Hi, I’m new here
I’m an architect, currently using Sketchup and Enscape, and trying out D5 free version to see if it would be a good choice to switch.
D5 is really good, however there are a couple things I miss from the “Enscape workflow”
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when I set up a material in Enscape the settings will be stored in the Sketchup material – example: I apply a Sketchup material named ‘Wood_001’ to a Sketchup object and then adjust the settings in Enscape (give it some reflection, a bump/normal map, etc…) and then SAVE that Sketchup material for future use.
Then in future models whenever I paint something with that ‘Wood_001’, the Enscape settings are automatically applied.
That is not possible in D5 right? Everytime I open a NEW model in D5 I have to reapply the D5 material settings to that ‘Wood_001’ and all the other Sketchup materials again, right?
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similar thing with Sketchup Components.
I have a pretty extensive Sketchup components library and whenever I import a component to a new model it already has all the “Enscape ready” materials applied.
Even things like a lamp component that I save with an Enscape light inside that component, when I import it to a new model the Enscape light is already incorporated and set with the correct values.
That’s also not possible in D5, right? (I know I can save it as a D5 component, but I’m asking if I can keep that workflow and do it all in Sketchup with Sketchup components)
Those are the only 2 things that keep me from making the switch.
Thanks in advance
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Hi, you are right what you say, but Enscape is designed specifically for Sketchup.
You haven’t asked yourself the question, architects all over the world use different graphics programs, everyone’s approach to design is different. Maybe you don’t know well how D5 works, at the beginning when the version was 1.3 or 1.4 I could only work with the import of SKP files, but there was a fundamental thing that when I worked with Archicad which gave me the possibility of exporting 3D in SKP, exporting the materials I often used saved in the Archicad program system. The first time I used it, I made the settings for these materials with D5 and saved it, then later with other projects I made sure to merge them and merge them with the project made before, where I had made the material settings, so in the process of merging the new open project with the mappings already set, including global lighting and emission. All I had to do, when merging the old with the new project in D5, was save it under the new project name.
However, if I didn’t have any other textures, I saved them in the D5’s personal library, which stays with you forever. You can do the same thing with objects loaded in D5 but before saving them locally you need to set the mappings that give the desired effect.
This is a different way than Enscape to interface with D5.
Good work and good luck.
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Thanks for the reply.
I think I understood your method and it’s an ingenious workaround, yes
But Enscape is not designed specifically for Sketchup, it’s also integrated into Revit, Archicad, Rhino, etc…
And I really wish that D5 was more integrated into Sketchup like that…
Maybe have some method of exporting Sketchup’s materials and have them automatically linked to some custom made D5 materials, idk…
thanks anyway
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Thank you, mine is not advice, you must evaluate the continuity of the work with the program, suitable for your studio and your needs, which gives you professional satisfaction with your clients, the first thing is the quality of the work and then overcoming the time for your work. For my part, with my team that each has their own task, from the survey to the 2D project, and then I intervene with the 3D, I from the 2D phase to the 3D, that is, Autocad and then Archicad, for a project of an entrance, kitchen and Living and then at the end D5 rehder, with the method mentioned before, it takes me a day, that is from 7 in the morning until 8pm in the evening with all renders including the AI ones, which improves the product a lot.
I think it also happens to you, in the phase of your work, to maximize the time to move from one project to another, without losing the quality of the work.
All of this needs to be evaluated, but you know that stopping at just one program to have different types of approach makes you evolve in your sector, also for technological innovations.
The fact that you like the program for what it produces compared to the engine you use has already attracted you to embark on a new professional adventure
I wish you a good continuation.