Render Animation Workflow

[chanson78]

Hello,

I was wondering if someone would be so kind and explain to me the correct workflow for rendering out a animation with Octane in Houdini. I am fairly new to Houdini and very new to Octane in Houdini. I have lots of experience with Octane in Cinema4D but Octane in Houdini is very different. I understand Octane node system, IPR, shading, etc. but how do I output a animation?

[juanjgon]

Hi,

Render and animation should be easy from the Octane ROP node. You only need to select the "Render Frame Range" valid frame range option, and press the "Render to Disk" button.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[chanson78]

Thanks Juanjo for your quick reply!

Let me be more specific...

When I hit render to disk, where is it being saved or rendered to?

When I hit render to disk, with render frame range selected, two windows open up, one is MPlay and the other is the small calculating window. MPlay is showing me the actual render while the other is calculating but for example, while its calculating frame 43, I can only preview frame 1 and 2 in the MPlay window. When I scrub through the other supposedly render frames they are all blank with a thin square with a X in it, why is that?

[chanson78]

Sorry but not easy at all.

I spent two hours rendering but it only rendered frame 1 after all that time, even though it said to be rendering more frames. When I go to export as Quicktime movie I get a whole list of errors.

I have selected render frame range, I have 1000 frames but it seems to just render 1 frame in all that time, even though I could see more being rendered in the MPlay window. I also get a untitled1.piclc file with 1 frame in it with 1,1,1, as the sequence?

[Calicokitten22]

I just installed octane for cinema 4d r17 following the instructions in the video tutorial, but unfortunately when I launch cinema 4d, I do not get the option to select octane as a render option, or the octane tab across the top, or even if I select plugins I get no octane option. Any idea how I can fix this issue?

[juanjgon]

Sorry but not easy at all.

I spent two hours rendering but it only rendered frame 1 after all that time, even though it said to be rendering more frames. When I go to export as Quicktime movie I get a whole list of errors.

I have selected render frame range, I have 1000 frames but it seems to just render 1 frame in all that time, even though I could see more being rendered in the MPlay window. I also get a untitled1.piclc file with 1 frame in it with 1,1,1, as the sequence?

By default, the MPlay preview while rendering to disk is overwriting the MPlay image to save memory CPU memory while rendering large sequences, but there is an option in the Octane ROP to disable this behavior. In any case, while rendering to disk, if you have the output file options enabled, you should have the rendered files on your disk. You must configure the output path/filename using the $F token to set the file frame numbering, like in Mantra, for example $HIP/render/filename-$F.exr

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[chanson78]

if you have the output file options enabled, you should have the rendered files on your disk. You must configure the output path/filename using the $F token to set the file frame numbering, like in Mantra, for example $HIP/render/filename-$F.exr

Where do I set the file path in the Octane ROP? I do not see a field to input that info. At the moment I have no idea where this is rendering to. My project is all set to a specific folder but the final render doesn't show up there.

I currently have Render to Mplay, Overlay render stats and Overwrite Mplay frame all checked. I have Output image files unchecked, I don't need individual images because its an animation, but that is the only place I see to input a file path.

[juanjgon]

Hi,

Octane (or Houdini from an ROP node) can't output animation files. You need to save the individual frames and compile the animation using other software. You could try also to export an animation file from MPlay, although to be honest, I've never had any luck with this feature. To have the full animation in MPlay you need to disable the "Overwrite Mplay frame" option.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[BenWhite]

Just wanted to add in case someone arrives here via google like I did, 'full scene reload' must be selected on the Octane ROP also. It seems really obvious I know but had me caught out for a minute