Managing maps

[philvanderloo]

Does anyone have a real comprehensive system, or strategy, for organizing map files?

Are most of you just dumping all of your maps into one folder to keep it all together or is there a better way?

As I'm building up my library of models from landscaping to furniture, etc., all of my related files are scattered in various folders because I don't really have an organized system and things are starting to get kinda messy.

Thanks

[Nicolai Bongard]

Having all your maps in one folder can be messy if you do not rename them properly so that it is easyer to find what you want later, and renaming all the stuff is something you want to do from the start as the more stuff you add/get the worse the job will be, and especially if you have lots of materials sharing the same maps (you will have to edit the individual materials to look for the "new" (renamed) maps. However it is probably better in the long run as max has a limit on how many folders it can have in the external files menu, so if you exceed that limit you will have to manually add the bitmaps of stuff you import/merge into your scene (if they are in a folder that is not included in the external files), and that can be confusing as well if they got really generic names and you have another map named the same in a folder that you have included, thus loading the wrong map.

[Amen]

Have a look at Project Manager ( http://3d-kstudio.com/product/project-manager/ )

 

We are using it and I like it a lot. You can render previews of 3d models using your custom scene for background. IES, HDRs, materials and textures have their own tabs, which is a perfect starting point for your own organizing.

 

And you have a file relink tool.

 

I really like it.

[Devin Johnston]

If you start organizing your files by type it's much easier to find things when you need them. I have a single folder called materials and within that folder are lots of sub folders that house them. It's much easier to look for granite in the stone folder than to just have everything dumped into a single folder.

[Francisco Penaloza]

After years of laziness I decided to re organize my whole library just because I wasted so much time looking for a single texture it was ridiculous.

I created main folder for, Materials, Object, Sounds, Videos, Projects and so on.

Then inside that main category I tried to create main families, such Bricks, or Concrete, Grass, Sky, Logos, Flags and so on, so I put each image where is supposed to name each one of them with an unique name, representative enough. Not Concrete1, but LightGrayConcreteAged so if I need to do a visual search I can find it easy.

Then, the most painful part was, Digitally Tag each image. So when everything is set and done I can easily search with Adobe Bridge.

I just look the thumbnails, and apply filters if need it.

Adobe Bridge take forever to open and build the libraries, but once is open I just leave it there the whole day, so is fast to look at something when I need it.

It was a painful process, but boy right now search for people or Trees is so easy and quick that it was very worth the effort

[Tommy L]

After years of laziness I decided to re organize my whole library just because I wasted so much time looking for a single texture it was ridiculous.

I created main folder for, Materials, Object, Sounds, Videos, Projects and so on.

Then inside that main category I tried to create main families, such Bricks, or Concrete, Grass, Sky, Logos, Flags and so on, so I put each image where is supposed to name each one of them with an unique name, representative enough. Not Concrete1, but LightGrayConcreteAged so if I need to do a visual search I can find it easy.

Then, the most painful part was, Digitally Tag each image. So when everything is set and done I can easily search with Adobe Bridge.

I just look the thumbnails, and apply filters if need it.

Adobe Bridge take forever to open and build the libraries, but once is open I just leave it there the whole day, so is fast to look at something when I need it.

It was a painful process, but boy right now search for people or Trees is so easy and quick that it was very worth the effort

 

You make me need an intern.

[klonk]

I tend to have at least a double system. If I buy something, models or textures from a place like Evermotion or download a material, I typically keep it the way I got it in a general stuff folder. I then take components from this that I use and copy them over to my own organized file structure. I also typically make a copy of my textures as I tweak them in Photoshop so I don't mess up the original.

 

The good part is that my own structure becomes very optimized with only the stuff I really like, but I still end up with a mess in the general folder and it is often faster to look at CGTextures than trying to find a texture there. Since I copy textures when I tweak them in Photoshop I usually have to relocate them in the material editor anyway, but at least this is on a map by map basis.

 

I've looked at project browser solutions like Motools but have yet to pull the trigger. I guess I'm concerned that I spend a lot of time setting up such a system and then the next version doesn't work with the latest Max/vray or worse that the vendor disappears.

[aristocratic3d]

I am not sure if what I am doing is insane. I go to google Almost 50% time when I need textures. I search google if I need to search. because google is more efficient to me if I am not sure where to find in my HDD. And its quick and easy to create speculer and normal maps if needed.

 

As I do archviz usually many times I dont need specular maps and such detail as camera does not catch the detail from far distance.

 

Does any of you use google as much as I do?

 

BTW my library is very organized. I did it only last year.

[philippelamoureux]

Once you get Relink bitmap plugin it doesn't matter anymore where your maps are :-)

 

In all seriousness, I have subfolders for all map categories....concrete, wood, tiles, etc. and 1 big misc folder that is filled with random downloaded textures on the net.

Edited January 31, 2015 by philippelamoureux

[aristocratic3d]

and 1 big misc folder that is filled with random downloaded textures on the net.

 

I have one too! I named that folder "Frequently used texture".

[philvanderloo]

Very good stuff here. But my biggest fear is moving everything all over to organize it and then having to remap all of my old scenes to find all the maps. But I'm sure the longer I wait the harder it will be.

I'll have to check into the relink bitmap plugin and see if that's the answer for that issue.

Thank You for the guidance.

[Francisco Penaloza]

Relink Bitmap will take care of your missing path within Max.

You can move everything in your hard drive to organize your textures, then just run Relink Bitmap and all the textures will be re linked.

 

Now because you use relink Bitmap does not mean that your textures will be organized in your hard drive.

If you work by yourself, I guess you understand your own chaos, but when you work in a studio or at leas with other artist, there is no excuse to have everything flying around. There is a lot of time wasted googling or searching in hard drives for one texture that you need.

[TomasEsperanza]

+1 for Relink Bitmaps (it's almost crucial!).

 

Here's another useful tool for maintaining your assets:

 

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/mb-resource-collector

 

I like to use this to collect all the assets being used (including proxies) in the scene, and place them in a Project folder, specific to each job. This way if the library structure changes (new folders, re-naming etc) the necessary assets are separate from the library and always with the pertinent Max file. This also means you can copy the whole project folder and take it to other locations. When you open the max file on someone else's computer from the project folder on your portable storage, you don't need your library, as all the necessary assets with the file in the folder too.

 

Of course, while you work, assets are coming from "left right and centre", but every now and then or perhaps just at the end of a project, I run the script so I know that scene is archived if it needs to be revisited.

 

For downloaded images, I have a folder to download CGTextures' images straight into. It has subfolders for genre, "Roofing", "Walls", etc.

 

Purchased libraries are ordered in folders by manufacturer, "Evermotion", "model+model", etc. These are in a Library that resides on the local storage drive (of both laptop and workstation respectively) these can be regularly synced using FreeFileSync.

 

Incidentally, I also have a render node wired to the WS. But I have bought a NAS that isn't wired up yet, but this will centralise the repository and make it independent of the WS. Hopefully to avoid any significant performance drop (library on local drive is fast for WS of course) ), the network will use Link Aggregation.

 

I do find that I rarely use the same images twice, so perhaps the library is of secondary importance to actually ensuring that the assets are there for your scene. My workflow is methodical and can be a little slow, but I don't have a problem revisiting projects and working on old scenes; everything is consistently named.