16bit Point & Vertex Attributes

[tigher]

Hello,

When using point or vertex float or vector attributes, is it possible to modify the bit depth to 16bit, or lower?

If I manually quantize attributes to 16bit in SOPs, the memory footprint is reduced.

However, if I render with and without this attribute quantization, the VRAM memory foot print does not change at all.

Is there a way to get octane to read 16bit floats to optimize memory usage?

Even if you save out geometry with attributes all as zero, it still seemingly allocates full 32bit memory for each attribute.

Looking for something akin to the channelFormat parameter on the Texture Image RGB material node, but for geometry attributes, instead of image depth.

Thank you for you time,
Tighe

[ricky_otoy]

Hi there, we are busy investigating if this is a possibility for the vertex attributes.

I will let you know! Thanks for reaching out.

[ricky_otoy]

Hi there, ok I can now confirm this is not possible.

[tigher]

Hi, thank you for investigating, this feature would be highly desirable.

Could this please be added as a feature request? I imagine that many users of Octane would jump at any opportunity to lower VRAM usage.

Thank you for your time,
Tighe

[ricky_otoy]

Hi, thank you for investigating, this feature would be highly desirable.

Could this please be added as a feature request? I imagine that many users of Octane would jump at any opportunity to lower VRAM usage.

Thank you for your time,
Tighe

It is not something that we can add in Houdini, it is a current API requirement as far as I know.

I will ask about it though Have a good day and sorry for the inconvenience!!