[Release] Transmutr 2.0.0

Today, we’re happy to release Transmutr 2!

We have been working on this major upgrade for years now and, after private and public beta stages, we feel that Transmutr is finally ready.

As significantly more users will be able to put their hands on Transmutr 2 , we expect minor bugs to pop up. If you encounter any issue, please send details to [email protected] and we’ll look into it asap.


Download

:warning: If Transmutr 1 or a beta version of Transmutr 2 is already installed on your computer, we suggest to uninstall it first (Transmutr 2 uses a new installer so the upgrade might not remove previous versions automatically, depending on your local configuration)


What’s new?

  • New PBR material system
  • Ability to convert materials without geometry
  • Convert multiple files at once in the UI (Studio only)
  • Export to the Enscape Asset Library
  • Proxies: new “Blob” placeholder type
  • Proxies: Billboards are now automatically generated
  • Simplify individual objects
  • Magic simplification level
  • New Render and Monochrome preview modes
  • New Outliner to edit the model hierarchy
  • New import formats: .gltf and .glb
  • Flawlessly import models from known content creators (Poliigon, Polyhaven, Megascans, Humano…)
  • Create new materials, duplicate materials, assign materials to objects
  • Automatic connection to SketchUp even when launched as standalone
  • Dark mode
  • New core engine for maximum performance
  • Hundreds of smaller improvements


Changelog (since 2.0.0-beta9)

New

  • Added details about textures in the materials panel (thumbnail, resolution, color channels, file size).
  • Added a “preserve borders” option to simplification to reduce artifacts with some models.
  • The simplification level can now have a separate value for each loaded model, like the other settings.
  • Added support for GIF textures (if animated, the first frame is used).
  • Added XYZ axes to the preview, like in Transmutr 1.

Changes

  • Changed the behavior of edge-related settings. The “Show wireframe” button now displays all the edges without distinction. SketchUp-specific edge attributes like smoothing and visibility are displayed in SketchUp mode only, when “Show wireframe” is off.
  • Polished different parts of the user interface (geometry panel, materials panel, home screen).
  • The preview now shows a nicer-looking blurred environment instead of a pixelated background.
  • The preview now displays mesh backfaces in the Render and Monochrome modes too.
  • Optimized simplification and edge smoothing performance.

Fixes

  • Fixed camera panning being sometimes too slow or too fast depending on the model’s scale.
  • Fixed animated models sometimes having wrong poses (the first frame of the first animation is loaded).
  • Fixed objects with transparency sometimes appearing inside-out.
  • Fixed the alpha channel of diffuse maps being ignored.
  • Fixed objects with transparency not being selectable.
  • Fixed emissive materials sometimes being black or too bright.
  • Fixed the mouse wheel not zooming until the mouse moved.
  • Fixed selection not working when clicking on wireframes.
  • Fixed several issues with USD models (incorrect materials, incorrect transforms).
  • Fixed various minor bugs that caused the preview to not always reflect user changes.
  • Fixed billboard proxies z-fighting in the output SketchUp files.

@transmutr_beta

1 Like

Congratulations on getting this work done.
Do you have a link to prices available yet?
Is there a way to install version 2 without putting v1 at risk (dual versions being available)?
Will the SKP file output be compatible with older SketchUP Pro versions - 2021 in my case?
Will the output still be compatible with Thea Render 2 for SketchUP?

Hi @JGA

We’re going to update the website with prices in a few days :slight_smile:

(just waiting to gather more feedbacks from our most active users that have accounts on the forums before making a large-scale announcement)

The final release of Transmutr 2 replaces Transmutr 1, so both versions cannot be installed at the same time.

However, if you want to quickly try it out, you can test the last beta which is similar to the final release, minus a few bugfixes (link). This one will install as a separate “Transmutr2Beta” app and will not overwrite Transmutr 1.

Yes, you can actually pick the output SketchUp version in Transmutr’s settings.

Transmutr specifically supports V-Ray and Enscape, but we had to drop support for Thea proxies.

Unfortunately, Thea Render has no public data format/API for third-party developers like us, so maintaining support is just too much work (also, statistics showed that most users prefer V-Ray and Enscape so we made that pragmatic choice)

Of course, Transmutr converts 3D models to regular .skp files so proxies can still be created via Thea Render’s own interface, in SketchUp.

Please note that the upgrade is not mandatory! We’ll never for users to switch to v2 if they prefer v1.

Merwan,
Thanks for the quick reply. Altair seems hell bent on making Thea a niche product.
Good luck with the package!