Camera assembly doesn't update

[riggles]

I'm creating a camera rig assembly that pulls together some MODO and Octane settings that I want to access to, as well as some other functions. However, when driving the render camera from a user channel, the Octane preview doesn't update unless I manually refresh. For example, if I change the focal length from my user channel, the MODO camera updates in the app viewport, but not in the Octane render. Same thing with a simple on/off boolean for turning on perspective correction. I have to refresh the scene. Do you know what's causing this?

[face_off]

Hi John - the Octane camera updates when the plugin receives a channel change event for the render camera. If you are driving it from nodes, the node value is changed, but the plugin does not receive a camera change event - so it doesn't update. Rendering an animation should still work correctly - and when you do a scene refresh, you might still be able to move the Modo timeline to see the camera movement if you have "Load All Frames Into Octane" ticked (although I haven't tried this).

Paul

[riggles]

Hi John - the Octane camera updates when the plugin receives a channel change event for the render camera. If you are driving it from nodes, the node value is changed, but the plugin does not receive a camera change event - so it doesn't update. Rendering an animation should still work correctly - and when you do a scene refresh, you might still be able to move the Modo timeline to see the camera movement if you have "Load All Frames Into Octane" ticked (although I haven't tried this).

Paul

Ah ok, thank you. Obviously there's something else going on from MODO's end which enables it to recognize updates to driven channels and update its own viewport automatically, but I'm guessing that functionality isn't available to the API.

[face_off]

Obviously there's something else going on from MODO's end which enables it to recognize updates to driven channels and update its own viewport automatically, but I'm guessing that functionality isn't available to the API.

It is available to the API - but the plugin would need to iterate through all child-parent relationships of every item which is changed to see if the end parent item is the rendering camera. Whilst this can be done - it adds a little more lag every time you update any channel on any channel modifer - and I don't think people want this. But if the need is great enough, it can be done. But I would have thought the important thing is that rendering animation works correctly - which is should do for your rig.

Paul

[riggles]

Ok. Yea, I have a way of creating scenes that generate enough lag already, so I don't think I want to ask for a feature that generates more quite yet Thanks for explaining it though.

[riggles]

Obviously there's something else going on from MODO's end which enables it to recognize updates to driven channels and update its own viewport automatically, but I'm guessing that functionality isn't available to the API.

It is available to the API - but the plugin would need to iterate through all child-parent relationships of every item which is changed to see if the end parent item is the rendering camera. Whilst this can be done - it adds a little more lag every time you update any channel on any channel modifer - and I don't think people want this. But if the need is great enough, it can be done. But I would have thought the important thing is that rendering animation works correctly - which is should do for your rig.

Paul

I was just thinking. Would there be a way to create a non-geometry group that specific items could be pinned to, like the render camera for example, so that the plugin would only have to trace the parent-child relationships of those specific items? Just thinking out loud. Because I'm guessing that any or setups with driven channels will need manual refreshes, and assemblies can really streamline a workflow. If you're working on an animation, its not a big deal because the whole scene needs to get refreshed each frame anyway, but if I'm working on a still, reloading all the scene data with a refresh to update one pin that normally wouldn't require reloading the whole scene even if I changed it directly, is not optimal. Again, just thinking out loud. Not a priority, maybe more a long-term thing to look at.

[face_off]

Would you be using a camera rig for a still? I would have though it would only be useful for animations.

[riggles]

Would you be using a camera rig for a still? I would have though it would only be useful for animations.

Definitely. It's not a "rig" in the typical sense where I'm using custom dolly and tracking controls like you would see in animation setups. But it is a custom assembly that drives certain functions all from one control interface. But this is just one specific example. Assemblies can be used for a number of tasks in stills. There are lighting rigs that simulate studio lights (such as the SLIK kit from MODO), which is primarily used in stills. Really, any task or function setup with custom controls that you want to reuse.