OTOY Forums

Hi all,

I'm currently writing the Octane exporter plugin for C4D. I have relinking now running, but have one problem: When I reexport OBJ/MTL files and then let Octane relink an already existing OCS file with the new OBJ/MTL files, everything works file, except that when I want to save the updated scene, Octane asks me for a OCS scene filename and does not use the specified OCS filename of the command line.

The command line is something like:

"<Octane executable path>" -m <mesh node name> -r "<OBJ file path>" "<OCS file path>"

Has any of the plugin devs here experienced the same problem and found a solution?

Thanks a lot in advance. Cheers,
Marcus

it's normal, it's only for the initial still frame setup.
it won't do that when in animation batch.

people would want to not save, eg cancel if they're not happy with the new changes.

Radiance

The first step is to create a new scene with the -n option. (show the guidline)
Make all settings (materials and so on) and save this, Octane save and exists without to ask.

Second step, you load the existing scene with the new exported mesh.
When you want to save this scene, Octane will ask you.
Thats ok, while you have setting up und saved the scene in the first step.
You also don´t want to save the scene again.

face

Edit:
To slow

But what if you change the geometry and add another material for example inyour 3D app? Then you export and relink the new OBJ with the already existing OCS file and set up the new material in Octane. After that you want to save the scene with the new material, don't you? When I select File -> Save, a file chooser opens where I have to open the correct directory and then I have to select the OCS file under which it should be saved.

This is quite inconvenient and I still think I'm doing something wrong. What I expected is, that basically Octane opens the existing OCS file, updates the mesh node and just keep the scene in memory as if you had opened it manually via File -> Open. If you open a scene via File -> Open you also don't have to specify a file path, when you select File -> Save, do you?

I hope I have explained the problem now a bit better.

Cheers,
Marcus

abstrax wrote:But what if you change the geometry and add another material for example inyour 3D app? Then you export and relink the new OBJ with the already existing OCS file and set up the new material in Octane. After that you want to save the scene with the new material, don't you? When I select File -> Save, a file chooser opens where I have to open the correct directory and then I have to select the OCS file under which it should be saved.

This is quite inconvenient and I still think I'm doing something wrong. What I expected is, that basically Octane opens the existing OCS file, updates the mesh node and just keep the scene in memory as if you had opened it manually via File -> Open. If you open a scene via File -> Open you also don't have to specify a file path, when you select File -> Save, do you?

I hope I have explained the problem now a bit better.

Cheers,
Marcus

well, just stick with the 2.2 guidelines, everyone else has already implemented it like this and it works fine.
we can't change it now...
i'll take a note for 2.3, but i don't see the reason for people having to use the relink when using a script. that's simply done by rehitting the 'render' button.

Radiance

well, just stick with the 2.2 guidelines, everyone else has already implemented it like this and it works fine.
we can't change it now...
i'll take a note for 2.3, but i don't see the reason for people having to use the relink when using a script. that's simply done by rehitting the 'render' button.

Radiance

I think there is still a misunderstanding here. I'm sticking fully to the guidelines (which are fine) and this is what happens:

1. The user clicks "Render" the first time (no OCS file yet): The exporter exports OBJ/MTL and launches Octane to create a new OCS file with the OBJ stuff in the mesh node.
2. The user can then modify the scene in Octane and save it via File -> Save. The user is not asked under which name the file should be saved. Which is exactly what I expect.
3. The user closes Octane.
4. The user modifies the scene in his/her 3D app and hits "Render" a second time. The exporter overwrites the OBJ/MTL with the new scene data, but this time there is already an OCS file and the exporter makes Octane open the OCS file and relink it with the newly written OBJ/MTL files. This works too and is exactly what I expect.
5. The user does some more modifications in Octane.
6. The user wants to save his/her scene and selects File -> Save (not "Save As"). This time he/she gets asked where to save the file and Octane opens a file chooser in the user's document directory - potentially very far away from the place where the OCS/OBJ/MTL file combo is stored that just has been relinked. This is not what I expected. I expected Octane to just overwrite the OCS file that has been relinked. Similar to step 2.

Step number 6 is the problem. Not the workflow, not relinking, not the behaviour of the exporter, but the fact that I get asked where I want to save the OCS file, although Octane just opened an already existing file and just relinked/updated it.

I hope this makes it clear now. If not, I will give up and let it just as it is.

Cheers,
Marcus

abstrax wrote:

well, just stick with the 2.2 guidelines, everyone else has already implemented it like this and it works fine.
we can't change it now...
i'll take a note for 2.3, but i don't see the reason for people having to use the relink when using a script. that's simply done by rehitting the 'render' button.

Radiance

I think there is still a misunderstanding here. I'm sticking fully to the guidelines (which are fine) and this is what happens:

1. The user clicks "Render" the first time (no OCS file yet): The exporter exports OBJ/MTL and launches Octane to create a new OCS file with the OBJ stuff in the mesh node.
2. The user can then modify the scene in Octane and save it via File -> Save. The user is not asked under which name the file should be saved. Which is exactly what I expect.
3. The user closes Octane.
4. The user modifies the scene in his/her 3D app and hits "Render" a second time. The exporter overwrites the OBJ/MTL with the new scene data, but this time there is already an OCS file and the exporter makes Octane open the OCS file and relink it with the newly written OBJ/MTL files. This works too and is exactly what I expect.
5. The user does some more modifications in Octane.
6. The user wants to save his/her scene and selects File -> Save (not "Save As"). This time he/she gets asked where to save the file and Octane opens a file chooser in the user's document directory - potentially very far away from the place where the OCS/OBJ/MTL file combo is stored that just has been relinked. This is not what I expected. I expected Octane to just overwrite the OCS file that has been relinked. Similar to step 2.

Step number 6 is the problem. Not the workflow, not relinking, not the behaviour of the exporter, but the fact that I get asked where I want to save the OCS file, although Octane just opened an already existing file and just relinked/updated it.

I hope this makes it clear now. If not, I will give up and let it just as it is.

Cheers,
Marcus

ahh ok,
we'll just do it as is now, eg stick to the guidelines, so be it, the user has to save the scene. it's not a biggy.
we'll fix this in the 2.3 guidelines (which afaik will only be a few changes)

Radiance

radiance wrote: ahh ok,
we'll just do it as is now, eg stick to the guidelines, so be it, the user has to save the scene. it's not a biggy.
we'll fix this in the 2.3 guidelines (which afaik will only be a few changes)

Radiance

Ok, that's cool I just wanted to know if I had a bug that had to be fixed. As that doesn't seem to be the case, I will release 0.02 tomorrow, which will allow users to launch Octane and relink OCS files from C4D. Relinking works quite well and definitely helps a lot.

Cheers and thanks to you guys for taking your time,
Marcus

abstrax wrote:

radiance wrote: ahh ok,
we'll just do it as is now, eg stick to the guidelines, so be it, the user has to save the scene. it's not a biggy.
we'll fix this in the 2.3 guidelines (which afaik will only be a few changes)

Radiance

Ok, that's cool I just wanted to know if I had a bug that had to be fixed. As that doesn't seem to be the case, I will release 0.02 tomorrow, which will allow users to launch Octane and relink OCS files from C4D. Relinking works quite well and definitely helps a lot.

Cheers and thanks to you guys for taking your time,
Marcus

Another usefull thing when you have changing anything in your 3D app:
Some plugins have the option to overwrite a existing project. So that you can create a new scene when you have changed the materials/UV´s or others in your 3D app.
This option must be unchecked automaticly after every export.

face