TG3 Library question re organisation

[reck]

Just been looking at the new library feature. I've currently got my folder structure of objects on my hard drive sorted by object type

e.g.

objects/
   trees
   grass
   bushes
   misc
   groundcover
   ...

If I tell the TG library to scan the contents of the objects folder I'm going to lose this organisation and end up with a flat icon view containing a mixture of all the objects. So I was wondering if there's anyway to organise the objects in the library? For instance if I want to look through for a bush for my scene I don't want to trawl through all the grasses and trees and everything else to find the bushes.

I thought maybe tags could be the answer. I've imported a mixture of trees and grass objects and I've tried to highlight all the grass objects so I can add a "grass" tag to them but the tag box is greyed out and just says "<Multiple values>" so it doesn't look like I can bulk tag. Also how would I filter by tag anyway, do I have to search?

When you have dozens or even hundreds of objects having a flat unorganised listing of every object isn't ideal.

Any suggestions?

[Oshyan]

Right now I think tagging would be the best option, but bulk-tagging is not yet available so it is indeed somewhat time consuming. On the bright side you only have to do it once, our goal is to maintain all existing meta data with future updates. To find something that's tagged, you would use the Search.

There will be more organizational capabilities added to the library in the future. Jo may have more to add about this, or have other recommendations for organization. Also don't forget to read through the docs: http://www.planetside.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Library

- Oshyan

[reck]

It's a shame you can't bulk tag. Going through each and every object one at a time and manually entering a tag is going to be very tedious, but unless I do this using the file->open method is actually providing a better organised way for me to handle my objects than the library. Could you imagine doing this with the xfrog collection?

I'll hold off on manually tagging everything for now and continue to use the "old" way of loading objects. I can still use the library for clip files.

I actually read through the library docs after i'd loaded my objects in and realised they'd all been jumbled in together. Maybe Jo can think of a better solution.

Thanks Oshyan.

[jo]

Hi reck,

Further organisational tools for the Library will be added in a future release. If you find the flat nature of the Library too awkward you might want to continue using the File menu as you have been. I have lots and lots of files in my library and still find it useful. Most of my plants are Xfrog models, and they keep themselves organised together pretty well because of the way they're named. I have a bunch of Xfrog collections in my library and I personally find it great to be able to scroll through and pick them based on the previews.

I don't think there'll be time to allow bulk tagging before the final release, but I'll sort it out for the next release. To answer your question from the first post, to filter by tag you would use the search field.

Regards,

Jo

[reck]

Many thanks Jo.

If get bored one Sunday afternoon I might do some manual tagging....or then again I might wait for next release and bulk tag them 

[reck]

A further question. How do I find my objects once they've been tagged? For instance I want to find all my nwda pine trees. These have been tagged with "nwda" and "pine" tags.

I've typed in the search box "nwda,pine" but it doesn't find them.

[jo]

Hi Reck,

It will only search for one tag at a time. I will try and change that before release though, or for the next release if I can't fit it in.

Regards,

Jo

[reck]

OK, would be a lot more useful in helping to keep files organised.

[reck]

Hello,

What's the current thinking behind the Library feature in Terragen going forward? It was added around 3.5 years ago and as fas as i'm aware it's not been developed any further. When it was initially added it felt like a first step, very limited in functionality and sorely missing features that would make it truly useful.

When I started this post in July 2013 there was discussion about being able to bulk tag objects, multiple tag search and in other areas of the forum I've read about possibly adding user categories. None of these have been implemented and it feels a very neglected area of the software.

From reading the forums over the years it appears to be a feature that's not used by a lot of people, presumably because of the limitations which make their current organisation methods superior. I know in my case that when I found out about the limitations I decided not to proceed with using the library and spend a considerable amount of time tagging and organising the library in order to make it useful. Jo seemed to suggest these features would be coming very soon but this obviously didn't turn out to be the case.

Has the library feature for all intents been abandoned or are we going to see some major improvement with Terragen 4? I know this was Jo's area who's now left and it appears it's never been touched since. 

Edit: 2015 Poll re library use by users - http://www.planetside.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,20568.0.html


Cheers

[masonspappy]

Will agree with Reck on this one.   I Like the idea of the library and would use it if it was more functional than it currently is.

[luvsmuzik]

I had a question about that too. Being just a hobbyist and doing trials of objects. Does the library update if you change the object file but do not rename the object? I cleared my whole library the other day because I had so many duplicates....Just wondered.

[reck]

luvsmuzik, what do you mean when you say "change the object", change it how? I don't believe the library detects changes.

[otakar]

Add me to the list of users interested in further development. I was very excited when this feature was first made available only to find out it is not really usable. Then after Jo's post I regained hope and was waiting for updates... and I am still waiting. Oh well, could have really been useful. I have continued to stick to folder organization of resources, but would love to have (multiple) preview images, descriptions and tagging capabilities built right into TG for an ever growing collection of assets.

[Kadri]

Sounds harsh maybe but with one programmer i would prefer that they actually get rid of the library all together.
But maybe the new TG4 version with the SDK can lure new plugin makers that can enhance it. Who knows.

[reck]

Sounds harsh maybe but with one programmer i would prefer that they actually get rid of the library all together.
But maybe the new TG4 version with the SDK can lure new plugin makers that can enhance it. Who knows.

Well it does seem very limited in it's current state and doesn't appear to be heavily used, however some people may be finding it useful so to remove it altogether might upset some people.

It's a shame because a fully featured library component would be really useful to a lot of people to help manage all their assets but it needs to be better than what people are currently doing or no-one will use it. I thought the current implementation at the time was fine as it seemed like a basic framework to build on, but over the years nothing has been done so it remains bare-bones.

When you say one programmer can I take that to mean no-one was ever hired to take over the UI side of things when Jo left? I know Matt's the one who does the magic and makes the engine but what about the other areas of the software? Setting aside the library for a minute it would be nice to see a general UI refresh since it's not really changed since it was released and isn't very flexible. Wouldn't it be nice to have customisable toolbars, snapping panels etc, layout saving etc, oh and a black\grey theme 

Seriously though if the Matt's the only person working on this now it means nothings going to happen unless Matt does it but we want him doing all exciting stuff right like the multi-threaded preview and improved clouds, so what's the answer?

As far as i'm aware only one person has made use of the SDK so far and nothing final has come out yet. Can the SDK even be used for such things as interface enhancements? The issue is that if a member of the community does this and then leaves\gets bored it never gets updated. But then again we have the library.....