dast

You're welcome. For more details about workflow, you could have a look here: http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/90805-c4d-learning-expedition-001-pro-level-uv-mapping/?page=1 It's almost a year old, but most information is still valid. Unfortunately not all links or videos did survive.

I don't have special use cases. The reason I created Seamilar was because I noticed I was constantly switching between loop selection, path selection, live selection, etc ... to get my seams selected to relax my UV islands. First thing I did - to speed up switching between the tools - was to assign these tools via their shortcut keys to some of the 12 mouse buttons (I have a Logitech G600). But with Seamilar it became much simpler, as I only need that one tool and switch between its single and extended selection mode via the Shift key, which is assigned to one of the two buttons on my 3Dconnexion Space Navigator. I thus have my left hand on the Space Navigator, my right on the mouse, and by controlling these 2 devices I can navigate my 3D view, hover over the required edges, select single or extended mode and click, click, click. No keyboard shortcuts, no switching of tools. Creating seams is now really only focusing on where to cut instead of figuring out how to select the edges to make up that seam ... what it used to be before. Attached is an example of asset I UV map using Seamilar. Now, the actual UV mapping is still a chore, but the workflow to create the separate UV islands is greatly sped up with the plugin. My workflow is to select seams on an object, perform a projection, relax using the selected seams as cut edges, then do some optimization. Then proceed with the next object, until all objects for that UV texture are done. Then I manually arrange the different objects UV on the single canvas. Export to FBX and perform the actual texturing in Substance Painter. So this Seamilar plugin only helps in a tiny part of the whole workflow.

How to install: In Cinema 4D (PC) go to Edit>Preferences, this opens the preferences dialog. Now select the button "Open Preferences Folder" at left bottom, this opens a windows explorer. Double click the "plugins" folder in the windows explorer and copy the unzipped Seamilar folder into this folder. Restart Cinema 4D, and plugin should be available. How to use: I have tried to explain the basic usage at the start of this thread, including some screenshots. Edit: I just realized I never uploaded the latest version, as there seemed to be a problem with version 1.2 Edit 2 : <removed obsolete file>

metal - I guess some Apple/Mac related SDK or something similar? If it's only Apple/Mac then I guess MAXON will look next to it, as I have understood they only use SDK/libraries that are multi platform.

As I am in the middle of a project, I still am working with R17 and haven't installed R18 (have still to download it). According to the documentation of the R18 Python SDK, MAXON did replace some attributes from the reflectance layer, which means that the current SPETI plugin will not work in R18. I was working on a next version to fix a few bugs and add some more features, but this difference between R17 and R18 SDK is slightly annoying, meaning I will have to maintain 2 plugin versions, as they both require different code. As there are a few options available, I'd like to request feedback from users. In order not to clutter up this thread I'd like SPETI users to PM me mentioning their Cinema 4D version: - "R18" if you're an R18 user stuck with a non working SPETI 0.5 - "R17" if you're an R17 user with no intention to upgrade to R18 Thanks

Very sad news indeed. While I didn't know the man in person, nor didn't use his plugin suite, it still feels like a big loss. Dan, you will be missed.

Don't worry, you're not the only one. I am too busy working on my project(s) that I have no time to download and install R18. A few more days (weeks?) before I switch to the latest version.

I had promised myself one thing when I would release the next version of this plugin, and that was to also provide a video showing the basic usage of SPETI (both the Assign and Config tabs). But after a few days of trying I can only confess that I simply am not made to explain things. I have tried the spontaneous way, as well as following a written down scenario. Again and again. All iterations failed their goal of clearly explaining what to do, why, when. Kudos to those who make entertaining video tutorials ... it just isn't my thing. Well, after all, this plugin isn't rocket science, so you'll eventually figure out how to use it without me explaining. <file removed> (as before, R17 only)

Finally found (made some) time to work on the missing pieces of this plugin. Some more testing days ahead, but next version should be available soon. I have added support for different image formats (bmp, jpg, png, tif), selectable in the Assign tab. Most work, however, has been done in the Config tab as I now have added the feature to add custom "channels" (known as TextureSet images). Although this was implemented rather easily, much more time was needed to provide support for multiple layers in the reflectance material channel.

