RE: Softimage development
See No Evil...sorta thing.[ROFL] S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Matt Lind [ml...@carbinestudios.com] Sent: 17 April 2012 19:59 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Softimage development Then why is there a Maya 2013 about to ship? Matt -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Alan Fregtman Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 10:51 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Softimage development Isn't 2012 the end of the world for mayans anyhow? ;) On 4/17/2012 1:43 PM, David Gallagher wrote: Please don't make me go back to Maya. On 4/17/2012 12:06 PM, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 8:53 AM, Eric Turmani.anima...@gmail.com wrote: Did the Softimage team get any new people to replace them though? yes.. we've been interviewing, hiring and training many new developers and QA for the last two years. there are more than a dozen new softimage people compared to three years ago.
RE: test.
Been throught that stage - now animation at full speed, they are turning out some amazing stuff again! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Gerbrand Nel [g...@cannonballbunny.com] Sent: 19 April 2012 10:38 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: test. Hehehe, now leave that poor wall alone and go optimize that rig!! On 2012/04/19 10:19 AM, Sandy Sutherland wrote: And the old one - can you guys make our rigs do everything we ever saw in all the combined cool rigs shown on vimeo and youtube AT THE SAME TIME, make coffee, have fur on them so we can see intersections...BUT STILL RUN AT 24fps when the play button is pressed! Sigh.[rubs the sore spot on his forehead from the incessant banging against the nearest walls] S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Pickard [m...@simonpickard.commailto:m...@simonpickard.com] Sent: 19 April 2012 10:12 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: test. Talking of frame rates... I'd love to see a graph of all the major films since Jurassic Park and the frame rate of their rigs. Think it would be pretty interesting, and wonder how consistant it would be? Same for render times. I guess the more powerful the computers the more we throw at them. On 19 April 2012 17:35, pete...@skynet.bemailto:pete...@skynet.be wrote: but they can make it cheaper. From: Eric Thiviergemailto:ethivie...@gmail.com Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 3:25 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: test. Faster rigs can't make your animation better Simon. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 11:13 AM, Simon Pickard m...@simonpickard.commailto:m...@simonpickard.com wrote: Shouldn't you two be making our rigs run faster or something? On 19 April 2012 10:58, Raffaele Fragapane raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote: He has a coord reading them to him and then writing back. It's kinda like the field nurses helping the analphabet soldiers write home during world war one kinda thing. On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:32 AM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.commailto:ethivie...@gmail.com wrote: Didn't know Simon could read let alone email :P Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 9:24 AM, Simon Pickard m...@simonpickard.commailto:m...@simonpickard.com wrote: Woohoo! Thanks for the reply. On 19 April 2012 09:22, Jeremie Passerin gerem@gmail.commailto:gerem@gmail.com wrote: I think you got it working now ! On 18 April 2012 16:15, Simon Pickard m...@simonpickard.commailto:m...@simonpickard.com wrote: Come on emails! Work damn it! -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are! No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2411/4945 - Release Date: 04/18/12
RE: loft instances on melena strands
Hello - sorry for the delay - we are actually doing just this on our current movie - using Melena as a base to build on our own further system to do fur and now feathers! I have been trying to see if the powers that be will be happy to provide compounds and help - it should be possible, as we are going to try and release lots of our development stuff to the community, as the community has always been a huge help to us! As soon as I have the OK I will send on stuff to you if you still want? PLEASE NOTE this will never be supported stuff, we can answer questions, but once you have the compounds and they do not do what you expected/needed, we can not be liable. Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Halim Negadi [hneg...@gmail.com] Sent: 23 April 2012 18:55 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: loft instances on melena strands Hi List, We are trying to make feather instances loft along strands from melena, any chance any of you already went through this ? Another way would be to be able to feed a factory CreateStrandsFromCurves compound with subcurves to avoid having one single curve object per strand. Thank you, H.
RE: Belly Wobble Ice
http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/xsidocs/idef_deforms_VerletIntegration.htm Good info there! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of pete...@skynet.be [pete...@skynet.be] Sent: 28 April 2012 15:14 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Belly Wobble Ice search for ‘verlet’ in the ice tree – that should get you started you can drive it with a weightmap From: Ben Beckettmailto:nebbeck...@googlemail.com Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2012 2:37 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Belly Wobble Ice Hi list Some time ago there was a video out there that a very kind person made on how to use ice to achieve some secondary motion in a characters belly thought the painting of a weight map. I did save it for times like this but it gone! Would any one know of this or have some suggestion how could do it. Thanks a bunch Ben
RE: pointvelocity to drive motion vectors on geometry - does it work?
Hi Peter - I have gone through similar issues to do with Fur - you are right grabbing poitvelocity off geometry works fine for point clouds etc. BUT it seems that MB on geometry does not actually use the pointvelocity - cannot remember the details, maybe someone with renderer programming experience can chip in. It does sound odd that you are getting incorrect MB on your geometry, unless the geometry was cached and is reading in caches?? Depending on which cache method, they seem to recalculate MB vectors - MDD/PO you can in fact specify wether to use linear or spline to calculate this. If you are not using caches, then I would suspect dodgy geometry - try doing an extract of the geometry and plotting shape - then rendering the new geometry - see if the MB looks more correct! S _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of pete...@skynet.be [pete...@skynet.be] Sent: 10 May 2012 09:32 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: pointvelocity to drive motion vectors on geometry - does it work? Hi, I’m using the mip_motion_vectors output shader. My non-simulated particle cloud (sticking to a surface) shows up black which makes sense I guess. No worries, I’m looking up the PointVelocity at the surface and saving this on the particles – and magically the motion vectors are fixed and blend perfectly with the surface. Now I have some geometry with incorrect motion vectors (I think) – and I was hoping to accomplish the same thing: calculating motion vectors (difference between previous and current frames’ pointposition ?) and saving it as a PointVelocity attribute. However – it doesnt seem to be working – no matter what I try, the PointVelocity attribute doesnt seem to affect motion vectors – as it did for the particles. Has anyone done this? Does it / should it work? thanks for any pointers.
