Baker Quick Load

Gordon Robb

I'm just loving the Baker in Toolbag 3. I'm trying to understand the quick loader however, I will be doing a lot of different parts of a major project, so if I can set objects up that have different groups and both high and low in them (as per the video) I'd love that. I'm struggling however, with how to do it. Can someone point me in the direction?

EarthQuake

Check out the Toolbag Setup section of the Toolbag Baking Tutorial here: https://www.marmoset.co/posts/toolbag-baking-tutorial/

It covers the quick loader and various other aspects.

Gordon Robb

EarthQuake said:

Check out the Toolbag Setup section of the Toolbag Baking Tutorial here: https://www.marmoset.co/posts/toolbag-baking-tutorial/

It covers the quick loader and various other aspects.

Yeh, that's where I saw info about the object naming. But it doesn't cover how to create a single obj file, with all those objects (groups, low and high etc) in it, like shown in the tutorial video. 

EarthQuake

Firstly, the quick loader supports multiple mesh files, so you don't need to export everything in one file. For instance, you can export a file for your low poly meshes, and another for your highpoly meshes.

Secondly, you don't need to create groups within the mesh file, simply follow the naming conventions and export your content from your 3D app and the quick loader will read the names and set up the groups automatically.

Gordon Robb

Ah, so I just have all the files, select them all, and the baker will put them in the right slots automatically. That makes sense. the video makes it look like it's loading one object, and somehow extracting the different files. 

EarthQuake

Gordon Robb said:

Ah, so I just have all the files, select them all, and the baker will put them in the right slots automatically. That makes sense. the video makes it look like it's loading one object, and somehow extracting the different files. 

Yes, in the video one file is loaded. That file contains all of the high and low poly objects, which are sorted into the appropriate bake groups. You can load one file or many, though fewer files are generally easier to manage.

In Toolbag there are multiple levels of hierarchy:

1.  The file reference level, this is your .OBJ or .FBX file, it can contain many objects of different types, such as meshes, cameras, and lights. You can load file references the normal way, by going to File -> Import, or by clicking on the cube icon on the top row above the outliner. You can also load file references via the quick loader.
2.  The mesh object level, these are the mesh objects which you define in your 3D app. If using the quick loader, you need to name these following the outlined conventions, which will assign them to the appropriate bake groups.
3.  The material ID level, each mesh object can have multiple per-polygon material assignments, otherwise known as material IDs. If you need to assign multiple materials to one mesh object this is what you would use. This isn't important for the quick loader though.
   

Gordon Robb

EarthQuake said:

Gordon Robb said:

Ah, so I just have all the files, select them all, and the baker will put them in the right slots automatically. That makes sense. the video makes it look like it's loading one object, and somehow extracting the different files. 

Yes, in the video one file is loaded. That file contains all of the high and low poly objects, which are sorted into the appropriate bake groups. You can load one file or many, though fewer files are generally easier to manage.

In Toolbag there are multiple levels of hierarchy:

1.  The file reference level, this is your .OBJ or .FBX file, it can contain many objects of different types, such as meshes, cameras, and lights. You can load file references the normal way, by going to File -> Import, or by clicking on the cube icon on the top row above the outliner. You can also load file references via the quick loader.
2.  The mesh object level, these are the mesh objects which you define in your 3D app. If using the quick loader, you need to name these following the outlined conventions, which will assign them to the appropriate bake groups.
3.  The material ID level, each mesh object can have multiple per-polygon material assignments, otherwise known as material IDs. If you need to assign multiple materials to one mesh object this is what you would use. This isn't important for the quick loader though.
   

Thanks. I'm having difficulty with this. I've tried loading multiple, correctly named, obj files and it doesn't work. Also, number one in your answer is what I was asking about. How do I create a reference obj, that has multiple obj files in it?  I can't find anything about how to do this.

EarthQuake

Gordon Robb said:

EarthQuake said:

Gordon Robb said:

Ah, so I just have all the files, select them all, and the baker will put them in the right slots automatically. That makes sense. the video makes it look like it's loading one object, and somehow extracting the different files. 

