Hello there, !

While not in the latest release, some changes are planned that you should know about as they may change the way you work with Materials within SceneForge.

First off, it's important to know how things work behind the scenes (ha!). Unlike a more traditional 3D Engine like Unity or Unreal, SceneForge loads all included content upfront. This is required for generating thumbnails and loading references to objects such as floor plans and primitives.

The problem is that with the number of materials included (over 200!), the RAM cost is quite high. This leads SceneForge to run unnecessarily slowly on MacOS devices and some lower-spec PCs -- all because of assets that most users won't even access!

So that's why in upcoming releases, the material selection system will be changed a bit. The included materials will be removed from the app, reducing the overall file size and improving the performance of the editor.

You will still be able to import your own materials with an upcoming much-improved material editing system that's more consistent with the way you can edit materials that are included with objects, giving you more control over what resources get loaded in and when.

Regardless of the materials you import, you still can customize the base color of any supported object for easy pre-vis, requiring no additional content.

As an alternative, similar to the built-in Sketchfab browser, a browser of CC0-licensed PolyHaven and AmbientCG materials is planned as well, so you get the same all-in-one experience, just without the locally-stored footprint.

Overall, these are some exciting changes that will improve the user experience for new and existing users.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out!

Thanks for reading!

• Judah Mantell, Founder @ SceneForge.app