embedded textures switch

[Ros. Riha]

Roy, please, is ot possible somehow (LISP eression or similar) to set the "embedded" switch from outside nXt?

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

It's in the registry-- so it's set per computer (user) rather than per drawing.  

I'm traveling right now so I don't have access to the key directly-- but open regedit on a computer in which you have already set the switch and look in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/McNeel/-- you should be able to find it.

 

Not exactly sure what your application is-- but if you want to set the switch you can create a registry key file for it.

[Ros. Riha]

Not exactly sure what your application is...

I am still not able to trace it, but what hppens very frequently in our office is the following problem:

1. All computers are set to "linked"
2. Despite the above, sometimes a material does increase its size because allof a sudden textures are embedded - it happens most frequently once a user tries to rotate them
3. So, we have to:
   1. Export all materials
   2. Identify the increased ones
   3. Detach all textures
   4. Reattach all textures
   5. ...time consumming and painful, but, once there are like 30 xrefs using the wrong material, the size of the final file to be rendered gets unmanageable.
4. In order to simplify the checkup process, I would like to be sure the variable does not get messed up, so I would like to set it properly every time any user starts his/her AutoCAD session - thus the question: I would like to be able to incorporate a command setting this variable properly into startup batch of AutoCAD

Please:

1. Would it be possible to see the size of a material from within the nXt widget directly?
2. Would it be possible to make the transition from embedded to linked simpler?
3. Would it be possible to drag and drop materials between nXt winget and Windows Explorer?

 

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

By "all of a sudden textures are embedded" do you mean that you go to the Options page and the box is checked?

[Ros. Riha]

No, the box is unchecked on all our computers running nXt, but the material is of increased size and its textures are embedded instead of linked and I do not know why.

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Setting the switch by a batch file won't help this problem.  If the box is unchecked, the registry switch is set correctly. It checks it every time it brings up the Options DB.

It's possible I'm not respecting the switch for certain operations.  This would, of course, be a bug.  It would probably require a reproducible example for me to find it.

Another possibility, perhaps more likely, is that you've got some materials with embedded textures.  The switch won't get rid of these unless you manually edit them.

[Ros. Riha]

It's possible I'm not respecting the switch for certain operations. 

To me this seems to be it - probably a rotation of a texture? Or maybe incorrect termination of a session? ... trying hard to find a reproducible example, no success so forth - I am always late to spot the increase of the file size to be able to find out when did it happen.

I am 100% sure we do not have materials with embedded textures - we use some template materials - we keep them stored outside dwgs, so it is easy to check the size and I did check it. I also checked the switch on all workstations running nXt and it is set to linked.

 

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Plants always have embedded textures.  They're usually small so you won't notice them-- but some users (perhaps you) may have included large ones.

[Ros. Riha]

good educated guess:-) ... I am aware of plants and them is not the issue - we do not fiddle with plant materials yet and by exporting materials we areable to find out culprit ones - no trees.

The issue is:

You load a material, which definitely has its textures linked (filesize checked prior loading) and this material all of a sudden gets increased in size. The final solution to this issue would be:

• The Material Editor able to show material sizes
• SaveOut embdded textures command

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Nope.  If there is a bug, we need to find it and fix it.  It will require a reproducible example.