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This page provides details on the Asset Editor in V-Ray for SketchUp.

Overview

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The V-Ray Asset Editor is the place where you can create, save and open assets, and adjust their settings. These include materials, textures, geometry, and lights. You can also manage the Render Channels from the Asset Editor. From its Settings tab, you can choose the render engine, set up the camera, optimize the render process, or render with Swarm. You can also start the render or submit a scene to Chaos Cloud, as well as open the VFB.

UI Paths

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Functionalities

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Column width 70% Categories Assets are grouped in Categories for ease of access and use. On top of the central Asset Editor's panel you can find the Materials, Lights, Geometry, Render Elements, and Textures categories. Left/Right-click on an empty category to create an asset. If there already existing items, Left-click selects the directory, while a Right-click always opens a list of available assets to choose from in order to create them. The Asset creation dropdown lists remain active when the Ctrl (Cmd on macOS) key is held, allowing the creation of multiple assets in quick succession. Each Category has a Search Scene tab on the top of the list. You can search for assets from the category selected. You can select more than one category or asset at a time with Ctrl+select(Cmd+select) or Shift+select. UI Text Box type note The Assets tab search function only displays top-level hierarchy assets. UI Text Box type tip The Asset lists have some additional multi-selection functionalities: Fancy Bullets type circle Ctrl + Left-click on deselected item - Adds to the selection; Ctrl + Left-click on selected item - removes it from the selection; Ctrl + A - Selects all items in the list/category; Shift + Left-click - expands the range of the current selection; Shift + Del - deletes the selected asset(s) without showing a confirmation dialog. Left-Click + Drag - Drags only the clicked item entry; Right-Click on deselected item - Shows the context menu for the item and does not change the current selection; Right-Click on selected item - Shows the context menu for the item and doesn't change the selection. If multiple entries are selected the context menu displays only their common actions. Column width 5%   Column width 25%

 

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Column width 45% Buttons The utility buttons are located at the bottom of the Asset Editor. Button Description Opens a list of all V-Ray assets grouped into categories. Opens a directory from which to import .vrmat files. Saves the selected asset to your computer. Deletes the selected asset. Purges all unused assets from the selected asset categories. Traces back assets that were previously selected. Moves the selection one level up in the hierarchy. UI Text Box type tip Some keyboard shortcuts are available for navigation in the Asset Editor. Fancy Bullets type circle For Windows: Ctrl + (1/2/3/4/5/6) - Switches to the corresponding category or the settings view; Ctrl + 0 - Selects all categories; Alt + (1/2/3/4/5) - Adds to the active categories; Ctrl + A - selects all assets in the category of the current selection; Shift + Left-click - expands the range of the current selection; Delete - Deletes the selected asset/s; Ctrl + Left Arrow - Selects the previous asset; Ctrl + Up Arrow - Selects the parent of the active asset; Ctrl + ( [ or ] ) - Toggles the left or right fly-off panels; Up/Down Arrow - Increases/decreases the number field with different step (the step varies depending on the parameter). Up/Down Arrow or Left/Right Arrow - Increases/decreases the value of any other slider1. For Mac OS X: Cmd + (1/2/3/4/5/6) - Switches to the corresponding category or the settings view; Cmd + 0 - Selects all categories; Alt + (1/2/3/4/5) - Adds to the active categories; Cmd + A - selects all assets in the category of the current selection; Shift + Left-click - expands the range of the current selection; Fn + Delete - Deletes the selected asset/s; Cmd + Left Arrow - Selects the previous asset; Cmd + Up Arrow - Selects the parent of the active asset; Cmd + ( [ or ] ) - Toggles the left or right fly-off panels. Left Click + Up/Down Arrow - Increases/decreases the EV number field with 0.5. Left Click + Up/Down Arrow or Left/Right Arrow - Increases/decreases the value of any other slider1.   Column width 5% Column width 50%

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Column width 45% Preset Material Library Buttons In earlier V-Ray versions, the V-Ray Material Library is called Preset Material Library and it resides in the Asset Browser. It has some functionality buttons at the bottom of the Asset Editor. Button Description Adds a new file system location. Changes the view between row and a column layout. Changes between grid and list view for the material gallery. Zoom material previews out and in.   For more information about all the functionalities that the V-Ray Material Library offers, follow the link. UI Text Box type note Multi-selection of assets is possible in the Library, but you cannot drag-and-drop more than one asset at a time. UI Text Box type note In V-Ray 6, the V-Ray Preset Material Library is moved to the Chaos Cosmos Browser. Materials that have already been downloaded with any earlier V-Ray version remain unchanged and can still be loaded as a custom folder. The Browse Materials in Cosmos button opens all available materials in the Chaos Cosmos Browser. Column width 5%   Column width 50%

