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How to tell Maya to show swatches in higher res than 64x64?

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Message 1 of 3
fredrik
1763 Views, 2 Replies

How to tell Maya to show swatches in higher res than 64x64?

Hi,

 

In the Hypershade/Visor, you can create a custom tab and point that to a directory of .ma scene files. The scene files will then appear as large Maya icons. A nice feature is that you can render something and in the render view window, hit "view" -> "grab swatch to hypershade/visor" and middle-mouse-drag the render onto one of the .ma scene files. This will create a folder next to the .ma scene files called ".mayaSwatches" and contain some proprietary Maya image format ending with ".swatch". I'm guessing it's some kind of IFF format with additional information in it. This will now be shown instead of the Maya icon. This is a super-easy and quite powerful way to create a shader library, a brush library a lighting studio library or any kind of library...

 

However, I have noticed that these swatches look great just after having created the swatches. But as soon as you change tabs or redraw the Hypershade/Visor window, these swatches seem to be reloaded in a very low resolution (64x64 pixels) AND they have a yellow tint to them. This makes it very difficult to make out details whenever you WANT details to be shown in these kind of swatches (e.g. shader balls).

 

Is there any way you can tell Maya to stop limiting these to show up at 64x64 and skip the yellow tint?

Ideally, I'd like Maya to just use the resolution used when rendering the .swatch preview.

 

Please note that the settings option "Max res. for swatches" does not seem to apply to these swatches. This setting only applies to Maya node swatches.

 

I have attached a screenshot just after having created the swatch, and then one screenshot showing what it looks like after redrawing the window.

 

 

Regards,

Fredrik

 

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Message 2 of 3
klaudiofb
in reply to: fredrik

I am also wondering how to make those swatches higher resolution and accutarelly represent saved shader network. I even don't mind if the resolution is as is, but the colors is the main problem! 
As you mentioned, as soon as swatch is grabbed and put on file, it looks great and as it should look but then when i get back it gets low resolution AND the colors are changd! For example...if i made blue shader, apply it to the sphere, render it and grab it then when put drag and dropped on file the color changes to red!? 

So, not only that the resolution is really bad but also the colors are all wrong, at least in my case they are! huh

I have read few posts about it on few forums and some guys said if in folder where is your shader named for example "MyShader.ma" you add image with the same name but added .icon or .swatch(when you render image as .iff?) will make Maya pick that image as your swatch in hypershade. Something like "MyShader.ma.icon" or "MyShader.ma.swatch". 

Not sure how the hell they managed to make it work but i spend couple of hours trying different approach, combinations and what not...and none of them worked! 
 

Message 3 of 3
g2m.agent
in reply to: fredrik

same question too, and i hope the Visor become to more useful, as fredrik.averpil said: shader library, a brush library a lighting studio library or any kind of library...

 

but i noticed that mayafeedback has a similar proposal:

http://mayafeedback.autodesk.com/forums/160514-ideas-for-maya-forum/suggestions/2995785-shader-libra...

The Autodesk apparently did not notice it, or do not intend to do so.

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