antc

jsmack

antc
Unless you can restructure an asset by material, a bulk assignment workflow really needs to be select + hotkey imo so that you only leave the viewer to change the 'current' material.

Use the select widget on the material assignment prim path, then select to you hearts content. Hit enter and all the select prims will have their paths entered into the box.

Hmm so for me that almost works, but again it doesn't appear to be additive. Each time I use it it effetely clears the current assignments which doesn't seem particularly useful.

It should work the same way as other 'select' widgets--they enter select mode with the current selection pre-selected and adding to it is a matter of shift clicking. If that's not working then maybe something is wrong with it.

antc
Thanks @jerry7 the material drag and drop from the SGT pane works for me as well, but it's too much mouse movement for doing bulk assignments. Unless you can restructure an asset by material, a bulk assignment workflow really needs to be select + hotkey imo so that you only leave the viewer to change the 'current' material.

Yes, Solaris really lacks functions such as Assign Material to Selections and Select Prims with current Material.

antc

jsmack

antc
Unless you can restructure an asset by material, a bulk assignment workflow really needs to be select + hotkey imo so that you only leave the viewer to change the 'current' material.

Use the select widget on the material assignment prim path, then select to you hearts content. Hit enter and all the select prims will have their paths entered into the box.

Hmm so for me that almost works, but again it doesn't appear to be additive. Each time I use it it effetely clears the current assignments which doesn't seem particularly useful.

Alt click the Arrow icon, and then shift click prims will appear to be additive.

jerry7

antc
Thanks @jerry7 the material drag and drop from the SGT pane works for me as well, but it's too much mouse movement for doing bulk assignments. Unless you can restructure an asset by material, a bulk assignment workflow really needs to be select + hotkey imo so that you only leave the viewer to change the 'current' material.

Yes, Solaris really lacks functions such as...Select Prims with current Material.

You can right-click a material in the Scene Graph Tree and Select All Bound Geometry. The reverse also works - right-click a primitive and Select All Bound Materials.

jerry7
Dragging material from tree to object is ok in my testing. Except
some refresh problems that can be solved by mouse clicking.

I can even drag inside the scene graph which would make me really happy if the scene graph would show the actual material under the prim entry and let me drop on multiple prims at once. That would really simplify work a lot. It's just crucial to have an overview over your scene content and access to your scene structure without having to navigate a complex node tree.


There are obviously quite a few mechanics that could just need a bit of tweaking to make them more intuitive and the workflow more fluid.
I am counting on SideFX to push that forward like they do with modeling tools.

eikonoklastes

jerry7

antc
Thanks @jerry7 the material drag and drop from the SGT pane works for me as well, but it's too much mouse movement for doing bulk assignments. Unless you can restructure an asset by material, a bulk assignment workflow really needs to be select + hotkey imo so that you only leave the viewer to change the 'current' material.

Yes, Solaris really lacks functions such as...Select Prims with current Material.

You can right-click a material in the Scene Graph Tree and Select All Bound Geometry. The reverse also works - right-click a primitive and Select All Bound Materials.

I'm beginning to see what some usrs mean by solaris becoming a scene management tool
It just still feels like having to switch to another app.

OneBigTree
It's just crucial to have an overview over your scene content and access to your scene structure without having to navigate a complex node tree.

@OneBigTree if it helps there's a column that displays the currently bound material of a prim in the SGT pane:



Parenting the material under the geometry prim so it displayed as a child might be a little strange because materials are usually bound to lots of prims. If you really wanted that structure you could simply reference the same material many times. However I don't really see what it buys you and it would be probably be quite inefficient for Hydra to process because material instancing isn't currently supported afaik. Therefore the render delegate would wind up processing a load more materials than necessary.

antc

OneBigTree
It's just crucial to have an overview over your scene content and access to your scene structure without having to navigate a complex node tree.

@OneBigTree if it helps there's a column that displays the currently bound material of a prim in the SGT pane:

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Parenting the material under the geometry prim so it displayed as a child might be a little strange because materials are usually bound to lots of prims. If you really wanted that structure you could simply reference the same material many times. However I don't really see what it buys you and it would be probably be quite inefficient for Hydra to process because material instancing isn't currently supported afaik. Therefore the render delegate would wind up processing a load more materials than necessary.

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For me the goal would be to have as much information in as much a condensed space as possible. Meaning finding all information about one object in one spot.
The thing in Houdini is, and that is the whole reason for me starting this thread, everything goes somehow and you can find everything somewhere.

But the amount of time one has to spend to bring it all together is significantly higher than in any other software even if the outcome can be potentially much more sophisticated. And it can be confusing and requires a lot of finding-out-how-things-work-time as well, while one is trying to get a job done at the same time.

The advantage of having the material right under the prim is the interaction. I can just open the prims's branch, see all the data I need to see and if I want just drag and drop the mat from there onto another(this worked pretty well in XSI) as opposed to object check the spreadsheet go to another place in the graph, find the mat there and then drag and drop.
Thing like that do not seem like a big difference but in the end it is the sum of all actions you have to take to achieve multiple things that determine the efficiency of the software.
In the case of solaris you have to take into account that you have to have done a lot of steps to get your object into solaris and organized there. All that adds up because everything you do in solaris is on top of everything you'd do normally anyway.

To be honest, the I do not care about how this is solved in the end. I'm all open for everything that is more efficient and allows for a more fluid workflow.
This means in general: less clicks, less multiple steps, shorter "paths". For example one (1) hotkey to change the viewport or focus on an object instead of a combination that requires you to look down to the keyboard. Or not having to change to a different part of the software to find a property of an object. Things like that.
I do see the potential to achieve that in solaris if SideFX manages to integrate everything more transparently.

Let me just add that insight of everyone here helped me a lot along the way already. So thanks again.

I haven't skimmed the rest of the thread, but have you tried the component builder? It automatically assigns materials under a asset for you as you're describing, and takes care of a lot of other busy work, its really handy.

There are 2 trains of thought here

1. USD centric view of SG tree representing explicit hierarchy

2. UX centric view of tree view(/explorer/navigator/however else it's called in different softwares)
Simply scene introspection tool that can display any information it pleases
So it can display material icon under object or prim in the tree view representing the assignment, or also other properties regardless of where they are actually located, this is how XSI navigator worked or C4D tags, etc

SGTtree in't 2 but 2 is definitely missing for introspecting USD stage in more user friendly way, there is so much UX that can be done around introspecting USD stage like that is simply missing but hopefully will come in the future

Ah ok I see. I never used XSI or C4D so I'm not really sure. At work we have UI that's more like the SGT where there are columns for displaying important info, like the SGT already has for displaying the bound material. To me that seems like a good extra axis for additional UX compared to overloading the hierarchy with different interpretations. But as long as it was visually clear in the SGT that an item was a UX affordance and not a real USD prim perhaps it would be ok. Or maybe it would work better as a completely new pane.

@OneBigTree Have you managed to batch assigned your material to your first Cad model? Because the guy next door on blender just finished 3 shots

USD and Solaris should come with a combo prepaid pack of Clinex,paracetamol & camomille
Is the component builder the actual best bet for fast cycle iteration prototype asset and scene test in a early state where speed is key?



PS: @mestela by the way, in your USD page, if people use darkreader addon on chrome on firefox, its makes the top page unreadable. Didn't noticed this somewhere else...