Twinmotion 2018 Feedback Friday tips and tricks

It’s Friday! Time for a new Feedback Friday article.

If you are new to this column, here are the rules: leave your questions about Twinmotion in the comments to the Feedback Friday post on Facebook, on the Twinmotion forum, or put hashtag #Twinmotion with your questions on Twitter. The most-asked and interesting questions will be answered every two weeks in a Feedback Friday article.

Questions mentioned today are:

• How does the Overdraw work?
• What’s the difference between Twinmotion single version and Team version?
• Can Twinmotion automatically save a project?
• Is there a way to randomize the orientation of an object when copying?
• Is there a way to change a texture image of material in Twinmotion 2018 v2 as it was possible in the previous versions?

• How does the Overdraw work?

To understand the Overdraw function, we need to first understand how reflections work in a real-time engine like Twinmotion. In a real-time engine, what we see in the reflection is what can be seen in the camera. Therefore, if an object is not in the viewport, then it won’t appear in the reflection either.

In this example, we see that there is a limitation of the reflection. It seems to be cut in the middle of the image, because there is no more geometry information in the viewport.

By adding overdraw to an export image, Twinmotion calculates extra pixels from the top, bottom, left and right side of the viewport, to put all the geometry information inside the reflection. Then, the image is cut to match the ratio of the resolution you’ve defined.

By adding overdraw at export, the quality of the reflection is improved.

• What’s the difference between Twinmotion single version and Team version?

Twinmotion single license is a standalone license. It can be activated on one computer at a time. To use Twinmotion single license on another computer, you need to deactivate the license on computer A, and then activate it on computer B. Click here to see how to deactivate a single license by yourself.

With Twinmotion Team, Twinmotion software can be installed on any computers across a physical LAN. You can use Twinmotion in floating license mode. A keyserver manager takes care of allocating licenses on different computers according to the number of seats purchased with the network license. To learn how to allocate a Team license, click here.

In terms of functionalities, Twinmotion single and Team versions have the same features for editing your scene. Apart from the floating license mode, Twinmotion Team allows you to place the entire software’s library on your server as a shared library. The shared library ensures that you’ll have a standard library: every team member has access to the same collection of materials and objects.

• Can Twinmotion automatically save a project?

Yes. Two new save options are introduced in the latest update Twinmotion 2018 v2: auto-save and incremental save.

The auto-save is deactivated by default. You can activate it, modify the interval between two saves, the number of saved files and the save destination in the Preferences.

Incremental save allows you to save the modifications of a project while keeping the original file. A project named Demo will be saved to Demo_000, for instance.

• Is there a way to randomize the orientation of an object when copying?

Yes. There are two ways to copy an object from the Twinmotion library. Either you use the shortcut “shift + move the object,” or the “multidrop.” When using the multidrop to copy objects, Twinmotion will randomly change characters if you have selected characters, or randomly change the orientation of trees or an object. To use the multidrop, simply select one or multiple objects from the library, then click directly in the viewport. With each click, a copy of the selected objects will be added to the scene.

• Is there a way to change a texture image of material in Twinmotion 2018 v2 as it was possible in the previous versions?

Yes. Material provided by default in the Twinmotion library cannot be modified. You can, however, modify the texture of a customized material. When you create a material, click on the “more” button under the “Color” option, where you’ll find options for adding textures.

That’s all for this time. If your questions weren’t answered today, check to see if they were mentioned in a previous Feedback Friday.

See you next time!