TeaCup
+WHAT IS IT?
TeaCup is a free online asset sharing platform for 3D Studio MAX, that is fully integrated with the program. It allows 3D Studio to connect to an online database giving you the ability to upload and download materials and objects directly from/to your scene very easily. The objective is to create a common pool of resources where everyone can contribute and everyone can benefit. Think Google Warehouse, but directly inside MAX.
+WHAT CAN I DO WITH IT?
It works like any of the dozens of webpages with downloadable content, but by being a part of the program it makes the process infinitely more streamlined. Once you've found a result you want, just double clicking it can import it into your scene, and uploading it's just a matter of selecting what you want to upload, everything else is taken care of automatically. Plus on this version we've added several "community tools" like a ratings and comments system.
+HOW DOES IT WORK?
After the installation has been completed, the first step will be to register an account from the Configuration panel. Once this is done you will get a confirmation email in the email you used for registration. After that you are all set. There are basically 4 sections in the TeaCup panel:
SEARCH OPTIONS: At the top of the panel you will see all the controls used for searching the database. You can filter the results depending on your needs.
SEARCH RESULTS: The big white box will display the search results after a search has been started. From here you can select any item and either apply it to your scene. Right clicking an item reveals some extra options.
INFO PANEL: The bottom section displays info on the selected item in the search results. Using the buttons on the bottom right you can see the general info, the item details, or the comments and rating for the chosen item.
NEWS & RANKING: The section on the left can be used to see the latest info on TeaCup, check the ranking, see the latest uploads, check your download history or quickly see the assets you have uploaded.
+HOW DO I INSTALL IT?
On this page you will find the TeaCup installer inside a rar file, after downloading and executing it, all you have to do is follow the instructions (make sure you choose the 3d Studio folder!). Once this is done, run 3d Studio and go to Customize>Customize User Interface. Now find the TeaCup category, and either add a button to a toolbar (in the Toolbars tab) or to create a keyboard shortcut (on the Keyboard tab). All done!
+ANYTHING ELSE?
Yes, TeaCup is still growing, so not everything is done. For instance sharing Meshes is not done yet. And you might find some bugs or things that just don't work like you'd expect. Feel free to comment here or email us at [email protected] if that happens. And also, if you use the tool, make sure you share as much as you can!
DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.scriptspot.com/files/Install_TeaCup_0.45.rar
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VERSION 0.45
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This release of TeaCup is aimed at polishing up the interface and "completing" the material sharing system with a few features that where missing on the last release.
Most notably you will see that the info panel at the bottom has been polished up: now it will display the description and comments together on the same box, and it's now easier to vote and comment.
It's also now possible to edit and delete uploaded materials. Be right clicking an item on the search results, or the My Uploads list, you can enter the edit window and modify or remove the material from the database.
Finally you will also see that search results now have two small numbers on the edges. The one in the top left is the material's rating, while the one on the bottom left displays the amount of times the material has been downloaded.
Here's the full list of changes:
-FIXED: A bug in the function that finds the material's average color that resulted in some materials being labeled incorrectly
-FIXED: TeaCup now check if the maps in the materials use Real World Scale, and creates the preview accordingly (the sphere's radius is 1m btw)
-FIXED: Slightly improved the behavior of the resize bar between search results panel and item info panel
-FIXED: Distributed Render is temporarily turned off when rendering previews in VRay, finalRender and Mental Ray.
-FIXED: "Assign Material to Selection" and "Send to Material Editor" options in the material ranking now work correctly
-FIXED: Improved the Prev and Next Page button's behavior so they are no longer affected by changes to the search options
-FIXED: A bug in MAX 2010 kept TeaCup from correctly reassigning bitmap paths after downloading a material
-ADDED: Search results display ranking on the top left
-ADDED: Items on Top Materials, Latest Materials and My Uploads lists display ranking on the top left
-ADDED: Pressing the return key while the focus in on the input text control begins a database search
-ADDED: Refresh Preview button to the Upload Material rollout
-ADDED: TeaCup includes material bitmaps using the BitmapHDR class when uploading
-ADDED: Users can now edit the properties and previews on already uploaded materials
-ADDED: Comments are now cached after being downloaded
-ADDED: Selecting an item from the Ranking, Latest, History or My Uploads lists displays the item's info in the Item Information panel
-ADDED: Double clicking an user name on the user ranking retrives the user's materials
-ADDED: Double clicking a material on the material assigns that material to the current selection
-ADDED: Items on the download history list remain after closing the TeaCup window (within the same MAX session)
-ADDED: Vray gamma options are disabled when rendering previews
-CHANGED: Restructured code to make it easier to read and faster loading
-CHANGED: Small redesign of the Search Options GUI
-CHANGED: Redesigned the Item Info panel. Description and comments are now displayed together
-CHANGED: Control background and text color now take into acount 3D Studio GUI settings
-CHANGED: Minor GUI improvements
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| TeaCup_Help.doc | 53 KB |
| Install_TeaCup_0.45.rar | 378.97 KB |
Comments
Thanks Nice utility,
Thanks
Nice utility, Marco
But i have big troubles
1.I open "Tea Cup"
2.Press "Search" button
3.Go to third page
And then i start any other dotNet script the 3ds Max is hang!
P.S. 3dsMax 2009x64
I've added a help file to the
I've added a help file to the attachments above. It's a bit bare right now, but I'll make it into a nice html page with images and whatnot soon. We are almost ready for the next release, here's what TeaCup is looking like now:
Hehe I'm glad =D
Hehe I'm glad =D
thanks it suits me very well
thanks it suits me very well
I'm attaching the fix I
I'm attaching the fix I uploaded for harumscarum, since apparently it got lost in the website update. Future versions should work fine.
Install the script using the installer, if you have any problems like the one reported below, replace TeaCup.mse with the one in the attachments. Also make sure you are running Windows as administrator.
Thanks! Those are very kind
Thanks! Those are very kind words. Putting together a way for everyone to be able to share there assets quickly and easily was exactly our intention.
As for connecting to other databases, yes, we'd like to be able to do that very much, however I'm not entirely sure if the owners would agree to that. The problem is that those webpages subsist thanks to the traffic they receive from people downloading materials/meshes/whatever, which would be reduced if those assets where to be found on TeaCup... so it might be tricky.
On the plus side we were contacted by the owner of MR Materials recently, to see if we could work something out... so there might still be hope. =P
On a side note, I noticed you uploaded a procedural brick and the preview did not look right. The problem is that you used the "Real World Scale" option. Right now, when TeaCup renders the preview sphere, it uses a sphere with no Real World Scale, to keep "regular" materials from looking wrong. I'm planning to make the preview render a bit smarter, so it will render using the RWS option when appropriate. MAX has so many options, variables and material types that some times little issues like these arise... sorry.
Very original and useful
Very original and useful concept. This could be a totally new way of working and colaberating. A new paradigm.
Are you in anyway interested in allowing the connection to databases on other websites/servers or releasing the server side scripts?
Congratulations and thank you for your work. I hope this is as much a boon to the community as it appears it will be.
edit: I just discovered a small issue: I uploaded a MentalRay material, and the preview generated doesn't represent the material very well. What was a brick pattern ended up looking like a solid (dark) color. I believe it is due to enabling "Use Real-World Scale" on a Tiles procedural map. If you download the material, it shows up correctly in the material editor and in renders.
edit2: It appears the major issue was having "Use Real-World Scale" enabled, however the previews are still quite dark.
I included a simple video
I included a simple video showing how easy it is to access the material database.
thanks ^^
thanks ^^
nice script, I ll try it asap
nice script, I ll try it asap