Thanks for your feedback. As mentioned earlier, support for different file formats is on my todo list, and will make it in the next version. For the preset to be saved, the user needs to press the "save changes" button in the config tab. I don't like this myself, and am looking for a different way to handle this, but to constantly save the preset with every single change isn't very optimal. So far I thus rely on the user pressing the save button. These presets should be stored in a subfolder of the plugin, and automatically loaded next time you start the plugin. From your description it seems something goes wrong during saving or loading (assuming you pressed the save changes button). Does the console show any error message related to saving/loading

You're welcome. No further development yet, as most features I needed are implemented. Next on the list is the ability to select the input image format. Currently only bmp supported (I encountered some Cinema 4D crashes trying to import png's from Substance Painter, and thus focused on one format that did work). I am sure custom channels will be needed in future, so I am running this idea in the back of my head. I am also wanting to replace the warning and error icons (simple colored boxes with question/exclamation mark) with more meaningful icons.

I haven't described the pipeline in full details, but following are plugins I created to automate the process. http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/91939-new-plugin-colorid-mapper http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/92673-new-plugin-substance-painter-exported-texture-importer-speti

No further development yet as now I am actually USING the plugin. How better to demonstrate by a simple render. Left is the untextured object, and right the same scene with textures created in Substance Painter and imported via SPETI. (ground and sky are "basic" C4D materials)

As many others I applaud MAXON for sharing this kind of information (the demo video). To me, the message is more important than its content, as honestly I don't see what everyone's so excited about. But that might be just me missing the point. As said, thumbs up for showing us what the future will bring. The blog, however, is more than just a message this time. As I recently started digging into developing scripts and plugins, I was more or less focused on working on some UV tools enhancements, tired of waiting for MAXON's update on this subject. Knowing this endeavour would take up quite some months I kept procrastinating, hoping one way or another to find out if the next release would have better UV tools, as I didn't want spending/wasting all this time working on something that would become obsolete before it got completed. With this new blog information about R18, I know I can shelve the whole idea. As whatever will get released I know will be more stable, more integrated and more useful than whatever I can ever come up with.

While working on the 0.3 version I realized my current vision to allow for different workflows was wrong. I dropped this 0.3 version and changed the whole concept. Although the new version has a completely different look, it still contains the main ideas of the original one, but better integrated into a single workflow. While so many things have been added it could almost be seen as being close to final release, and might be called a 0.98 version. But since it got numbered 0.4 when I started that's how it will be named. The main window of the plugin still contains an Assign and Configuration tab. Their purpose has not changed since previous versions. The main difference with previous versions is that the list of texturesets can now display more information. The textureset can be expanded to show the different image files associated to the textureset. A colored bar in front of the image name indicates the status of the image in relation to the chosen preset (see Config tab). A green bar indicates the image file is available in the provided path, while red indicates the image file is required but missing. A yellow bar indicates the file is present but not required by the selected preset. At right of the textureset name a yellow rectangle with question mark does indicate that there is no matching material currently present in the scene. A new material will be created when you press the Import button. If no such yellow rectangle is displayed, this means a matching material is already available, and it will be re-used and updated when importing the textures. Next, the preset name is used which will be used to map the different image files into the different material channels (see Config tab). The preset can be selected "globally" for all texturesets, or it an be selected individually per textureset (right mouse click on the individual preset name, see third image). By default a single preset is provided (named Default). Users can create their own preset (see Config tab). Right of the preset name a red rectangle with exclamation mark indicates that image files are missing, depending the chosen preset. I'll provide Config tab explanation later. < removed obsolete file >

Hi bezo, Thanks for your feedback. I am using Substance Painter 1.7.3 on a laptop which uses a nVidia 920 mobile GPU. The drivers are extremely outdated, but those are the only officially supported by the laptop. Substance Painter mentions the outdated driver in it's log but any newer driver will crash my laptop when using Cinema 4D. Anyway, the old drivers and 1.7.3 work OK. I have created my own export settings in Substance Painter, and the Configuration Tab in SPETI is provided to match these. So, as a user you once need to set up the configuration for your own workflow, and then you should be good to go. I had provided my own settings as default, and might indeed not have followed the original name settings and inadvertently changed _Base_Color into _BaseColor. Your suggestion to provide a way to clear the logfile in SPETI is on my todo list. My intention was to eventually implement this when time allows, but user request will increase it's priority. So, I'll try to get it available for next version. Your other suggestion, however, I have to disagree. The configuration tab is meant to be set up for your workflow, and it thus should not be automatically adjusted behind your back depending on what files are found in the provided path. This would contradict the whole purpose of the configuration. Showing a mismatch between found files in the provided path and current configuration is on my todo list, but this will only be a visual aid to help before the user presses the "import" button.. There will be no automatic update of the configuration, as what has been set up is what the user expects to obtain. Currently any mismatch is only shown in the log tab after the import button was pressed. Thanks again for your feedback, as it helps me to understand how to enhance the plugin for others to use.