RE: loft instances on melena strands
Chris - please look at the sphere scene included - i just grabbed the whole folder, so there is likely to be some redundant stuff in there! Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Chris Johnson [chr...@topixfx.com] Sent: 15 May 2012 16:45 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: loft instances on melena strands Wow...quite a library...thanks. I'll be digging into his shortly! OK have put a zip file - here - https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8MfxqvWZh32dXd5ZnV5ZFpEWnM It is the compounds we use here, and a sphere with a fur setup to show how it is linked up! NB - it needs melena installed, as it used the melena base to create the curves off the softimage fur. PLEASE ALSO NOTE - this is not a software release of any kind and is not at all supported by us, it is to help out anyone who might need to go in this direction. If it breaks something on your side - sorry, but we are in no way liable for that. Cheers Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Sandy Sutherland [sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za] Sent: 27 April 2012 20:48 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: loft instances on melena strands OK - will have a discussion on Wednesday (we have a public holiday on tuesday so monday also off) with the powers and let you know. Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Halim Negadi [hneg...@gmail.commailto:hneg...@gmail.com] Sent: 27 April 2012 20:28 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: loft instances on melena strands Hello Sandy and thanks for the answer. Of course we're stil interested, please keep us posted. Cheers, H. On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 7:51 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Hello - sorry for the delay - we are actually doing just this on our current movie - using Melena as a base to build on our own further system to do fur and now feathers! I have been trying to see if the powers that be will be happy to provide compounds and help - it should be possible, as we are going to try and release lots of our development stuff to the community, as the community has always been a huge help to us! As soon as I have the OK I will send on stuff to you if you still want? PLEASE NOTE this will never be supported stuff, we can answer questions, but once you have the compounds and they do not do what you expected/needed, we can not be liable. Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Halim Negadi [hneg...@gmail.commailto:hneg...@gmail.com] Sent: 23 April 2012 18:55 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: loft instances on melena strands Hi List, We are trying to make feather instances loft along strands from melena, any chance any of you already went through this ? Another way would be to be able to feed a factory CreateStrandsFromCurves compound with subcurves to avoid having one single curve object per strand. Thank you, H.
RE: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images
I can send you a scene I developed based on a technique I came across somewhere to do awesome simulated strands, by creating particle systems to loft the strands between and doing the sim on the particles - this allow you to set orientation on the particles and then the strands - I was using it to do grass and bushes being flattened by a vehicle and I had the bushes/grass randomly oriented as I was rendering a field using strand deforming. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Arda Sernaz [a...@lhvfx.com] Sent: 16 May 2012 14:16 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images Yes i tried a feather instance on strands but i couldn't set the orientation... On 5/16/2012 1:37 PM, Christian Keller wrote: try the loft ... checkbox in your create strands compound. and if you use the sitoa strand compound, there´s also one for the rotations. not sitting in front of xsi now, but sure you´ll figure it out within one minute ;) Am 16.05.2012 11:36, schrieb Stefano Jannuzzo: You posted an Arnold render. You mean that you can't achieve the same result with mr, or that the Arnold result itself is wrong? Stefano On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Morten Bartholdy x...@colorshopvfx.dkmailto:x...@colorshopvfx.dk wrote: Here are a couple of images showing what I am doing: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/763668/ICE/Strands_InstanceGeo_Rotation_01.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/763668/ICE/Strands_InstanceGeo_Rotation_ICE_Tree_01.jpg I just need to randomize of the geometrys y-rotation, and according to the docs and pointers given here earlier this should do the trick, but no go. Is there a magic step I might have missed to get it working? /Morten Den 15. maj 2012 kl. 11:14 skrev Morten Bartholdy x...@colorshopvfx.dkmailto:x...@colorshopvfx.dk: I have a nice setup which creates lovely grass deforming geometry instances on strands so I can have turbulent wind moving the strands around. I am using Emit Strands for this, but I seem to be unable to randomize the instance y-orientation using a Randomize Rotation by Cone - they are unaffected by this. If I create a different setup using Emit from Geometry and Create Strands on that, I can control the y-rotation, but then the instances are upside down, and my non simulated turbulence does not work. How can I get to control instance y-rotation when using Emit Strands? MOrten -- christian keller visual effects|direction m +49 179 69 36 248 f +49 40 386 835 33 chris3...@me.commailto:chris3...@me.com -- Ardahan SERNAZ VFX TD www.lhvfx.comhttp://www.lhvfx.com
RE: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images
Yep - remember it now Rob - sorry I did not remember until I had dug my scenes out and saw how they worked - was done a while ago in RD on some stuff that might have made it into the movie - will most likely not because of time constraints. It is really good stuff - a nice way to do it! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Rob Chapman [tekano@gmail.com] Sent: 16 May 2012 15:42 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images Sandy, just so you know because it isnt that obvious, it was me that wrote that tutorial :) also Arda, I imagine the orientation problem you are having is because they are all on a sphere rather than a grid - are you taking the spheres normal into account regarding the orientation? And as for OP, Morten am not sure why your orientation is having the effect it is, perhaps because you are setting the orientation only on emit then doing something else that effects it. try putting the orientation back on as the last step in the ice tree. best regards Rob 'tekano' chapman On 16 May 2012 14:23, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8MfxqvWZh32N1dJV2x2RTIwMGc Here ya go - it is that system that Rob mentions, I added more particle segments to allow more accurate collision - but otherwise the same thing - you can add forces such as wind into the mix on the particle setups - it is a really nice method to do it! Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of olivier jeannel [olivier.jean...@noos.frmailto:olivier.jean...@noos.fr] Sent: 16 May 2012 14:59 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images Ahem, I'd be curious too ^^ Le 16/05/2012 14:29, Morten Bartholdy a écrit : I would be very interested in that one Sandy :) Morten Den 16. maj 2012 kl. 14:25 skrev Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za: I can send you a scene I developed based on a technique I came across somewhere to do awesome simulated strands, by creating particle systems to loft the strands between and doing the sim on the particles - this allow you to set orientation on the particles and then the strands - I was using it to do grass and bushes being flattened by a vehicle and I had the bushes/grass randomly oriented as I was rendering a field using strand deforming. