5. Read the manual but it's not clear at all on how to do any of this.

Q1. Is the 3.04.4.5 plugin the correct one to be using (I believe it's the latest as of this post).

Q2. Is there a video tute on any of the material editiing? The manual is pretty lame. Sometimes mapping seems to work, other times it does not. Sometimes I can get a change in tile size to work, other times it doesn't. I don't know if I'm the problem or the plugin is the problem. Any help would be appreciated.

Q3. How to get DOF to work? I tried all the settings I could (not using the node editor) . Under CAMERA menu>Thin Lens>Aperture (both large and small), Focus type=Depth (pick focus) and still it doesn't seem to work at all.

Q4. Can you 'save' SU materials so you can just *use them* in projects? Or do you have to go through the multiple step process everytime you want to 'redefine' a SU material for a new scene?

Q5. Are there any other docs or instructions on how to use Octane Render with SketchUp? I've scoured YouTube and have only found speeded up replays without audio annotation.

Q6. Is there a way to use SU to 'setup' a scene, then use OR application to 'finalize and render?' IOW, can I use SU to create a scene file which can be opened by the OR standalone application?

I'm sure there's more. Looking forward to some answers. Thanks!

[-rb-]

Hey Chipp,

As a catch up FYI (as I'm very glad for your MoI tuts!) - unfortunately things have been pretty hampered in dev on this plug in (there's no Michael Gibson sitting at constant attention, ha! ) - to the point where some users have taken flight - the UI/materials/access to core features are at best inconsistent, at worst very bug prone. Because of this there is very little out there in terms of tutorials and pickup...Most of us have just had to trail by error...TBH it was slightly confusing as to why Otoy were charging for this soft for so long.

The good news is Octane have renewed interest in the plugin - we're promised some big changes very soon (take a look back through the forum re: access to node graph) - and this should start to alleviate things across many levels. When this will be exactly though is up in the air...So yes...Those of us who rely on SU for their everyday workflow (and love the Octane engine) are currently waiting and hoping! I'll let one of the devs jump in and help you with the rest!

Best,

- Rich

[chippwalters]

Thanks Rich,

I think I'll just ask for a refund. I'm a pretty savvy user and it won't work for me. After what you've told me, I suspect it just doesn't work at all. Shame on OTOY for even selling it in this condition.

[Lewis]

Thanks Rich,

I think I'll just ask for a refund. I'm a pretty savvy user and it won't work for me. After what you've told me, I suspect it just doesn't work at all. Shame on OTOY for even selling it in this condition.

Hi Chip, IF you still use LW then maybe try to "exchange" plugin for LW version 'coz LW implementation is rock solid and feature packed and LW developer is very fast and responsive.

[-rb-]

Hey Chipp - the dev team are currently building - might be good to have you stick around and lend a hand haha - thing is once this thing is up and running to a decent standard it could be amazing in terms of speed...

- Rich

[fivebythree]

Okay. Bought the $500 plugin + standalone. Working on a pretty nice PC rig with 2 NVIDIA cards: 980TI and GTX1080.
No problem getting a 'hello world' scene to run. Create a box and a plane, execute the plugin and things work fine.

Huge problems trying to 'map' SU materials to Octane materials and/or edit them. Using 3.04.4.5. Read the manual but it's not clear at all on how to do any of this.

Q1. Is the 3.04.4.5 plugin the correct one to be using (I believe it's the latest as of this post).
Latest stable release, the one to use to be compatible with standalone

Q2. Is there a video tute on any of the material editiing? The manual is pretty lame. Sometimes mapping seems to work, other times it does not. Sometimes I can get a change in tile size to work, other times it doesn't. I don't know if I'm the problem or the plugin is the problem. Any help would be appreciated.
Not sketchUp videos but very very good Octane Standalone tutorials. Most of which is covered translates to the SU plugin. https://www.youtube.com/user/MTimtam

Q3. How to get DOF to work? I tried all the settings I could (not using the node editor) . Under CAMERA menu>Thin Lens>Aperture (both large and small), Focus type=Depth (pick focus) and still it doesn't seem to work at all.
DOF works. Adjusting the aperture settings will get the desired effect. Would suggest not using auto focus. Pick works, but like I wrote need to adjust the aperture.

Q4. Can you 'save' SU materials so you can just *use them* in projects? Or do you have to go through the multiple step process everytime you want to 'redefine' a SU material for a new scene?
Not from within sketchUp, but standalone has a local folder for saved materials. You can load these into your sketchUp project.