The plugin has been downloaded many times, but no one complained about the bugs. This can only mean two things: 1. no one is actually using the plugin 2. the current state is already quite useful to whom downloaded it. Anyway, in this next version I have made the settings persistent. This allows users to now edit the config settings, and plugin will remember these next time it is opened. I also forgot to mention in the original post that the plugin currently only supports bmp files, other formats will be supported in future. I more than once noticed that loading a 16bit png file from Substance Painter made Cinema4D unresponsive, hence the reason I opted for 8bit bmp support only (for a start). Processing of the exported Substance Painter textures are slightly different in this version, as I noticed something was wrong with some of the results obtained with the original version. Next I will start working on the configuration settings tab. Currently all control of mapping and processing is "black-boxed" in the plugin. Hardcoded. Via the configuration settings the user will thus be allowed to alter or fine tune how the mapping is to be done. Plus, allowing to define presets, and use different presets per textures set to be applied. Still R17 only (reason for this is that access to the reflectance channel via python is only available from R17 on) < removed obsolete file >

Well, I wasn't too happy about the Mega sharing policy. Looking forward to try out the new shared location. Thanks for making that happen.

How to use the plugin: The plugin consists of 3 tabs: Assign, Config, Log. The Log tab: is pure informational, and has only been added in order to avoid to have the console window open next to the plugin. SPETI will thus only print out info/warning/error into this Log window. The console window will then only show python errors due to my dumb programming mistakes. So, for regular users: you can keep the console window closed ;-) The Configuration tab: is currently still very much work in progress and hence only has very basic settings available. Here you specify which texture set images from Substance Painter are to be used, and also specify the file name convention for these images. Usually you would only need to open this panel once to set things up, and you're done. However, since the whole plugin is early WIP it still doesn't do any persistent storage of user settings. This means it doesn't remember your settings, and reverts to the hardcoded settings next time you activate the plugin. (Will be handled in future version) The Assign tab: is where all the action happens. First thing you do is specify the path where Substance Painter has exported the different texture set images. In my workflow I only need a single path for all texture sets, but if need be to provide sub-folders per texture set or material, this might be handled in future version. Once a valid path is entered, the status shows how many files are available in that path, and depending your configuration settings will show how many texture sets this represents (1 texture set represents 7 images: basecolor, ambient occlusion, normal, roughness, metallic, height, ior). Next is how to create/update the material. There are 3 workflows I assumed would be useful to me. Again, if users require others it might be added in future version. 1. Work from the image files generated by Substance Painter. As mentioned, 7 images form a texture set (can be more or less, depending your workflow). Each texture set will result in a C4D material. The plugin will collect the available images per texture set and create the different C4D materials from that. The assignment of material to the appropriate object(s) is currently not implemented yet (will be handled in future version) 2. Work from existing C4D material (my default workflow). In my case the material is created as a simple color place holder, and is already assigned to the object(s). Selecting this mode will update the material matching the texture set name. No new material is created, and since material is already assigned to object(s) no assignment is needed. 3. Work from UVW Tag names. In my case I combine different objects to share the same UV texture space. By doing so, I give the UVW Tags that share the same space also the same name. This will end up to be the texture set in Substance Painter. The purpose of this mode is to create the materials for each UVW Tag. Assignment of the material to the object(s) is yet to be implemented. The options: are greyed out for now. If a material with matching name exists, it will be use, else a new material with that name will be created. As mentioned, assignment of materials is future development. The list: represents the items, depending the choice of workflow (from file, from material, from uvw tag). In case of "by file name" the list will show the detected texture sets in the given path. It shows a list of C4D material names in case "by material name" is selected. And when "by uvw tag" is selected it displays a list of uvw tag names. Each entry in the list can be select/deselected (use short cuts "all" and "none"). The plugin doesn't detect changes automatically. So if you modify the path or files, add/remove/rename materials or UVW tags, you will want to press the "Rescan" button to update the list to the latest items. The Import button: will process each selected item in the list and create/update the material with given name.