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Arda Sernaz [a...@lhvfx.commailto:a...@lhvfx.com] Sent: 16 May 2012 14:16 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images Yes i tried a feather instance on strands but i couldn't set the orientation... On 5/16/2012 1:37 PM, Christian Keller wrote: try the loft ... checkbox in your create strands compound. and if you use the sitoa strand compound, there´s also one for the rotations. not sitting in front of xsi now, but sure you´ll figure it out within one minute ;) Am 16.05.2012 11:36, schrieb Stefano Jannuzzo: You posted an Arnold render. You mean that you can't achieve the same result with mr, or that the Arnold result itself is wrong? Stefano On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Morten Bartholdy x...@colorshopvfx.dkmailto:x...@colorshopvfx.dk wrote: Here are a couple of images showing what I am doing: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/763668/ICE/Strands_InstanceGeo_Rotation_01.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/763668/ICE/Strands_InstanceGeo_Rotation_ICE_Tree_01.jpg I just need to randomize of the geometrys y-rotation, and according to the docs and pointers given here earlier this should do the trick, but no go. Is there a magic step I might have missed to get it working? /Morten Den 15. maj 2012 kl. 11:14 skrev Morten Bartholdy x...@colorshopvfx.dkmailto:x...@colorshopvfx.dk : I have a nice setup which
RE: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images
I would head in Rob's first suggestion - get the data from the emit location in terms of normal etc... and use that to set orientation of the strands. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Arda Sernaz [a...@lhvfx.com] Sent: 16 May 2012 16:41 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images Rob, the thing is, in some areas they oriented right so changing the instance rotation wouldn't give a solution. Thanks for the fast replies bye the way :) On 5/16/2012 5:34 PM, Rob Chapman wrote: Arda, so when it renders they are facing the wrong way? as in they are all pointing inwards rather than outwards? just revere the instance and freeze - it will look wrong in openGL but render correctly. On 16 May 2012 15:29, Arda Sernaz a...@lhvfx.commailto:a...@lhvfx.com wrote: Rob, i set both particle and strand orientation but nothing changed after , i used align to surface node. in opengl view instances oriented correctly but when i render it is different. On 5/16/2012 4:42 PM, Rob Chapman wrote: Sandy, just so you know because it isnt that obvious, it was me that wrote that tutorial :) also Arda, I imagine the orientation problem you are having is because they are all on a sphere rather than a grid - are you taking the spheres normal into account regarding the orientation? And as for OP, Morten am not sure why your orientation is having the effect it is, perhaps because you are setting the orientation only on emit then doing something else that effects it. try putting the orientation back on as the last step in the ice tree. best regards Rob 'tekano' chapman On 16 May 2012 14:23, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8MfxqvWZh32N1dJV2x2RTIwMGc Here ya go - it is that system that Rob mentions, I added more particle segments to allow more accurate collision - but otherwise the same thing - you can add forces such as wind into the mix on the particle setups - it is a really nice method to do it! Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of olivier jeannel [olivier.jean...@noos.frmailto:olivier.jean...@noos.fr] Sent: 16 May 2012 14:59 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images Ahem, I'd be curious too ^^ Le 16/05/2012 14:29, Morten Bartholdy a écrit : I would be very interested in that one Sandy :) Morten Den 16. maj 2012 kl. 14:25 skrev Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za: I can send you a scene I developed based on a technique I came across somewhere to do awesome simulated strands, by creating particle systems to loft the strands between and doing the sim on the particles - this allow you to set orientation on the particles and then the strands - I was using it to do grass and bushes being flattened by a vehicle and I had the bushes/grass randomly oriented as I was rendering a field using strand deforming. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Arda Sernaz [a...@lhvfx.commailto:a...@lhvfx.com] Sent: 16 May 2012 14:16 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE strand orientation trouble - again :/ now with images Yes i tried a feather instance on strands but i couldn't set the orientation... On 5/16/2012 1:37 PM, Christian Keller wrote: try the loft ... checkbox in your create strands compound. and if you use the sitoa strand compound, there´s also one for the rotations. not sitting in front of xsi now, but sure you´ll figure it out within one minute ;) Am 16.05.2012 11:36, schrieb Stefano Jannuzzo: You posted an Arnold render. You mean that you can't achieve the same result with mr, or that the Arnold result itself is wrong? Stefano On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Morten Bartholdy x...@colorshopvfx.dkmailto:x...@colorshopvfx.dk wrote: Here
RE: RANT warning: AD licensing ingeniousness
You know that you can stop the license server even when there are licenses in use - when you start it again, they just get picked up again, it is easy to install another license without shutting everyone down. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Morten Bartholdy [x...@colorshopvfx.dk] Sent: 22 May 2012 14:07 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: RANT warning: AD licensing ingeniousness Thanks for clarifying Stephen, but yes my problem is we have network licenses and so I will have to wait for Maya and Mudbox users and Maya rendering before I can get Soft running on the new license. I just wish they would be entirely separate so it was simpler to upgrade one or the other at any given time. Morten Den 22. maj 2012 kl. 13:44 skrev Stephen Blair stephen.bl...@autodesk.com: Hi I’m not sure I understand, but I’ll assume you have separate serial numbers for Soft, Maya, and Mudbox. You can activate all the individual network licenses and download the .lic files, you don’t have to update the server until you are ready. Even then you can add just Softimage if that’s what you want. You can add the others later. I don’t know how activating separate Maya, Mudbox, and Softimage licenses could end up in a conflict, unless you have Suite licenses perhaps? Or multiple serials for each product? For network licenses, you have to stop the license server, yes. Also, you can run Softimage 2013 in trial mode for 30 days. From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Morten Bartholdy Sent: May-22-12 6:55 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RANT warning: AD licensing ingeniousness So I got around to installing Soft 2013 only to find that Autodesk in their wisdom designed the licensing activation procedure so that I should activate our Maya and Mudbox 2013 licenses simultaneously to avoid conflicts, and on top of that the licensing for older versions may break and need reactivation, so effectively I have to wait until such a time where nobody will be waiting for licenses and we are not rendering, to do this. And I just want to install Soft 2013 and take a look at the goodies. Thank you Autodesk for making my day that much worse - grrr Morten
RE: Softimage and Fedora14 - help please!
