Scene properties and relink up option

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Tharn
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Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

Hello, just got a trial license and trying to get this to work but I have two issues currently. When I select several objects or even just one, properties do not show up in the scene section. However, they do if I enable 'isolated'. And trying to use the 'relink up' option crashes ZModeler.
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Oleg »

Hierarchy alternation is something that should not be performed while isolated mode is toggled on. I've disabled the move up/down and relink buttons when isolated mode is on. get an update to fix this crash.

concerning your question on properties: the properties page is shown for scene selection, not for hierarchy view element selection. You can either use selection tools in viewports to select objects or their elements (vertices, polygons), or if you want to access properties of an object, you can select it explicitly in hierarchy view. To do this, hold ALT key, then left-click on visibility box of the object. It will turn red and properties for selection will be shown. You can toggle properties for multiple objects at a time this way (in case some common properties need to be changed on multiple objects). Also, ALT+click selection/deselection is performed on multiple selection of elements in hierarchy view, so you can select/deselect a range of objects this way (by selecting a range of hierarchy names first and then ALT+clicking on any of selected names' visibility box).
Tharn
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

I wasn't using relink with isolated mode, the crash is just happening without it toggled on.

When I create a dummy node, it goes all the way down to the bottom. Is there a way to move it freely? I need some dummy nodes where to group some parts. Or is that the wrong way?

I don't think I yet understand quite well what 'scene' is (wasn't that just the name of the project itself?) or how to view its properties. I also don't understand how 'states' or 'convert to compound' work but seems like it could be what I need.

Is there any documentation regarding all this that I could read? All I want to do is take some parts, group them and rename several parts in hierarchy all at once, don't want to edit one by one.

I was selecting multiple parts with shift key but then I see no properties and I tried the alt key but nothing happened. When I explicitly select a part, I don't see any properties, even if it's just one, like I was saying, they only show up if 'isolated' is enabled.

Hope I made myself more understood now :/
Tharn
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

Where is the visibility box/icon?
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Oleg »

It's in hierarchy tree view under properties. Those grey boxes on the left of object name. Hold Alt and click on this box - the box will become red and the object will get selected in scene too (will be drawn in red color too).
Tharn
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

What about the crash using relink? And something really weird is happening. Whenever I open Zmodeler, my taskbar gets locked and I cannot change windows unless I go to desktop and open them from there.
Tharn
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

And my taskbar only resets itself when I reboot my laptop
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

I exported a material as .bin and I am trying to import it but it won't let me. Does my trial license not allow me to do that?
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Oleg »

Exporting material is quite a rare option to use. What are you trying to do this way?

Material export is available in SCS Prism3D filter and in WatchDogs filter. This requires an associated material to be properly configured for the associated game. It is quite likely the exported material will drop some options and will not retain some settings.

If you are trying to bring material from one scene to another, exporting material is not the best choice. Instead, I advise to import original scene, delete everything in scene, then delete all unused materials you don't need. Then create primitives like boxes and give them names that will let you identify materials easily. E.g. create a box, rename it to "paint" and assign "truckpaint" material onto this box (I assume you are trying to get SCS materials from one scene to another). Do the same with another primitive/box and another material you would like to be saved. Then save the scene as .z3d file.

Once you open the scene you are editing, you can use File\Merge option to bring data from another .z3d file into your scene.

P.S. If you have open/save/import/export working fine, then ZModeler is running with license and all features are available. If you can't load some material file, it is quite likely this material was not exported at all and you have a 0Kb (empty) file created.
Tharn
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

I am trying to add a license plate material from one scene to another and since I couldn't load the .bin file, I already thought of what you are saying. Just exported the part that contains said material, deleted everything else and only kept the license plate. But now I am trying to assign the material to the body part I need it for but I have not managed to make it work without it replacing an already existing material that I also need in there. I tried to export the material in all available files and for one of them, I got an error message saying my license doesn't allow me to do that, so that's why I asked. Then the .bin file might have been empty cuz I couldn't import it or my license didn't allow me to import .bin files.

So will you do anything about zmodeler crashing when using relink? It happens with isolated disabled too. And the taskbar getting locked after opening zmodeler is weird and very annoying.
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Oleg »

I'm not getting what exactly are you trying to do. You can have only one licenseplate material on a vehicle, since game needs to adjust this material to apply proper letters/digits signs on it. So, you will likely need to replace the original licenseplate material in your scene. Exporting/Importing just a material is not a good idea, as any import/export of material will loose some settings (that might be important for later use on your scene). That is why I advise to use File\Merge instead, as this allows to retain all settings in .z3d file.

"License denies this action" actually means ZModeler started with no license loaded. If you do have an installed license, then it is likely you have started two instances of ZModeler from the same folder. Or there is another zmodeler3.exe process jammed in background after a crash.

