OctaneRender® pre-Beta 2.3 v4 (win/lin/mac) [OBSOLETE]

[pixelrush]

issue report:

load scene
using LiveDB to get material
drag mat from outliner to node inspector mat header and drop = all good mat updates
go back to LiveDB and get another mat
drag and drop on header of mat just done = crash

only happens where you try to replace a macro with another
seems to update fine if you drop and redrop in the viewport instead

also I might ask is it possible to have an undo to last? -say the case where you had a mat of your own making which was 'ok' but then went and got a LiveDB one and didnt like it.
or you accidently drop it on the wrong mesh
also how about delete/remove a macro mat? maybe an X on end of header? leaving a default material - pink diffuse or something?

[matej]

also how about delete/remove a macro mat? maybe an X on end of header? leaving a default material - pink diffuse or something?

right click, delete node

[pixelrush]

yes you can delete a macro if you D&D into the graph editor but where do you do that if you D&D into the view or the node inspector??

hmmm. maybe thats another bug. the mat macro node should be added to the graph editor view when you D&D elsewhere

[matej]

Hm, I never dropped materials in the Node Inspector, just into Graph Editor

[pixelrush]

Ah you see I find things no one else does!!

Another: I have experienced a problem several times now with a file I have.
The curious thing is that I was doing Octane D&D stuff in the viewport just fine the first time I opened it but now its not happy.
I havent worked out enough info to put in a report yet but I'll upload a screenie in the meantime.
Its a bit different from the usual 'needs to close' messages etc.
If radiance knows what that might relate to it would help me narrow down the cause.
Sorry the .obj file is too large to upload

Edit: retried it and its working again this time (5th) for some reason - not sure whats going on - will post again later

Edit2: would it possible to give meshes the same mat by selecting them in the viewport by select with the shift key pressed, release and finally click on the mat you want all to have (copy)?
Perhaps use Alt when you want to select 2 to swap over? Ctrl to remove from group??

[simmsimaging]

This is the first version of Octane I have played with in quite a while - overall it is very impressive, congratulations on some great work!

I'm still finding a lot of issues with workflow, and while fairly minor they are problematic. Here is a list of some feedback/issues I have run into while testing for the last day or so:

(Please don't take it the wrong way - Octane is really blowing me away with the what it can do, and its potential!)

- changing any material type resets the whole list in the node inspector so you have to constantly scroll around to find your way back to the material you were working on.

- exporting/importing mesh objects does not seem to be bringing texture maps with it (either manually or via the max2Octane script), but this could be somethign I'm doing wrong? Not sure - it works okay with other programs.


- saved materials (via graph editor/right-click/save node/ does not save bump maps or bump map settings. I have to replace those every time I use Node/Import and bring one into a new scene.

- need "load" or import option for materials that is accessible via the graph editor and the Node Inspector via right clicking. Seems odd that you can save from there, but to load a material you have to use the Node menu /import. You also have to then manually wire it up, but it would be good to just click on a node and be able to choose "load" or "import" and have it replace the existing material, including wiring.

- many crashes when deleting/importing mesh objects. There needs to be a way to more easily/stably update mesh objects when revisions are made

- saving multiple camera positions: tried Andrian's trick but for whatever reason it is not working for me. Could well be user error, but even so - it should be a much simpler thing. There should be a way to simply clone the camera node and there by create a new camera. My only "node based" experience is with NodeJoe (now the Slate editor in Max) but that sort of functionality would be great.
- option to define several saved camera positions would also work okay, but having separate cameras would be better overall.

- needs a material library. I see there is on OctaneLive database, but I'm not looking to upload all my material tests. Having a similar setup for local save/loading of materials is essential IMO.

- clicking on a material node will bring up the material room object, but occasionally it gets stuck there and won't go back to the scene without quitting and restarting the program.

- smoothing issues with the Max2Octane exporter are currently making that unusable for me. It would be much better if Octane could just accept files in cm I guess.

- Max2Octane won't work properly with Max 2011 Design 64bit (merges all meshes into one, even with properly applied separate materials - the same file works fine with M2O and Max 32bit, just not in 64bit)

- manually exporting multiple objects is causing some UV issues.

- all save/load type menus need to remember the last place visited. It's really annoying to have to constantly re-direct to job paths when you save/load anything and everything.

[simmsimaging]

another addition: some kind of batch render option would be great too. Because Octane is so fast it seems reasonable to build a workflow where I might render a scene with several really quickly setup lighting variations which I would like to fire-off to a render manager. Then when they are done I can comp the versions in Photoshop, rather than try to get the lighting "just so" in Octane. Without the ability to move objects or lights or create more complex lighting rigs this would be a great asset.

Saving scene states as render "snapshots" would be great. They could be re-loaded or queued up later for quick iterations.

b

[matej]

If I disconnect from the net when the current scene is rendering I can still work with it just fine, but if I then load / create a new scene (while still disconnected) and click on it I get the message below (+ "Failed to start renderers") and the rendering viewport gets black. This also happens if I disconnect from the net during scene loading. Is this supposed to happen?

[kubo]

@ simmsimaging, you can batch render octane just fine, check the manual for the different flags you'll need (near the end), save a scene for each camera and create a bat file with a line for each scene, I do it all the time, and it's great, and it's more or less how the exporter works, it just creates the command line for you.
edit:

- exporting/importing mesh objects does not seem to be bringing texture maps with it (either manually or via the max2Octane script), but this could be somethign I'm doing wrong? Not sure - it works okay with other programs.

Yeap, that's a problem with obj files for now, don't use filenames with spaces, so if your file is named "bla bla.jpg" rename it "bla_bla.jpg" assign it in max and reexport.

- smoothing issues with the Max2Octane exporter are currently making that unusable for me. It would be much better if Octane could just accept files in cm I guess.

- Max2Octane won't work properly with Max 2011 Design 64bit (merges all meshes into one, even with properly applied separate materials - the same file works fine with M2O and Max 32bit, just not in 64bit)

- manually exporting multiple objects is causing some UV issues.

Well, check your preferences in Octane, octane can do the conversion for you, just set cm to meters in octane at import options. But make sure that both, the unit setup and the system unit setup in max (different windows) correlate or you'll end up with a totally screwed up unit system.
Check the default value of max internal obj exporter, set it to none, the script will have a strage behavior if any of the others is selected by defaul. I use 2011 x64 with no problem whatsoever nor manually or the exporter, also note that each material (in octane) has a smooth bool value, see if it's checked. When in doubt of exporter options, check this thread: http://www.refractivesoftware.com/forum ... f=21&t=362
Cheers

[simmsimaging]

@ simmsimaging, you can batch render octane just fine, check the manual for the different flags you'll need (near the end), save a scene for each camera and create a bat file with a line for each scene, I do it all the time, and it's great, and it's more or less how the exporter works, it just creates the command line for you.

The is a manual? Where would that be, I can't find it anywhere on the site and it was not in the zip download

Tks!