The long loading times were mainly caused by how we are (were soon) loading proxies/proxy materials into the scene. So in case you do experience this at the moment and are using the latest versions, you could temporarily import the files directly into SketchUp. I understand if that isn't feasible though with your project(s).
Hi Demian
Great to hear that you have pin pointed the issues 
Good work! is the bug fixed in the latest preview (3.5.8), or is it still under developement?
Herbo , hbc_visual , Vlad Moldovan , Tearch , pardon to bother, but perhaps you may still have a chance to test out the special version we've uploaded? If you simply do not have any time or resources to try this out at the moment, then of course no problem, I simply wanted to add this reminder though. Once you have the chance, kindly get back here in this thread with your reports so that we can analyze this further.
Thanks for the report. If you do have the chance, could you perhaps also have a look at my post just above, in which I go into detail regarding the special Enscape installer/version used to troubleshoot this? All you have to do is install that version (hyperlink to the installer) and check if the project loads this way. Whether it does or not, please also definitely submit a Feedback report as well.
Hi Demian
I've been loaded up with projects the last couple of weeks, but might have the time to install the test vesion today or tomorrow, and give the feedback you are asking for. hopefully and thank you for working on a fix for this! great news
You can still submit the report and we'll receive all the generated log files anyway, even if you've reinstalled a previous release.
On top of that, it may also be very helpful to receive one of the projects itself for further troubleshooting purposes if that is possible? If so let me know and I'll provide you with a safe/confidential upload link.
I've send you the logfiles! I did not know the logs were preserved when installing new versions
unfortunately i cant share the file, as it is confidential. I'll see if I can bypass that somehow. do you have an email i can send a wetransfer to?
... Nothing?
Hi Herbo and hbc_visual
I'm sorry to hear about this issue, could you both please send us a feedback report including the log files as seen here, and please also add a link to this thread in the description for context.
Additionally, you can add my name so I will pick this up.
I can't promise that i'll find the time to reinstall and test out just now... maybe within the week. But thanks!
Hi
I'm having issues with the latest official release. My large files are extremely slow to load (more than an hour!), and when they finally do load, the render quality is really bad. it seems like all shadows are missing?
they used to load in 5-10 minutes, and the quality and speed was great.
I dont have this problem in version 3.3 (or some of the previews for 3.4). Any suggestions?
Display MoreI may be crazy, but I thought you could extract 3D building content from Google Earth Pro years ago when it was a stand alone desktop app. Did they shut that feature down when everything moved to the cloud?
Perhaps I'm mis-remembering - It may have been that I uploaded a model into Google Earth Pro and recorded an animated "tour" for use in a presentation.
I think Paul is correct above - The reason we can extract Topo so easily is that it is GIS info and in the public domain, but the more detailed side-scan / low altitude photogrammetry building data is third party provided. Too bad Google doesn't see our community as a market opportunity.
Also, Has anyone used ESRI CityEngine? I seem to remember this one was free as well when they were still in development.
J.
You are right a LONG time ago that was possible. But back then the 3d data was hand modelled by people across the world, and the fidelity was very poor. And, it only had building geometry, not vegetation, landscape data, and all the other stuff that makes it look real.
Now, all the 3d data is generated from aereal photos, satellite data and other information, and it is therefore MUCH more accurate and complete. The main issue is, that the geometry is now all tied together, and it is not as streamlined as the previous hand modelled geometry.
this is also why you cant technically cut out a single building, as the geometry does not differentiate between what is a building or a tree or a car... it is all one mesh.
The next thing is, that because the geometry is generated from a bunch of copyrighted material (aereal photos and so on), it is not possible to openly share the date with everybody like before.
... And this is where this new method comes in
There has been a huge demand for this ever since the asset library was introduced. But even though the feature request has had massive support, it has not been adressed. Instead we can look forward to "awesome" stuff, like a new site contex feature that is so full of errors that no one will use it 
and last time around we got a slower, more difficult way to add assets to a scene (at least if you use sketchup og rhino)...
As mentioned before. PLEASE focus on making existing features great before moving on to new stuff... So many parts of enscape is just half baked right now:
- a material library that is missing the most basic features.
- an asset library with no customization options at all (and very slow)
- an asset generator that is way too cumbersome to use
- a video editor that is not working as intended.
- linked models. this feature could be so much more powerful with just a couple of tweaks.
but, for some reason none of it is prioritized.
Display MoreArchitect 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'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.
Like Pieter said the data set for Copenhagen is just not good:
We have no height information or number of floors here so we fallback to an estimate of 3 floors. All data sets for geospatial information are closed except for OSM really (derivatives of OSM merged with other dbs exist but aren't any better for these cases). Elevation information does not exist at all in OSM we get that from a separate source and merge everything together so unfortunately this is as good as the data can get atm. Unless you wanna go around and fix the data set of Copenhagen before importing it ...
Thanks This is my point exactly... If the data sets are this broken for most of the places around the world, why build the feature in the first place? Most of us will never use it, and even if the data set were correct, the detail level is still way too low to use in most scenarios.
I just don't see the reasoning behind spending THAT much effort to create something that is basically just bloat for most users.
OSM doesn't have higher quality datasets unfortunately.
The big challenge for the A&D world is that the worlds two best datasets (google maps/earth and bing maps) are both closed data and the data can't be licensed. Which is probably why Enscape (and others like Twinmotion) have no other option to use OSM.