The crash after relink move-up/-down in isolated mode was fixed in update. You might have not updated your ZModeler if you still able to relink in isolated mode. Press the green down-arrow icon in the bottom of ZModeler window (appears in few seconds after startup), it will let ZModeler download updates.

There were reports on ZModeler not being interacting with the rest of desktop windows after startup (like taskbar locking?) but I was unable to reproduce it on my computer yet, so I don't know the reason of this to the moment. You can try to use Alt+Tab to switch to another window or Winkey+D to minimize all windows and show desktop. This might revert accessibility of other windows. I have seen some strange behavior of ZModeler when switching from one application to ZModeler or vice versa, it was with Materials editor or Materials Properties window been shown (or minimized, I can't remind exactly), but it was not locking/blocking of other applications.
Tharn
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

I have a single material for a licenseplate that I added from another scene with the merging method but said material needs to be linked to several bodykit parts and I have no way of assigning the material without replacing another one I need.

Well, I managed to export a bin file that wasn't 0 kbts but when I tried to import it, the software explicitly told me my license doesn't allow me to do that, I can do other stuff though, just not import bin files.

Yes, you told me you fixed the crash in isolated mode but I am saying it still happens with it disabled, can''t relink anything because it crashes so I just have to use 'move up' for a while until I get the objects/parts to where I need them to be in hierarchy. And 'move down' isn't working.

Ah that sucks because for the past days I've constantly kept zmodeler open and it blocks my taskbar when I need to look at other open windows and trying to do something this way is difficult.

Also, another thing, with the alt+click method you told me about to be able to look at object properties; it works but then only the first time after opening the material browser. If I select different objects to look at their materials, it still displays the old ones from the other objects. I have to save, close and restart the software to be able to look at other object's materials in the materials browser again.
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Oleg »

Tharn wrote: Thu Nov 10, 2022 7:16 am I have a single material for a licenseplate that I added from another scene with the merging method but said material needs to be linked to several bodykit parts and I have no way of assigning the material without replacing another one I need.
...without replacing "another one" what? material is assigned onto polygons. you can select polygons you would like material to be assigned to. If some bodykit part has a license plate on it, select polygons for this license plate only and assign new (merged) material onto these polygons only. I feel like we are talking about different things here, as I don't get what you can do or what could be wrong in assigning material.
Well, I managed to export a bin file that wasn't 0 kbts but when I tried to import it, the software explicitly told me my license doesn't allow me to do that, I can do other stuff though, just not import bin files.
If you edit vehicle for GTA5, then exporting material to .bin is absolutely not the thing you should ever do. The .bin material files is for WatchDogs game, it has a build-in conversion of material data and parameters for WatchDogs game engine that is absolutely meaningless for the gta game. If you load this .bin material file back into Materials Editor, it will come up with WatchDogs material setup that is likely to be incompatible with GTA5 exporter. The exporter could fix some common errors, but it's still could give absolutely different result than you might expect. In particular, the licenseplate material in GTA5 is a complex combination of dual-layer diffuse and dual-layer bump textures, you certainly should not set it up over .bin material file export/import process.
Yes, you told me you fixed the crash in isolated mode but I am saying it still happens with it disabled, can''t relink anything because it crashes so I just have to use 'move up' for a while until I get the objects/parts to where I need them to be in hierarchy. And 'move down' isn't working.
I found a crash-bug when trying to relink-up a node that has no parent already. this is fixed, get an update. the relink-up command is to relink child node one level up, next to it's parent. If you want to sort nodes you can use up/down commands. I personally advise to sort and relink nodes using drag&drop operations. Even more, if you hover the dragged element between some entries, the horizontal line will appear showing where the element could be "inserted", so drag&drop operation could be used to sort the order of objects (not to arrange parent/child relations only).
Ah that sucks because for the past days I've constantly kept zmodeler open and it blocks my taskbar when I need to look at other open windows and trying to do something this way is difficult.
May be the issue is related to hibernating or running some application in full-screen? for example, if you run a game in full-screen mode, a revert back to ZModeler could cause problems. I advise to change game mode to windowed if you have ZModeler running in background as you could easily get a 3D-resource (3D hardware access) conflict and ZModeler stop responding.
Also, another thing, with the alt+click method you told me about to be able to look at object properties; it works but then only the first time after opening the material browser. If I select different objects to look at their materials, it still displays the old ones from the other objects. I have to save, close and restart the software to be able to look at other object's materials in the materials browser again.
I was unable to reproduce this. The "Scene selection" in materials browser and Properties window above hierarchy of objects shows correct material properties for selected object when you select/deselect, select another one, select multiple at a time... everything works fine to me.

