Exporting ORBX without server running Tweet

[AndreasResch]

Hey.

Why do I have to have the server running when I want to export ORBX files? That's pretty annoying when you render on your secondary PC while you prepare the scenes on the primary PC. I always have to wait for the renderings to finish, then have to shut down the server on the secondary PC, start the server on the primary PC, open and export the scene, close the server on the primary PC and start the server on the secondary PC again.

Any explanation about the server involvement in file exporting?

Cheers,
Andreas

[grimm]

It's the server that creates the file. When you do the request to save, the plugin sends the request to the server which does the work. All of the proprietary stuff is done in the server and can't be done in the plugin because of Blenders GPL license.

[AndreasResch]

What part of the Blender GPL license prohibits to write out a file format? I've seen this done many times before by other addons.

Cheers,
Andreas

[grimm]

You would have to ask the developers. I suspect that it's because it keeps the code in one place and makes it easier to maintain.

[AndreasResch]

Well - the question is asked right up top. If any of the developers find time to walk by, their answer is appreciated. With the server being a bit of an unpredictable program, I would unload as many tasks as possible from its core. At the moment the solution is a big show stopper for individual users as myself with the already harsh limitation of just one server at a time.

[jandress]

Aside from performance issues as blender addons are written in python, the blender license requires that blender addons be licensed under the GPL. The blender addon is just blender UI code and logic to communicate with the server. Any functions moved from the server to the plugin would have to be open sourced by Otoy. Do you really think that is going to happen?

[AndreasResch]

Hey.

How can I make any assumption about whether this is going to happen or not, if I'm not involved in the decision process or have sufficient information about the decision strategies of OTOY? It worked pretty well in Renderman for example, where the addon was responsible for producing the compiled files for the renderer.

Cheers,
Andreas

[linograndiotoy]

It looks like having the server active is needed for export, since the server itself is somehow used for the scope.

Actually exporting from Blender is quite nice, considering that other versions of the plugins not only require the Server to be running, but also the IPR to be active during the export process.

[AndreasResch]

Hey.

There might be engines who handle it worse (haven't used one of those so far) and there are engines that handle it "better" (I mentioned Renderman). But this was just a question/wish. If there's nothing that can be done about it, then that's just how it is.

What would be great either way would be, that I can still be logged into the server, while my second PC is running and perform exporting ORBX and use the preview rendering to check my scene and materials. Like that I could work parallel on two machines and would not have to buy a second license for these minor tasks. I can live with just one PC being able to render production quality. Otherwise I will have to wait until a demo version of V4 is available so I can use it as a preview renderer. I'm doing this now with the V3 demo, but I can't save in it, as all my render passes that are available in V4 will be lost. That's not e very elegant version for a licensed customer though. I'm sure there's a way to make this happen.

Cheerio,
Andreas