Twinmotion Plugin + Sync

[Tom Klaber]

VW should start playing nice with Twinmotion.

 

Archicad and Revit have a nice model sync and seemingly more intelligent object control in Twinmotion - VW should work with them to get one too.  This would open up all sorts of possibilities.

 

If that is too much - maybe an optimized Twinmotion OBJ export - as the one right now has some serious flaws.

 

This is what I want!

 

UNREAL FOR LIFE

[milezee]

there's no direct link to Vectorworks 😩 , but on another note there is a direct link with Rhino 😁

c'mon VW's people , get a deal done with these guys 👍

[zoomer]

3 hours ago, rb-arch said:

No Vectorworks live link.  Pretty disappointing and I'd gladly pay $250 per station to get it.  

 

Hah, I don't care - as it has screen space GI now !

 

I am happy 🙂

[zoomer]

Sorry, double post ...

Edited March 11, 2020 by zoomer

[rb-arch]

6 minutes ago, zoomer said:

 

Hah, I don't care - as it has screen space GI now !

 

I am happy 🙂

Ok, good?  What is your work flow from VW to TM?  We're using cinema 4d export by texture.

[milezee]

just looking at the new promo vid on YouTube, at 1:00 min in there looks like an app on a tablet called 'Presenter' where you can show clients different views and scenes etc, is this available to download in the App Store ?? I can't seem to find it or any information about it 🤔🤔 (link below) 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qtVcZgbrl4

[zoomer]

1 hour ago, rb-arch said:

Ok, good?  What is your work flow from VW to TM?  We're using cinema 4d export by texture.

 

It works well for me by FBX or C4D.

I mostly used C4D as the files where already there 🙂

[zoomer]

huh,

not very excited about the new SSGI though.

Compared to Twinmotion GI , Enscape looks like VRAY.

 

Tried to play with the settings already.

MaybeI should look deeper into Materials too.

Or I am just holding it wrong 🙂

[Hans-Olav]

I see big improvements! 
We have recently delivered a competition proposal and I open the vw export (Fbx) with the new version and especially interior renderings are much easier to get good results. Also exteriors looks better

[chaz]

I'm still struggling with the new version. The Glow function now just completely blows out any texture map or color to just be 100% white, even at less than 1%. I used to use this  to lighten up monitor screens but now I can't. But I see colored lights in the reveal video that they seem to indicate using glow so I'm not sure why mine immediately blow out. And I'm still struggling with the lighting on interiors that have no exterior lighting, it seems the sun leaks in even without windows and ambient lighting it now dependent on sunlight so I can't just turn the sun all the way down like I used to. I tried making it midnight and cloudy, which is a lot more trouble, but still having problems. I went back to the old version and it felt a lot more zippy on my MacBook Pro.

 

One new feature that they have barely mentioned is displaying video, though I think that may have been possible in the old version but not as obvious.

[zoomer]

17 minutes ago, Hans-Olav said:

I see big improvements! 
We have recently delivered a competition proposal and I open the vw export (Fbx) with the new version and especially interior renderings are much easier to get good results. Also exteriors looks better

 

Yes, I also see big improvements on all sides.

Just that GI is priority for me.

I am happy with everything else already and I am confident that

GI, if it really is not at that point, would improve soon.

As Raytracing in Unreal (so far Windows/NVidia only) looks really

promising.

[grant_PD]

I was able to get an emissive light by making my material a "blinking neon," setting the color to what I wanted and stopping the animation of the blink.  At my first 10 minutes of playing with it, I see some improvements.  

[rb-arch]

 

 

 

So I'm due to renew my workstation VSS subscription today.  It is only worth it to me if it includes the Twinmotion live link, so it better be available for VW 2021!  Above is a rendering we made in TM with no real post production.  We used Cinema 4D as the transfer software.  It worked okay, but got slower every time we did a .c4d refresh.  

