Chaos Corona Forum

Chaos Corona for Cinema 4D => [C4D] General Discussion => Topic started by: Pepelecrabb on 2018-01-19, 19:20:21

Title: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Pepelecrabb on 2018-01-19, 19:20:21
I get a preview image showing in the project manager but when I drop the object into my C4D content browser I just get a blank preview/thumbnail. Any Corona materials I save in my materials library content browser show the thumbnail just fine, its just object that I made with Corona materials applied that I would like to save to quickly reuse later. It is hard to differentiate Book_1 from Book_25 without a visual ref.
I sure hope it is possible or at least on the roadmap.
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Beanzvision on 2018-01-20, 13:08:59
This has been working for me all along I believe. I just drag and drop them in.
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Pepelecrabb on 2018-01-20, 15:08:47
Yes as I said, materials saved to the content browser show thumbnails just fine. Thanks for the screen shot beanzvision. It is Objects with Corona Materials applied that do not show in the browser.
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Eddoron on 2018-01-20, 16:23:38
You could try one thing. Access the CB settings, either via the Cb or through the c4d program settings->conten browser and enable the "render projects" checkbox. It could work with the proper render settings applied.
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Beanzvision on 2018-01-20, 17:35:56
Yes as I said, materials saved to the content browser show thumbnails just fine. Thanks for the screen shot beanzvision. It is Objects with Corona Materials applied that do not show in the browser.

Ah sorry my bad, I must have read over that bit. My objects also save with their textures in the cb. Strange they aren't working for you. The only issue I have with saving to the cb is with layered materials. They usually appear blank and when loaded the layer slots are empty. Pain in the ass if working with a lot of layers.
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Pepelecrabb on 2018-01-22, 11:46:19
Sadly, Eddoron that does not work. Although I am not sure what you mean by the proper render settings. Usually I just put a basic C4d material overtop of any Corona materials I have applied just so I can see the shape of the object in the CB. But with my collection of books that all look pretty much the same without seeing the covers that isn't much help.

Beanzvision-I also have that issue with layered materials but if I apply the layered material to an object and save that object to the CB then bring that object back into C4D later it always usually has the layered material with layers intact. Problem is I can't see it in the CB.
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Eddoron on 2018-01-22, 12:53:06
I meant that you change the render-settings to corona and give it a small limit to render. Maybe force path tracing instead of uhd. I haven't tried it yet.
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Pepelecrabb on 2018-01-24, 14:20:29
Nope, does not work.

Am I the only one or is this a known issue?
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Eddoron on 2018-01-24, 18:05:23
Did you insert a rendered or custom image in the project's settings info tab as the preview display?
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Pepelecrabb on 2018-01-25, 18:09:09
Tried importing a rendered image to the project settings and that does not work either.
Title: Re: How to get Objects with Corona Materials to show in Content Browser?
Post by: Mor4us on 2018-01-29, 14:45:16
Automated Preview Rendering of Materials only works when used inside a "Preset" library (*.lib4d file)
I personally prefer to have my contentbrowser library in "catalogs" (*.cat4d file) because they don't generate duplicates within a lib4d file and produce a hell lot of files.
lib4d files are a kind of container that can have c4d objects, materials etc in it, but it always creates a copy of the file added within the lib4d file
cat4d files are just catalogs that point to a location on your local drive, it can point to c4d files, jpgs, or any other file of choice, but it's always just a link to that file not a copy

when using catalogs it would point to an empty c4d file with only containing the chosen material and cinema can't know the difference to an ordinary file which would be perfectly fine showing the viewport as preview

If using the second method for materials, you have to add a preview thumbnails manually.