Texture issues - Troubles with the plug in - Unsatisfied

[Lightray]

I have been working with this software for weeks now, and every time I'm working with textures in Poser 2012, I find that they don't transfer over from Poser properly. The textures are often not sized according to the settings in Poser. It appears if the map is not scaled to the correct default size, the map shows up over sized. Using maps that need to be scaled to fit the figure result in errors in the transfer. I then must resize them in Octane, which is a real pain. Many of the materials do not transfer to Octane correctly. Basic colors of materials do not always work. Parts often do not have the correct color set in Poser materials. If the textures and materials do not transfer correctly to the plug in.. then the plug in is worthless.

If the maps colors have been changed in Poser, then the color of the map does not change in Octane. Why? All Poser settings should affect the way the textures appear in the render. That's a given, if this plug in is ever going to succeed.

Does this mean that only maps made for the model can be used for that model? Example - I have a Michael 4 creature morph that I added a skin texture map to in the materials room, it must be sized down to fit onto the figure. That will not transfer to Octane with the settings from Poser. Thus, I have to retexture the figure in the Octane plug in, in order to get the proper results. Trying this caused the software to crash... thus loosing the work. It appears that this software has many issues that need to be resolved before it's ready for professional applications. It's far too troublesome with crashes and rendering issues to be of much use to me.

I'm not a satisfied customer... to say the least.

I use Keyshot 3.0 a lot, and this application could learn a lot from that software. It's easier to texture objects, it does it in realtime, the renderings are clean and bright with a standard HDR lighting background so that you can see what you get. Lighting a scene is easier. This Octane plug in falls far short of the quality I get with Keyshot. If I could export the textures from Keyshot into Poser, that would solve many issues, but it does not allow exporting. Thus I must texture in Poser using what is available for Poser. One reason I got the Poser Plug in was to allow me to use Poser content in my film. However, it's not working as well as I had hoped.

With all the trouble I'm having with it... it's made me think I wasted my investment.

[face_off]

Hi Lightray

The Poser plugin is still in beta, and it's functionality is growing substantially all the time (just check the huge number of changes I put through in version 1.02q). If you would like a feature added, bug fixed, etc, simply list it in these forums, and it will generally be done in the next release. If the plugin is missing a feature, it's probably because no one has asked for it yet - so pls work with me to make it a better product.

The textures are often not sized according to the settings in Poser. It appears if the map is not scaled to the correct default size, the map shows up over sized. Using maps that need to be scaled to fit the figure result in errors in the transfer. I then must resize them in Octane, which is a real pain. Many of the materials do not transfer to Octane correctly.

If the Image_Map node in the Poser material has a u_scale or v_scale not equal to 1 (ie. it has been scaled), this scaling will not transfer the to the Octane scene in the current version of the plugin. This has been rectified in the next release.

Parts often do not have the correct color set in Poser materials.

The Octane diffuse color will be the color in the "diffuse_color" of the "PoserSurface" in the Poser Material Room. If you have a bunch of nodes generating a color feeding a white "diffuse_color", the white color will transfer to Octane. In this case, simply tweak the Octane material to get the right color, then save that Octane material by to the Poser prop/figure (right click the material in the Material Tab and "Save All Materials for this Figure/Prop as Poser Materials") and then save the Poser Material as a MAT POSE in case you need to use that figure/prop again at a later date. If you feel the color conversion is still not working correctly, just post a screen dump of the Poser Material Room nodes of the material at this forum and I'll look at the issue in more detail.

If the maps colors have been changed in Poser, then the color of the map does not change in Octane. Why? All Poser settings should affect the way the textures appear in the render.

If you change a setting in the Poser Material Room, it will not automatically propagate to the Octane material until you right click the Material Tab (in the plugin) and select "Re-Import this Prop/Figure from Poser" (or "Re-import the Whole Scene from Poser"). The typical workflow is that once you run the plugin, any material changes are made in the plugin Material tab, rather than the Poser Material Room.

Does this mean that only maps made for the model can be used for that model? Example - I have a Michael 4 creature morph that I added a skin texture map to in the materials room, it must be sized down to fit onto the figure. That will not transfer to Octane with the settings from Poser. Thus, I have to retexture the figure in the Octane plug in, in order to get the proper results.

What do you mean by "sized down to fit onto the figure"? How are you doing that? Can you provide screenshots so I can see what is going on pls? You should be able to use any texturemap on a figure as long as they have compatible uv mapping.

Trying this caused the software to crash...

