FiberFX rendering in LightWave 2015 !!!

[hdace]

The first beta of the LightWave 2015 plugin with FiberFX support has been released, check the last daily build

http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=43179

... and remember to share your hair renderings

-Juanjo

I kept checking yesterday and was so hopeful you might get it out then. I'm very excited about this, but unfortunately it's Thanksgiving here today and I've got tons of family stuff to do. Maybe I'll get to play with it this evening. Can't wait!

It was still pretty dang fast, so thanks so much!!

[Laticis]

Oh yeah...this is going to ROCK...excellent work Juanjo

[adkkda]

Sorry to post this here Juanjo but seeing it's now an FFX/Octane feature it's probably the best place.
(I know it's been asked for already somewhere here but I can't locate the thread)

"One important feature of the Octane plugin is that each fiber inherit the UV coordinate available in the base mesh at the fiber root point. This feature makes possible apply texture maps to the hairs, as you can see in the next image."

Could we hassle the octane team to include the same functionality for instances ? As in an instance picking up the UV from the instance location point?
At the moment we can only do planar & camera projection and that means things like this (pic) which are now possible with FFX, are not possible with instancing.
One fiber instanced a bunch of times, one mesh with UV and one splotchy image on the mesh. Cheers.

[hdace]

I keep getting this message: Object without weight information in the FiberFX mesh data. UVs are not available in fiber 0

The fibers referred to in this message do have weight information. They have a weight map, a texture uvmap, and even a vertex color map. UVs are available.

I'm disappointed. I thought Octane was going to support the full range of FiberFX features, but it doesn't support the most important one, which is to render 2-point poly chain hair guides that come from Modeler. This is the same problem I've been having for a couple of weeks now and it still isn't solved. I can't render anything until my character, with long hair and a long beard, can be rendered. When he moves around the mdd files move his hair. This means the point order has to remain consistent, and the only way to do that is keep the hair guides in a separate layer and there is no "base mesh". So the fibers cannot "inherit the UV coordinate available in the base mesh at the fiber root point."

I really need this problem solved or I'm going to have to throw away 6 months of development work that we used to completely re-surface all the objects in our project for use in Octane. If Octane can't even properly render 2-point poly chains then we're going to have to go back to rendering in Lightwave.

[geo_n]

Do you mean tht it doesn't render hair guides like Sas?
So it needs to have actual thousands of hair strands to render full looking hair?

[juanjgon]

I'm disappointed. I thought Octane was going to support the full range of FiberFX features, but it doesn't support the most important one, which is to render 2-point poly chain hair guides that come from Modeler. This is the same problem I've been having for a couple of weeks now and it still isn't solved. I can't render anything until my character, with long hair and a long beard, can be rendered. When he moves around the mdd files move his hair. This means the point order has to remain consistent, and the only way to do that is keep the hair guides in a separate layer and there is no "base mesh". So the fibers cannot "inherit the UV coordinate available in the base mesh at the fiber root point."

Can you please send to me a sample scene with your workflow? ... I really don't understand how are your working with your 2-points polygons and with FiberFX. It is better to have a scene here to try to find a solution for your workflow.

You can email me to [email protected] or skype me to juanjgon71 if you want.

I will try to find a solution for your problem

-Juanjo

[hdace]

Can you please send to me a sample scene with your workflow? ... I really don't understand how are your working with your 2-points polygons and with FiberFX. It is better to have a scene here to try to find a solution for your workflow.

I will try to find a solution for your problem

-Juanjo

Thanks. I think it would be better if I describe a simple scene for you to create and then you will see what I'm doing. It's a workflow that many LightWave users follow. However, I will send you a sample scene if you still think it would be helpful for you.

First, create a simple sphere in Modeler. Still in Modeler, open the FiberFX plugin. Click on "Grow". To make the fibers easier to see, I suggest increasing the fiber quantity from 100 to 1000. Click OK. Create simple Octane surface settings for each of the three surfaces (may only be necessary for the sphere since the fibers have to be surfaced in Layout's FiberFX plugin separately?). Save the object and send it to Layout.

Enable Octane in Layout. Set up default Octane RenderTarget tree.

Open FiberFX and activate the second layer which contains the fibers. Create simple Octane surface in the FiberFX node editor and enable it. Click the "eye" box in the Object list to see that the Layout definitely recognizes the fibers. Try IPR or F9. There's almost nothing there.

I do see dots on the sphere where the fiber roots are. I also get the message about no weight info and no UVs.

Also, it appears the FiberFX node editor can be disabled with the same result.

Looking forward to your response. --Hal

[juanjgon]

Thanks, I will make some tests as soon as possible. I think that the first problem with the geometry can be the one point polygons in the root of each guide that FiberFX create in the modeler. You could try to remove them, to see if at least we get the fibers working in Octane. There is a sample scene with only hair guides and it works fine.

Other problem is the UV shading ... I think that the fibers from guides, without a base mesh, doesn't have UV coordinates (I need to test it anyway). We need to find a solution for this problem.

Anyway I am going to make some tests here and let you know as soon as possible.

-Juanjo

[juanjgon]

Nope, the one vertex polygons are not the problem. My test scene with hair guides included in the plugin is working, but your sphere not. There is a bug at some point. I will work on it this weekend to fix it and search a solution for the shading.

Thanks for reporting this problem.

-Juanjo

[hdace]

Thanks, I will make some tests as soon as possible. I think that the first problem with the geometry can be the one point polygons in the root of each guide that FiberFX create in the modeler. You could try to remove them, to see if at least we get the fibers working in Octane. There is a sample scene with only hair guides and it works fine.

Other problem is the UV shading ... I think that the fibers from guides, without a base mesh, doesn't have UV coordinates (I need to test it anyway). We need to find a solution for this problem.

Anyway I am going to make some tests here and let you know as soon as possible.

-Juanjo

You're right, those one-point polys do need to be removed.

I don't understand why you say that fiber guides don't have UV coordinates since they are definitely included in the Default_uvmap that's automatically created when you come out of FiberFX in Modeler. Nevertheless, that is what your error message says is the problem, so... Good luck figuring it out!!!

Best wishes --Hal