Hi everyone,
I’m relatively new to D5 and so far I love it!
There is one thing I couldn’t figure out how to do yet, so here I am asking for your help:
How do you duplicate a D5 file in order to work on both versions in different directions?
For example: I have a D5 file where the vegetation is placed in a certain way (let’s call this one A) and it has a bunch of scenes that I want rendered with the vegetation placed like that.
Then, I want to create some new angles but for them to look well, I need to make significant changes to where the trees are located - I would need to create a duplicate file where I can freely move the trees but keep file A in case I want to make changes to the initial state of the tree locations. Hope that makes sense.
If this was answered before, sorry for double posting, this topic can be ignored once you can kindly direct me to the answer.
Thank you for reaching out. I’m not entirely sure what you mean by duplicating your scene and working independently with those two scenes. However, I believe you want to have two scenes that are not dependent on each other but can be synchronized into one workflow. Here are the steps you can follow:
Create scene A as your main D5 file, where your vegetation and landscape are arranged according to your initial choice.
For scene B, hit “save us” and rename it to B. These two files are now independent of each other but are still synchronized with your workflow file (3ds Max, Blender, etc.).
You can now create or arrange new vegetation and landscapes in Scene B without affecting your Scene A.
Alternatively, instead of creating two files for different landscapes and vegetation, you can try layering them or using a brush. You have the control of turning them on and off as needed based on the desired angle. This will allow for different views and landscapes by layering them differently.
If you think this suggestion works better than the first one and you need more information about this, feel free to reach out and I would be very happy to help you.
Thank you for your quick answer! I will look at the 2 links you provided but meanwhile, I tested this scenario out with simplified models and seems to work:
I created a new 3D model in Sketchup, it contains geometry and some materials, called it A.skp.
From Sketchup I open up D5, create a new project for A.skp, add some D5 assets over my geometry, and save it A.drs, along with the folder D5 creates with assets and textures.
I make a copy of A.skp and call it B.skp.
I make a copy of the D5 folder containing A.drs, rename A.drs to B.drs
Open B.skp, make some geometry changes and from Sketchup, I open D5 - it asks me if I want to open an existing or new project, I select an existing one and browse for B.drs.
I deleted the initial geometry in B.drs (which was there from A.skp) and now I have the new geometry from B.skp but with the D5 assets that were there from A.skp.
Now, if I want to go back to working on A.skp and A.drs I can do that, but I also have B.drs which I can modify and change independently from A - this was what I was looking for and so far, at least on my very simplified test files it worked. I am not yet sure how this will be handled when there are much more assets, settings, and geometry involved but it’s a promising start.
Nevertheless, I will make sure to check your links today as well!
Thank you for your detailed response. I’m not quite entirely sure if you managed to read through my edited response but it feels great you managed to figured things out.
Thank you, I didn’t see the edited post when replying earlier, it all makes sense now. Basically, you’re using both D5 scenes linked to the same 3DS folder, I was also duplicating that one (in my case, a Sketchup file).
And yes, layering them and keeping everything organized sounds better and I try to keep everything layered, but there was one case where there was just too much vegetation and and other assets added that it was impossible for me to organize them anymore and instead, I just started moving stuff around in order to create a new angle.
