Topic: Objects in library are linked to external files?

[Patriiick]

Hi, I am posting this message on behalf of a french Lumion user who had a big problem starting to create its first scenes. He relates its experience here, in french.

As much as I understand, he imported several 3D models from Sketchup and used them to create several Lumion scenes. He saved all that and when finished, decided he did not need anymore the imported model. *Apparently*, deleting these library models also deleted those models in the saved Lumion scenes. Is it how Lumion library works?

Thanks for your help...

[cpercer]

All of the models you import are placed in the users/.../My Documents/Lumion folder.  When a project is open, the objects in that project can be removed from the scene; however, they are not removed from the library.  It is not possible to delete imported objects from the object library if those objects are or were present in the currently open scene.

If an object is removed from the library a red question mark will be in the place of the deleted object when the scene is reopened.  For example, if you open a new scene in which no imported objects are present you can then delete all objects in the Lumion library.  Then when you open the previously saved scene which contained the imported objects, you will only see red question marks in place of the imported objects.

The Lumion library is not the same as the file location of the original model.  Deleting the original file does not remove it from the Lumion library.  Therefore, if you have two computers and you want to share projects between the two, you simply copy the My Documents/Lumion folder to the same location on the second computer.  However, because of this limitation a change to the materials of an object in one scene affects all other scenes in which that object is present.

I hope this explanation is not overly complicated.

[Remko]

I don't really understand the babelfish translated forums but how it works now is that models are in a global object library.

This means that objects will look the same across projects and if you delete one it's gone in all projects. There is a restriction which prevents you from deleting models that are in use for the current project.

An unfortunate side effect of this is that if you are not aware that models are shared you can delete them by accident. There should be a copy by the way in the Recycle Bin. You can go to the trashcan and find the object to restore it. The files are labeled as follows:
filename.lib
filename.lib.inn
filename.lib.txx

If you select them in windows recycle bin and select "Restore" they will be back again in Lumion.

This method has several advantages because you can easily reuse content but we're seriously looking into an option for a per-project library so projects won't influence each other.

[Patriiick]

Thanks for your explanations.

This brings this question: how can I delete (purge) models in my libraries if I do not know if they are used in at least one scene?

[Remko]

You can always delete them ofcourse but you'll have to check for yourself if it is in use somewhere. That's how it works now. The objects are part of the library so projects may rely on your library.

[kshen]

Does Lumion 2.0 resolve the problem discussed in the thread?  Do we have "an option for a per-project library so projects won't influence each other" ?

I just deleted a model from the import library.  I restored the files from the recycle bin, but how can I make sure the restored model will go back into the same spot for all projects that use that model?

Can Lumion document this problem in the FAQ section?  Are there any other tricky things that one has to watch out for?  Please document them!!

[Morten]

Does Lumion 2.0 resolve the problem discussed in the thread?  Do we have "an option for a per-project library so projects won't influence each other" ?

No, imported models will still be stored in a global object library on the C: drive in Documents/Lumion/Library.

For now, we recommend that you make full backups of the files in Documents/Lumion on a regular basis.