I built one workstation with Nvidia driver a while ago - otherwise we crank out render nodes all on FC14 - and all work 100% - I will check tomorrow if we can remember how we did the one WS, which Nvidia driver etc... - BTW one thing I HAVE noticed is that you should update BIOS, we had lots of problems before with nodes untill we did that! I will see tomorrow if I can dig out which Nvidia driver I used! Evening time here now and I am at home. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Vladimir Jankijevic [vladi...@elefantstudios.ch] Sent: 22 May 2012 18:50 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Softimage and Fedora14 - help please! I've had the problem on Fedora14 that softimage would start up after a reboot but will hang if I open it a second time in the same session. After rebooting again, it started up again. But then, this was in a virtual machine with no NVIDIA drivers. Do you guys have a running setup of a virtual fedora14 with nvidia drivers? if so, HOW??? vladimir On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 6:18 PM, Stephen Blair stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.com wrote: Hanging while drawing the viewports often indicates a problem with the graphic card display driver. If you modify the default layout to hide the OpenGL viewports, does Softimage start up? http://usa.autodesk.com/getdoc/id=TS14691242 Can xsibatch run ? Try running a script with xsibatch Eg echo LogMessage\(\Hello\\) /var/tmp/test.js xsibatch -processing -script /var/tmp/test.js The dropbox and flash stuff was just stuff that customer wanted, so he added it to his recipe. -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Christoph Muetze Sent: May-22-12 12:06 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Softimage and Fedora14 - help please! Hi Stephen, thanks for the help! On 05/22/2012 04:17 PM, Stephen Blair wrote: The libcustomdisplayhost.so error will not prevent Softimage from running. I get the same error here, and I can run Softimage 2013. too bad.. it was the only error i could find... Also important for FC14: http://xsisupport.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/the-case-of-the-slow-2011-startup-on-fedora-14/ this was one of the very first things i tried.. http://xsisupport.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/rpcss-servicemain-failed-with-1702-06a6-the-binding-handle-is-invalid/ tried and checked this, too of course.. yum -y localinstall --nogpgcheck http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm already did this before.. yum -y groupinstall Development Tools yum -y install nfs-utils ypbind wget PyQt4 PyQt4-devel python-pyside libXpm control-center-extra wine.i686 libquicktime vlc filezilla gimp gimp-libs ufraw-gimp openssh-server MySQL-python xorg-x11-apps python-sqlite2 filezilla, gimp, openssh-server? seriously? why? o_O anyway. i installed everything and sadly my problem remains. #Flash #Dropbox uhm.. flash and dropbox !? why on earth does softimage need that? i temporarily installed flash with no luck on getting softimage to run afterwards. i resisted to install dropbox for now, do i really need that in order to get softimage up and running? as for the rest of the install-advice: i had already disabled nouveau and se-linux, of course - as i said in my inital posting, mudbox and maya run fine, i guess they wouldn't if my nvidia-driver would collide with the opensource-nouveau-stuff and neither maya nor mudbox install with se-linux turned on, so... ;( cheers! chris -- --- Vladimir Jankijevic Technical Direction Elefant Studios AG Lessingstrasse 15 CH-8002 Zürich +41 44 500 48 20 www.elefantstudios.chhttp://www.elefantstudios.ch ---
RE: Soft constraints evaluating differently when their nulls are invisible
have you got transform hidden objects off?? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Alan Fregtman [alan.fregt...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 May 2012 16:20 To: XSI Mailing List Subject: Soft constraints evaluating differently when their nulls are invisible Hey guys, It's been years since I used soft constraints but for what I'm doing right now they are just what I needed. I thought about trying to do them with ICE or a SCOP, but it seemed like reinventing the wheel for no reason. Now I'm finding that if I show only the geo of my rig, the soft constraints appear to evaluate differently. What gives? :p They look mostly right, but tamer. I know sometimes invisible objects don't evaluate, but they are driving constrained solid pieces so I figured they should be evaluating at all times regardless because of this. Any tips before I go reinvent the wheel? Cheers, -- Alan
RE: Odd texture disconnecting issue
OK - we found the problem - there was a python module changed that made this particular area switch to tx files instead of tiff. Sooo - nothing to see here S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Sandy Sutherland [sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za] Sent: 05 June 2012 10:08 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Odd texture disconnecting issue Hi all, We had a very strange issue happen here - we use a script that when a scene is submitted to render, that copies the scene to another array and rewires all the textures to point to a different texture array, this is to avoid our main server getting hammered when the farm is rendering. Anyway - yesterday - some scenes which had texture paths changed - SEPCIFICALLY on texture map parameters being fed into strand setups to render fur, despite having the correct path - rendered no-icon pics - and when you open the scene that was saved by the script - the texture IN the scene shows as no-icon - if you click the .. to search for textures and reselect the same texture, it works again! Any ideas?? thanks S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: ERROR : 2356 - This plug-in is not installed: ...
Yes - this should be pretty much all you need to do - BTW even with that error - it should not affect anything. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Rob Chapman [tekano@gmail.com] Sent: 05 June 2012 12:14 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ERROR : 2356 - This plug-in is not installed: ... I think its a spare Fury render settings lying around, as far as Im aware you can find the offending pass(es), delete the render properties for Fury and if you do not have Fury installed it should not bother you anymore. It's been like this for a long time and shouldn't really affect anything apart from the warning messages. On 5 June 2012 10:57, Matt Lind ml...@carbinestudios.com wrote: If you know the GUID/CLSID, you can search for all instances of the plugin/operator in the scene and flush it out via script. Otherwisecould be a hair pulling day. Matt -Original Message- From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Tim Leydecker Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 2:56 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: ERROR : 2356 - This plug-in is not installed: ... Hi guys, I have a scene that has been shared but seems to have used Exocortex Fury at some point. For the task I惴 dealing with, this is not required but the scene comes with geometry and especially PassRender settings I悲 like to keep and wouldn愒 want to rebuild from scratch. ERROR : 2356 - This plug-in is not installed: Exocortex Fury Options How can I make sure I correctly identify and delete any dependencies to the above plug-in? Would this be advisable or should I clean up by starting the (environment geo) scene from scratch? Cheers, tim
RE: caching points with royal render
I have been doing MDD point caching on RR for our previous show and now this one - will be doing writing stuff out for fur to render soon - just doing tests on how to go about it. What I did before is generate a VBS file that gets run by a BAT file - on a couple of windows nodes. This time I am looking at generating a python script that will run on our linux nodes. What sort of caching will you be doing? Cheers Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Sebastian Kowalski [l...@sekow.com] Sent: 11 June 2012 19:21 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: caching points with royal render hey list, has anyone some experience in royal render and just caching stuff with it? i thought i could ask before i dive into the sdk. just need royal render to open xsibatch on all clients, and wait for my siOnEndScene Event script to finish and go to the next job.. ive never used rr before so excuse me if this is blatant. thanks in advance
RE: caching points with royal render
RR can execute anything that can be executed - I have even installed Softimage using RR before - was easier on a windows farm as it is easy to create the environment to do it. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Sebastian Kowalski [l...@sekow.com] Sent: 12 June 2012 10:21 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: caching points with royal render found that rr can executes batch files just this morning. i can take it from here. thanks s. Am 11.06.2012 um 19:51 schrieb Sandy Sutherland: I have been doing MDD point caching on RR for our previous show and now this one - will be doing writing stuff out for fur to render soon - just doing tests on how to go about it. What I did before is generate a VBS file that gets run by a BAT file - on a couple of windows nodes. This time I am looking at generating a python script that will run on our linux nodes. What sort of caching will you be doing? Cheers Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com ] on behalf of Sebastian Kowalski [l...@sekow.com] Sent: 11 June 2012 19:21 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: caching points with royal render hey list, has anyone some experience in royal render and just caching stuff with it? i thought i could ask before i dive into the sdk. just need royal render to open xsibatch on all clients, and wait for my siOnEndScene Event script to finish and go to the next job.. ive never used rr before so excuse me if this is blatant. thanks in advance
RE: Ahoy all!
