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@maliohammad I am a C++ software developer by trade, so the jump from Python wasn't the issue. In fact it was the other way round when I starting writing plugins in Python, last year. By now I still don't know the language by heart and extensively need to refer to its documentation. Same for MAXON's SDK , and unfortunately their Python and C++ SDK are not a simple one on one mapping. Which means I basically had to rewrite the whole original Seamilar plugin before being able to add the new UV unwrapping features. Took me nearly two weeks (full time), and then another week to figure out the unwrapping. Luckily I had already spent most of the time doing the research while implementing the Python plugin ... just waiting for MAXON to catch up with the Python SDK ;-) Looking back, I better had started with C++ from day one, I wouldn't have wasted waiting for a working SDK. @smibrand If you have some character models to share, sent me a private message as I would be thankful to have a more complex model to play with. @arail I don't know what Modo provides as UV functionality, we could discuss your needs, and see if I can fit these into Seamilar. For now I am mostly focused on getting a stable "framework" implemented. All "fancy" features (symmetry, auto unwrap, ...) will have to wait.

Thanks to all for the feedback so far. Thanks. Hence the name of this plugin. Haven't looked at 3D Coat since over a year, but I can say that it was a revelation to use the demo and a great inspiration to make my own tool. I am collecting ideas as we speak, as I am not to fond of BodyPaint's TextureView window. If possible I'd like to display a better UV representation, but I know the current SDK is limited in that area.

Working on the next version of this plugin (see here) I will probably retract this Python version from public, as well as stop any support for it.

[Edit - Note: this thread should be located in the "Programming - C++" section of the forums. It ended up in the "Python" section by accident during one of the forums reorganizing sessions] For the original plugin version I would like to refer to this thread. A year has passed since the implementation of that Python plugin, and while I wanted this Seamilar plugin to do more than currently has been released, the Python SDK held me back. With the release of R18 MAXON provided additional bodypaint functionality in it's Python SDK, and I finally could implement the full version of the plugin as I envisioned it at the start. Or so I thought. Unfortunately, MAXON's dev support confirmed that the added functionality didn't work, so I was back to square one. Instead of waiting on a fix from MAXON, I went ahead and digged into the world of C++ plugin development, as this SDK didn't suffer the reported problems. A few weeks later and I have this "concept version" running. More development is required before it reaches a stable release version, but it already shows it's potential. No release date available yet. As for the supported Cinema 4D versions, this will depend on the needed functionality in the final version. One drawback of this being a C++ plugin: while the python plugin (being a script) is platform independent, a C++ plugin needs to be built (compiled and linked) on PC and on Mac separately. EDIT: If you want to know more about the progress of this plugin, feel free to browse through the many posts that have been written since the birth of the plugin, to its current state.

I have another suggestion for house rule: If a questions is posted and answered, the least decent thing the poster of the question could do is report back, provide feedback on the given answers. Regularly (but not most of the time) you'll see questions asked, with one or more solutions provided ... and never hear back from the original poster. The users who did take the time to post their solution would appreciate feedback if their answer was useful or not. It might help them to formulate their solutions differently in the future, in case it didn't fit the original post, etc ... More than once did it happen where I spend quite some time to explain a solution, with detailed text and screenshots, some attachments of xpresso setup or some python code ... and never heard back. I don't keep these users in a black list or so, but when I recognize their user-id I tend to ignore their future posts. end of rant.

While I do appreciate the suggestion, I don't fully agree. It seems obvious having an explanation provides for a better understanding of the solution. But not everyone is gifted with the possibility to clearly bring over their intention, and provide a "readable" (understandable) explanation. Additionally, there is the language barrier for non native English speakers. When I provide an answer, I often need to look up words, translation, etc ... This hinders my explanation. For some, providing comments is just second nature and comes fluently. For others it turns out to be a task, more of a chore actually, which takes up quite some time to pen down. (This "simple" reply did cost me 16 minutes in total to write down) So, yes, I am all for providing detailed comments on solutions by the poster, but it should not be mandatory.

Glad I could help.

Here is a scene file with userdata setup and python tag to control the groups. The reason for sharing the scene file, and not simply the python code, is that the userdata IDs are important. So with only the code and no userdata to refer to it would be hard to understand. Hope this helps. Python Show-Hide UserData.zip

You're welcome. For more details about workflow, you could have a look here: http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/90805-c4d-learning-expedition-001-pro-level-uv-mapping/?page=1 It's almost a year old, but most information is still valid. Unfortunately not all links or videos did survive.