As per the 1.02q forum thread, if you have an issue like this, pls post the octaneplugin.log and cuda.log files, and I can then track down the problem.

Paul

[Lightray]

Thanks Paul, I appreciate your diligence in these issues.

I see that there will be things that will change to make the software better. That's great. I look forward to those changes.

What I mean by map size... if the map is larger than what I need, example, the skin texture is too big, I resize it in Poser to fit. This does not transfer as you say.. hopefully that can be a fix.
With the settings in the material room set up, say for an object to be "RED" in color and it comes out yellow in the render, that is an issue I'm having. What I did is remove all textures from the model to a base white color. Then I dropped the colors onto the model where I needed them to be. They look good in the model in Poser, but don't transfer to the render.

I would like to see an HDR for this plug in that is a basic white lighted background. Can I make one and replace the load up texture to that?

Here is what my sample looks like rendered in Poser and then in Octane. Notice the differences?

I hope that this software will eventually evolve into what I hope is a wonderful program for 3D artists to create their best work.
Thanks for your help.

[face_off]

I resize it in Poser to fit.

How are you resizing it? What specific changes are you making to the Poser material to resize it? Pls describe the workflow to do this.

With the settings in the material room set up, say for an object to be "RED" in color and it comes out yellow in the render, that is an issue I'm having.

Can you pls provide a screendump from the Poser Material room of the material node layout that causes this?

Then I dropped the colors onto the model where I needed them to be.

What does "drop the colors onto the model mean"?

I would like to see an HDR for this plug in that is a basic white lighted background. Can I make one and replace the load up texture to that?

You can - simply replace the Poser default IBL map (OfficeFoyerBG_512.jpg) with your required map. You can do this in Poser (change the image map in light 1 (which is the default IBL light), or simply change it in Octane (under environment->texture environment).
You can put a pure color into the "environment texture" too - simply change the "texture" pin to RGBspectrum (see below). If give a flat result though.

Here is what my sample looks like rendered in Poser and then in Octane. Notice the differences?

Which is Poser and which is Octane?

[Lightray]

The dark one on top is Poser.

I found out that you need to re-import the model each time you do change the color or textures. However, I still get weird results. The color red is not.. it's yellow. None of the other colors are incorrect except that part of the model. It might be an issue with the model itself.

When I resize the texture.. I just dial down the U V texture size in the materials panel. When I drag and drop a material onto the model, that then becomes the material for that part. It's done in the materials room.

I suspect that I will just have to remaster the model and try it all again until I figure out what the problem is.

[face_off]

The color red is not.. it's yellow. None of the other colors are incorrect except that part of the model. It might be an issue with the model itself.

It is worth checking the actual color (RGB value) in the Poser Material room, and compare it to the colour in the RGBspecturm node of the plugin. If they are different - there is a conversion problem, which I can fix if you post a screenshot of the Poser Material in question.

It could also be changing color due to excessive specular (if it's a glossy node). So turn off the specular (set the specular to 0) for the Octane material just to check that is not the case.

When I resize the texture.. I just dial down the U V texture size in the materials panel. When I drag and drop a material onto the model, that then becomes the material for that part. It's done in the materials room.

I was unaware of the Mat Pose drag-drop feature in Poser! If you are changing the U and V scale in the image, this problem will be fixed in the next release.

Paul

[face_off]

Also, regarding the Poser version Octane render comparison....

The alien skin is clearly scaled in the Poser version, but not the Octane version.

Also, the reflections are quite different - because the Poser render has a strong lightsource above the camera, whereas the Octane version is just sunlight (or a greyscale environment texture)? To match them up, run the "Create Emitters from Lights" script - which will convert the "above the camera" Poser light to an emitter geometry.

Paul

[Lightray]

I have been doing some experimenting and I've found that models with their original textures render fine. Those with changed textures and materials, exampled by the alien pics earlier that I posted, seem to be all screwed up.
Could the texture issues I'm having be because of the models textures having been changed in the materials window of Poser? If it is, it may be an issue to address in your next version.

Other models that I render in Octane, do fine. Just those that I adjust or change any parts of seem to render wrong.
What might I do to address this issue?

[face_off]

What might I do to address this issue?

Pls post a screen shot of the Poser material room of a Poser material which is given you trouble and I will help you out.

Paul

[Zay]

I don't know if this is the issue, but I ran into many Poser props that just use a simple seamless texture and then they scale it and rotate the UV's to make it fit in Poser. That will not be transfered to Octane. You might be lucky to adjust the texture in Octane by scaling it there, but the rotation can't be done.