Mix modo and octane workspace node

[Flyx]

Hi, i'm currently trying to make a rig for a light that will work "outside of the box" within modo and octane render.
For that i'm working within the workspace to link channel trying to get something close in both render by changing color, map, and intensity value.

But i'm facing a problem, i can't link modo node with octane node...even with two simple similar node like color with RGB channel, or a simple float, each time a got invalid pin. So, i found how to get light to work nearly the same in both render, but can't link value together to control them just with tree user channel (power, color, and map)

I can't work neither without an override, because i need extra control in the shader view, and to replicate something looking close i need the override node, but even if these control weren't nedded, i find that octane doesn't take in account value (like material intensity for example) when they are controled by something else, i take only the value before linking and never change it.

Is this possible ? Or will it became possible at one point in the future ? Until now i was changing value direclty whithin the material or the octane override, but this is a little bit time consuming, when you are in a viewport with only a 3d and render windows, opening or switching to the octane setup is taking time.

Hope i'm clear enough, it's a little bit hard to explain something technical when you are not english !

[face_off]

Yes, I have implemented a proof-of-concept method for doing this. The current release of the plugin allows a Modo RGB to be plugged into an Octane RGB. This needs to be done via an Assembly (pls see the attached file demonstrating this). I don't think this works for floats or ints yet (but I could be wrong on this...). The downside of this approach is that changing the Modo RGB does not automatically trigger a material refresh - you need to refresh the scene to do this. So I'm not sure if it is a workable solution for you. If it is, I could remove the need to go through an Assembly.

Paul

[Flyx]

It is working yes, that's a work around for now, but reloading the scene each time can be a time killer on bigger scene :/

Will it be possible in the near future to get something like automatic light convert an update on the fly ?

The possibility to control octane light like simple modo light, with just simple parameters (power, height, width, texture) and a better conversion of material map ( roughness map or luminous for example) is just what is driving me a little bit crazy right now with the plugin.

It works well in general, but sometimes changing some parameters or updating map can be a pain, adding override, reloading, those things can make you crazy :/

[Flyx]

actually to make it clear, it's relatively easy tou link a light with a luminous polygon and have it auto update.

What is giving me trouble is that i need to be able tu use a map for the intensity of the light (luminous amount in the shader tree), as those are not converted by the plugin i need to add an override, here start the trouble to link a real light with a luminous polygon for octane.

[face_off]

actually to make it clear, it's relatively easy tou link a light with a luminous polygon and have it auto update.

What is giving me trouble is that i need to be able tu use a map for the intensity of the light (luminous amount in the shader tree), as those are not converted by the plugin i need to add an override, here start the trouble to link a real light with a luminous polygon for octane.

I will add support for image maps assigned to an Effect of Luminous Amount in the next release.

Paul

[face_off]

I will add support for image maps assigned to an Effect of Luminous Amount in the next release.

I had a look at this - and it doesn't really make sense from a workflow point of view. Luminous Intensity goes from 0 W/srm2 to 9999999 W/srm2, whereas an image map goes from 0-1. So they do not translate correctly. At the moment, the on-the-fly material conversion correctly convert Luminous Intensity to Octane Emitter Power. Can you not simply use that?

it's relatively easy tou link a light with a luminous polygon and have it auto update.

I don't understand what this means. How are you linking a Modo light to a Modo polygon with a luminous material pls?

What is giving me trouble is that i need to be able tu use a map for the intensity of the light

Why are you needing a map for the Luminous Intensity (Amount) pls? Can you provide some screenshot to better illustrate what you are trying to achieve?

Thanks

Paul

[Flyx]

I will add support for image maps assigned to an Effect of Luminous Amount in the next release.

I had a look at this - and it doesn't really make sense from a workflow point of view. Luminous Intensity goes from 0 W/srm2 to 9999999 W/srm2, whereas an image map goes from 0-1. So they do not translate correctly. At the moment, the on-the-fly material conversion correctly convert Luminous Intensity to Octane Emitter Power. Can you not simply use that?

it's relatively easy tou link a light with a luminous polygon and have it auto update.