Q5. Are there any other docs or instructions on how to use Octane Render with SketchUp? I've scoured YouTube and have only found speeded up replays without audio annotation.
See Q2

Q6. Is there a way to use SU to 'setup' a scene, then use OR application to 'finalize and render?' IOW, can I use SU to create a scene file which can be opened by the OR standalone application?
SketchUp plugin saves 2 formats, OCS, and ORBX. OCS is the typical save files for standalone, and ORBX is a container format. Currently SketchUp plugin only saves one camera scene on export. But there's plugin that will help you export all cameras viewtopic.php?f=31&t=8955

I'm sure there's more. Looking forward to some answers. Thanks!
-----
Welcome Chipp!

The SketchUp plugin has gone through a few hands and seems to be a perpetual work in progress. But there's always standalone that is great to fall back on to get ultimate results.

[chippwalters]

Thanks everyone for pitching in. I'm in contact with support right now. I've a few videos which show the problems I'm having. If any of you mind taking a peek and letting me know if I'm doing something wrong-- it would be quite the help. These videos are 'unlisted' so they aren't show publicly, but you can get to them from the following links:

Also, it appears if you open the Octgane materials palette, then close it, then open it, it hangs and doesn't display anything. This should be pretty simple stuff and I would expect it to just work in a product they want to charge over $500 for. I'm not really interested in being their 'beta tester guinea pig' unless they want to pay me.. I have no problems reporting obscure bugs and helping out, but the basic stuff like opening and closing windows correctly should be caught in alpha releases.

(FWIW I'm mostly a Mac user and now using PC version of SU, so it may seem like "he's lost" hunting for menus, etc..)




and



Thanks for any help!

[chippwalters]

Hi Chip, IF you still use LW then maybe try to "exchange" plugin for LW version 'coz LW implementation is rock solid and feature packed and LW developer is very fast and responsive.

Hi Lewis,

Thanks. I use LW for very specific things-- and I'm trying to wean off of it if possible. SU is so damn fast to get in and out of and would work great with Octane (damn fast rendering). I don't *live* in a single 3D app as I also do a lot of UX/UI stuff so I end up bopping back and forth between a few easy-to-use and remember how-to apps like SU for poly modeling, Moi3D for CAD and Nurbs, 3D Coat for 'sketching' and UVs, and KeyShot for rendering.

I'm *really hoping* to add Octane to the mix. In particular I was hoping for atmospherics I could set up within SU (the node editor?) as well as glow effects and particles (probably not possible?).

Octane already blows away KeyShot w/regard to interior/exteriors. I'd like to put it in my rapid viz pipeline if possible-- but it just has to work with SU and better than it does right now.

[smicha]

Hi Chip, IF you still use LW then maybe try to "exchange" plugin for LW version 'coz LW implementation is rock solid and feature packed and LW developer is very fast and responsive.

Hi Lewis,

Thanks. I use LW for very specific things-- and I'm trying to wean off of it if possible. SU is so damn fast to get in and out of and would work great with Octane (damn fast rendering). I don't *live* in a single 3D app as I also do a lot of UX/UI stuff so I end up bopping back and forth between a few easy-to-use and remember how-to apps like SU for poly modeling, Moi3D for CAD and Nurbs, 3D Coat for 'sketching' and UVs, and KeyShot for rendering.

I'm *really hoping* to add Octane to the mix. In particular I was hoping for atmospherics I could set up within SU (the node editor?) as well as glow effects and particles (probably not possible?).

Octane already blows away KeyShot w/regard to interior/exteriors. I'd like to put it in my rapid viz pipeline if possible-- but it just has to work with SU and better than it does right now.

IMO it is wasting your time with current version of SU plugin - we have to have a fully rebuilt UI, standalone like with all functionality of the Standalone. My advice for now is - export your SU scene with SU plugin to orbx/ocs and open it in the Standalone and render your final scenes.

[-rb-]

Hi Chip, IF you still use LW then maybe try to "exchange" plugin for LW version 'coz LW implementation is rock solid and feature packed and LW developer is very fast and responsive.

Hi Lewis,

Thanks. I use LW for very specific things-- and I'm trying to wean off of it if possible. SU is so damn fast to get in and out of and would work great with Octane (damn fast rendering). I don't *live* in a single 3D app as I also do a lot of UX/UI stuff so I end up bopping back and forth between a few easy-to-use and remember how-to apps like SU for poly modeling, Moi3D for CAD and Nurbs, 3D Coat for 'sketching' and UVs, and KeyShot for rendering.

I'm *really hoping* to add Octane to the mix. In particular I was hoping for atmospherics I could set up within SU (the node editor?) as well as glow effects and particles (probably not possible?).

Octane already blows away KeyShot w/regard to interior/exteriors. I'd like to put it in my rapid viz pipeline if possible-- but it just has to work with SU and better than it does right now.

Very much in the same boat Chipp

- Rich