Previous Release / Preview Threads Merged

    Joachim Hirsch Literally the very first reply to the post Demian Gutberlet made about the voting portal that was made two months ago.


    Quote from Tearch

    is there a tab that could add to the voting system that would be labeled something similar to "would not use often" or "Not applicable", something like that? All the options we have are worded in a positive light towards the features and just to be clear it does not need to be negatively worded, it might be useful from a stats standpoint on your end as well as giving users a wider range from positive to negative to vote on the features.

    How would we know if someone had already submitted a idea if we cant see what gets submitted? I don't understand whats the point of having the feature request portion of the forum if everything just get directed to the voting portal.


    This flow chart is what the voting portal needs to be in order to be successful.

    I have not installed any preview versions but am interested in the site context topic. I had been struggling for a long time about this issue trying to get site context into Revit to be able to render with Enscape. Here is what I have come up with:

    1. Revit has no real site tools.
    2. InfraWorks has very easy tools for generating site context that includes aerial imagery, roads, terrain, water features and buildings. But until the 2022 versions, there was no way to get this content into Revit. I usually turn all of the building styles off because they are so European inspired.
    3. Now you can create your site in InfraWorks and when you have it ready, export it as a 3D model in the FBX format.
    4. Using FormIt Pro '22, create a new project, set the geolocation of the project and import the FBX file. Save it as a FormIt file in the AXM format.
    5. In Revit '22, go to Insert > Import CAD and change the format from DWG to AXM. Your site context will come in with all attributes intact.
    6. Where the OSM building data (also used for InfraWorks buildings) is poor, I have had success deleting those individual buildings from the model and then downloading better models from SketchUp 3D Warehouse and moving them into position in Revit. I had worked on a building in Cleveland, OH and found decent models for the Terminal Building, Browns Stadium, Key Bank Tower, and others. This made the rendering much better because it made the location much more recognizable. The vast majority of other buildings are ok as simple shapes.
    7. Comparing this to other attempts, the IW > FormIt > Revit path seems to be the easiest. Plus I have the ability to use the IW import as an element for creating toposurfaces in Revit that I can then host other elements like railings to.

    I'm hoping the Enscape version of this will allow materials to be easily assigned to the content. Perhaps others can chime in. Let me know if this helps anyone!

    • Official Post

    Dear Forum Community,


    We've just released the new Enscape 3.3 Preview 7.


    Click here to check out how to always acquire our latest preview.


    For detailed questions and issues, feel free to write us at support@enscape3d.com or use this thread.


    UPDATED:


    Site Context Mode Improvements
    The site context mode is now feature complete, changes in this preview include:

    • The ability to adjust the rotation of the CAD model outline in the import dialog (the site context will be rotated instead during the import to achieve the desired orientation no changes are made to your project geometry)
    • Localization of street and building data
    • Improved mapping of buildings to streets
    • Improved handling of CAD model elevation date (basements are considered during placement)
    • Automatic hiding of overlapping site context elements upon import
    • The ability to hide all overlapping elements site context elements on demand (e.g.: after the CAD model geometry changes)
    • The ability to hide elements in the Enscape view port via hotkey and context menu
    • The ability to hide native massing's (in Archicad, Sketchup, Revit and VW)
    • "Edit Mode" allows you to move around and rotate the site context in 3D space to fine-tune the orientation of the imported site context (see image further down below)
    • Site context-specific help texts


    • Aside from possible bugs the only known issue that still persists in the current preview version is that the topographic plane can be selected but features no highlight effect in the Enscape viewport. The state is correctly reflected in the panel on the left.
    • Please also note that importing large areas as a site context may lead to a decrease in overall performance depending on the number of elements present within the selected area we are displaying a warning in these cases though in the import dialog.



    Please note: Preview versions are not production-proven, so be aware that there can be issues, and please report any of them back to us either on this thread or via the normal support channels. Doing so will help us with providing an even more stable and reliable product in the future.

    x2

    • Official Post

    I'm sorry to hear that burggraben - Our developers would like to have a look into this particular VR-related/crashing issue you're experiencing, so please kindly send us a dedicated Feedback Report as detailed here, and simply let me know here once you've done so by simply leaving another post in this thread.


    Then I can forward the report directly to our developers which will further troubleshoot the cause behind this. Be aware, you do not have to re-install Preview 7, but it's sufficient if you submit the report through preview 6 which you have currently installed. The log files from preview 7 will still be included nonetheless.


    But, if you cannot submit a report either because that locks up too, please manually send us the necessary log files, you'll find them here:


    Enscape main plugin log files:

    C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Enscape\Data\Logs


    Revit plugin log files:

    C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\Enscape\Logs\EnscapeRevitPlugin


    SketchUp plugin log files:

    C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\Enscape\Logs\EnscapeSketchupPlugin


    Rhino plugin log files:

    C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\Enscape\Logs\EnscapeRhinoPlugin


    ArchiCAD plugin log files:

    C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\Enscape\Logs\EnscapeArchiCADPlugin


    VectorWorks plugin log files:

    C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\Enscape\Logs\EnscapeVectorworksPlugin


    (Depending on which CAD solution you are using.)


    Much appreciated and thank you in advance!

    I'm STILL having a hard time seeing the relevance of the site context feature. The quality of the data is simply SO bad that it is unusable in 95% of cases. I've tried major locations from all over the world, and in most cases it is just too far off reality to be usable in any scenario. And I now know that I have to do a thorough quality control on the imported data before I use it (let alone show it to a client).