Why hello there - someone let a whole herd of animals onto the list... _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Anderson [simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com] Sent: 12 June 2012 13:06 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Ahoy all! Those damn ferrets you keep are vicious, think its just your grumpy disposition that makes them that way coffee goodness and breakfast role nom nom! On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 9:02 PM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.commailto:ethivie...@gmail.com wrote: Cause I'm one of them grumpy gate keepers who harasses those who enter and sick my rabies wielding ferretlings on those who I disapprove of. Though I'm easily swayed with coffee. Not sure about the ferrets though... Welcome back to the list though. You've managed to avoid the great outage of 2012. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 8:42 PM, Simon Anderson simonbenandersonl...@gmail.commailto:simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com wrote: HAHA... how come I knew you where going to be the first to reply, was going to add a comment just to you HAHA... hey thought i was buying you coffee tomorrow i know where you sit sir! -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
RE: Gear rig problem - joint spinning at render time
Just a stab in the dark - checked for continuous rotations? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Chris Johnson [chr...@topixfx.com] Sent: 12 June 2012 17:43 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Gear rig problem - joint spinning at render time We're getting spinning joints at render time? Scrub back and forth in the editor and it's fine. However when you do a play blast or a render the arms and legs geo spin on themselves. I've fixed this in the past by caching the geo. Just wonder if there's a better fix? More permanent? Anyone else experience this?
Rigging or Character TD type courses question
Hi Guys, Quick question - what do you guys think would be the best Rigging or Character TD type course to have someone take - would be ideally an online type course. Currently the idea is to start with the 8 week Facial Rigging by Judd Simantov off cgsociety - http://workshops.cgsociety.org/courseinfo.php?id=275 - anyone done this course, it looks quite good but I am concerned it is Maya-centric? This is for one of our Riggers who is going for the lead role. Thanks for any input. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: Rigging or Character TD type courses question
Thanks Alan, Will check out all of this stuff. She has been doing quite a lot of ICE stuff for facial setups such as sliding and eyelids - so she does have an understanding of it all. I get you about that dodgy course you speak of - that is exactly why I asked on here, as I was pretty sure that you super knowledgeable guys would know of the best courses. Cheers Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ ___ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Alan Fregtman [alan.fregt...@gmail.com] Sent: 20 June 2012 15:43 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging or Character TD type courses question Hi Sandy, I agree with Eric. It's really a mixed bag without having word of mouth from people you trust... I too took Raff's course and found it fantastic, but I also took a certain Maya rigging one -- not the Judd one -- only knowing his credentials were good, but it turned out quite terribly produced. :/ (I don't wanna name names.) The teacher in this case clearly knew a lot, was a nice guy and had lots of experience, but as a teacher he'd seriously drag on and make mistakes in his very elongated videos that he would not edit out; I don't know if due to lack of time on a busy schedule, lack of editing software, or just lazyness. Either way, you'd waste half an hour doing some setup to find out in the last 3 or 4 minutes that he missed a key part and then backtracked to fix it. Sometimes like 10 minutes went by before he completely throw away the approach he was doing. If you were to skip through his two hour video, even just by minute increments, you could very easily miss a crucial backtracking moment, and then your setup didn't match his. The Rigging Dojo videos look good, though I've never taken a course there myself so who knows. That said, their teachers seem to really love their field, which is a good sign. David Gallagher's AnimSchool looks great too. In another topic, how's her vector math? You can do quite a bit of rigging without knowing any, but if you know a little bit it can help a ton to slowly master doing some nifty deformers in ICE and so on. -- Khan Academy has some good general videos on linear algebra concepts: http://www.khanacademy.org/math/linear-algebra and CMIvfx has these good ICE ones: http://www.cmivfx.com/tutorials/view/418/Softimage+ICE+Deformers http://www.cmivfx.com/tutorials/view/197/Softimage+ICE+For+A+Production+Pipeline http://www.cmivfx.com/tutorials/view/212/Softimage+ICE%3A+Scalar+Data and this one I recently heard of, not watched, but it's probably good cause Mr.Vernon makes awesome things: http://www.cgcircuit.com/lessondetailcomplete.php?val=599 Cheers, -- Alan On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 4:25 AM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.com wrote: Its a tough call. I only took the general TD with Python in XSI with Raf. Hopefully they'll be selling it stand alone shortly. I haven't seen any others that are terribly appealing. Not saying they don't offer great quality but its hard to tell without word of mouth and recommendations, basically what you're asking for. :) Overall I think rigging-wise you can get a lot out of rigging courses even if they are Maya based. It's more the concepts and approaches than actual application. If you're going to a course to just see how to push this button and then this one, then this one... so on and so on, you're not going to get anything out of it. I'd try to find a bunch of different course and see if you can email the instructor ahead of time to get an overview of the course and ask more in depth questions about what you're hoping to learn from it. Also ask for references that you can email / ask opinions in regards to the course. I have a mixed riggng experience from XSI to Maya and back and many rigging concepts are universal. Implementation in the application is where it varies, not the concepts. I saw this one a while back, not sure about how good it is: http://www.riggingdojo.com/ Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 6:09 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Hi Guys, Quick question - what do you guys think would be the best Rigging or Character TD type course to have someone take - would be ideally an online type course. Currently the idea is to start with the 8 week Facial Rigging by Judd Simantov off cgsociety - http://workshops.cgsociety.org/courseinfo.php?id=275 - anyone done this course, it looks quite good but I am concerned it is Maya-centric? This is for one of our Riggers who is going for the lead role. Thanks for any input. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: Rigging or Character TD type courses question
I agree - it is easy to get stuck into a particular methodology, especially since we are stuck out of the mainstream here - beaches are great though, the the mountain - well S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Eric Thivierge [ethivie...@gmail.com] Sent: 20 June 2012 16:15 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging or Character TD type courses question My point above was that taking a course could give you a different perspective you may not have thought of and also someone to bounce ideas off of that you may not necessarily have at smaller studios. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com
RE: Rigging or Character TD type courses question
Lol - we have finished one movie - and now finished rigging for the second - so quite a lot of practice has been done, and a lot of animator testing too. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Peter Agg [peter@googlemail.com] Sent: 20 June 2012 16:59 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging or Character TD type courses question Courses are very important of course, but you will learn much more efficiently by spending more time on doing your own rigs (and animating them) than reading too many books You learn even more by giving them to animators to break them in ways you never imagined. :) On 20 June 2012 15:22, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: I agree - it is easy to get stuck into a particular methodology, especially since we are stuck out of the mainstream here - beaches are great though, the the mountain - well S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Eric Thivierge [ethivie...@gmail.commailto:ethivie...@gmail.com] Sent: 20 June 2012 16:15 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging or Character TD type courses question My point above was that taking a course could give you a different perspective you may not have thought of and also someone to bounce ideas off of that you may not necessarily have at smaller studios. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com
RE: Rigging or Character TD type courses question
Hi Si, Yes we decided on something - it is for Pearl to do. And yes there were some awesome courses raised here - thanks again to all who replied. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Anderson [simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com] Sent: 22 June 2012 01:50 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Rigging or Character TD type courses question Awesome read, Brads write is is really epic. Sandy any luck finding a course? are you thinking more programming or rigging? On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 9:08 AM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.commailto:ethivie...@gmail.com wrote: That post is worth its bit count in gold! Very awesome post Brad thanks so much! Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
RE: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input...
