RealityServer for Onshape Q&A

Paul_Arden

alex_huijser said:

Hi Paul, can I import my own environments? And/or is there a way to enhance the current ones? they are pretty fuzzy...

There is supposed to be however in testing just now I have found an issue since browsers don't recognise .hdr and .exr as images, they don't upload them properly when assigning them as environment texturess. Things like PNG and JPG would work but that isn't really that helpful since those are not high dynamic range.

If you just need it for a backplate then there is a separate feature for that, found in the attributes of the camera object. We'll have to look into how we can fix the HDR uploading issue.

Cody_Goodman

Hi Paul, I am currently working with scanned materials trying to implement them into the "flex material" to get the best render, closest to our real product.

We currently receive information on our finishes through eight (8) texture files:
Diffuse - Base Color
Roughness - Diffuse Roughness
Normal - Reflection Roughness
Depth - Reflection Weight
Opacity - Transmission Color
Specular - (Mirror-like property)
Glossiness - (Shiny/Lustrous surface)
Metallic - (Ability to reflect)

I've found a place for the first five (5) files types in the "Flex Material" but having trouble correlating the last three (3). Are there any features in the "Flex Material" that match these last few texture files? Is there a better base material to start with when trying for a custom material?

Paul_Arden

@Cody_Goodman can you share which scanning service you are using, e.g., Vizoo, X-rite, Mura etc? This may help us understand the technique used. In general, I don't believe it is intended that you use all 8 maps, there is a lot of overlap between different material models in what you show. For example it seems they provided you with enough textures to use either something like the flex material or PBR metallic roughness or PBR specular glossiness.

Glossiness and roughness are actually describing the same thing and can usually be related by a formula, so you would typically use one or the other. This however also depends on whether the material is metallic or not. Without more information on what the scanner is targetting it is difficult to give more detail about where to put the textures.

For example, roughness may refer to diffuse roughness as you assumed above, however it could also be the roughness part of the PBR metallic roughness model, in which case it would be completely different.

We don't currently expose the two PBR material variants in the application but plan to in the future. Not however that the PBR model that is most heavily used only really describes opaque surfaces. So it would be helpful to know what types of materials you are scanning.

Doug_Jones

Hi Paul. Speaking for Cody, we are using Mura for the scans. Materials are a wide range. Most of the product materials are painted steel or powder coated aluminum. Also have some components that are colored plastic and even wood veneer or glass. Don’t want to get into too much detail on a blog, but we could email example product images for reference if that would help clarify. Many thanks.

Paul_Arden

@Doug_Jones please reach out through the contact page on the migenius website, I'll see it and pick up the thread there.

AuroraRon

How do we change where the light is coming from or add another light source? 

AuroraRon

Just realized your video now covers this.  Nice job!  All is fine again

Paul_Arden

Glad you found it. It is also possible to upload our own HDRI by changing the texture referenced on the Environment Function attribute on the options. You can then upload a new one. To do this you have to be using one of the library environments first (like the default) since if you use the daylight environment there is no texture to change (those ones are algorithmic). If you are looking for a good source of HDRI environments http://hdrihaven.com is great (most of the ones in the library are from there) or if you want to make your own very specific studio lighting HDR Light Studio (https://www.lightmap.co.uk/) is a good tool for that.

AuroraRon

Thanks Paul, I had no idea!  I see I'm not going to get any real work done for the next few days ;-) . Really cool stuff, thanks for the website info.

AuroraRon

Hey Paul can you help please. I don't understand how I can import a HDRI 
I used one of the library environments. But where is the texture and its reference that will let me import a new one? 

Paul_Arden

You need to select 'Options' on the left in the scene graph, then in the Environment section in the properties on the right you will see an 'Environment Function', if you click on the link to the function you will find the Texture parameter which you can change just like textures on materials. I think you can also just click the background and go to the material tab to get to the same place.

[Deleted User]

@paul_arden
Hello Paul, I am wanting to do some renders of a project of mine, I did the first one and it is excellent and exactly what the customer wanted but the second model won't load. I have had numerous tries but no go, how do I go about troubleshooting this issue? Both models are in the same document and use the same parts. be glad if you could help out.

Paul_Arden

@Ben_Bartlett what actually happens? Does it get to the editor or not past the conversion stage? If it gets stuck at the conversion stage does the button say "Tessellating Model" or "Converting Geometry", this helps us narrow down where the problem is. If it is a model you can share with us that would make it easier for us to diagnose, if not we'll probably need to get a fair bit more detail.

AuroraRon

paul_arden said:

You need to select 'Options' on the left in the scene graph, then in the Environment section in the properties on the right you will see an 'Environment Function', if you click on the link to the function you will find the Texture parameter which you can change just like textures on materials. I think you can also just click the background and go to the material tab to get to the same place.

