Hi, the denoising menu doesn't appear in my blender. Anyone else encountering the same issue ?

You need to download and unzip the latest Experimental Daily Build. NOT the 2.8 version but 2.78 Experimental.

Thanks ! I've given it a go on the small mobile crane, this feature is definitely awesome.

Yes, your renders look good. You can finally use a sample rate from 128 - 256 with Denoiser what gives you a better result of 1280 samples at the end but 10 times faster 😃

Add-on updated to version 1.0.2
Check the change log for more details.

I added the support for Freestyle edges in the import options.

To set it up, go to the render options and activate Freestyle:

Then in the render layers options, select Silhouette and Edge Mark:

Hi there!
Great addition! 😉 did you implement the color scheme for Freestyle edges (same as on your website)?
Cheers

David

Not yet, I may add that in another version if people are keen on this new feature.

Hi Scrubs.

A request for a feature to be added to the advanced Blender Plug-in. - The option to turn off the scratch/fingerprint etc feature when importing huge models. These features are desirable for normal modelling, but make the plug in unusable for massive models, and on the massive models, those subtle features are almost undetectable anyway in the final render. (see the render of the Antonov I posted, you would not be able to tell if there were any scratches or fingerprints on the bricks.)

If it is possible it will make the plug in more versatile and usable. Then when assembling a render scene which may include models with and without those textures we use the join option as pointed out to me by Michael which then keeps the render memory requirements down.

I have been trying to work out a way to render some pretty huge scenes since buying the Advanced plug in and had to give up in the end and break the scene down into separate layer renders and then assemble the layers as videos but this always looks fake as the reflections etc are not there. The model would take forever to load to start with, sometimes hours, and would eventually render with CPU at 1 hour and 20 minutes a frame but crash using the GPU due to massive memory requirements. Sometimes more than 6 gig peak.

I have played with massively decimating the model using planer at 80 degrees which totally destroys the brick effect of the studs but keeps the flats and turns a 12 million face model into a 1.2 million face model which is fine for distance viewing.

I am waiting on a new 6G card to replace my 3G card, but with the bitcoin story, there is none in the country and have been advised I may be waiting for 2 months or more. I would like to keep going on the new project i am working on, but waiting 2 days to render 2 seconds of a scene kills it.

If it is an option that can be made to work, then I would appreciate it. Otherwise I have to work out how to use the basic plug in with Blender without having to uninstall and reinstall all the time.

If it is viable, I think it would make a valuable addition to the plug in. Please. Thanks.

Hello,

You don't need to uninstall and reinstall the add-on to use the lite version of the shaders. Everything is included in the Advanced version. Untick 'Use Advanced Shaders' in the Add-on preferences. This is not available in the mecabricks import options as only one type of shader is allowed per scene and it would be confusing having this option there.

In the future, I will add scene options/presets and one of them will be to mass change the node settings.

If you read the change log of the new version 1.0.2 I posted a couple of days ago, you would have seen that I improved the script to go way faster with large models. Did you try it?

Regarding GPU, I cannot do much. Make sure that you tick 'Link Materials to Meshes'. Your model must be exported from Mecabricks using the option 'Group by geometry and colour'. It will be a bit longer to import but will use as little memory as possible. Keep in mind that rendering detailed LEGO models is a a very complicated and resource intensive process. I try to help Blender as much as I can but unfortunately from a certain scene size, there is not much that can be done and Blender is not really suitable anymore.

Hope it helps

Thanks Scrubs, No, I have not tried the latest version, I have down loaded it but not installed it yet as waiting on a long render.

Thanks for the tips, I will try them.

So am I right in thinking that if there is only one shader allowed per blender scene, the "Link materials to Meshes" get past the problem where you need to mix two models, 1 in the foreground with lots of details, and then the less detailed model with out the scratches in the background by actually adding the scratches and dents details into the models mesh itself (if I have used the term correctly)?

I am rendering an 800 frame scene now which is a slow scan across a lego room with furniture, and the extra detail added by the advanced plug-in is awesome. The scratches and dings in the bricks make them look super realistic. Like my old Lego set.

Great job as always, thank you for the work you have put into it.

To get 2 different types of shaders in your scene (lite and advanced) what you can do is:
1 - Create scene #1 and import detailed model with Advanced shader
2 - Create scene #2 and import background model with Lite shader
3 - Create scene #3 and link models from scene #1 and scene #2.
This is a good solution as it allows you to modify either scenes separately and everything will be synchronised in your big final scene #3.

Thank you. I will try that.

Just some Feedback. Using the new version of the advanced shader plus adding another 8g of ram, going from 12g to 20g has reduced my CPU render time of my i7 from 1h37 minutes to 33m on a scene that is using 3574.44M of memory.

How would you add a world background in the template file? The settings seem to only reflect it off the model, not appear as a 360 degree background.

Nevermind got it, the transparent box under render>film was ticked. all good.

Maybe I missed this somewhere, but when I open the template for larger models and import the model, the model is huge. I can resize the background a bit, but only so much before it freaks out and the background is unusable. What's up with that? I'm probably missing something super obvious but it's really making rendering larger files a pain. I've only been using the advance add-on so I don't know if the same issue is in the regular version.

Hi Brickbelt. -

To see the model in the viewport, you can adjust the End Clipping point value. In the view port scroll down the Right Tool bar until the View options. Change clip end value - I add a 0 to the figure and then you should see the whole model. so 200 becomes 2,000. You should then be able to see all of the model. If not, add another 0 until you can then you can fine tune it backwards from there.

For The Rendering camera, you adjust the same settings under the camera settings. Right hand tool bar select the camera and then the Camera properties icon. Under the Lens options change the clipping end value - add a 0 so 2,000 becomes 20,000. This should sort it. If not, again add another 0 until you can see all of the model and then reduce it backwards to where you are happy.

Hope this helps.

Advanced Add-on has been updated. Check the change log https://www.mecabricks.com/en/shop/product/4
Among other new features, a new panel is available for easy customization of the materials.

Hmm, where is this magical panel? I'm not seeing it. 😕

In the tool tab of the left row in the 3d view. Only in object mode.