We do not have this here - our setup is Win7 64 workstations with FC15 Farm nodes. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Martin Chatterjee [martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com] Sent: 22 June 2012 13:36 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input... Hi Stephen, thanks for confirming and bumping up the bug. Yeah, getting rid of the graphical messageBox would be key. Although personally I don't understand the reason for the whole locking mechanism in the first place - my tests indicate that self-installing scripted plugins living in Application/Plugins do not get locked that way, for instance... But I don't mind it at all as long as we can get rid of the messageBox(es). By the way, my gut feeling is that this might only an issue on XP 64 - I will try to repro on Windows 7 in a bit and will let you know. Thanks, Martin -- Martin Chatterjee [ Freelance Technical Director ] [http://www.chatterjee.de] On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Stephen Blair stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.com wrote: Hi Martin Yes, this has been reported and logged before. I repro it simply by starting many xsibatch sessions, eventually you'll get an Unable to access error. It could be for a compound, or for a toolbar, or some other file. I'll log it again to bump it back up. At the very least, xsibatch should not display a message requiring use interaction. Stephen Blair Softimage Support Specialist Premium Support Services Autodesk, Inc. Montreal, Quebec, Canada Blog: http://xsisupport.com From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee Sent: June-22-12 7:19 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input... Hi List, hi Support, we are experiencing a bit of an annoying issue regarding access collisions on workgroups. Bear with me - it'll take a few lines to explain: When a workgroup is loaded (or refreshed from within an open Softimage session) its subdirectories get scanned and all self-installing plugins, shaders and ICE compounds get registered accordingly. During this scan Softimage will take over exclusive access for every ICE compound in /Data/Compounds. It will do this by creating a .lock file (e.g. MyCompound.xsicompound.lock) to prevent collisions. Under normal circumstances this lock file will be deleted straight after file scan and this lock should only be present for a veeery short time ( 1ms or so...). However if a second session of Softimage tries to access a locked compound the user will get prompted by a messageBox that the compound is not accessible. He can then choose to ignore it and proceed. Through a series of VERY annoying circumnstances (dont't get me started... ) these workgroup scans are quite slow on our side right now resulting in quite a few collisions on a regular basis. And here's our problem: Even an xsibatch session () will display the same UI messagebox and will wait until eternity for a user to interact with it. (see attached screenshot) This is on our blades running Windows XP 64 (yeah, I know...) In my humble opinion this is a bug and should be solved - a headless command line application such as xsibatch should NEVER popup graphical messageboxes and wait for user interaction... To make matters worse a xsibatch process controlled through a Renderfarm management software that exists as a windows service will not even display the bloody messagebox (as windows services cannot have desktop UI interaction). Instead the process will sit there forever with 0% CPU load waiting for a mouse klick. Just a heads up to any other poor souls out there that might have experienced this as well... And please, if anybody from Autdoesk is still reading: I'd love to get feedback if you can repro and fix this. Thanks in advance. Thanks, Martin --- REPRO STEPS: --- (Softimage 2012 SAP x64 @ Windows XP 64 [latest Service Packs and patches] ) 1.) link a workgroup containing an .xsicompound file in /Data/Compounds 2.) close Softimage 3.) manually create a lock file and make sure the file handle is kept open ... thereby simulating the collision. (I did this using a few lines of python code in a shell (attached to this mail - please rename to 'lockFile.py' )) -- you should now have two files in /Data/Compounds: myWickedCompound.xsicompound
RE: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input...
Yep - otherwise it would be a nightmare - as have had other server issues - this show is MUCH bigger than our previous one and we are learning a lot about what you DO need in a server now. Hope you sort it out. Cheers Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Martin Chatterjee [martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com] Sent: 22 June 2012 15:40 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input... Sandy, yeah, the problem appears only appears on our farm nodes still running XP. Windows 7 seems to be fine and I'm quite confident that no linux executable will ever show such a bizarre behaviour... :-/ Nonetheless the chance of getting such a collision should be fairly small anyway (unless your workgroup lives on a file server that does not perform well with loads of read calls on loads of tiny files at the same time - and a lot of blades are starting to render more or less simultaniously...) Cheers, Martin -- Martin Chatterjee [ Freelance Technical Director ] [http://www.chatterjee.de] On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:50 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: We do not have this here - our setup is Win7 64 workstations with FC15 Farm nodes. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Martin Chatterjee [martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.commailto:martin.chatterjee.li...@googlemail.com] Sent: 22 June 2012 13:36 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input... Hi Stephen, thanks for confirming and bumping up the bug. Yeah, getting rid of the graphical messageBox would be key. Although personally I don't understand the reason for the whole locking mechanism in the first place - my tests indicate that self-installing scripted plugins living in Application/Plugins do not get locked that way, for instance... But I don't mind it at all as long as we can get rid of the messageBox(es). By the way, my gut feeling is that this might only an issue on XP 64 - I will try to repro on Windows 7 in a bit and will let you know. Thanks, Martin -- Martin Chatterjee [ Freelance Technical Director ] [http://www.chatterjee.de] On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Stephen Blair stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.com wrote: Hi Martin Yes, this has been reported and logged before. I repro it simply by starting many xsibatch sessions, eventually you'll get an Unable to access error. It could be for a compound, or for a toolbar, or some other file. I'll log it again to bump it back up. At the very least, xsibatch should not display a message requiring use interaction. Stephen Blair Softimage Support Specialist Premium Support Services Autodesk, Inc. Montreal, Quebec, Canada Blog: http://xsisupport.com From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Martin Chatterjee Sent: June-22-12 7:19 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: workgroup access collisions - xsibatch displays graphical MessageBox waiting for user input... Hi List, hi Support, we are experiencing a bit of an annoying issue regarding access collisions on workgroups. Bear with me - it'll take a few lines to explain: When a workgroup is loaded (or refreshed from within an open Softimage session) its subdirectories get scanned and all self-installing plugins, shaders and ICE compounds get registered accordingly. During this scan Softimage will take over exclusive access for every ICE compound in /Data/Compounds. It will do this by creating a .lock file (e.g. MyCompound.xsicompound.lock) to prevent collisions. Under normal circumstances this lock file will be deleted straight after file scan and this lock should only be present for a veeery short time ( 1ms or so...). However if a second session of Softimage tries to access a locked compound the user will get prompted by a messageBox that the compound is not accessible. He can then choose to ignore it and proceed. Through a series of VERY
RE: Storing a variable within the softimage application
Please do not tell us this a 2012 thing - as we are still on 2011! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Alan Fregtman [alan.fregt...@gmail.com] Sent: 27 June 2012 17:10 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Storing a variable within the softimage application Or use SetGlobal() and GetGlobal(): http://download.autodesk.com/global/docs/softimage2012/en_us/sdkguide/si_cmds/SetGlobal.html (These are only alive for the duration of the session though.) On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 5:15 AM, patrick nethercoat patr...@brandtanim.co.ukmailto:patr...@brandtanim.co.uk wrote: A quick and dirty one would be to create a custom parameter. On 27 June 2012 10:06, Jared Glass jared.gl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:jared.gl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Hi I need to store a vairable created by a plugin and then access it later on from a different plugin. For individual plugins I know you can keep variables in the plugin's UserData. Is there something like this say maybe like Application.Data? Or any other ideas? -- Kind Regards, Jared Glassmailto:jared.gl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Lead Triggerfish Animation Studioshttp://www.triggerfish.co.za Zambezia Moviehttp://www.zambeziamovie.com/ | Khumba Moviehttp://www.triggerfish.co.za/khumba/
