SRG (http://www.srg-online.com/) is a new file format image file format with several interesting capabilities.

You can render objects with several sub-materials and then switch between them in your final image.
Data can be added, which shows up when you hoover over part of the image.
Also, you can switch lights on and off on the image itself.

Plugin is for 3ds max only, and you need a special viewer to open the format.
To me this looks like a winner, a nice way to make more interactive imagery
with data content and alternative versions embedded in a user friendly way.
:craqueur:

Looks interesting in one way. But at the other hand : who wants to have 3 versions of a rendering in the same image? That way you cannot put them next to each other for comparison, which still seems the best way to me to decide on which image is the best...
Only interesting to me would be what you said about turning lights on/off, but I haven't seen that function in the tutorial on the site...
It's cool for the tags of course, and the hyperlinks, that you can have all sorts of info in 1 and the same document.

hmmm, not convinced by the need to click on and see the change. i sometimes use PSD manager by Cebas.

http://www.cebas.com/products/products.php?PID=38

handy for quickly changing particular elements.

Looks interesting in one way. But at the other hand : who wants to have 3 versions of a rendering in the same image?

The fact that you can go back and forth between versions by just clicking is really appealing I think, especially for presentations and for customers. You can have two printed versions next to eachother, but if you want them on screen, you end up with two small images.

Think about having 5 objects in your scene who's appearance you can change. Comparing all the possibilities would leave you with 5²=25 images to compare. Now you just click on whatever you want to change until you (or the customer) arrive at the preferred scenario. Big difference if you ask me.

hmmm, not convinced by the need to click on and see the change. i sometimes use PSD manager by Cebas.
handy for quickly changing particular elements.

There's quite a difference in workflow between having an image on screen and just clicking it or having the layers pallette opened and switching layers on and off. It's simpler and everyone can do it, no photoshop needed. Also, it's all rendered in one go. It's not an alternative to PSD manager, which is a great tool by itself, but is a professional tool for making the image. Different goals I think.

Right now, an image is static (except for GIFs) and stupid (except for metadata). If you can make it dynamic (add alternatives) and smart (add info to objects), I think that's a fundamental step forward.

agreed the goal is slightly different. in the way that i (and my office) works we would not want to show the client such a tool, and let them decide.
we may make variations for us (and my boss) to decide which ONE we will then propose to them.
i guess for us alot has to do also with the preference for discussions around a table with printouts rather than in front of the pc.

Hello guys, : :clap:

I read that forum and I found the SRG concept very interesting for my office (design business & architecture in France). I asked my colleagues to use it to save time during the decision process. thank you guys for the information.

Now, we just display the srg in front of us, in the largest screen of the office, and select objects (SRG permits lots of alternatives).
We then print out 2 or 3 of them (alternatives) and send them to our clients. Sometimes, we invite directly the client . He participates in the decision process. He appreciates it very much.

We also send the link to download the viewer to our customers (SRG Web site), and our SRG files with all alternatives. He just selects some alternatives and save some of them and send them back to us.

Really efficient and permits us to collaborate faster. I think it is important.

Before, only 3D Station equiped with 3D studio Max V.9 could generates the srg formats. Now mostly (from V.5) all of them can generate SRG format.

I really appreciate this tool. Congratulation to the developers. I read on their web page that they will commercialize a plug-in for 3D studio Viz. Even better.
http://www.srg-online.com

Just one question. do someone know if they are preparing a 64-bit compatible version? Not yet on their web-site.

Thanks for your reply and regards.

Don