placement of OBJ

[Scottiefeng]

I believe this is quite important.

I export a house scene from Archicad to standalone. Then try to merge a bed OBJ. However, it is really not easy to put it into exact location I want it to be by using placement node. Is there any better way doing this?

Thanks guys!

[ParviainenArk]

Octane is a rendering package, it's not meant to replace a 3D modeler. For assembling your scene you should use a 3D package such as MODO or 3ds Max. Otherwise Placement is your only option.

[linvanchene]

obsolete post edited and removed by user

[Phantom107]

I have a tool available that allows you to place stuff around easily:
http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=33791

[ParviainenArk]

I disagree strongly on that point.
From my point of view working with computer graphics has several stages

- A) modeling
- B) creating a scene
- C) rendering

You seem to group together A & B.

I on the other am often faced with a different kind of workflow:

Example:

A) Zbrush is 3D modeling application. It is used to create 3D models.

B & C) The models are added to the scene in the RENDERING application of choice in a conveniant and efficient way.

Which rendering application are you using that can also be used to assemble scenes efficiently? I haven't used Indigo or Luxrender that are some other popular stand-alone renderers with a graphical user interface besides Octane, but I don't think they offer the sort of flexibility in managing 3D geometry that full-fledged 3D packages do.

[kavorka]

luxrender has less than Octane, well, havent used it in over a year but it was always just for rendering.

[linvanchene]

obsolete post edited and removed by user

[thefishnut]

+ 1

http://render.otoy.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 28#p205828

[itsallgoode9]

[
Which rendering application are you using that can also be used to assemble scenes efficiently? I haven't used Indigo or Luxrender that are some other popular stand-alone renderers with a graphical user interface besides Octane, but I don't think they offer the sort of flexibility in managing 3D geometry that full-fledged 3D packages do.

Maxwell Render, which I think would be considered a direct competitor to Octane, does this. I mean, you can't even move around lights easily in Octane Standalone (typing in values does not count). Moving lights around is one of the main things you need to do when rendering an image . It sucks because this alone makes standalone unusable for me and standalone is much quicker to work with than the plugins.

[ParviainenArk]

I understand your points linvanchene and itsallgoode9.

I don't think it has been the intention of Otoy to provide a full-fledged "engine" in which you can manipulate scenes. As of right now Octane standalone is more akin to a rendering package such as Luxrender, Indigo renderer or the stand-alone (command-line) versions of mental ray or V-ray. None of those renderers offer (to my knowledge) any tools to modify and manipulate geometry or lights in your scene (Maxwell apparently being the exception). The workflow is usually to import a scene (in .OBJ format most commonly), set up materials, and render. Even lights are geometry (luminous surfaces) in Octane so they're handled in the exact same manner as any other geometry in your scene.

I agree that since there is a possibility to move imported scene geometry around in Octane (with the Placement node), there could very well be some more user-friendly tools to do that. A simple Transform gizmo in the viewport for any selected Placement node would do the job.