Although I agree that its use will be limited. I have used OSM on occasion but I'm lucky that the Manhattan dataset (which is where a good portion of our work is), is well developed. It hasn't worked once outside of Manhattan unfortunately.
I get your point, but it really only highlights the question... why on earth spend SO much development time on a feature that 95% of users will never use, due to inaccurate, under-detailed data?
There are so many other features that would actually make a difference, and they are not being prioritized. I really don't get it, to be honest.
Just tried the new context creator. Something seems completely off with the topography. I tried importing a part of central copenhagen (one of the flattest cities in the world), and it is full of hills/mountains that does not exist. Most building heights seem way off as well, and most buildings are shown as 1 story, even though they are 5-6
This is already being done btw. once they have been scrolled into view they are stored locally same goes for them being displayed in the renderer.
I get the performance complaint though, we have improved it several times already but it can still be slow.
I know that is how it works and it is half way there! it takes FOREVER to scroll through the thumbnails to load them all, and every time we install a new version (and we do that often), we need to do it all over again... all 50 of us at the office, that uses Enscape Thats a lot of wasted time. and as more and more assets are added, the time goes up!
Why not include the thumbnails in the installer? or have them update in the background, so they are ready to use when needed? there are a lot of options that could help
And its pretty much the point from my previous post... half baked features. This should have been fixed a long time ago, but instead new features are prioritized.
I can gladly raise these points internally as well. I fully understand what you guys are talking about when it comes to features not being "finished" in a sense that a first iteration was released but we did not further improve it down the line at the same time there are a billion reasons to prioritize one item over another when it comes to defining a roadmap. I think that our Product Management team is trying to incorporate these "iterations" you are asking for as well.
Thanks for the feedback I'm glad you see the point! I hope we will see some of this solved down the line
Hey Herbo, currently no plans for that but as I wrote in my response to Pieter, nothing prevents you from creating .matpk exports and put them into a folder for the time being and import them into the target material I know it's clunky but it works
sorry to hear that. Working with the matpk. is simply too clunky. it would make SO much sense for this whole workflow to be tightly integrated with the material library... right now you have overlapping features that would benefit a lot from being merged and re-thinked.
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.
Great progress
The site model feature is not something we are gonna use, so no comments for that we are always goin to do our own site models for the accuracy and quality we need. we often do stuff like this: google 3d maps
Overriding materials is nice though! really useful! Now we just need custom materials in the library for it to actually be usable Without this, its not something we'll use.
when you finally get around to doing custom materials, here is a suggestion Have an "export to library" button directly in the material editor. That way, when we have tuned a material that we want to safe for easy access later, its very easy to do so and it will be easy and intuitive to gradually build up your custom library.
... any news on custom materials? without this feature the library is pretty irrelevant for serious work
wow, big news! I'm eager to hear what this will mean in the medium/long term. Will the products merge? will technology be shared between products (looking at you, Vantage ) , or will development continue in two parallel tracks?
I'm really hoping that Enscape can hold on to the stuff that has made it so great an popular in a very short time... mainly the ease of use, uncluttered interface and outstanding realtime performance. In a perfect world this will be strengthened with some of Vrays pro features and amazing photorealistic quality for still images and video exports
I'm looking forward to what comes next.... at least for now
great to see all the progress being made! fantastic
Can you comment on some of the features that many have asked for before? It seems like a lot is being forgotten or ignored, and new stuff is being added that we've not seen much demand for here on the forum?
I'm still missing:
- custom materials in the materials browser.
- custom materials and colors on the assets (eg. we do not always want a yellow couch)
- more options for grouping and organizing custom assets.
- animated assets
- improvements in reflections (and aproximations for caustics)
- options to hide geometry or elements from camera, GI, reflections and more
- revamp of the video editor (that most people find counter intuitive in many ways)
... and more
I too struggle to see the benefit of this whole implementation. It seems like a much slower, more cumbersome way of doing stuff? placement and move tools are much more evolved in sketchup, and thereby it is much faster. Furthermore i have loads of plugins (like skatter), that makes it even easier! Are you planning on doing something like lumions ability to populate large areas with few clicks? like placing different people, trees and cars along a path?
I know that a lot of users must have requested this, otherwise i hope developement time would be spend other places. But for what reasons is it requested? can You share some of the use cases for this?
Hi
The new Material library is a great addition to Enscape! It has the potential to be a really handy tool to keep materials organized and easy to access.
BUT, as it is now, many of the materials are not up to the standards that serious archviz requires. Many textures have low res heightmaps, very visible repetitions, and a very "cgi" look to them.
And, as i've mentioned before, the library will have to be MUCH larger to cover just some of the needs we have, when choosing materials. an example: Quixel megascans has around 10.000 textures, and I STILL struggle to find just what i'm looking for very often. so, my biggest wish is still for a custom material option as well. It would be SO powerful if the material library could be a place where we could save and organize our own materials, and keep them ready whenever we need them.
Without this option, I will still have to shuffle around for my materials, and thereby it is only fragmenting my workflow even more than before... now i have to look for materials in quixel bridge, poliigon, my own local custom library, my various collections (arroway and others) the internet, and now also the enscape library.
Please, let the new library be a tool to streamline our workflow, and build a complete, consolidated material library that we can control ourselves.
Here are some examples of Enscape materials vs my own materials, just to showcase that quality could be improved a lot in places:
Roof - Enscape material library:
Roof - custom material:
Road - Enscape material library:
Roof - custom material:
pavement - Enscape material library:
pavement - custom material (megascans):