I don't have special use cases. The reason I created Seamilar was because I noticed I was constantly switching between loop selection, path selection, live selection, etc ... to get my seams selected to relax my UV islands. First thing I did - to speed up switching between the tools - was to assign these tools via their shortcut keys to some of the 12 mouse buttons (I have a Logitech G600). But with Seamilar it became much simpler, as I only need that one tool and switch between its single and extended selection mode via the Shift key, which is assigned to one of the two buttons on my 3Dconnexion Space Navigator. I thus have my left hand on the Space Navigator, my right on the mouse, and by controlling these 2 devices I can navigate my 3D view, hover over the required edges, select single or extended mode and click, click, click. No keyboard shortcuts, no switching of tools. Creating seams is now really only focusing on where to cut instead of figuring out how to select the edges to make up that seam ... what it used to be before. Attached is an example of asset I UV map using Seamilar. Now, the actual UV mapping is still a chore, but the workflow to create the separate UV islands is greatly sped up with the plugin. My workflow is to select seams on an object, perform a projection, relax using the selected seams as cut edges, then do some optimization. Then proceed with the next object, until all objects for that UV texture are done. Then I manually arrange the different objects UV on the single canvas. Export to FBX and perform the actual texturing in Substance Painter. So this Seamilar plugin only helps in a tiny part of the whole workflow.

How to install: In Cinema 4D (PC) go to Edit>Preferences, this opens the preferences dialog. Now select the button "Open Preferences Folder" at left bottom, this opens a windows explorer. Double click the "plugins" folder in the windows explorer and copy the unzipped Seamilar folder into this folder. Restart Cinema 4D, and plugin should be available. How to use: I have tried to explain the basic usage at the start of this thread, including some screenshots. Edit: I just realized I never uploaded the latest version, as there seemed to be a problem with version 1.2 Edit 2 : <removed obsolete file>

metal - I guess some Apple/Mac related SDK or something similar? If it's only Apple/Mac then I guess MAXON will look next to it, as I have understood they only use SDK/libraries that are multi platform.

As I am in the middle of a project, I still am working with R17 and haven't installed R18 (have still to download it). According to the documentation of the R18 Python SDK, MAXON did replace some attributes from the reflectance layer, which means that the current SPETI plugin will not work in R18. I was working on a next version to fix a few bugs and add some more features, but this difference between R17 and R18 SDK is slightly annoying, meaning I will have to maintain 2 plugin versions, as they both require different code. As there are a few options available, I'd like to request feedback from users. In order not to clutter up this thread I'd like SPETI users to PM me mentioning their Cinema 4D version: - "R18" if you're an R18 user stuck with a non working SPETI 0.5 - "R17" if you're an R17 user with no intention to upgrade to R18 Thanks

Very sad news indeed. While I didn't know the man in person, nor didn't use his plugin suite, it still feels like a big loss. Dan, you will be missed.

Don't worry, you're not the only one. I am too busy working on my project(s) that I have no time to download and install R18. A few more days (weeks?) before I switch to the latest version.

I had promised myself one thing when I would release the next version of this plugin, and that was to also provide a video showing the basic usage of SPETI (both the Assign and Config tabs). But after a few days of trying I can only confess that I simply am not made to explain things. I have tried the spontaneous way, as well as following a written down scenario. Again and again. All iterations failed their goal of clearly explaining what to do, why, when. Kudos to those who make entertaining video tutorials ... it just isn't my thing. Well, after all, this plugin isn't rocket science, so you'll eventually figure out how to use it without me explaining. <file removed> (as before, R17 only)

Finally found (made some) time to work on the missing pieces of this plugin. Some more testing days ahead, but next version should be available soon. I have added support for different image formats (bmp, jpg, png, tif), selectable in the Assign tab. Most work, however, has been done in the Config tab as I now have added the feature to add custom "channels" (known as TextureSet images). Although this was implemented rather easily, much more time was needed to provide support for multiple layers in the reflectance material channel.

Thanks for your feedback. As mentioned earlier, support for different file formats is on my todo list, and will make it in the next version. For the preset to be saved, the user needs to press the "save changes" button in the config tab. I don't like this myself, and am looking for a different way to handle this, but to constantly save the preset with every single change isn't very optimal. So far I thus rely on the user pressing the save button. These presets should be stored in a subfolder of the plugin, and automatically loaded next time you start the plugin. From your description it seems something goes wrong during saving or loading (assuming you pressed the save changes button). Does the console show any error message related to saving/loading

You're welcome. No further development yet, as most features I needed are implemented. Next on the list is the ability to select the input image format. Currently only bmp supported (I encountered some Cinema 4D crashes trying to import png's from Substance Painter, and thus focused on one format that did work). I am sure custom channels will be needed in future, so I am running this idea in the back of my head. I am also wanting to replace the warning and error icons (simple colored boxes with question/exclamation mark) with more meaningful icons.

