VDB not rendering Tweet

[Carnera]

Hi guys

I have a very simple setup ...

vdb pointing to single vdb file
volume object
cube

cube and vdb volume shows up in Modo renderer

Octane just shows the cube any ideas why?

I tried Modo 13 and Modo 14.
Octane v. 2020.1.0.161

Thanks

Andras

http://www.checkpointvfx.com

[Carnera]

Never mind

I tried it in Modo 14. same setup, same vdb and now it renders.
Strange.

Thanks

Andras
http://www.checkpointvfx.com

[Carnera]

Now I closed down Modo.

Opened it up again. Remade the same setup and Ooctane does NOT show the volume (Modo renderer shows the vdb).

I give up. Very flaky.

Thanks

Andras

http://www.checkpointvfx.com

[face_off]

I am aware of issues with VDB items in Modo13 and earlier, which Modo14 fixes. In general, I think you are better off putting the .VDB files into an ORBX proxy, as this will give you much better control of how the VDB file renders. Please see https://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=73939 for details.

Paul

[Carnera]

Hi Paul

I got it working in Modo 14.
Modo 14 was not reading the vdb sequence ( using Modo's native VBD reader item)

So I went with the Octane Standalone app approach you mentioned ( viewtopic.php?f=34&t=73939 ).

But I had a couple of problems. ( maybe its my lack of knowledge in Octane )

- Did not know how to add the Volume Material. ( I think it would be good if you could post a screenshot of that graph too). In the end I added a volume material (see attached image)
- I was not sure where and how to save the graph or the Orbx. I tried right-mouse save on the Geometry Node directly...which was wrong and gave errors in Modo. So I decided to save the OrbX in the File / Save as Package ....again something that is not clear in your tutorial....again, could be also my lack of Octane knowledge.
- Did not know how to alter / modify the Volume material inside of Modo. But I found out that the "empty" Item that loads the OrbX proxy has an option "Edit Proxy File" ...which opens the Standalone Graph and that's where I was able to change look (density etc) of the Volume. (please correct me if thats not the right approach)

There is one more thing. The render stopped at a specific frame. Did not know why. But it looks like "Auto Save" in Modo (my scene is super heavy..1.7 BG modo file) which lead to that Octane stopped rendering.
Maybe its a bug?

Anyway..it works now. And rendering is super fast. )

Thanks

Andras
http://www.checkpointvfx.com

[face_off]

- Did not know how to add the Volume Material. ( I think it would be good if you could post a screenshot of that graph too). In the end I added a volume material (see attached image)

That is the correct way to do it. I will amend the forum post to reflect this.

- I was not sure where and how to save the graph or the Orbx. I tried right-mouse save on the Geometry Node directly...which was wrong and gave errors in Modo. So I decided to save the OrbX in the File / Save as Package ....again something that is not clear in your tutorial....again, could be also my lack of Octane knowledge.

Yes, File->Save as Package to the correct way to do this. I will amend the forum post to reflect this.

- Did not know how to alter / modify the Volume material inside of Modo. But I found out that the "empty" Item that loads the OrbX proxy has an option "Edit Proxy File" ...which opens the Standalone Graph and that's where I was able to change look (density etc) of the Volume. (please correct me if thats not the right approach)

Yes, again, you have it correct, and I will amend the forum post accordingly.

There is one more thing. The render stopped at a specific frame. Did not know why. But it looks like "Auto Save" in Modo (my scene is super heavy..1.7 BG modo file) which lead to that Octane stopped rendering.
Maybe its a bug?

I have never seen this happen (but your assessment seems feasible). Perhaps turn off auto-save in Modo prior to rendering large files such as this.

Paul

[Carnera]

Thank you Paul for confirming.

Andras
http://www.checkpointvfx.com