Edited March 20, 2020 by rb-arch

[milezee]

@rb-arch I'm hoping that the live link will be standard (if and when it appears) , VSS or no VSS 😊

I use Rhino too and the new link with TM is for all (saying that Rhino is completely free of any of this subscription nonsense) 👍

[Mark Aceto]

On 3/20/2020 at 9:13 AM, rb-arch said:

We used Cinema 4D as the transfer software.

 

Does that mean you:

• Exported from VW as C4D, and then imported into TM?
• Exported from VW as C4D, imported into Cinema (the app), and then somehow "transferred" to TM?

[Ross Harris]

40 minutes ago, Mark Aceto said:

Exported from VW as C4D, and then imported into TM

This is the general approach. If you change anything in the VW model all you need to do is hit the refresh icon above the import file or if you relocate/rename the file click relocate. I've mainly used TM on my windows desktop (12c Threadripper/GTX1080ti) - which powers through it - my 2019 Macbook starts to creak a bit - even with an eGPU.

Can't wait for  this to be live...😣 🤞

[grant_PD]

I have tried this and it works well.  The advantage you gain in exporting the file to c4d and then opening it in c4d is that you can add other channels to the materials that VW does not support, like a normal channel.   VW will export all bitmapped channels like color, bump, into a tex file that Twinmotion can read from.  

[Mark Aceto]

On 3/22/2020 at 2:16 PM, grant_PD said:

I have tried this and it works well.  The advantage you gain in exporting the file to c4d and then opening it in c4d is that you can add other channels to the materials that VW does not support, like a normal channel.   VW will export all bitmapped channels like color, bump, into a tex file that Twinmotion can read from.  

 

Sounds like The Human Cinemapede.

 

Edited March 24, 2020 by Mark Aceto

[zoomer]

I second all said to C4D above ...

 

Either just save out a C4D from VW to load into Twinmotion ....

or just refine in C4D for a better base into Twinmotion.

 

(I have not seen much disadvantages by exporting just a FBX though)

 

I don't really need a synchronisation of my VW view pane to Twinmotion

like shown for Lumion. Or Twinmotion Controls inside of VW,

like Enscape Plugins do.

If exchange inside of Twinmotion, by reloading a C4D File, works lossless

without losing my Material assignments and overwrites, like C4D Exchange

does, I don't need any official VW support in Twinmotion.

 

But it is very comfortable that Twinmotion directly reads C4D and even Modo

Files without any need for lossy File Exports.

Edited March 22, 2020 by zoomer

[grant_PD]

I'm curious @zoomer do you keep a file of materials on the C4D side that you then use the Material Exchanger to switch between the two materials?  I've always wanted to do this, it just seems like an arduous task to have the material naming be the same and the upkeep and all that.  If you do, can you explain your process?  

 

[rb-arch]

22 hours ago, Mark Aceto said:

 

Does that mean you:

• Exported from VW as C4D, and then imported into TM?
• Exported from VW as C4D, imported into Cinema (the app), and then somehow "transferred" to TM?

First one, we don't have C4D - it is way to heavy for what we need.  The more we refresh the C4D file, the slower it seems to get.  We're trying to confirm that, and a live link is still preferred in our minds to avoid the middle ground software.  TM still seems to be a bit limited in texture mapping, but again we're still learning it.  We don't really rely on the VW texture and apply our own, or make our own, in TM.

 

It would be nice to see the VW Mac users get some attention for a change with this link.  

Edited March 23, 2020 by rb-arch

[zoomer]

9 hours ago, grant_PD said:

I'm curious @zoomer do you keep a file of materials on the C4D side that you then use the Material Exchanger to switch between the two materials?  I've always wanted to do this, it just seems like an arduous task to have the material naming be the same and the upkeep and all that.  If you do, can you explain your process?  

 

 

No.

(If I get that right)

Material Manager in C4D normally isn't necessary for VW Exchange. It is kind of brute force.

It is more for standard imports of other Software without exchange compatibility.

When you need to reload the file via FBX or so.

