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Using the Nextcloud Desktop Client

This section will describe how to download all or some of the assets using the official Nextcloud client software. This is the easiest way to get all the files. At this point you should already have the credentials and should be able to log into the website (access.ambientcg.com).

Download the client

You can download the Nextcloud client for free from the Nextcloud website:

Install - Nextcloud

Setup

After downloading, installing and starting the client you will be asked to sign into a Nextcloud instance. Click on Log in to your Nextcloud to get started.

Enter the following server address:

https://access.ambientcg.com/

image-1653154658439.pngAfter clicking Next your default browser will open and you will be asked to sign in with your credentials. You can use your username (patreonuser-<number>) or your email address to sign in.

If you don’t know your password you can reset it using the link below the confirmation button.

You can then return back to your application which will pick up that permission has been granted and continue the setup process.


You can choose the local folder to which you want to sync the collection as well as what parts of the collection to sync.

At this step you can only choose to sync all of the PBR materials or none of them. We will explore the steps you can take to get more precise control over this (for example by excluding PNG files) later in this guide.

At this point the initial setup has been completed and Nextcloud will start the synchronization process in the background. If you have choosen to download the entire collection you can stop at this point. If you want to exclude certain files (for example large PNG files), read the next chapter.

Control and fine tune the synchronization

After starting the Nextcloud client it will live in your taskbar.

You can make changes to the settings by clicking on its icon and then clicking on the account in the top left part of the window. If you are signed up to both ambientCG and Poly Haven (who also use Nextcloud) you will see both accounts in this list.

Click on the three dots next to your ambientCG account to get to its settings.


In the settings you can adjust what folders to sync and see the current status of the process.

Exclude certain files


You may want to exclude certain files (for example PNG files) from the download. Here is how to do that. Start by opening the connection settings (see above). Click on the General Settings icon in the top right corner and then on Edit Ignored Files.

In the Ignored Files Editor you can define patterns for the Nextcloud clients to ignore. By default this list contains patterns for all kinds of metadata and other files that you typically don’t want to sync.

You can add your own patterns. If you have experience with wildcards then you probably already know what to do and how. For everyone else I have prepared a cheat sheet:

Exclude all PNG folders:
*/*K-PNG/

Exclude all JPG folders:
*/*K-JPG/

Exclude all JPG folders with a specific resolution (for example 8K):
*/8K-JPG/

Exclude all 8K folders:
*/8K-*/

Exclude all SBS files from the SUBSTANCE folder
*/SUBSTANCE/*/SBS

The official Nextcloud documentation can also be used to create your own exclusion patterns. Learn More.

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