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116 lines
4.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
116 lines
4.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
User interface
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==============
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Overview
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--------
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Material Maker mainly consists of 3 panes:
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* The top left pane is the library, that contains all available nodes that can be used
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to create materials. Library items are shown in a tree view
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* The bottom left pane is the preview, that shows at the same time the currecnt material
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applied to a sample mesh in a sample environment, and the texture generated by the
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currently selected node
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* The right pane contains the graph editors where materials are described for current
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projects
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First steps with the user interface
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-----------------------------------
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When opening Material Maker, a new empty project is created and shown in the right pane.
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An empty project simply consists of a material node where textures for all elements of
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the material should be connected.
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To create a new node, simply choose one (for example "bricks") from the library (the
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top left pane) and drag it into the graph editor. Depending on the selected library
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item, a preview or a simple description will be displayed while dragging.
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.. image:: images/create_node.gif
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Selecting this new node (by clicking on it) shows it in the preview pane. The very small
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2d preview of the preview pane can be maximized by double cliking on it. This will hide
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the 3d preview but is useful when working on the different textures of the material.
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To connect a node output to an input of another node, simply drag one to the other.
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For example we can drag the first output of the Bricks node to the albedo input of
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the Materials node. This will automatically assign the simple Bricks texture to the
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albedo element of the material, and the 3d preview will immediately be updated (if
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you maximized the 2d preview it can be minimized by double-clicking on it again).
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.. image:: images/connect_nodes.gif
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Nodes can easily be configured by modifying their parameters, and previews are updated
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automatically.
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Since each input can be connected to a single output, reconnecting an input will
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automatically remove the previous connection.
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Main menu
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---------
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The main menu is organized in 4 sections:
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* the *File* menu contains actions to create, load, save and export materials
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* the *Edit* menu has common edit actions cut, copy and paste
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* the *Tools* menu has actions to add items to the user library
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* the *Help* menu can be used to find more information and submit feedback about the software
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File menu
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^^^^^^^^^
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* *New material* creates a new material and opens a tab in the right pane to edit it
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* *Load material* opens a file dialog to select a procedural material (.ptex) file. If
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a material file is selected, it will be open in a new tab in the right pane. If the current
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tab contains an empty material (about material that only consists of a Material node), the
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material will be loaded into this tab.
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* *Save material* saves the current material. If it was not previously saved, a file dialog
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will be displayed to select a location and file name.
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* *Save material as* prompts for a location and file name and saves the current material.
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* *Save all materials* saves all currently open materials. Materials that were not already
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saved ae ignored.
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* *Export material* generates PNG image files for all elements of the material. File names are
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defined using the path of the material and their role (albedo, metallic...) in the material.
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* *Close material* closes the current material.
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* *Quit* closes the software.
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Edit menu
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^^^^^^^^^
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* *Cut* Copies the selected nodes to the clipboard and removes them from the current material.
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* *Copy* Copies the selected nodes to the clipboard
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* *Paste* Copies the clipboard into the current material. Note that the nodes will be added to
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the center of the view, so it is advised to scroll to the correct location before pasting.
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Pasting also unselects all previously selected nodes and selects all newly created nodes,
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so they can easily be moved around.
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Tools menu
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^^^^^^^^^^
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* *Add selected node to user library* first prompts for an item name. If a name is entered and
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confirmed, the selected nodes in the current material will be added to the user library under
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that name. Don't forget to use the *Save user library* item, otherwise the newly created library
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not be available anymore when the software is restarted.
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* *Save user library* saves the user library.
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Help menu
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^^^^^^^^^
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* *Report a bug* opens a web browser on the Issues page of Material Maker's GitHub project. Please
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do not hesitate to use it to suggest improvements for Material Maker.
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* *About* Shows the about dialog.
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