(But it works ! Like when you need to again replace Materials with VW-incompatible

RAY Materials after an Exchange)

 

If you open a *.c4d from VW, replace Materials in C4D and do a refresh with Exchange

later, normally C4D will keep the replaced Materials.

Just for new Geometry that wasn't there before, it can happen that the old VW Material

comes in again. E.g. a Wood that you replaced already. So you will have a second Wood

Material just assigned to the new Geometry.

To replace that again, just drag the C4D Wood over the old VW Wood in the Material Previews

hold "ALT" Key and drop it on the old Wood.

That way C4D Wood will overwrite all assignments of the old VW Wood with the newer one.

 

BTW,

I put and sort all my C4D Materials on (Material Group) Layers. Materials / Metals, Plastic, Wood, ....

After an Exchange I check my Materials Preview for Materials without Layer assignment.

To see if there are any old ones coming in again from VW. If there are, I SHIFT activate the

corresponding C4D Material Layer (one at a time for better overview) to also show newer C4D

Materials and ALT-overwrite them with C4D Materials.

 

BTW 2,

I once put some work in importing my most used important C4D Materials into my VW

via C4D File Material import. So I use most times full C4D materials from inside VW.

These may not show all C4D features in VW but they will again when coming back into C4D.

You can even overwrite their appearance for inside VW, if they don't work well in VW or

if you want them look different, but they will still keep all their C4D features for C4D.

So I usually don't have to care much about old VW Materials coming into C4D again.

 

 

I am not sure about Twinmotion's common Exchange capabilities when reloading Files

from Software without one of their Plugin or direct connection.

AFAIK there will also happen some magic about keeping Material assignments or

replacements at a certain level. But I haven't tested that.

Of course a direct connection like VW to Lumion sounds a bit more controlled and reliable

and is welcome.

 

BTW3,

I also like the Enscape approach.

If you name your Materials by standard naming scheme in CAD,

Enscape will automatically Exchange the Materials by better Enscape Materials.

You just need to include names like Aluminium, Grass or Water in your CAD Material

names, and Enscape will find and replace them.

Edited March 23, 2020 by zoomer

[chaz]

Anyone else having major problems with 2020?

 

Besides the ones I listed earlier, (sunlight appears in a room enclosed on all 6 sides with no windows as before but previously I could turn the sun all the way down and crank up ambient light but now ambient is tied to sun exposure; and glow immediately blows out to pure white). I've got three VW files I've exported as C4D and successfully imported into TM19 but if I try to import into TM2020, it locks up the program.

 

Using a MacBook Pro 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 10.14.6

 

Last week I had a big project and went back to TM19. I hacked in video to play on the screens and it worked great and I produced some impressive fly throughs. But I'm getting really close to giving up on TwinMotion if I can't get 2020 to work for me; I don't want to continue if it is a dead end. My company is soon looking to standardize on rendering software and I can't even suggest TM at this point, despite the great results I got on the project last week. A couple of our other designers use C4D.

 

Here's the room with no openings but sunlight still shine in:

 

 

[chaz]

I found a discussion on the Epic Games website with others having problems with the lights and several users going back to TM19. It seems interior lights don't work unless it is nighttime. I think Epic Games is just focused on architectural renderings (granted which is the primary market) and have changed the program so it doesn't work well for interior work unless it is mostly lit by daylight.

 

Meanwhile, Enscape has a PC only beta plugin for VW. Looks like they don't have the animated people. I may have to look at Enscape and Lumion; I've already been thinking about asking for a PC workstation as sadly, Apple isn't keeping up. 

[grant_PD]

I'm in a file right now here's what I can do.  I have a completely closed room, w/ the outside set to night time.  I can turn off ambient light and get no light at all.  I can turn on ambient and get a little light (cranking this up doesn't do much).  I can activate a texture with glow and have it emit light to light up the room.  It's all a little "effecty" and not realistic based at all, but I don't expect much more from these types of programs.  After watching some tuturials I did find that the time of day effected both ambient and luminous textures.  

 

 

[Tom Klaber]

Enscape!

Does Enscape work on Macs?