Having a hard time

Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:53 am

I am having a very difficult time with Octane. Watched the vids and read through the PDF and I am not new to 3D. I have used Maxwell since the beta and Lightwave for a very long time.
Problem is I can bring in a single obj but if I bring in another I can render one or the other but cannot build a scene. So I built a simple scene in C4D and exported as an obj. When I bring it into Octane it does not show at all. It's in the node editor but with only a single triangle (whatever that means) but no image and only a single diffuse material. I can open the same file in Lightwave and it comes in with all the parts and surfaces fine. It is all triangulated and the models are simple and clean.

And something else that's driving me nuts...In the node inspecter if I am lower in the list and click on one of the triangles to make an adjustment it immediately jumps back to the top...every time.
Is that a bug...I mean that can't be right.

Any idea what might be going on?

Thanks,
RonB

radiance · Sat Jun 05, 2010 9:23 am

likely exporter issues.
the scale might be wrong, that's why you can't see your model, or the model is way off the origin (placement)
also, the MTL file that comes with the OBJ needs to be in the same directory and propperly exported and referenced...

Radiance

Sat Jun 05, 2010 2:59 pm

RonB wrote:...In the node inspecter if I am lower in the list and click on one of the triangles to make an adjustment it immediately jumps back to the top...every time.
Is that a bug...I mean that can't be right.

Any idea what might be going on?

Thanks,
RonB

I find this very annoying too. Please take this into consideration for an upcoming update.
Thanx!

Sat Jun 05, 2010 6:04 pm

Thanks Radience...But the scale is exact, the MTL, Maps and models are all in the same folder, and the single model comes in fine. The problem seems to be when there is more than one model. I tried to build a scene in C4D using a curved back drop like in the videos. That is when it gets screwed up. Maybe it is an exporter issue... I'll try some more.

BTW, can one bring separate models into Octane to build a scene or must the scene be constructed in the donor program?

Thanks, RonB

Sat Jun 05, 2010 6:33 pm

As of right now you can only bring one model in. Adding separate models is being looked at, but some things need to be done before hand.

Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:10 pm

havensole,
Thanks, so O.K. all those images shown in the gallery...the architecture for instance...are built and exported from whatever program as an obj...right? That's what I am trying to do and am having problems. I will try from Max maybe that works better. I prefer Lightwave...wish there was a plugin for that.
Thanks again for the reply.

Ron

Sat Jun 05, 2010 7:23 pm

Also, there was a bug where if you exported your scene with a space in the name, then when you imported it into Octane, you'd only get one material (the single triangle). To get everything to come over, export as an object file with a name that has no spaces. This should help eliminate the single triangle issue.

Sometimes, when it imports with everything a single material, you cannot see if the geometry is there since everything is the same color.

To check to see if the geometry is coming in fine, set up the background to an HDRI file or Sun / Sky and see if the geometry was imported correctly. It should now be contrasted against the sky instead of everything being one color.

Phil

Sat Jun 05, 2010 8:46 pm

Thanks Phil...I appreciate all the help.
Ron

Sat Jun 05, 2010 10:18 pm

RonB wrote:I am having a very difficult time with Octane. Watched the vids and read through the PDF and I am not new to 3D. I have used Maxwell since the beta and Lightwave for a very long time.
Problem is I can bring in a single obj but if I bring in another I can render one or the other but cannot build a scene. So I built a simple scene in C4D and exported as an obj. When I bring it into Octane it does not show at all. It's in the node editor but with only a single triangle (whatever that means) but no image and only a single diffuse material. I can open the same file in Lightwave and it comes in with all the parts and surfaces fine. It is all triangulated and the models are simple and clean.

And something else that's driving me nuts...In the node inspecter if I am lower in the list and click on one of the triangles to make an adjustment it immediately jumps back to the top...every time.
Is that a bug...I mean that can't be right.

Any idea what might be going on?

Thanks,
RonB

Materials are not exported correctly yet, you have to set them up in Octane. I will add a better material export to Octane in version 0.03. The camera is exported now with version 0.02. If you still have problems with version 0.02, let me know.

Cheers,
Marcus

Sun Jun 06, 2010 1:18 am

Thank you all for your help, it is much appreciated. But, I have been down this route before, years ago with the ill fated Electric Image modeler and then with Maxwell. I just don't have the patience or time for Beta software and all the trials and testing that it entails. I think that Octane is a long way from production ready. Undoubtedly it will be one day and will probably be a great tool to have. I'll drop by periodically and see how it goes. But for now I have work to do and although it's glacially slow Maxwell get's it done for me.

Cheers, and best to all...
RonB