ORBX preview offset from final render

[Ferdinand13]

Hello,

I've got an issue previewing ORBX files inside the viewport. I've created some test geometry to illustrate my point. I've created a tube object in Houdini, which I have offset -2 units on the X-axis on OBJ level (not on SOP level).

When I now import this ORBX file into another project using the "Octane_OrbxSOP", the tube object preview (using the "Points" Display Mode option) appears at the origin, when it should be offset by -2 on the X-axis. Weirdly enough, once I fire up the IPR the object shows up in the correct spot (as you can see from the screenshot below).

Is this a bug and can it be fixed? This is just a test, but when using more complex geometry to layout your scene using ORBX proxies (which load faster and are therefore preferrable, correct?), you really need to be sure where things are at before hitting the render button.

Thanks for letting me know

[juanjgon]

I'm afraid that this is a limitation of the orbx preview system. I think that currently the transformations at the OBJ level stored in the orbx can't be recovered and translated to the viewport data.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[Ferdinand13]

Hi Juanjo, thanks for the quick reply. That's good to know.

Since I've got you here, there are three more ORBX related questions that I have:

1) Coming from Redshift 3D, using RS Proxies is indispensable when dealing with more complex scenes, as the IPR takes ages to load the geometry otherwise. Is this the same issue with Octane Render, i.e. does the IPR take longer to load in Houdini-generated geometry than ORBX geo?

2) As far as I can tell, the ORBX export from Houdini saves everything, including lights. However, what is not so clear is how to control what gets exported. Toggling the visibility flag on a geometry node on object level seems to include/exclude it from the ORBX export, but how would I go about excluding the lighting? How do I exclude individual lights and how HDRIs?

3) I had quite a bit of trouble initially to specify which geometry to export. Going via the Octane ROP node's "Archive" tab was pretty much hit and miss, but right clicking inside the IPR gave predictable results, after I realised that clicking "Update" was crucial in order to "flush" all geo out of Octane's buffer (without clicking update, Octane would save geometry even though it was invisible in the IPR). How would I go about "flushing" Octane's buffer when using the ORBX export functionality in the Octane ROP?

Thanks for letting me know

[Ferdinand13]

Also, I seem to have an issue when having multiple ORBX files in my scene, as you can see here.

Octane IPR 2021-12-27 11-41-51.mp4

(15.67 MiB) Downloaded 3707 times

Reloading the IPR makes them pop in and out, which makes it hard to know, what's actually in your scene. Any idea, why this happens?

[juanjgon]

The .orbx files are loaded by the plugin at the scene extraction time, not by the Octane core at the render time, but anyway, yes, I suppose that loading .orbx files should be faster than extracting the data from the scene. Anyway, you should check it yourself to know how well it works in your production scenes.

The plugin exports to .orbx exactly the same information that is rendered. You can enable/disable objects or lights (using the light "On" parameter), or you can use the ROP node object lists. I suppose that adding some additional options to for example exclude all lights while exporting .orbx files should be possible. There is still room to improve this feature.

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[juanjgon]

3) I had quite a bit of trouble initially to specify which geometry to export. Going via the Octane ROP node's "Archive" tab was pretty much hit and miss, but right clicking inside the IPR gave predictable results, after I realised that clicking "Update" was crucial in order to "flush" all geo out of Octane's buffer (without clicking update, Octane would save geometry even though it was invisible in the IPR). How would I go about "flushing" Octane's buffer when using the ORBX export functionality in the Octane ROP?

Do you say that the Octane ROP is exporting objects to the .orbx files that are disabled or not visible if you render the scene with the export option disabled?

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[juanjgon]

Also, I seem to have an issue when having multiple ORBX files in my scene, as you can see here.

Octane IPR 2021-12-27 11-41-51.mp4

Reloading the IPR makes them pop in and out, which makes it hard to know, what's actually in your scene. Any idea, why this happens?

Can you please share this scene and the .orbx files?

Thanks,
-Juanjo

[Ferdinand13]

3) I had quite a bit of trouble initially to specify which geometry to export. Going via the Octane ROP node's "Archive" tab was pretty much hit and miss, but right clicking inside the IPR gave predictable results, after I realised that clicking "Update" was crucial in order to "flush" all geo out of Octane's buffer (without clicking update, Octane would save geometry even though it was invisible in the IPR). How would I go about "flushing" Octane's buffer when using the ORBX export functionality in the Octane ROP?

Do you say that the Octane ROP is exporting objects to the .orbx files that are disabled or not visible if you render the scene with the export option disabled?

Thanks,
-Juanjo

Hi Juanjo, yes, that is what I'm saying

[Ferdinand13]

Also, I seem to have an issue when having multiple ORBX files in my scene, as you can see here.

Octane IPR 2021-12-27 11-41-51.mp4

Reloading the IPR makes them pop in and out, which makes it hard to know, what's actually in your scene. Any idea, why this happens?

Can you please share this scene and the .orbx files?

Thanks,
-Juanjo

Hi Juanjo,

Here's a link to download the project and the ORBX proxies on Dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rxhgwtl9ukhq ... t07Ja?dl=0

Hope you can find something in there. Thanks!

[juanjgon]

Ok. Thanks. I need to investigate these weird issues. I hope to know more about it soon.

Thanks,
-Juanjo