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New Soft2Octane export test release [Obsolete]

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 12:20 pm
by face
This release is only for testing...
Because there are some major changes, I have decided to release it as a test release.
Strands NOT working for now.

Changes:
The main change is the name of the plugin. It is called now Soft2Octane.

Project managment and path interaction:
The project pathes will be saved as before. In this release, the image path will be also saved.
Sounds easy, but i must implement some string operations to filter out, if an .png is existing. Same with a "\".
The values are stored in the file, Soft2Octane.ini
Here it can come to errors, but it should work correct.

Error system:
The error system is changed. You now become all errors in one message.
This message is render dependent. Means, you can become the image path/name error only if you want to render an animation.
This system can be disabled in the misc tab.

Debug system:
This system writes out all variables and her values, plus the commandline which is send to Octane. Should be the same as before.
New is, you can now enable the option in the misc tab.

Resolution option:
You can now use a checkbox to use the scene resolution. Percents works then with this resolution.

Camera option:
It is now possible to animate the active camera. Means that you have the option to switch between various cameras.

Lens option:
It is now possible to disable the export of focal depth, depth of field and exposure, if you want to set it up in Octane.

Animation on 2.48:
There is an option under the misc tab, where you can render animations in 2.48.

You can download only the Windows 64bit addon.
This plugin works for Softimage 2010+

I hope I have nothing forgetten ;)

Edit:
The three sliders unter the lens options are now logarithmical.

face

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 7:40 pm
by face
Any feedback? ;)

face

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:04 am
by jamnique
Hey face, can i install the new exporter for testing and use the old one for production?

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 5:12 am
by face
jamnique wrote:Hey face, can i install the new exporter for testing and use the old one for production?
Because they have two different names, it should work to use they together.

face

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:24 am
by Magog
Noooooo :o
Today I will not be in the office! :cry:

Thank you for your work, face!!!

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:26 am
by jamnique
face, could you please post an xsiaddon file? Or explain how to duplicate the installed add-on to overwrite the dll to?

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:43 pm
by face
jamnique wrote:face, could you please post an xsiaddon file? Or explain how to duplicate the installed add-on to overwrite the dll to?
Sure, read the first post...

face

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 6:34 pm
by jamnique
Great! Area light export is working :D:D:D! Very, very nice :) Thank you! Now, for some quick feedback:

- By default, the direction of the lights is inverted in the Z axis, same as with Portal Lights in Mental Ray. It's a small thing, but it would be nice to be able to flip them globally with a check box, to maintain compatibility with the setup you have in XSI.

- It would be nice if the lights came in with a blackbody emission turned on, and power taken from Intensity, with the option to read it every time a frame is exported - it would allow for animating light intensity, just like the exposure setting

- The ability to export lens data or not is a very welcome addition. Would it be possible to have the parameter checkboxes separated? So you can export focal depth, but leave the exposure to Octane for example (which i usually want to do)?

- It would be very convenient to have a "Show debug / error log" button somewhere near the "show GPU infos". Or does it pop up only when errors actually happen?

- In previous versions it was possible to type in image output filename when choosing a folder, and it got a png extension automatically. It was a little more convenient that way.

Anyways, thank you for a great update, area lights support makes setting light positions for Octane much, much more intuitive. I haven't done any serious tests yet so i can't say anything about performance or bugs, but so far i haven't experienced any errors. Great work!

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:37 pm
by face
jamnique wrote: - By default, the direction of the lights is inverted in the Z axis, same as with Portal Lights in Mental Ray. It's a small thing, but it would be nice to be able to flip them globally with a check box, to maintain compatibility with the setup you have in XSI.
The lights should be the same direction, which the arealights in MR have, but if you mean there are in the wrong direction, i can flip they.
jamnique wrote: - It would be nice if the lights came in with a blackbody emission turned on, and power taken from Intensity, with the option to read it every time a frame is exported - it would allow for animating light intensity, just like the exposure setting
Not possible, because the obj file format doesn´t know blackbody emission ;)
jamnique wrote: - The ability to export lens data or not is a very welcome addition. Would it be possible to have the parameter checkboxes separated? So you can export focal depth, but leave the exposure to Octane for example (which i usually want to do)?
Sure, it´s possible but then you have anywhere en/disable checkboxes ;)
jamnique wrote: - It would be very convenient to have a "Show debug / error log" button somewhere near the "show GPU infos". Or does it pop up only when errors actually happen?
Nothing pop up. You will see it only in the script windows, if it is enabled. Errors also in the status bar as warning.
If debug is enabled, you can´t render, it is only to see, which command and parameters are send to Octane if you hit the render or the render animation button.
jamnique wrote: - In previous versions it was possible to type in image output filename when choosing a folder, and it got a png extension automatically. It was a little more convenient that way.
I think you mean, if you browse to a directory and type in a filename in the browser window? It is removed and the same as before.

hope thats all ;)

face

Re: New Soft2Octane export test release

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:49 pm
by jamnique
Thanks for the explanation.
face wrote:
jamnique wrote: - The ability to export lens data or not is a very welcome addition. Would it be possible to have the parameter checkboxes separated? So you can export focal depth, but leave the exposure to Octane for example (which i usually want to do)?
Sure, it´s possible but then you have anywhere en/disable checkboxes ;)
Nothing comes for free;-) It's a small price to pay :P
face wrote:
jamnique wrote: - In previous versions it was possible to type in image output filename when choosing a folder, and it got a png extension automatically. It was a little more convenient that way.
I think you mean, if you browse to a directory and type in a filename in the browser window? It is removed and the same as before.
That's what i meant ;] That's all i can think of. Thanks!