May you record a video that shows the problem with some seconds prior the problem too? to show what exactly you do and what happens in ZModeler. May be I'm missing some point in workflow you do to cause incorrect behavior of ZModeler here?
Tharn
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

Oleg wrote: Thu Nov 10, 2022 11:43 am
...without replacing "another one" what? material is assigned onto polygons. you can select polygons you would like material to be assigned to. If some bodykit part has a license plate on it, select polygons for this license plate only and assign new (merged) material onto these polygons only. I feel like we are talking about different things here, as I don't get what you can do or what could be wrong in assigning material.
Yes, I understood this when you told me that in the other thread and I tried it but I couldn't make it work as the bodykits to which I want to assign the licenseplate material have up to 5 layers and selecting the right polygons isn't that easy. And there are also other materials in there, if I select only one (license plate), the status is not longer 'multiple materials', the others get lost.
If you edit vehicle for GTA5, then exporting material to .bin is absolutely not the thing you should ever do. The .bin material files is for WatchDogs game, it has a build-in conversion of material data and parameters for WatchDogs game engine that is absolutely meaningless for the gta game. If you load this .bin material file back into Materials Editor, it will come up with WatchDogs material setup that is likely to be incompatible with GTA5 exporter. The exporter could fix some common errors, but it's still could give absolutely different result than you might expect. In particular, the licenseplate material in GTA5 is a complex combination of dual-layer diffuse and dual-layer bump textures, you certainly should not set it up over .bin material file export/import process.
The model is an imported car from NFS Carbon converted to NFS Most Wanted and yes, I abandoned the import option for the bin file as merge seems to work, although I am having issues with some carskin materials that are different for different parts yet named the same and when I merge with another scene, remnants from the other scene get mixed and I cannot undo it in any way. Have to import the entire model again and try not let them merge like that.
I found a crash-bug when trying to relink-up a node that has no parent already. this is fixed, get an update. the relink-up command is to relink child node one level up, next to it's parent. If you want to sort nodes you can use up/down commands. I personally advise to sort and relink nodes using drag&drop operations. Even more, if you hover the dragged element between some entries, the horizontal line will appear showing where the element could be "inserted", so drag&drop operation could be used to sort the order of objects (not to arrange parent/child relations only).
I have automatic updates enabled. Stupid question of the day: What constitutes a child node? The ones that can be expanded or collapsed? I need to move up a large amount of nodes that go to the bottom when merging, and it is a long distance, so the 'move up' command is not optimal. I thought it was quicker with relink. drag & drop I've been using but it also doesn't work that well for long distances. I organise everything alphabetically, easier to identify that way.
May be the issue is related to hibernating or running some application in full-screen? for example, if you run a game in full-screen mode, a revert back to ZModeler could cause problems. I advise to change game mode to windowed if you have ZModeler running in background as you could easily get a 3D-resource (3D hardware access) conflict and ZModeler stop responding.
I'm not playing games when zmodeler is open but I do have several other softwares/programmes running in the background. and most games I play are windowed.
I was unable to reproduce this. The "Scene selection" in materials browser and Properties window above hierarchy of objects shows correct material properties for selected object when you select/deselect, select another one, select multiple at a time... everything works fine to me.

May you record a video that shows the problem with some seconds prior the problem too? to show what exactly you do and what happens in ZModeler. May be I'm missing some point in workflow you do to cause incorrect behavior of ZModeler here?
Ok, I will record a video and post it later.
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Oleg »

the parent/child is a tree-alike hierarchy of objects. the one you expand is a parent, everything that appears in a hierarchy once parent is expanded - these are children of it. So, "relink up" is to move child from it's parent "one level up".

you can organize objects into groups in hierarchy. create dummy helper node, then select several objects in hierarchy and drag&drop them into this dummy helper. thus, the list will be shorter and you will be able to control visibility of entire groups of objects at a time by showing/hiding their group "parent" dummy node. children are hidden when the parent is hidden and collapsed. expanding the "hidden" parent will make its children visible and editable.

you can still use drag&drop for a group of objects even if your hierarchy list is very long. just start dragging selected objects, then use mouse wheel (still holding the left mouse button) to scroll the list under cursor. then locate where you need the selected group of objects to be dropped or "inserted" and release the left mouse button.

You can open Settings window, navigate to "General" section, expand "Files" and "Merge collisions". You will see "Materials" entry there. Here you can specify what ZModeler does when merged file has a collision of material name over the one already available in your scene: it can either use the scene material on merged objects, load and replace material in scene with the matching one from a merged file, or (default) automatically rename merged materials to avoid name collisions over existing materials.
Tharn
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Re: Scene properties and relink up option

Post by Tharn »

I encounted another issue that prevents me from further finishing the model. I started everything from scratch and I made sure the materials from the hoods I am merging with another set of hoods don't get mixed due to them being named the same and I did everything right but the carskin material from the old car I imported the hoods I want to apply to the new one just doesn't go away. Instead the older one is fixed into the scene. I deleted the old material and I tried replacing it, used both 'assign' and 'swap in scene' options, nothing works. I still see the old carskin. How can I solve this?
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