Once the full run of the Orchestrator is complete, the Master Layers tab will then be available on a per project basis. This gives you the option to look through your scene that has been generated by the Orchestrator and modify/fine tune specific elements that may not be up to your standard.
The Core [Workflow]
A high level version of what the plugin is doing is baking your lighting onto an additional texture that you can switch between, followed by optimizing the scene down enough for the Enviz app to handle.
It is compulsory to do use these steps in order:
Unwrap
Bake
Optimize or Billboard
These functions are the core of the plugin and can be accessed by either
highlighting multiple layers and pressing the actions at the top of the layer list
selecting a single action per layer
The reason we don't optimize prior to baking is to ensure that the baked texture collects enough lighting data to appear higher quality - this could be as simple as the grooves in a pillow/sofa.
However it can speed up the unwrapping process occasionally when you optimize heavier objects, especially when layers take longer to process - we would then recommend using the ProOptimizer modifier which is a native optimizing tool in 3ds Max to assist you with reducing the object(s) down.
Unwrapping
Unwrapping
The unwrapping feature is a process that unwraps your layer and packs the UVs into channel 8 only. So when you are baking your textures onto a texture, it will grab all the UV data from UV channels 1-7 and use channel 8 as a framework for your lit textures.
When you send a layer to be processed, it needs to be processed by our system so it will go through temporary frozen state while it's being processed. We recommend you don't alter any objects that are being processed, especially renaming the objects.
Either wait for the layer to be ready to import or cancel the layer, which will return your layer to it's original state.
Baking
Baking
The baking process will take your render settings and bake the textures onto UV channel 8 and then return with an object that has a texture applied that you can see in your viewport. It is important to know that once you have started your baking process, it will merge all your objects in that layer in order to bake from a single object, however when the texture is finished and begins the applying/importing texture phase - it will return your object like it originally was.
We use a "shell material" once the object has been baked and has it's new texture applied. This means we can have the material alternate between the original material and the baked.
When you re-bake an object and the whole scene has already been baked, it will maintain the original material data so that it doesn't affect the GI of the scene.
Optimize & Billboarding
Optimize & Billboarding
The optimize step follows the same workflow as the unwrapping step because it needs to be processed by our system. Anything over 20k polygons will automatically be skipped because generally it's not an issue, however if you do need to optimize an object further then i would recommend using the Pro-Optimizer modifier to reduce an object even lower.
The billboarding step runs locally on your computer, however it doesn't take too long to process and you have certain levels of detail you can choose from.
When you initially use the billboarding feature in the plugin, you may find that your viewport doesn't show transparency.
By simply selecting the "Shaded Materials with Maps" in your Materials option of the viewport, you can then see your plant like how it will show in the app
What are the limitations when uploading?
What are the limitations when uploading?
The first thing you may notice when you open the Master Layers window is the top banner with your current state of the scene. On the left are the main culprits for ensuring you upload successfully and have a well-performing scene in all platforms, especially via VR.
Triangles
The triangle count of your scene generally needs to be under 3 million to at the very least perform at a mediocre level in VR. Anything above this can affect the performance of viewing your scene in VR, however you can upload scenes heavier if your intention is to only view a scene through tablet or your phone.
Fundamentally you're going to run into issues if you go above this limit
Texture Usage
The texture usage is the total amount of textures that are used in a scene and much like your triangle count, you can go above these limits but you should expect to run into issues if you do.
Uploading Limitation
When you finally upload a project, it will save a zipped version of the file here:
EnvizPro [Same location as your max scene] > Upload > [Your Archived scene]
It may look something like this: "C:\01_ENVIZ\ShowCase\Project_001\EnvizPro\Upload\ZZZZ_ENVZ_V-Ray_EXAMPLE_Complete_001.zip"
There is a hidden limitation with this archived (zipped) file of 5 gigabytes and anything over this will most likely fail and you will need to go into your scene and reduce either the triangle count or texture usage.
Finally, the zipped file that is generated cannot be replicated by simply archiving your scene - there are many features in the plugin that begin to clean up your once you have pressed the "Upload" button so simply archiving your scene will not work.
General functions
General functions
Here we are broadly going over each function and what exactly is does and why you would.
The "Place in new layer" button
This button is used for editing your layers by selecting 1 or more objects and placing them in a new sublayer that is connected to your original parent layer. This resets the selection so that the list of layers is updated with the new layer name along with resetting these objects by clearing out the unwrapping, bake, optimize and billboarding data.
This will also mark any layers that have had an object extracted to advise you that you should "re-process" them by unwrapping again.
Select highlighted in viewport
The Select Highlight button allows you to select the objects you have highlighted in the layer list. When you select a layer in the list, it will automatically select the single layer however you may find this button useful when you need to select multiple objects
The Refresh button
This simply refreshes your list of layers in the plugin, but this function is mostly automated after every action.
Strip button
When pressed, a dropdown menu will appear with BK, OP or BB which allows you to regress the stage chosen. This button can help you reset your layer if you're running into any issues
For further information on troubleshooting your project, click here.