Paul, when I click on the function, texture parameter, I can load a file. That is when I try and "load" a  .hdr file however it does not appear to do anything after selecting the file.  This is for a texture not an environment? 

Paul_Arden

Ah, actually we may still have a bug in there which is preventing it loading HDR files. We have a fix but haven't rolled it out just yet so unfortunately a custom environment won't work right now unless it's a PNG or JPG which isn't really of much value for a HDR.

[Deleted User]

@paul_arden I can share the model. it got stuck at the conversion stage and says "converting geometry". 

AuroraRon

@paul_arden Any idea when we will be able to load HDR files?

Not having much luck today opening up files. Its been 41 minutes and tried twice now, still spinning away without anything happening.

Paul_Arden

No ETA yet on HDR, we are waiting on some API fixes from Onshape for other things we are working on and want to roll those changes out together.

For not having opening files can you be more specific? All files, just specific files? Opening already saved scenes or converting new?

AuroraRon

No matter the part or document It just hangs at Converting Model. 
Notice the time I have stays the same but the clock timer now shows 3hours and 38 min.  Just keep counting. 
In order to get out of that state, I have to open another window. There is no way to cancel when converting model either. 

Paul_Arden

I will clear some of the status in the system however it looks like you are still using the system, can you stop your server.

AuroraRon

Was I have been out of it for a few hours.  Have not been able to load anything. Should not show me on at all.  

Paul_Arden

I reset some things that might have been causing problems. It may require you to delete and re-add the RealityServer tab for active sessions.

AuroraRon

It is working again.  I did delete and re-add the RealityServer tab before trying. 
Before even in a new document it would not work.  FYI all good now and still loving it ;-)

AuroraRon

Hey Paul, any updated on being able to import HDR images?

Also things are very slow today. I can spend 15 min doing actual work and two hours trying to save my work between steps because it stops responding. Trying different models and it makes no difference. 

AuroraRon

Looks like it finally gave up...   now says

Unable to start a server. Please contact support@migenius.com.

Paul_Arden

@AuroraRon we have a fix for the HDR loading which we haven't rolled out yet since we also need to make some changes for new Onshape API that was introduced. We were waiting on a fix from the Onshape side which we received recently and are now incorporating, so the next update will contain the HDRI fix.

I'd need more detail on what happens when you say it stops responding and will reach out directly on those questions are they are likely too specific to be useful to others in the forum.

On starting servers, while our cloud provider does appear to have been busy today right now I am not having issues getting servers (and there are other users actively using the application with servers as well). Next time you get an issue starting that says unable to start a server, if you could grab a screenshot of the Service Status box:



Since I don't have access to historical information on how busy the provider was at the time you tried to start a server. The reason this is helpful is so we can determine if the issue was simply that there were no servers available or rather a more obscure problem. That information helps us a lot. In the meantime I will be reviewing the logs to check for startup failures with your account.

AuroraRon

Got your email Paul, thanks.    I responded in more detail there. 
Frustrating not knowing what is happening with only a spinning ball and in fear of seeing it, I keep saving every few steps.
Working with you and Onshape to get to the bottom of it.  
Its sheet metal I only work with and assemblies that cause me pain but will carry on in private to figure it out. 

Paul_Arden

We made a few updates to RealityServer recently to address various requests and issues reported by our users. The HDRI upload discussed above has now been rolled out so you can upload custom HDRI. Support for assembly configurations has also been added.

In the process we have been making short videos that answer some of the most common requests we get from users. We have a playlist for this on Youtube that we will update with new videos periodically. Check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwUZBACf-CBNXLL1ymEtAOMtYuaLXJQ78

tim_hess427

@paul_arden - Trying out RealityServer and things are going well so far. However, I want to make a couple of simple "Front" and "side" views of my model, and don't see a way to make sure that everything is lined up correctly. If I use the orbit tool and my mouse, I can get things close, but you can tell they're every so slightly not-straight. Are there any ways to align the model to standard view orientations or way to snap things to an orientation?

Paul_Arden

tim_hess427 said:

@paul_arden - Trying out RealityServer and things are going well so far. However, I want to make a couple of simple "Front" and "side" views of my model, and don't see a way to make sure that everything is lined up correctly. If I use the orbit tool and my mouse, I can get things close, but you can tell they're every so slightly not-straight. Are there any ways to align the model to standard view orientations or way to snap things to an orientation?

The simplest way would be to use the built in Onshape saved view feature and create those views on the Onshape side, these get translated as cameras and will show up in the camera dropdown list in the toolbar in RealityServer.

Failing that you'd have to manually edit the camera instances transform matrix which is much more fiddly so I wouldn't recommend that approach.