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Some additional MCX feature requests...

J

jetpilot1980

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us-virginia
I was wondering if it would be possible to add a couple more features to MCX?

1. A bulk materials replacement feature... So if I am doing models in a batch it seems to replace one material for another, the only choice I have is to go into the object hierarchy and one by one swap the materials on the parts... Or option B in the materials editor I have to make the edits line for line which can also be time consuming... Is there way to perhaps through the materials editor make materials swap / replace feature...? So I can just quickly change all parts of a particular material to another material?

2. A "reverse animation button" in the animations editor... I know there is a fix animations button which freezes it, and I can again go into the object hierarchy find the part then right click the animation and click reverse, but would be really nice if I had a reverse button to do the same in the animation editor window...

3. I notice in previous versions when opening files the open window defaulted to open .mdl and .bmp these latest dev versions start at the top of the file types list with .ac or .3mf files and for textures want to default to .png files... at which point I have to scroll back through the file types list to get back to opening a .mdl and on a new model I am working on I didn't catch the .png export setting... while the .mdl thing sounds minor it does slow me down, the .png thing created a time consuming mistake for me as I loaded the model up into different variants and had to go back and fix them all one by one... Can it be made so default settings are again for mdl and dds or bmp...? Thanks!
 
Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions.
jetpilot1980 said:
1. A bulk materials replacement feature... So if I am doing models in a batch it seems to replace one material for another, the only choice I have is to go into the object hierarchy and one by one swap the materials on the parts... Or option B in the materials editor I have to make the edits line for line which can also be time consuming... Is there way to perhaps through the materials editor make materials swap / replace feature...? So I can just quickly change all parts of a particular material to another material?
Click to expand...
I am not sure if I understand how such a feature would be used. if you want to change all instances of a material you would normally go into the material editor and just edit the properties of that material. That will affect all parts that use that material.
Or are you saying that you want to replace all instances of one specific material by another material that already exists? And is this for batch operations or for manual editing with an editor?
I would have to understand the use case for this feature, before I can see if this is easy to implement.
jetpilot1980 said:
2. A "reverse animation button" in the animations editor... I know there is a fix animations button which freezes it, and I can again go into the object hierarchy find the part then right click the animation and click reverse, but would be really nice if I had a reverse button to do the same in the animation editor window...
Click to expand...
I can add that to the animation editor as well, so that it can be applied to all selected animations. I'll add it to the wishlist.
jetpilot1980 said:
3. I notice in previous versions when opening files the open window defaulted to open .mdl and .bmp these latest dev versions start at the top of the file types list with .ac or .3mf files and for textures want to default to .png files... at which point I have to scroll back through the file types list to get back to opening a .mdl and on a new model I am working on I didn't catch the .png export setting... while the .mdl thing sounds minor it does slow me down, the .png thing created a time consuming mistake for me as I loaded the model up into different variants and had to go back and fix them all one by one... Can it be made so default settings are again for mdl and dds or bmp...? Thanks!
Click to expand...
MCX does remember what the last file format is that you imported from or exported to. So you should see that the next time you open the application that it will start from the last format you used. Only the first time after a major release should you see that the list defaults to the first format in the list.
Or are you saying that you constantly see the format default to the first one in the list?
 
arno said:
Hi,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I am not sure if I understand how such a feature would be used. if you want to change all instances of a material you would normally go into the material editor and just edit the properties of that material. That will affect all parts that use that material.
Or are you saying that you want to replace all instances of one specific material by another material that already exists? And is this for batch operations or for manual editing with an editor?
I would have to understand the use case for this feature, before I can see if this is easy to implement.

I can add that to the animation editor as well, so that it can be applied to all selected animations. I'll add it to the wishlist.

MCX does remember what the last file format is that you imported from or exported to. So you should see that the next time you open the application that it will start from the last format you used. Only the first time after a major release should you see that the list defaults to the first format in the list.
Or are you saying that you constantly see the format default to the first one in the list?
Click to expand...

Hey Arno,

So to address you follow up questions for items 1 and 3...

1. So what this would be really useful for is batch conversions / updates... Right now I am working on my soon to be latest MAIW release but after I made my loaded models (122 in total) I finally went to test in sim and found the canopy glass was ok but weak in V4, and completely invisible in V5 made the planes look like open cockpits... so after some testing and tweaking I finally have a good looking pieces of glass with material properties I like... but now I have to go back and change all 122 models manually, was thinking if there was a way to a more efficient drop and swap of materials... So like if I could drop a working piece of glass into the model, swap the materials off the current pieces into the good material piece then once swapped just delete the dropped in piece... might be quicker than me going through and hand editing each models glass material properties...

3. On my system each time I close and open a new MCX session it goes back to the top of the list and png, doesn't remember or default the last formats I used...

Thanks!
 
You can set up a material template for the glass, select that material in the material editor, and select the new template from the drop down box. Then compile the plane. Done.
 
Using a material template would indeed make most sense. But there is no way to batch apply a material template to a specific material in 100 objects now. If I remember correctly in the batch wizard you can only apply a template to all materials. Maybe I can modify that so that it is only applied to selected materials.

Let me double check the extensions, but I am quite sure the import and export file screens remember the last used format.
 
I have just implemented a new filter in the apply material template batch operator so that you can filter to which materials it is applied. With that it should be possible to apply the material template of the new glass properties only to the parts with the correct old material in a batch run.

I'll try to get a new development release out tomorrow.
 
i have just put a new development release online that has the filter option in the apply material template batch operator.
 
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