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What can be done with Surface tags?

SnowSultanSnowSultan Posts: 3,773
in The Commons

Just curious, but is there a way to select surfaces by tags or any other way to utilize them other than the fairly useless search box that would only list tags you've selected already? I can't seem to find any other options using the Surface Selection tool or the additional options box in the corner of the panel.

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • macleanmaclean Posts: 2,438

    I'm not sure that there's much more to it, other than the 'All Objects' option. The tag selected is the one your mouse is over, but it would be better if we could have a list of all tags and choose from that.

    I always fill in the tags for every material, but to be honest, it's a pretty thankless task, and I sometimes wonder if anyone ever notices, or uses them.

  • SnowSultanSnowSultan Posts: 3,773

    Thanks very much. I noticed MEC4D also uses them in her shader sets but as you well know, that's a lot of work to put into something that doesn't appear to have any practical uses so far.

  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633
    maclean said:

    I'm not sure that there's much more to it, other than the 'All Objects' option. The tag selected is the one your mouse is over, but it would be better if we could have a list of all tags and choose from that.

    I always fill in the tags for every material, but to be honest, it's a pretty thankless task, and I sometimes wonder if anyone ever notices, or uses them.

    I use them! So thanks ot all creators who do this. Mostly useful if you have to select stuff.

  • macleanmaclean Posts: 2,438

    Thanks! Glad to hear it's not a waste of time!

    Actually, I started out in Iray studying MEC's shaders, and that was what prompted me to fill in the tag field.

    It's not that big a job. It's just that I generally have 30-40 prop in a pack, all with multiple materials, so the number can be high. But I just fill 'em in as I go along. It's no worse than doing all the thumbnails and tip images.

  • SnowSultanSnowSultan Posts: 3,773

    Paintbox, can you tell me how you use them in selecting stuff? I haven't found them all that useful for selection, but maybe I'm missing something.

  • PaintboxPaintbox Posts: 1,633
    SnowSultan said:

    Paintbox, can you tell me how you use them in selecting stuff? I haven't found them all that useful for selection, but maybe I'm missing something.

    Just use the tag filter to quickly find the material I want to select (edit)

  • SnowSultanSnowSultan Posts: 3,773

    Ah, the 'select surfaces with the tags...' option wasn't showing up when I was right-clicking on surfaces until just now. Now I see where it could be useful. Thanks very much.

  • SpottedKittySpottedKitty Posts: 7,232
    SnowSultan said:

    I noticed MEC4D also uses them in her shader sets but as you well know, that's a lot of work to put into something that doesn't appear to have any practical uses so far.

    Not as impractical as all that, IMHO. If I'm bouncing between shader options, trying to settle on a look I like, the tags help remind me of what material I've already applied. This is especially a Good Idea™ in cases where the material doesn't show properly until I render — e.g. I have a bunch of shaders in various folders that all look black in the Viewport, and my current system can't really handle using Iray preview.

  • JonnyRayJonnyRay Posts: 1,744
    SpottedKitty said:
    SnowSultan said:

    I noticed MEC4D also uses them in her shader sets but as you well know, that's a lot of work to put into something that doesn't appear to have any practical uses so far.

    Not as impractical as all that, IMHO. If I'm bouncing between shader options, trying to settle on a look I like, the tags help remind me of what material I've already applied. This is especially a Good Idea™ in cases where the material doesn't show properly until I render — e.g. I have a bunch of shaders in various folders that all look black in the Viewport, and my current system can't really handle using Iray preview.

    Exactly! It's also really nice when I think to myself "I'd like to use that cloth shader I used last month..." I may have the scene file, but unless the tags are filled in, I'm never going to remember which of my 1400 Iray cloth shader presets (no that's not an exaggeration, I just counted them) I used on that image.

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