Mallard wrote:Hello,
are there some detailed information on the nature of the integration into C4D? I couldn't find any in the manual or here. I mean like how materials/shaders get translated, how is the general workflow? Like can the exporter convert any c4d shader tree? What about custom shaders/shader plugins?
Or does the Octane C4D plug add a new material type to C4D which must be used in the scene then can be interpreted correctly of course by the renderer?
Can I render to the C4D editor viewport or use Interactive Render Region?
Thanks,
Mallard
The integration works like this:
You export the scene to Octane, where you then setup the materials. During the export your C4D scene is saved as a OBJ/MTL file combo and the plugin converts texture mappings automatically to UV coordinates (as good as possible) and tries to pass as much information to Octane as possible. Unfortunately MTL files support only colours and image textures and only a few material channels, so all the fancy C4D material stuff (like shader trees, shaders, noises, ...) gets lost.
But, and this is quite important: The material system of Octane works very differently to the material system of C4D, which means a direct conversion would still be tricky, even if the plugin could send the information we want to Octane. That means, in the end you have to setup/tweak your materials anyway. Using image textures
When you have set up your materials, you save the scene and close Octane. You can then work on the geometry of your scene in C4D. If you then export the scene a second time, Octane relinks the materials, stored in the Octane file with the new geometry (via the material names) and adds new materials, if new materials were added to the C4D file.
I hope, that explains the general workflow. Feel free to ask, if you have further questions.
Cheers,
Marcus
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra