Beta 2.2 RC1: SoftImage XSI plugin testing thread

[face]

A simple change after 15min coding
Hope anyway you like it...

hmpf, must upload the video again.
maybe tomorrow...

face

[face]

Ok, after a lttle trouble, here it is

face
[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/23646725[/vimeo]

[jamnique]

Awsome! Does it support everything Octane-related you can animate in Softimage? DOF, exposure etc? Is it possible to set materials in XSI (via Phong nodes for now) and get instant updates without the need to reupload the scene?

[face]

Camera related stuff should not be the problem.
Geometry changes must upload again.
Materials aren´t supported, because each material will have an other position in memory, i don´t know how to handle it.

Hope i can find out a solution to save multiple images from one Octane instance.

face

[jamnique]

Fingers crossed! I hope you succeed and get the green light to share it. Animating the camera while watching the results in Octane is the way to go.

[Kerro Perro]

First off, i once again honour the goodness that rains down upon us from the man known as Face

And now to ask for more - as we lowly mortals always do!

I hope this hasn't been asked before a 100 times but:

is it possible to export only selected passes from Soft? I know Octane doesn't have passes but i would like to render out a scene in different passes - so i'd have appropriate masking from things in another pass. An example would be an object with strands attached: i'd like to render out the object with different light settings than the strands and have the object mask when i render the strands.... I hope that makes sense - am finding it hard to explain

[Kerro Perro]

Ok well having thought about it i realize it isn't possible as Octane imports whole objects not camera data (guess it was a stupid question after all )

A good workaround would be to let geometry with no material applied (i.e. totally black) connect to the alpha channel thus becoming an effective mask for compositing.

That does have nothing to do with the Softimage exporter though so should i pose this request elsewhere on the forum? Is this already possible? Any reply would be appreciated.

[face]

Ok well having thought about it i realize it isn't possible as Octane imports whole objects not camera data (guess it was a stupid question after all )

A good workaround would be to let geometry with no material applied (i.e. totally black) connect to the alpha channel thus becoming an effective mask for compositing.

That does have nothing to do with the Softimage exporter though so should i pose this request elsewhere on the forum? Is this already possible? Any reply would be appreciated.

All geometrys have a material, default the SceneMaterial.

A quick mask for all:
Switch to pathtracing, set the maxsamples to 1, the texture environment to white and the power to 2.

face

Settings

Result

[Kerro Perro]

Hmm yes that would provide a mask but it would mean you'd have to render out 3 times, each time changing the output in Softimage:

1 with just the masking geometry to create the mask (wich you might as well make in MR if it's just going to be black and alpha)
1 with just the masking geometry the way you want it look in the foreground
1 without the masking geometry and with the geometry you want in the background

It can work though is obviously not most ideal method... I still think it would be great if you could set certain materials as the alpha channel in eventual output - but it also seems i'm just asking for render passes in a different way (but still the same question).

I even started to wonder wether passes were even posible at all in an unbiased renderer but a Google search led me back to Octane where i read this: http://www.refractivesoftware.com/features.html (bottom of the page > engine) seems that passes wil be implemented in a future release? So am i just being impatient?

[face]

I think that passes would be supported in the future.
An other way is to render out the masks with Si, it should be faster for a b/w rendering as Octane and you save the export time.
The results of both renders should match 100%.

face