Beta 2.2 RC1: SoftImage XSI plugin testing thread

[jamnique]

Sounds like a very well thought out system. Good luck!

[face]

Have found a better solution
I will check if the WerFault.exe is running.
If yes, Octane crashes. It a lot simpler...

face

[face]

So, it work.
After 5 errors on the same frame, the export is aborted and you get the errormessage "There Are 5 Export Errors On Frame xxx, Abort Rendering"
But i think, on most thinks it should work without errors. The most errors are timing problems.
Maybe on large scenes you would see an error.

I´ve also fixed an error with the native unit size. After reloading a scene, the unit size was always meter. You had to do to switch to an other size and back to the one you needed.

face

[adrencg]

Some news...
Working on a crash detection.
I make a calculation on the GPU before Octane starts and save the time.
Then I start Octane.
After that I read the CPU usage over a time, after a delay of 5sec for the startup. Is the usage for the last 5 times greater as 1%, Octane makes something.
Is the usage lesser as 2%, Octane maybe can´t connect to the liveserver.
In this case, i wait for a 5 times usage greater as 1%.
(Maybe i can ping the liveserver to check if there are available. If yes, i kill the process and begin from the start.)
Is that ok, I waiting till there is no change in the last 10 times and the usage is greater as 1%. That tells me, Octane is either voxelizing or rendering.
If Octane crashed, the usage is the last 10 times lesser as 2%.
Then I kill the process and begin with the start.

If Octane is voxelizing or rendering, I take a look to the GPU.
Is the calculation time lesser as the saved one, the gpu is in work.
Is the time nearly the same as the saved one, the GPU is idle, maybe Octane save the image.
After a delay of 5sec I check again the calculation time if the process is still running.
Is the process running and the GPU is idle, I kill the process and begin from the start.
Is the process closed, I export the next frame and begin from the start.

I hope that works

face

If you need to make something like a crash detector...well, that doesn't paint a very good picture of the state of Octane.

really Face. Can you give us some inside info on when Octane will actually get something done without crashing constantly? Almost anything I try to do in XSI of a moderate complexity will crash Octane. All I can say about Octane at this point is that I'm glad I didn't pay $1000 for it, like that other GPU renderer.

[face]

If you need to make something like a crash detector...well, that doesn't paint a very good picture of the state of Octane.

really Face. Can you give us some inside info on when Octane will actually get something done without crashing constantly? Almost anything I try to do in XSI of a moderate complexity will crash Octane. All I can say about Octane at this point is that I'm glad I didn't pay $1000 for it, like that other GPU renderer.

I think thats a timing issue from the plugin.
The greater the scene, the more the time must be, to cleanup the GPU-Ram.
Maybe you can say me the size of the obj-file.

face

[Mugga]

Hey guys,

just bought Octane a few days ago, and now i wanted to test out some of my xsi scenes. But i got a strange problem with the exporter (i think).

When i'm exporting an object an load it into a Octane, and change the preview kernel to pathtracing, i only see 1/3 at the right of the render viewport. With directlight everything is fine. When i'm exporting with the standard built-in .obj export of Softimage i don't have this problem, but therefore i don't have the smoothed subdivided geometry.

I hope someone can help me with this problem. I attached a screenshot so you can get an idea of what i'm meaning.

P.S. I got Softimage 2011 SP1 x64.

Greets Mugga

[face]

Hm, the camera data which are submitted to Octane, is the same in directlight and pathtracing.

I see that you use a multi GPU-System.
Try to test pathtracing with a single GPU. Looks like and Octane issue.
And maybe you can change your Octane version to an other Cuda release.

You say, you haven´t the effect with the standard obj-export.
Are you change the gpu-devices there too, to multi GPU, after the import in Octane?
And which GPU´s you use?

I will post it in the Commercial Product News & Releases thread.

face

[Mugga]

Hey face,

thanks for your reply.

I tested a little bit further, and i only have this problem with this model. I tested a few other models with your exporter and there is no problem with the pathtracing.

I think that it has something to do with the alphachannel. Because when i activate the "alphachannel" in the pathtracing mode, the left side is completly transparent. Then i tried to turn of the "auto alpha image" in the mesh import options tab. But then the whole screen is black or "transparent checkerd" when i hit the alphachannel button in the pathtracing tab.

I also merged the model into another scene in xsi and deleted all materials an set them new (only phong). But the same problem. Another thing i figured out, is that octane crashes when i try to import a model with "null-objects" and not freezed texture projection maps. But this should be an octane related issue.

Edit: Ah i forgot to answer your question face... I just tested the whole multi-gpu thing but then i saw that at the moment it's only working right with Cuda 3.0 (which i doesn't use). But i already reversed to one gpu (260gtx) but i have the same metioned problem. Here my specs if this helps: CPU Q6600, Nvidia 260GTX, Nvidia 430, 8GB Ram, Win7x64.

[face]

Crasy thing...
Can you send me the Softimage scene via pm?

face

[adrencg]

So I'm trying to just export some strand geometry using the plugin, and it looks like its actually exporting something, but when I import the OBj into XSI, its just invisible polygons. The interface says there's something there statistically, but its invisible.


-----------edit

Ok I got it to export and render in OCtane, but how do you get the exported strands to match what I see in XSI render? The strands are way thicker and fatter than in XSI. They're also upside-down.