    Here are some examples:


    Paris:



    Copenhagen:



    Hamburg:



    Rome (the Vatican):




    Singapore:



    And in many places I just got this, when trying to import:


    These are some of the major places in the world! And if the quality is that poor here, Then I cant imagine how far off it might be in lesser known areas.


    in my opinion this feature is just bloat in the current state. I have a really hard time seeing ANY use case for it, not even for the earliest studies in a project.

    Architect can be fired from the job if you present something like what Herbo has shown.


    Enscape has a tendancy to introduce WIP functions at each release - but those "new" features rarely get revisited or improved.


    - Custom Asset Editor - released but never improved. Not even basic function like categorising assets were added

    - Video editor - people on the forum has been crying for update to the interface (how can you "upgrade" the UI at the cost of removing some functionality?)

    - Material Editor - nice to have but where is the export / import feature that is so important?

    - Video Texture - where is the alpha channel that everyone has been asking for?


    I am sure there are other things that people can add to the list.

    To supplement your list i'll copy one of my posts from one of the recent preview releases:


    I really hope that some of the "low hanging fruits" of features will be prioritized soon. These small things are actually what would bring real value to users. it seems like it would take a fraction of the developement cost compared to the "site model" feature... and it is 10x more important and useful for most firms.


    right now it seems that a lot of the new features is implemented in a half finished state, and then they are forgotten about. examples:


    1. Material library - without custom materials, it is not suitable for professional work.

    2. Custom assets - without a way to organize them (and an easier way to make them), the feature quickly becomes useless and bloated.

    3. Linked model - why can't I see a list of all the linked models I have in a file? it would make it much easier to organize a scene

    4. video editor - still cumbersome to use in a lot of ways.

    5. skybox/hdri - why can't I move it up and down? other renderes allows this?

    6. slow loading assets - why has this not been fixed? it takes ages to locate what you need. Why not have the thumbnail pictures stored locally?

    ... and more.


    Please, make all the existing features awesome and useful before moving on to new stuff. Otherwise the software appears half baked and bloated.

    I hate to be so vague, but someone I graduated school with works at a firm I'd be willing to bet is in the "top 20 architecture firms" mentioned in the 3.3 Preview 6 forum as their 3d modeler and render. Through seeing his work, I know he uses Enscape and OSM data for the very very first renders sent to the client. I can not speak for him, but if I was him there is almost no chance I use this feature because of how heavily he has to modify the OSM data to add in their projects into the site.


    I'm going out on a limb here to say there was probably a questionnaire sent out to people like him and one of the easiest responses to the "features you'd like to see added to Enscape" question, was add a site context feature since the code already exists for every 3d modeling software on the planet. That plus the fact that since version 3.0 Enscape has been copying Lumion makes all the developmental decisions understandable, but still not the correct ones in my eyes.

    Quote from Tearch

    but if I was him there is almost no chance I use this feature because of how heavily he has to modify the OSM data to add in their projects into the site.

    And the problem is that with this workflow, editing the imported data is not trivial as it comes in as an encrypted asset. So you can't actually edit it. It comes in 'as is'.


    I share all your frustrations but it's water under the bridge at this point. But looking to the future, my hope is that they just leave it as is instead of investing even more resources into it in an attempt to address our concerns. Because I don't think this is fixable by Enscape, regardless of the development effort.

    Every time I get a chance, I share frustration that Enscape keeps releasing less than half baked new features that either don't work or actually impede functions that previously worked fine (video editor. Please just revert to the old version in the upcoming release until it works without any bugs that have been complained here over and over).

    Please please fix all the bugs that have been crying out on the froum first before working on new features. Please.

    Code
    The previous video editor of enscape was very practical and functional, it did not understand a change, let alone why it made this change even after a community claimed so much. Previously videos that took 1 hour to make, today it takes hours of work to get the result of the previous editor. It would also make it a lot easier with the full materials import and export function.


    Quote from L.S

    Every time I get a chance, I share frustration that Enscape keeps releasing less than half baked new features that either don't work or actually impede functions that previously worked fine (video editor. Please just revert to the old version in the upcoming release until it works without any bugs that have been complained here over and over).

    Please please fix all the bugs that have been crying out on the froum first before working on new features. Please.

    Quote from TowerPower

    I gather this is the end goal, what Lumion has: https://support.lumion.com/hc/…treetMap-in-Lumion-10-Pro Does anyone use Lumion these days and can comment whether the OSM feature is useful at all? I have to imagine someone uses it...

    Seriously!? So this is all about chasing Lumion features? To what end, the open maps stuff looks like garbage in Lumion too.


    Fix the video editor.

    Since the thread is partially hijacked talking about QoL fixes, how about another "easy" one:


    When duplicating views inside Revit (I haven't tested this in SketchUp, if someone could confirm if it's the same) they don't retain the view preset of the original view.


    Imagine if you have 10 views, but you need to duplicate them 5 times to show 5 different options to your client. Because preset views are not transferred, now you have to manually set up each individual duplicated view, and it's just not a fun task let me tell you.

    We know OSM is not good

    What enscape should do is connect to Cesium and use nearmap or areometrix metromap

    or have an import for services such as Context Map

    URBANFINITY — CONTEXT MAP

    happy to pay for it

    and give us at least an option to edit the whole thing

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