Suggestions to improve the Enscape Asset Library

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  • As others have said on multiple threads; the ability to add/upload user created content to an asset library would be really good (as long as it's curated).


    Some other things I think would improve the new Asset library;


    · It would be great to have the ability to re-name and/or re-categorise (/sub categorise) models so that eg you could group trees, bushes, flowers, etc. in their own sub-sections. (Or standing/sitting/active | man/woman/child/pet) I'm sure it has also been mentioned elsewhere, but a geo-location filter would be nice, both for vegetation and ethnicity distribution of the people assets.


    · I really like the fact that the people and tree assets are blocked-out versions of the actual content; I hope the “Bushes” and “Flowers” get the same treatment… similarly that the shadow-man gets added to each thumbnail for an idea of scale.


    · Personally I don't like the asset remaining attached to the mouse after placing the initial instance; I can use the native tools to copy or array the asset. Perhaps some sort of hot-key can be used with a click to "drop a copy" instead?


    · If the asset remains attached to the mouse then I think that there should be a reason for it that cannot be simply reproduced by native tools (for example a random rotation of the next item placed or holding a hot key/the mouse button down while placing the asset would allow a ‘free rotation’ tool of the asset being placed.)


    · To make it easier to apply variation for seasons or to better blend an asset with the colour scheme of the model it would be good to use the colour that the Asset is filled with in the native model to influence the asset within Enscape. (If it took the HSL values it would allow for fancy things like de-saturating the content.)


    · I think it would be useful to automatically apply a default level of transparency (30%?) for all new assets dropped into the native application so that you can see what they are sitting on and any overlap.


    · I would like to be able to swap all instances of one asset for another one. (And/or use the “Reload…” to replace existing components with Enscape assets.)


    · It would be handy if you could select one instance of an asset and ‘break’ it so that the full geometry was loaded into the model - this would let it’s shape be edited to suit it's position within the model. Alternatively if there was a way to 'deform' an asset around other geometry it would make them really useful. (Primarily to stop plants/trees growing through walls/fences/windows, but if it was really clever it could change a standing person to a sitting one.)


    · I would like to be able to edit the bump, colour, transparency, (etc) of fills within an asset after it’s been placed in the model – perhaps this could tie-in with the previous idea of a pipette from the Enscape window selecting/updating into the materials editor so that they can be changed?


    · It would be really nice if each asset has an array of X variations and it randomly used them. (For people it would be clothes and/or colours, for vegetation it would be slightly different orientation and leaf layout.)


    · The dialogue does a good job of remembering where it is and it’s size, however it only remembers within that session: it would be nice to remember your preferred position/size each time you open a new model. (It would also be nice if it remembered your filter and selection from when it closed last).


    · Similar to the other Enscape dialogues; it would also be cool if it could roll up to a title bar so that it could be on-screen but not taking up so much screen real-estate. It could also be handy to shrink the dialogue to a simple 1x1 grid minimum (rather than 3x4) for quick dragging of a single asset. And a way to ‘dock/un-dock’ the search bar would be nice.

  • A big +1 on adding custom assets and open sourcing the assets so we can all contribute (curated by Enscape for quality assurance).


    I know the priority is to fill up the standard library but I'm really hoping that the 'custom assets project' isn't going to be put on hold for a long time. The standard library is only going to be of limited use for us, but custom assets would open a world of possibilities, especially if they are cross platform capable (and we can start sharing assets across Sketchup, Revit, Rhino and Archicad).




    • Official Post

    Thank you very much Gadget and Pieter for the detailed feedback. :)


    I've filed your feature requests accordingly!

  • Is there a way to apply a global transparency to assets? Trees and scaled figures are great for scale, but creating a graphic that shows a scale AND expresses the architecture becomes clumsy if the assets are 100% opaque. It requires two outputs with and without assets to allow for post processing.

    • Official Post

    Thanks wpaRCh , it's not possible yet, but something similar has already been requested so it's filed as a feature request on our agenda. Through your voice I've added a further upvote and your feedback to the topic. :)

  • User asset blog/forum/library would be great, as it is in Sketchup. You could divide it in (at least) two "rows":
    1) simple "user upload" library with no responsibility for quality and size of assets, and
    2) good assets could be taken, slightly remodelled or updated buy official team - and posted in "pro assets" library (whatever you call it).
    8)

    Furthermore - such libraries could be divide in their basic themes/"shelves" of subjects they present...

    =O

    Even more - all that means that "enscape team" could post a tutorial of proper asset creation... for many users that could and would contribute to such "vast and (always) widening" library...

    8|

    At the end - that should be approachable through sketchup "component window" (or similar!), always refreshed and "ready made" through internet ...

    8o

  • As already said, I also support "opening" asset library to user upload and custom user libraries. Also, custom/variable asset materials would be a great improvement to it.

    Just keep in mind that all enscape software should have equal asset library features.

    Therefore, it would be great if you could provide a tutorial for asset creation and some open web enscape storage (similar to sketchup warehouse) in order to enable all users to freely upload and exchange created assets.

    That would be a great benefit for all enscape platforms (not just sketchup)!

  • In addition to the things noted above, here are a few more things that I would like to see in the asset library (specifically the dialogue)


    - I would like to be able to specify the thumbnail size; I could either fit lots of them on-screen and see a larger version on preview, or scroll through larger previews.


    - I would like to "dock" the roll-over info/text and have it contain more info; the pop out panel covers over the thumbnail of the model next to it or pops out of the dialogue - it also gets in the way while the mouse is over the dialogue to scroll: having a separate window would let me position it so that it's always in the same place, perhaps let me edit the key-words/description, mark as a favorite, list the materials used in the model*, give a poly-count, ... and perhaps in the future be a place to open/import the proxy into the asset manager. (*... and perhaps change the textures from here?)


    - It would be really useful to have the option of a 3D preview of the asset selected (like the Sketchup warehouse does). Maybe this could also be used to set the insertion point of the asset.


    - Have some statistic information that would show how many times a selected asset is used in the model (also form a quick list from these to populate a "Used" search category beside the existing "All" and "Favorite" ones)


    - Be able to replace all instances of one asset with another.


    - I would also like an option to tun on 'gravity' when placing assets so that it dropped the asset in the Z axis until it hit a surface. This would have an option to work on the insert point of the asset or work on the four corners of it's bounding box so that asset would rotate and sit flat on a plane.

    - In conjunction with this I would like a toggle so that the placing of a current assets could ignore the surfaces of any other assets in the model. (Useful for vegetation, cars and furniture, not so useful for decor.)

  • It would be great if you could make/automate the following steps:
    1 - select several assets (people, trees, etc.)

    2 - start placing them either a) randomly (could be checked in menu), or 2) in order (1st, 2nd, 3rd...)

    this would ease a lot creation of crowds and greenery (forest, any "green" backgrounds", etc...),

    3 - enable placing randomly, dense or loose (making them in a group?) over selected surface also, besides placing "one by one"...

  • With reference to the above, I would like them to "take inspiration" from several plugins (and scrips) that do similar; distribute a selection of assets with controls that change how random the placement/model is:


    1/2 - I would rather have one 'placeholder' model/asset that is swapped out for a selection of variations where you could tweak the bias of each variation (eg. a coffee cup could have several designs/patterns or a person could have different clothes or plants have different structures/foliage...)

    Bias groups could be saved under specific names (eg "winter") and then you could tell it to load the "winter" bias and all assets in your model that contained a saved bias group called "winter" would update and re-load with this setting.


    2/3 - I would like some sort of "spray-gun" control that had a spread/coverage area, density (min/max spacing), orientation randomness, size randomness, location randomness, edge fade...