RE: Siggraph dinner
This year there MIGHT be a couple of us from here coming over - I say MIGHT as it is about 30% chance right now as it costs a pretty penny from here to do! If is does happen I am pretty sure we would love to be involved, would have to let you know when we do know if that is ok? Thanks S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Matt Lind [speye...@hotmail.com] Sent: 29 June 2012 04:43 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Siggraph dinner Every year at Siggraph I host a dinner for those wanting to get together, break bread, and exchange anecdotes. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the event. I'm conducting an informal survey so I may better plan the event. Most years the event starts at 6:00 pm with meet n' greet, then sit down for dinner some time after 7:00 pm. There's usually drinks afterwards at another venue. This year Siggraph will be held in Los Angeles, California at the LA convention center which is part of the Staples Center where the Lakers, Kings, and Clippers play home games. For reference, last time I hosted in Los Angeles the event was held at Trader Vic's on the north end of the LA Live block on Siggraph Sunday which is immediately north of the staples center. If you're interested in attending, let me know by sending an email to matt(dot)lind(at)mantom(dot)net. Include some basic details such as: - your name - email address - preferred day for dinner (1st choice and alternate choice). - maximum time/distance from convention center you're willing to travel - special requirements, if applicable (handicap access needed, food allergies, dietary restrictions, etc...) I'll use submitted information for the purpose of scouting locations and planning this year's dinner. It will not be shared with anyone. thanks, Matt
RE: Reload PSD
have you got Reload Externally Modified Image Clips on Focus set to on in the Preferences Rendering? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Martin [furik...@gmail.com] Sent: 29 June 2012 12:28 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Reload PSD Hi, In my current project I need to change all textures to PIC before sending it to my client, so I wrote a simple script to change from PSD pics to PIC and vice versa. The PSD - PIC tool works great, the problem is when I change back from PIC to PSD. The textures don't refresh. Not in the viewer, nor Mental Ray. I have to save and reload the scene to have them reloaded. It doesn't work even doing it manually. Isn't there some ReloadImageClips(); command or something to reload all my textures without having to reload the whole scene? Thanks, M.Yara
Finding objects light associations and partition info
Hi All, I am trying to find out how to connect fur caches into current lighters scenes - I would like to be able to find out all current partion info for the current point clouds and then reconnect this back onto the new clouds as well as light association info. Right now I am freezing the current clouds and connecting the caches to them - this means that all this info is preserved - easy fix - BUT freezing these point clouds can be really slow - so it is much quicker to delete them and make new ones in their place. Any info would be much appreciated - this is all python btw. Thanks S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: Finding objects light associations and partition info
@Simon - Nope - found the pointclouds - easy enough - what I want to do now is replace these found ones with new one - ALSO DONE NP - then reconnect the partition assigments and the light associations. @ Eric - thanks will dig out that stuff and have a look see. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Anderson [simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com] Sent: 02 July 2012 13:17 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Finding objects light associations and partition info Hey, so your loading a scene, wanting to cycle through all the pass's and check if a specific named point cloud exists, if so then freeze and apply point cache, or delete and apply point cache? On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 8:35 PM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.commailto:ethivie...@gmail.com wrote: https://github.com/EricTRocks/ET_Tools/blob/master/workgroup_ET_Tools/Addons/ET_PassManager_v3.0/Application/Plugins/ET_PassUtils.py Should be some code in there to help for both situations. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 8:14 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Hi All, I am trying to find out how to connect fur caches into current lighters scenes - I would like to be able to find out all current partion info for the current point clouds and then reconnect this back onto the new clouds as well as light association info. Right now I am freezing the current clouds and connecting the caches to them - this means that all this info is preserved - easy fix - BUT freezing these point clouds can be really slow - so it is much quicker to delete them and make new ones in their place. Any info would be much appreciated - this is all python btw. Thanks S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
RE: Finding objects light associations and partition info
Hi Eric - many thanks for your help, your page provided all the info we needed - all working 100% here! Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Sandy Sutherland [sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za] Sent: 02 July 2012 13:37 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Finding objects light associations and partition info @Simon - Nope - found the pointclouds - easy enough - what I want to do now is replace these found ones with new one - ALSO DONE NP - then reconnect the partition assigments and the light associations. @ Eric - thanks will dig out that stuff and have a look see. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Anderson [simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com] Sent: 02 July 2012 13:17 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Finding objects light associations and partition info Hey, so your loading a scene, wanting to cycle through all the pass's and check if a specific named point cloud exists, if so then freeze and apply point cache, or delete and apply point cache? On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 8:35 PM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.commailto:ethivie...@gmail.com wrote: https://github.com/EricTRocks/ET_Tools/blob/master/workgroup_ET_Tools/Addons/ET_PassManager_v3.0/Application/Plugins/ET_PassUtils.py Should be some code in there to help for both situations. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Mon, Jul 2, 2012 at 8:14 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Hi All, I am trying to find out how to connect fur caches into current lighters scenes - I would like to be able to find out all current partion info for the current point clouds and then reconnect this back onto the new clouds as well as light association info. Right now I am freezing the current clouds and connecting the caches to them - this means that all this info is preserved - easy fix - BUT freezing these point clouds can be really slow - so it is much quicker to delete them and make new ones in their place. Any info would be much appreciated - this is all python btw. Thanks S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
RE: Autodesk Blockbuster Tour
Pretty sure some of the Animal Logic guys would be keen - I know Simon would from there - hope he sees this on the list - will forward it to him in case. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nick Angus [n...@altvfx.com] Sent: 04 July 2012 16:56 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Autodesk Blockbuster Tour Just a quick note, I am a guest speaker on the Autodesk blockbuster tour, along with Alex Kim from ILM and Ian Failes from Rising Sun Pictures. I have a very short 20 minute guest spot, but will be talking about how I am pushing our company to a Softimage pipeline. Everyone else talks about Maya, and they even demo Maya features on the day. I have modified my brief talk to include some very quick ICE demos to hopefully get my point across! Would be great to meet any folk who are coming along. We are at the Sydney Shangri La hotel, I think it starts at 2pm Cheers, Nick [Description: ALT_signature_NANGUS] inline: image001.gif
RE: WHATTA HELL???????