Edit 2017: Renamed topic from "Substance Painter Exported Texture Importer (SPETI)" to "SPETI and TINA" The original post was made for Substance Painter textures, but as it applies to any kind textures the plugin has been split off into 2 "versions", read more here -obsolete link deleted- Original message below and on next pages will still refer to Substance Painter. <end edit> Working with Substance Painter for texture creation I found it a waste of time to manually create each material from the numerous exported textures. Looking at the main character for my short story I had to import 18 texture sets (each 6 bitmap files). Knowing that many more objects had to be textured in the future, I soon started to look how to automate this material creation. For this I looked into scripting, and soon decided to make a plugin, which I could have named "Substance Painter Artistically Generated Exported Texture Importer". But went for the simpler "Substance Painter Exported Texture Importer" instead, SPETI for short. The main purpose of this plugin is thus to create materials from scratch, using the generated textures from Substance Painter as input. Or, in my case, to update the already prepared materials (having only the color channel activated). Since development has only been started, many more features have to be implemented. One of which is the configuration panel were users setup how the Substance Painter textures are to be mapped. Currently, the configuration is very basic, and matches with my workflow. More detailed explanations soon to come. Enjoy! Latest version v1.2 runs on R17 - R23 ... available in the download section.

Well, I don't think you missed anything, actually. The plugin has been out for a while now, and I have only received 2 positive feedback. I guess it must not be that useful after all. Additionally, due to a bug in MAXON's Python SDK an error was displayed in the console each time the plugin was loaded. This and other reasons made me decide to retract the plugin from distribution. However, I have now figured a workaround for this SDK bug and have reworked some part of the plugin. I have also made changes to the settings, as such changes made in the attribute panel are now persistent between Cinema 4D sessions. Unfortunately, the code used in this plugin is only available in R16 and above, and since you seem to be using R12 or older, I regret to say that the original or new version will not run on your system. Sorry. <removed older version>

You're welcome!

It took a while longer to complete this plugin, as I wanted to add a few more options. And as always, it's small changes which take the longest to implement. Since I still am not satisfied with the current state of the plugin, I'll release it as a 0.7 version. Incomplete for now, but functional. Short introduction to the tool's attributes: - output path selection: is where you select the folder/directory location to store the generated color maps - file name: currently a fixed file naming convention. Usage of tokens might be a future option (default 'ColorID_<UVW Tag Name>') - format: allows the user to output the color maps in PNG or JPG (other formats might be a future option) - size: current available sizes are 1K, 2K, 4K (default 1024x1024) - background: allows to choose between a black or white background color (default black) - padding: allows to extend the UVWs by choosen number of pixels (defalt 0 pixels) - UVW Tags: a list of available UVW Tag names. Each entry is a checkbox which allows the user to selecte/deselect the entry for generation. At the right of each entry the number of objects with the same UVW Tag name. Each entry results in a color map being generated sharing the UVWs of the polygon objects with the same UVW Tag name. - Generate button: when pressed this will start the generation process. At the left of the button a progress will be displayed. As explained earlier, this plugin only generates the colorID map. UV unwrapping and creating the shared UV map (needed as input the the colorID mapper) is left to the user. See Learning Expedition 001 for more details about these steps. (Learning Expedition 001) <file removed, since obsolete> enjoy!

In my current workflow I am combining multiple objects onto a same UV map, in order for further painting in Substance Painter (etc...) In order to use masks for the separate objects, the only way I found today, was to manually create a colorID map in C4D by selecting each object, selecting a different color per sub object, and selecting the "outline polygon" + "fill polygon" in the TextureView. A tedious task if the asset is build up from a lot of sub-objects. After several attempts at automating this via scripts or bakes I had to give up, as nor the python SDK, nor the baking process would allow me to reach my goal. Several months later, I still had this idea for script/plugin in the back of my head and was waiting for the SDK to catch up with what the user actually needed. Instead of waiting any longer, I researched how to obtain this goal with the current python SDK and some "ingenious" workaround. So over the course of this weekend, I went ahead and wrote a plugin with the help of my wife. She was following an online course to learn the basics of python and found it a challenge to help create this plugin. After two days the basics are implemented, only a few more days are needed for refinement. At left the tediously, manually created colorID using the inbuilt tools. At right the result from two days of coding. Choice of colors still needs to be fine-tuned in the plugin, but so far I am more than happy to (finally) have an automated process. Plug-in to be finalized in the coming days/weeks. I'll keep you updated.

Good to see you found an appropriate home for those files. I know it's not the same as having back all those lost attachments in their original posts, but it's a start already. Thanks for uploading and sharing those files. Edit: I thought you had managed to upload the files to the cafe, but I see now that its an external link to mega.nz My bad.