Yes, in the video one file is loaded. That file contains all of the high and low poly objects, which are sorted into the appropriate bake groups. You can load one file or many, though fewer files are generally easier to manage.

In Toolbag there are multiple levels of hierarchy:

1.  The file reference level, this is your .OBJ or .FBX file, it can contain many objects of different types, such as meshes, cameras, and lights. You can load file references the normal way, by going to File -> Import, or by clicking on the cube icon on the top row above the outliner. You can also load file references via the quick loader.
2.  The mesh object level, these are the mesh objects which you define in your 3D app. If using the quick loader, you need to name these following the outlined conventions, which will assign them to the appropriate bake groups.
3.  The material ID level, each mesh object can have multiple per-polygon material assignments, otherwise known as material IDs. If you need to assign multiple materials to one mesh object this is what you would use. This isn't important for the quick loader though.
   

Thanks. I'm having difficulty with this. I've tried loading multiple, correctly named, obj files and it doesn't work. Also, number one in your answer is what I was asking about. How do I create a reference obj, that has multiple obj files in it?  I can't find anything about how to do this.

The naming applies to the mesh objects, not to the individual files (OBJ, FBX, etc). So naming your files myfile_low.obj, myfile_high.obj, etc, will not work.

How to name your objects will vary depending on exactly what 3D app you use, which is why it isn't covered in any of our material. Generally this is simply a matter of going to the outliner or scene list, double clicking the object and naming it as you see fit. If you're still unsure, I would suggest looking for a tutorial that covers the basics of scene organization for your 3D app.

ErikWidqvist

Hi! 
I had the same issue as Gordon when trying to do this in Modo.
 
I used the above naming of items in the obj I tested with. When using the quickloader in Marmoset, with this setup, I just get one item in the Baker with the shaders (the first bake group where removed as well).
However if I export the same setup as an FBX and import it with the quickloader it works just fine, and Marmoset creates the correct folders for me. 
Not sure if I'm doing something wrong.

Jack M.

Not to necro this thread but I'm having the same issue here. Obj files with correct naming come in named differently on the high and low poly from what they should be. If I export in fbx though it works fine.

EarthQuake

Jack M. said:

Not to necro this thread but I'm having the same issue here. Obj files with correct naming come in named differently on the high and low poly from what they should be. If I export in fbx though it works fine.

Hey Jack, can you send me an example OBJ file that shows this behavior?

One thing you can check is to import the mesh file back into your 3D modeling app to make sure the objects come back in as you expect. If they do not, this is probably an export-level problem from the 3D app. For instance, the 3D app is exporting all the objects as one object rather than retaining the object info.

You can try loading the file directly into Toolbag (not via the quick loader) to test this as well.

Jack M.

After checking like you suggested it showed Maya was botching the export names. I figured it out now. Thanks for the super quick response

Sebostian

I have same issue. I have objects like Armor_low (from Maya) and Armor_high (from Zbrush) and after I try to use quick loader - I have just multiple meshes without groups

 


Like this.

EarthQuake

Sebostian said:

I have same issue. I have objects like Armor_low (from Maya) and Armor_high (from Zbrush) and after I try to use quick loader - I have just multiple meshes without groups

 


Like this.

Object in this case refers to the names of the mesh objects (ie: Group24509), not the name of the file (ie: Armor_Body_high.obj). The name matching in Toolbag works with object names. 

Sebostian

Oh.. I see, I not able to edit this names.. Only FBX for bakes? 

EarthQuake

Sebostian said:

Oh.. I see, I not able to edit this names.. Only FBX for bakes? 

You should be able to rename the objects in Zbrush. I'm not a Zbrush guy though so I can't tell you how. You could try making a post in tech talk.

Another thing you can do is drag your OBJ files into Toolbag and put them into bake groups manually. If you don't need a lot of groups this should be quick and easy to do.

You can press the new bake group icon (2 spheres) to add a bake group manually.

oXYnary

For the Zbrush people:  Under export options, uncheck the groups (Grp).  That will export each subtool object as one complete mesh (vs grouping at Polygroups).  Use the FBX exporter under Zplugin and that will keep your names and allow for Paint Exports for Vertex Color.