I hate the live viewer in c4d!

[mitchino]

What is it with the live viewer in c4d on OSX? When I open it up it never matches my render window, it either fills the screen or opens at some random set of proportions. It also has black bars top and bottom that I can't get rid of. I just want it to match what I see in my perspective view. If I have a render that is say A4 size, why doesn't the live viewer open in those proportions? I aways have to drag the corner and look for those annoying grey lines.

Another problem is I clicked full screen and now I've lost the menus and can't get it back to where it was.

Am I missing something? Because it's not intuitive at all. Why can't we have something like the Arnold IPR, that is how it should be done.

[Studio21]

How about using the lock button in the LV?

PS the octane LV is far superior in features to arnolds IPR...just my opinion

[mitchino]

I love the ability in the Arnold IPR to render a small region at a higher resolution, it's great for checking details.

Does Octane work with the Interactive Render Region in c4d?

[mitchino]

Still can't get the live viewer to do what I want it to!!!

In the perspective view in c4d everything is set up the way I want to see it in the Octane live viewer.

I open the live viewer, It opens at a different shape from my perspective view, with semi transparent black bars at the top and bottom. I click the lock res icon, and it zooms in and crops my image. I drag the corner and try to resize it to roughly the same dimensions as my perspective view, it remains zoomed in. I uncheck the lock res icon and drag the corner but no matter what I do it will not show me the same view and crop as I have set in my perspective view.

I just don't get it, why can't it just work like the picture viewer? It should only show the same picture as my intended output, and I should be able to zoom in or out of that view.

Maybe there's a tutorial out there that can explain how to get this working the way I want it too? Is it because I'm on a mac? Does it work better on Windows?

[frankmci]

Still can't get the live viewer to do what I want it to!!!

In the perspective view in c4d everything is set up the way I want to see it in the Octane live viewer.

I open the live viewer, It opens at a different shape from my perspective view, with semi transparent black bars at the top and bottom. I click the lock res icon, and it zooms in and crops my image. I drag the corner and try to resize it to roughly the same dimensions as my perspective view, it remains zoomed in. I uncheck the lock res icon and drag the corner but no matter what I do it will not show me the same view and crop as I have set in my perspective view.

I just don't get it, why can't it just work like the picture viewer? It should only show the same picture as my intended output, and I should be able to zoom in or out of that view.

Maybe there's a tutorial out there that can explain how to get this working the way I want it too? Is it because I'm on a mac? Does it work better on Windows?

Relax, dude. Take a deep breath. Ok. Now click the lock button. The lock button locks the aspect ratio of the rendered view to what you've got in your Render Settings and defaults to displaying that render scaled 1:1. See the number that just appeared on the right end of the Channel selection pulldown in the Live Viewer? That lets you set the desired scale of the rendered image. Adjust that to whatever scale you find appropriate.

Be aware that the image is scaled pre-render. So, for instance, if you are working 1/4 scale, the render times for the full res render are likely to be about four times longer, etc.

Speaking as someone relatively new to Octane myself, and who has stumbled around my fair share, I know learning a new tool can be frustrating. But please, just ask nicely. There are lots of great people at Otoy and here in the larger community that are happy to help.

Cheers,
- Frank

[mitchino]

LOL I've been using Octane for 6 months! But always on jobs with very tight deadlines, and I never seem to get time to RTFM and explore all these options at a leisurely pace. As you noted I tend to get frustrated when things don't work completely intuitively.

Thanks for that tip, it's a big help. I still think the live viewer could be much much better than it is though...

[aoktar]

Understand that you get frustated if you don't study well the all features.
Actually you have to note that red lines point that safe areas and they absolutely match viewport's safe area and also matches the final render outputs. This is first option to work. LV is a kinda work window in design. And design will not change, sorry!
Second way to use LOCKRES icon in LV buttons and also using resolution scale parameter which is on right side of that. So you can see full or scaled render output at expected outputs at full or scaled sizes.

[mitchino]

I don't have red lines, just grey ones. Is there a way to set the colour?

What are the dark semi transparent areas at the top and bottom? Can I switch them off?

[niestudio]

Reading your frustration at not knowing your viewport size already, this sounds like a really bad idea for you. If it's off, you'll have no idea where your frame is.
Nevertheless, you can turn them off, by setting your viewport > view tinted border opacity to 0%.
I'd suggest starting at 10% so you still see the lines, but not the dark shading.

[mitchino]

I always have tinted borders set to 80% in my perspective view, but at the sides of the window. My Octane Live Viewer tinted borders are top and bottom and seem to have nothing to do with the render size.