I haven't described the pipeline in full details, but following are plugins I created to automate the process. http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/91939-new-plugin-colorid-mapper http://www.c4dcafe.com/ipb/forums/topic/92673-new-plugin-substance-painter-exported-texture-importer-speti

No further development yet as now I am actually USING the plugin. How better to demonstrate by a simple render. Left is the untextured object, and right the same scene with textures created in Substance Painter and imported via SPETI. (ground and sky are "basic" C4D materials)

As many others I applaud MAXON for sharing this kind of information (the demo video). To me, the message is more important than its content, as honestly I don't see what everyone's so excited about. But that might be just me missing the point. As said, thumbs up for showing us what the future will bring. The blog, however, is more than just a message this time. As I recently started digging into developing scripts and plugins, I was more or less focused on working on some UV tools enhancements, tired of waiting for MAXON's update on this subject. Knowing this endeavour would take up quite some months I kept procrastinating, hoping one way or another to find out if the next release would have better UV tools, as I didn't want spending/wasting all this time working on something that would become obsolete before it got completed. With this new blog information about R18, I know I can shelve the whole idea. As whatever will get released I know will be more stable, more integrated and more useful than whatever I can ever come up with.

While working on the 0.3 version I realized my current vision to allow for different workflows was wrong. I dropped this 0.3 version and changed the whole concept. Although the new version has a completely different look, it still contains the main ideas of the original one, but better integrated into a single workflow. While so many things have been added it could almost be seen as being close to final release, and might be called a 0.98 version. But since it got numbered 0.4 when I started that's how it will be named. The main window of the plugin still contains an Assign and Configuration tab. Their purpose has not changed since previous versions. The main difference with previous versions is that the list of texturesets can now display more information. The textureset can be expanded to show the different image files associated to the textureset. A colored bar in front of the image name indicates the status of the image in relation to the chosen preset (see Config tab). A green bar indicates the image file is available in the provided path, while red indicates the image file is required but missing. A yellow bar indicates the file is present but not required by the selected preset. At right of the textureset name a yellow rectangle with question mark does indicate that there is no matching material currently present in the scene. A new material will be created when you press the Import button. If no such yellow rectangle is displayed, this means a matching material is already available, and it will be re-used and updated when importing the textures. Next, the preset name is used which will be used to map the different image files into the different material channels (see Config tab). The preset can be selected "globally" for all texturesets, or it an be selected individually per textureset (right mouse click on the individual preset name, see third image). By default a single preset is provided (named Default). Users can create their own preset (see Config tab). Right of the preset name a red rectangle with exclamation mark indicates that image files are missing, depending the chosen preset. I'll provide Config tab explanation later. < removed obsolete file >

Hi bezo, Thanks for your feedback. I am using Substance Painter 1.7.3 on a laptop which uses a nVidia 920 mobile GPU. The drivers are extremely outdated, but those are the only officially supported by the laptop. Substance Painter mentions the outdated driver in it's log but any newer driver will crash my laptop when using Cinema 4D. Anyway, the old drivers and 1.7.3 work OK. I have created my own export settings in Substance Painter, and the Configuration Tab in SPETI is provided to match these. So, as a user you once need to set up the configuration for your own workflow, and then you should be good to go. I had provided my own settings as default, and might indeed not have followed the original name settings and inadvertently changed _Base_Color into _BaseColor. Your suggestion to provide a way to clear the logfile in SPETI is on my todo list. My intention was to eventually implement this when time allows, but user request will increase it's priority. So, I'll try to get it available for next version. Your other suggestion, however, I have to disagree. The configuration tab is meant to be set up for your workflow, and it thus should not be automatically adjusted behind your back depending on what files are found in the provided path. This would contradict the whole purpose of the configuration. Showing a mismatch between found files in the provided path and current configuration is on my todo list, but this will only be a visual aid to help before the user presses the "import" button.. There will be no automatic update of the configuration, as what has been set up is what the user expects to obtain. Currently any mismatch is only shown in the log tab after the import button was pressed. Thanks again for your feedback, as it helps me to understand how to enhance the plugin for others to use.

The plugin has been downloaded many times, but no one complained about the bugs. This can only mean two things: 1. no one is actually using the plugin 2. the current state is already quite useful to whom downloaded it. Anyway, in this next version I have made the settings persistent. This allows users to now edit the config settings, and plugin will remember these next time it is opened. I also forgot to mention in the original post that the plugin currently only supports bmp files, other formats will be supported in future. I more than once noticed that loading a 16bit png file from Substance Painter made Cinema4D unresponsive, hence the reason I opted for 8bit bmp support only (for a start). Processing of the exported Substance Painter textures are slightly different in this version, as I noticed something was wrong with some of the results obtained with the original version. Next I will start working on the configuration settings tab. Currently all control of mapping and processing is "black-boxed" in the plugin. Hardcoded. Via the configuration settings the user will thus be allowed to alter or fine tune how the mapping is to be done. Plus, allowing to define presets, and use different presets per textures set to be applied. Still R17 only (reason for this is that access to the reflectance channel via python is only available from R17 on) < removed obsolete file >