Manual: CU Library Creator Utility Operators

CU 3.0 Open Material Folder

Open Material Folder opens the folder that contains the material that is active in the Manager Interface, that is the material of the preview of the main panel of Extreme PBR

CU 3.1 Start Batch Previews

Warning, do not use this tool on the Extreme PBR native library, you could damage the library irreparably!

This instrument is very delicate and must be fully learned as regards its real function.
It was really used to facilitate the actual creation of Extreme PBR Preview, we felt it appropriate to leave this tool for use by the end user as well, especially for creators of materials and new libraries.

Basically it serves to replace the preview of the library.

When we at Extreme Addons created the previews of the library, at the beginning we had some white “Fake” previews, from then on we did a “Start batch previews” and we created the current previews present in the main Extreme PBR library.
The previews can be rewritten if, for example, the quality level does not meet your needs.

Start Batch Previews popup panel:

  • Object Type: Enum in [‘Sphere’, ‘Plane’] Decide which type of preview to use, the “Plane” is useful for materials with Alpha Channel.
  • Rot X, Rot Y: The rotation of the preview object
  • Exclude Reflections: Excludes reflection to the material in the preview
  • Use auto Size: Automatically positions the camera if activating the displace, it goes beyond the limits of the camera.
  • Only Current Material: If Active Create the preview only on the material that has been selected from the library from the preview of the main panel of Extreme PBR
  • From Cat / To Cat: It decides from which category to which category to execute the Batch Render of the previews. To start from the first Category set “0” in “From Cat”, while in “To Cat” it is the numerical limit of the list of categories. Note that the list starts at 0, so the first category in your library will be number 0.
  • Use Shade Smooth: If active Using interpolated vertex normals, the mesh faces will blur at the edges and appear smooth.
  • Use Auto Smooth: If active the edges where an angle between the faces is smaller than specified in the Angle field will be smoothed, when shading of these parts of the mesh is set to smooth. This is an easier way to combine smooth and sharp edges.
  • Angle: The angle of the Auto Smooth
  • Use displace if Exist: If active and if there is a displace map in the material, it can be displayed in the preview.
  • Max Subdivision: Subdivision of the object of the preview, the higher it is and the more the displacement will be aesthetically better. The rendering time is affected a lot, the higher it is the more time it takes to render. Leave at 0 To have a displacement with a render in the shortest possible time.
  • Displace Strength: Adjust the amount of displacement
  • Smooth Factor: Smooths sharp edges derived from displacement
  • Smooth Iterations: The number of smoothing iterations, equivalent to executing the Smooth tool multiple times.

CU 3.2 Change Material File Name

Warning, do not use in the Extreme PBR library, use only for creating new libraries!

This is to change the names of the selected material in the library via the Extreme PBR Main panel.
This will change the name of the following names:

  • Folder Material
  • Image Preview
  • Textures Name (Keeps the suffixes of Extreme PBR type _diffuse_xtm intact)
  • .blend file of any procedural materials
  • material names in json files

Once this button is pressed, a popup will appear where you can enter the name, once chosen, press “OK” or press “Esc” to cancel.