Passes - Render all 'Render Layer Masks' automatically?

[batesey]

Hey Paul,

Just a quick one if you don't mind. I've just purchased Octane and the Modo plugin (great work!) and I'm havin' a ball rendering in Octane.
Never though a render could be so much fun. So far, Octane, your modo plugin...and the whole process is great, fitting quite well to the type of work that I do and my workflow.
But one thing has got me buggered. Render Passes.

I've read all of the docs and I'm pretty sure I understand everything, but how do I get Octane to just render all of the objects in my scene (all with separate Layer ID's) with one hit of the render button?
At the moment with octane, I have to render one object, then wait, then open the passes panel, change the Active Layer ID, wait again, and so on. Is there a better way to batch this? I really hope so, because for animations, this is a killer...especially when a render might only take 1.5 hours....but it's started at Midnight...LOL.

Basically, what I'm looking for is what we currently have with native Modo, I set up all my object masks/alphas per material, and hit render. So three spheres in a scene will all render out with their own alpha.

I watched an Octane for C4D tutorial and the dude was setting up the render passes with ease....he checked all the Info Passes, Light Passes and then he just checked ID1, ID2, ID3 and so on in the Passes panel, hit the render button and Octane did it's thing. Rendered all the passes and separate 'Render Layer Masks' to a multilayer EXR file. The Modo plugin has all of these features it seems, apart from the automatic rendering of all Layer ID's.

Is there any way we can do this type of automated 'Render Layer Mask' rendering in modo too?

Also, are there any plans, or is it remotely possible, to support the 'Back Facing' gradient input that the native modo renderer has?

Cheers, and thanks for your time.

Toby.

PS, I'm using the latest STABLE versions of both Octane and the Modo Plugin (the 2.24....ones) if that's info that you require.

[face_off]

Hi - you are right - at the moment you need to render a separate animation for each render layer ID. You could setup a python script to do this. In this case I could add a command "octane.animationStatus" which returns true if still animating, or false if finished. I will add this command in the next release. Are you handy enough with python to write this script? If not, I can do it, but I have a lot of other Octane 3 stuff to do before I could get to it.

I watched an Octane for C4D tutorial and the dude was setting up the render passes with ease....he checked all the Info Passes, Light Passes and then he just checked ID1, ID2, ID3 and so on in the Passes panel, hit the render button and Octane did it's thing. Rendered all the passes and separate 'Render Layer Masks' to a multilayer EXR file. The Modo plugin has all of these features it seems, apart from the automatic rendering of all Layer ID's.

Do you have a link to this pls? At the moment you can render out all the render PASSES to a single EXR, but I think the render LAYERS would need to be in separate EXR's.

Paul

[batesey]

Hey Paul,

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply.

Hi - you are right - at the moment you need to render a separate animation for each render layer ID.

I was afraid that was the case.

Are you handy enough with python to write this script? If not, I can do it, but I have a lot of other Octane 3 stuff to do before I could get to it.

LOL....nup! I wish I was smart enough to even find out where to begin learning python

Do you have a link to this pls? At the moment you can render out all the render PASSES to a single EXR, but I think the render LAYERS would need to be in separate EXR's.

Sure, here's the link: https://vimeo.com/119850717
You'll want to watch from about 3:00 - 3:05mins onwards. I think I know what his script is doing...just like in OR Standalone, you can duplicate the render output and assign a different Layer ID to that output. In OR Standalone you can then use the Batch export feature to render all of the outputs to layered EXR files...naturally each Layer ID would have its own EXR output; but that's ok


On another note, would it be worthwhile using the Octane 3 Alpha at this point in time? or better to stick with the Stable 2.24 version?

Cheers,
Toby

[face_off]

You'll want to watch from about 3:00 - 3:05mins onwards. I think I know what his script is doing...just like in OR Standalone, you can duplicate the render output and assign a different Layer ID to that output. In OR Standalone you can then use the Batch export feature to render all of the outputs to layered EXR files...naturally each Layer ID would have its own EXR output; but that's ok

Yes, it's saving all the masks as separate layers in a single EXR. I can understand you wanting to do this, but currently you would need to render the animation for each layer ID. Unfortunately there is not a simple solution for this - it will need a python script to render out each render layer ID.

On another note, would it be worthwhile using the Octane 3 Alpha at this point in time? or better to stick with the Stable 2.24 version?

Yes, I think the Octane 3 alpha (currently 4) is looking quite robust, and worth using. It may still be missing render region and perhaps network rendering (you'll need to check the Standalone thread to be certain).

Paul

[batesey]

Hey Paul,

Thanks for your valuable input once again!

I can understand you wanting to do this, but currently you would need to render the animation for each layer ID. Unfortunately there is not a simple solution for this - it will need a python script to render out each render layer ID.

Yeah, the main reason for me wanting something like this is so I don't have to get up a number of times through the night just to get the next render layer going...a set and forget solution for the night would be great. Soooo, where would a code nuff-nuff, i.e. me, start with trying to get a python script like this to work?
On the other hand, would exporting the scene to OR standalone (and using the batch feature there) be a viable option, or would there be things going from Modo through the plugin to OR Standalone that would get lost in translation? Ideally I would love to keep as much of my workflow as possible contained within modo.

Yes, I think the Octane 3 alpha (currently 4) is looking quite robust, and worth using. It may still be missing render region and perhaps network rendering (you'll need to check the Standalone thread to be certain).

Thanks for the tip! Am I correct in assuming that I can install both versions of OR standalone next to one another, but only one version of the OR Modo kit?

Cheers,
Toby

[face_off]

Soooo, where would a code nuff-nuff, i.e. me, start with trying to get a python script like this to work?

The Modo TD python interface is the place to start. I will need to add a new Modo command to return a status indicating if the animation has finished yet or not.

On the other hand, would exporting the scene to OR standalone (and using the batch feature there) be a viable option, or would there be things going from Modo through the plugin to OR Standalone that would get lost in translation?

Yes - this can be done in Standalone too. Setup your Render Layer ID's in Modo, then "octane.saveAnimation" and export to OCS, load into Standalone. However you will have the same issue there where you will need to render the animation once for each render layer. However you can write some LUA (basically the equivalent to the Modo python script) to iterate through the render layers. I would happily write the animation script - but have too many other mod to do first - sorry. This is definitely something that a Modo python guru could do very quickly.

Am I correct in assuming that I can install both versions of OR standalone next to one another, but only one version of the OR Modo kit?

You can install as many different version of Octane Standalone as you want.

Paul