 

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Column width 45% Preview Swatch The Preview Swatch is located in the right panel of the Asset Editor, rendering all changes done to the currently selected asset. This is a quick preview of materials, textures and lights. It has several controls that can be customized for your workflow. As the Preview Swatch is an actual render, it might require some additional computing power. Button Description / Enables or disable the live preview of the swatch. Preview current asset once. The swatch renders the current settings of the asset, but does not take into consideration any changes done to it later. Changes the resolution of the rendered swatch. Select from 100%, 50%, 25%, 12.5%. / Changes the render engine for the live preview. Changes the preview asset scene. Select from from Generic, Fabric, Floor, Ground, Subsurface Scattering, Wall, Wall Closeup and Sphere. Preview a specific asset regardless of the currently selected one. Displays the pinned asset until unpinned. UI Text Box type tip Pulling the bottom line of the Preview Swatch up and down reduces or expands the swatch. UI Text Box type tip When changing the Units of a given light, its preview is updated accordingly. Changes of the light intensity value are displayed up to a certain amount in order to guarantee the preview remains illustrative. UI Text Box Using the Stop Preview Swatch option releases the V-Ray Render node License, if there is no other rendering process taking place.   Column width 5% Column width 50%

 

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Column width 70% Asset Tagging Custom grouping scene assets of any type is now possible in the V-Ray Assets Outliner. A new Tag View button allows toggling tags visibility on or off. It is located at the top-right corner of the Asset Outliner, next to the search field. Tags help to organize and work more efficiently in complex projects. Upon creation each tag is assigned a random color.  Each tag can be assigned to multiple assets all at once via the context menu and one asset can be assigned multiple tags. Tags can be assigned to assets of all categories - materials, textures, lights, etc. When a tag is assigned to assets of different types, the tag indicator appears in each category. Right-clicking on a tag allows its renaming or deletion. Alternatively, double-clicking a tag name allows its renaming directly. Right-clicking on any asset and hovering over its "Tag" context menu entry displays a list of all available tags in the scene, as well indicators which tags are currently assigned to the asset. Dragging an asset over a tag assigns the tag to this asset. UI Text Box type note Tags are considered scene-specific, meaning they are serialized in each project file and they cannot be transferred between scenes. Saving any asset as a .vrmat does not write its tags to the file keeping it clean of any scene-specific data.   Column width 5% Column width 25%

 

 

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Column width 45% Mathematical Expressions Entering mathematical expressions as text in the input number fields of the asset editor is also allowed. Find some useful examples below. Examples of supported operations: Input Result Examples + Addition 1 + 3 = 4 - Subtraction 4 - 2 = 2 * Multiplication 3 * 2 = 6 / Division 3 / 2 = 1.5 Mod Modulo 6 Mod 4 = 2 ! Factorial 5! = 120 log Logarithm with base 10 log1000 = 3 ln Natural Logarithm ln2 = 0.6931... pow Power function pow(2,3) = 8 ^ Power function 2^3 = 8 root Square root root(4) = 2 Trigonometric functions are supported such as "cos", "sin", "tan" are also supported. The following mathematical constants are supported as well. pi = 3.1415... e = 2.71... Parenthesis are also supported which allows for complex mathematical expressions such as: (3*2)^2/4 = 9. Parenthesis are not necessary for some of the operators: e.g. root2 = root(2) ln2 = ln(2) sin60 = sin(60) UI Text Box type note If a non valid mathematical expression is written in the input field, it is ignored and the value of the input remains the same.   Column width 5% Column width 50%

 

 

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Column width 45% Color Picker Anchor colorpicker colorpicker The V-Ray Color Picker can be accessed by clicking on any color slot in the Asset Editor. It is a color manager that allows numeric color value selection in Screen (sRGB) and Rendering (RGB) Color spaces, options to regulate RGB, HSV and temperature. V-Ray Color Picker automatically converts Kelvin to RGB values, as well as RGB to Kelvin whenever possible. Left-click on the current color to save it in the palette. Alternatively, right-click on an empty slot in the palette. Right-click on a saved color in the color slot to replace it with a new one. The V-Ray Color Picker has a Color Assistant that can be opened by clicking on the side bar at the bottom of V-Ray Color Picker window. The Color Assistant provides color palettes to pick a color from. Left-click on a color from the Color Assistant to pick the current color. Right-click on it to use as a base for a color palette. Column width 5%   Column width 50%

 

 

Render Button

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V-Ray Frame Buffer Buttons

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Notes

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