Is it possible to save...

guitarec

[Is it possible to save] altered geometry/material/surface assignments?  Here's the scenario.  I'm looking to produce a basic material pack for an item by expanding the available color zones of the item by both utilizing diffuse overlay maps (which I've got a handle on), and creating a new surface and assigning geometry to it.  I've been able to do this locally on my system, and have been really pleased with my results.  Now - here's the question:

Is it possible to save an altered geometry/surface assignment preset that, when applied to the vendor's original item, would ONLY ADD the new surface / altered geometry-surface assignments?  I'm hoping such a preset application is possible, so as not to require distribution of the vendor's geometry, or otherwise require the vendor to republish their product with the changes for my material pack to work (and possibly break other material packs already published for this product).

Hope what I'm asking makes sense - would greatly appreciate any insights.

guitarec

...or is this a situation where I'd be better off figuring out how to write a runable script that would subdivide the material group to create the new one?

Richard Haseltine

Modofied information cannot be applied, a new mdoel is needed (and if the asset name - not label - is the same then there can be only one version in the scene at any time). Scene/Scene Subset/Character Preset used to load a new model will work (subject to naming conflicts) in that respect, but there is still the not-infringing issue. I don't think it is possible to do what you want with a preset - a custom script might work, but would still need to be written to take account of possible naming clashes.

guitarec

Yea, I was afraid of that. Never hurts to ask advise, though. I appreciate your insight - will need to scale back my ambitions, I suppose. 

Mattymanx

just an idea.....

I am wodering if you could do it as a GeoGraft, where the alteration you made is used to replace a portion of the original model.  you would want to include the areas that have the altered surface info too.

I have not done this myself, so I dont know how you would start, sorry.

crosswind

You were making texture add-ons for a certain product on which you're altering material zones... but you didn't have to alter them .. even if you used Diffuse Overlay.  Making the textures according to the UV layout will just do... just like what those vendors do when making texture add-ons for a certain product. They never alter UV or material zones of the original product but can still make very nice add-ons even can make more fantastic effects.

Edit:
However, if you DO want to alter Surfaces, there's an easy work around: You just need to create Selection Sets on the item, then share the Scene file or Scene Subset plus the Material Presets with other folks. In this way, you won't distribute any original geometry data of the item....and of course other folks need to own the product beforehand~~

Then, give other folks some necessary guideline of how to convert Selection Sets (with Geometry Editor) into Surfaces and how to create Surface Selection Set (in Surfaces pane)... so that the vendor's original Material Presets and yours can be both used on the altered item. Done ~

guitarec

That is an interesting idea - I'll look into that. Possibly have an "advanced" subfolder in my package that would detail the steps, and provide the Selection Set to apply to create the new Surface... I will need to do some experiments and testing... Thanks!

crosswind

You're welcome ~  I used to alter quite a few things similar to your case but not for sharing. I've never seen similar things from a prodcut package but it's doable.  A simple example:

1) These shoes have not heel tips. Create a Selection Set for them with Geometry Editor. (ss1)
2) Click + sign from the Selection Set then Create Surface from Selected. Rename the Surface from which the HeelTips were splitted to "Sole" (ss 2 - 3)
3) Right-click on Surfaces tab > Edit > Surface Selection Set. (ss4)
4) Create a Surface Selection Set with the original Surface Name : "Main". (ss5)

Now the original and altered Material Presets can both work on them. (ss6)