I don't understand what this means. How are you linking a Modo light to a Modo polygon with a luminous material pls?

What is giving me trouble is that i need to be able tu use a map for the intensity of the light

Why are you needing a map for the Luminous Intensity (Amount) pls? Can you provide some screenshot to better illustrate what you are trying to achieve?

Thanks

Paul

Maybe a explained badly what i wanted ^^ i would like to be able to put a map on a light, to see something in reflexion, and not just big square or circle, something like a gradient, or even an hdr taken from a real light to mimic more "realistic" reflexion. It's easy when you just need a luminous polygon for octane you can create something in an override easily, the hard part is that i would like to create a rig of light to control both a modo light and the octane one, were everything update themself on both light.

I was thinking of using luminous amount because that way i can keep the color of the light, the map will just modulate the power (0 = no power, 1 = power in material intensity ), and add details to the reflexion or even lightning

Maybe it's impossible for now, maybe i'm not on the right way to do it, that's just something i wanted to do, or at least try to do ^^

As for the link between a material and a light it's simple, was just speaking about linking the light intensity and color to the material ones, and the width and height to the scale of the luminous polygon. This is easy, fast and gives a light that work both in modo and octane and react exaclty the same way. Problem is, i have no control over a possible map on the light, excepted if i work separatly on the light and in the octane override, but that's not the point here

Hope explained clearly, it's always tough explaining someting in a foreign language !

Here is a really simple screen of what i would like, everything work, changing the material intensity and color update the area light, the only thing missing is octane who is not taking the luminous amount map

[face_off]

Thank you for providing more information.

Can you send me the scene that you took the above screenshot pls? I will see what can be done. It may be as simple as plugin the image from the Luminous Amount Effect into the Octane Emission Texture - however they may break the Power conversion factor.

Paul

[Flyx]

Here is the file, it's really simple and you can control the light from the luminous material, just a fast and draft test !

But while trying to make it work again i found other things that are blocking me, mainly the autoupdate trigger, the luminous polygon material update itself only if we change the color or power directly within the material, so no user channel to control the parameters...

Maybe trying to do this rig was a bad idea ^^

But if you can still find a way to link the luminous amount map that would be cool ^^ and maybe for the future a better way to auto update or a trick to trigger it ^^

[face_off]

Here is the file, it's really simple and you can control the light from the luminous material, just a fast and draft test !

But while trying to make it work again i found other things that are blocking me, mainly the autoupdate trigger, the luminous polygon material update itself only if we change the color or power directly within the material, so no user channel to control the parameters...

Maybe trying to do this rig was a bad idea ^^

But if you can still find a way to link the luminous amount map that would be cool ^^ and maybe for the future a better way to auto update or a trick to trigger it ^^

Hi - thanks for posting the sample scene.

If the luminous Amount IMAGE is plugged straight into the Octane Emitter "Efficiency or Texture", then a) the Modo-Luminous-Intensity-to-Octane-Emitter-Power is incorrect, and b) the emitter texture is inverted, and c) the Modo Luminous Color gets ignored. To get around c) you need to adjust the Octane material to appear as per the attached image.

So in summary, I don't believe that simply plugging the Luminous Amount Effect image into the Octane emitter power will solve your issue.

At the moment you can connect a Modo Color into an Octane RGB, but I would need to enhance the plugin to allow a Modo float (such as Luminous Intensity) to be plugged into an Octane Float. Whilst this is relatively easy (and is in the next release), it will only auto-update if the source channel belows to a Modo Material (since changing a Modo Material property/channel triggers a full material reload). I simple test shows that the Luminous Intensity property can be attached to the Emitter Power using this approach, and it updates when changed. You need to pass the "Luminous Intensity" through a sub-assembly to get around the plugin detected a mis-matched node connection.

Hope this helps. Next release should be out in the next day or two. Apologies for the "hacky" nature of the solution.

Paul