Updated to 2019.1.0 cant find my Collection materials from beta

[Helion]

I just updated to 2019 alchemist and cant find my material collection that i done in .8 versions.
Found only backup in AppData\Roaming\Allegorithmic\Substance Alchemist\materials
but all materials are in .json format.
Any idea?

[magbhitu]

Same problem. Had 200+ mats, so will be very disappointed if they are gone for real

[Baptiste M]

Hello,

All your materials are still available if you reinstall the 0.8.1 as mentioned in the documentation while working with the 2019.1 version.
https://docs.substance3d.com/sadoc/version-2019-1-188973299.html

Your materials of 0.8.1 won't be corrupted by the new one, and your materials of 2019.1 won't be corrupted by the 0.8.1. There are different instances.

Sorry for the inconvenient. We had to go this way to offer you a better and reliable layers stack architecture for the future.

Thank you

[gatorNic]

Encountered the same thing.  How do you install both 0.8.1 and 2019 side by side?  Every time I install one it uninstalls the other.    Since I can't import old materials, I have to uninstall and reinstall every time I want to access them?  That would be crazy, please tell me there is a way. 

[Helion]

Hello,

All your materials are still available if you reinstall the 0.8.1 as mentioned in the documentation while working with the 2019.1 version.
https://docs.substance3d.com/sadoc/version-2019-1-188973299.html

Your materials of 0.8.1 won't be corrupted by the new one, and your materials of 2019.1 won't be corrupted by the 0.8.1. There are different instances.

Sorry for the inconvenient. We had to go this way to offer you a better and reliable layers stack architecture for the future.

Thank you

Thank you for answer i have to say i understand that is good for long term i guess,
but its basically punishing early adopters i made like 20 materials can live with that if they are lost,
good i didn't went with material a day idea.

[msjphotography]

How do I install 0.8.1 and 2019.1.0 side by side?

[Christopher Schubert]

Hi Baptiste,

I get it - as developers, you can't be forever bound by an early data model, especially when going from beta to release.

However, as a user who has invested significant time into the beta, reporting bugs and building hundreds of materials, there is serious negative impact to changing the model with no data migration strategy in place.  It renders all early adopter work virtually lost.  Sure, there are still JSON files around, but I have to uninstall and re-install the beta every time I want to look at an old material.  I can't even have both versions open to help me recreate the v1 materials in the new version.

In my case, this will lock me to the beta for the duration of my project - which means I will have to keep building new materials in the obsolete data model, to eventually be thrown away.

Grasping at straws here to not lose this work... maybe the development or QA team had to go through a material upgrade process with testing materials from the early beta?  Honestly I'd be happy for a script I could execute locally, not worried about UI integration or anything.  Just something to transform this JSON to the new model.

Please consider defining a path to convert v1 beta materials into the new v2 data model. 

Thanks,
Chris

[seith]

Hi Alchemist devs,

While I totally understand that you want to start anew, wipe the slate clean, etc. I also hope you do realize that (as Christopher pointed out) by not providing a simple way to convert existing collections to the new format you are in fact punishing all of your early adopters and supporters.

Don't get me wrong, what you did by releasing the first out-of-beta version is fantastic! However it's only half the work; the second half being providing a way (a patch, anything) for people who spent months creating materials to be able to get them back in the final version of the application (however imperfect that conversion might be).

Again, I would be shocked if you guys knew about that situation yet chose to ignore it. I mean you would stand to lose a lot of good will in the community; surely you must realize that, right?

Cheers,
Seith

[Ty Xanders 0]

In my opinion i say that the comprise here is that 2019 isn't a requirement at this point, and you can go backwards and forwards between installs with relitive ease.

I too was pretty shocked but after a few hours yesterday considering my options I've chosen to go forward taking the best parts of my experience in the betas

You could  rebuild, your materials if you so wish, and those that no longer need params changed can be imported as SBSAR files or SBS for designer use.

But the bottom line for me is that people have just feared they've lost beta data, and that's driving concerns.

But it isn't the case, sure it's a little inconvenient to double up your c drive with two sets of data sets but, if people just work with the minor work around, it's not as bad as first thought.

 I shed about 720 materials, that I've just taken ref data from so I can just rebuild them better and smarter in 2019, others that I'd like as a static base I've exported as SBS or SBSAR from 2018b so I can reuse the end results that I'm satisfied with.

And obviously my raw library is untouched so I can really look back on everything I've done and move forward effectively

I hope this helps some that may be concerned with their libraries and what they could do with them

[gatorNic]

I would be completely fine as long as I could install the beta in a different location so that I can have them side by side if I need it.   Reinstalling every time is just dumb.  You can have every version of Maya installed on your computer if you want, I feel like this shouldn't be a problem.

Sure a conversion tool or something would be nice for old materials even if it wasn't perfect, but understand it was a beta and they are not responsible for making sure that old stuff works with an official release. 

[msjphotography]

I agree.  It would be enough for me if we could just run 0.8.1 and 2019.1 side-by-side, yet separate.  In other words, no uninstall/re-install required.

[Jeffrey Martell 0]

Hey All. I just updated from the beta to the official release. It's asking me to start a project, so sure I started one. All my old materials and folders are missing. Are they lost?

[Grayjack]

So you decided to spare some money and do not make converter for the old materials format - pretty Adobe thing to do yes. You are on par with all the predicted consequences of being Adobe family member. Good job so far!
All the people hooked into "material per day" are slamming their forehead now. Ofc exporting to hires maps and then using them as base to create new libraries to mix is the option we could go but the way you presented it - Oh man.
Yes we buy your products but when you need us - we will remember you.

[Jeremie Noguer]

Unfortunately that's not a matter of spending money, the changes we made to the data system in Alchemist for the release are too deep to allow us to convert between them, we've tried but couldn't get satisfying conversion results.
Again, these were necessary changes to make the tool more future proof and allow it to scale properly with future updates. We wish we had done the switch earlier but software development is rarely a smooth process, especially with a brand new product and it turned out to be a late change.
We know you guys spent a lot of times building materials with the beta and we thank you for the feedback that has allowed us to deliver a better product, but unfortunately these are the risk linked to any beta program, may it be for software or for games.

As Baptiste posted earlier though, your materials are not lost, and you can still open them, modify them and export them as Substance materials or textures using the 0.8.1 beta which will remain available through the launcher.

[iverlane]

How do I install 0.8.1 and 2019.1.0 side by side?

That is a good question, I see that nobody has bothered to answer it.