You tried this scene on another machine? Not being able to load the previous autosaves sounds dodgy - sounds to me like a runonce or prefs replacement is needed - but quicker to test by loading on another machine. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Anderson [simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com] Sent: 05 July 2012 14:19 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: WHATTA HELL??? are you using softimage 2010? On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 10:17 PM, Pete Edmunds pete3dmu...@gmail.commailto:pete3dmu...@gmail.com wrote: Have a look in the Backup folder within the project there should be 4 backups of that scene do those load? On 5 July 2012 13:12, Martin furik...@gmail.commailto:furik...@gmail.com wrote: This may not be what you are looking for but, after you have tried everything, you could try to open it with Disable all geometry operators on load checked and/or some other options in the Scene Debugging tab. If the scene is simple there may be some data you can recover. M.Yara On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 9:06 PM, Ben Houston b...@exocortex.commailto:b...@exocortex.com wrote: I would suggest ensuring that no third party plugins are loaded at all. It could be you updated a plugin and that plugin is buggy. -ben On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 8:02 AM, Szabolcs Matefy szabol...@crytek.commailto:szabol...@crytek.com wrote: Can anybody tell me what can I do, if I can’t load my scenes saved previously and loaded perfectly this before?? Suddenly Softimage crashes on my scenes, and it seems that I lost whole 3 days of job. However, there were no crashes, and no issues at all…What the hell is going on Cheers Szabolcs ___ This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322 Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli -- Best regards, Ben Houston Voice: 613-762-4113tel:613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals. -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
RE: Ben Houston, Thiago Costa and great plugins
Hear hear - I fully agree with you Graham, we are deep in FURY land on Khumba - which is set in the Karoo - lots of dust and fire and smoke! Which we could not have done without Ben! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Graham D. Clark [mailgrahamdcl...@gmail.com] Sent: 07 July 2012 08:00 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Ben Houston, Thiago Costa and great plugins Just a shout out to Ben Houston, Thiago Costa and their great plugins, seems worth noting here in the Softimage community they've done so much to support. We used them on Titanic, Avengers, and most recently on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (and Jurassic Park) to create smoke, and dust etc for hundreds of shots in these features. Thank you, Graham PS Ben, Thiago, will try to get you more press and kudos in future, heres one, you're Co is at bottom: http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/stereo-d-converts-abraham-lincoln-vampire-hunter-to-3d -- Graham D Clark, Head of Stereography, Deluxe 3D dba Stereo D phone: why-I-stereo http://www.linkedin.com/in/grahamclark
RE: Freeze ICE tree to geometry?
What are you rendering with? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of phil harbath [phil.harb...@jamination.com] Sent: 10 July 2012 07:05 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Freeze ICE tree to geometry? momentum instancer perhaps. - Original Message - From: Tim Crowsonmailto:tim.crow...@magneticdreams.com To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Sent: Monday, July 09, 2012 6:24 PM Subject: Freeze ICE tree to geometry? I'm needing to freeze the results of my non-simulated ICE tree to geometry so I can optimize its use in another ICE tree. (wanting to scatter something that was built by a scatter to beginwith). Concerns about geo density not-withstanding, is there a way to freeze a non-simulated ICE tree to editable geometry? -- Tim Crowson Lead CG Artist [cid:973CCD58DD204F96A6151E8CB4528509@jam] Magnetic Dreams Animation Studio, Inc. 2525 Lebanon Pike, Building C. Nashville, TN 37214 Ph 615.885.6801 | Fax 615.889.4768 | www.magneticdreams.comhttp://www.magneticdreams.com tim.crow...@magneticdreams.commailto:tim.crow...@magneticdreams.com inline: md_logo.gif
CacheObjectsIntoFile - in script problems
OK I have a very interesting one here - I have setup a system to cache our Fur setups as we have found a huge render speed gain by doing this. Now I have a very strange thing going on - when a particular character is cached using this system some of the point clouds cache into 1k icecache files and do not work. If I run the caching in scene - they work fine. System is written in python and caches on the farm and uses exactly the same command including cache attributes as the in scene one does - I can see nothing different in that regard at all - AND all other point clouds work fine! Any ideas I can look at - I have even set the environment sim time control from live to standard etc.. to see if this makes any difference? I am a bit stumped right now - so any help/guesses/shots in the dark/crazy ideas would be most appreciated. Thanks Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
EmPolygonizer3 question
Hi All, Does anyone know how this works with a render farm - once you have used it to create a mesh, does it always need that license to keep that mesh valid? Wondering about it as we are having issues with RF meshes and motion blur and am finding the built in polygonizer to not bee so good - obviously - otherwise it would not have got to v3. Thanks Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: Car wheel motion blur
One way I have found to do really good motion blur on wings and other stuff that needs big MB (did not test this case with it as the scene that was posted was 2012 or 2013 and I am running 2011 here) is to create the animation cycle over a number of frames - say wing flap - up fr1 - full down fr 5 - up again fr 10 - then I make this a clip. I then scale this clip really small and cycle it - you get really nice (more than 25/24fps able) MB like this - I guess you can adjust the scale of the clip to get the MB level you want. This works superb for props on planes and heli blades too - works 100% in MR and Arnold. Not sure it I am missing the problem as I am bouncing between problems here and skipped over the mails - just thought I would mail my MB solution here - might be worth a try. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Arvid Björn [arvidbj...@gmail.com] Sent: 19 July 2012 10:17 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Car wheel motion blur Thanks everyone for your insight and suggestions! Raffaele: In this particular case I wasn't so bothered with the aesthetics of the blur, but the wheels seemed to flicker in and out of existence, some frames the car would appear to hover, others the wheel looked extremely stretched in one axis, sometimes I get the arc, and in other shots it would work just fine. Enveloping the wheel always produce the correct result, even with silly speeds, so the whole thing would go away if MR could just be forced to evaluate motion per-point instead of using object transformations, as an option. It's not even slow actually, so this particular optimization just creates more problems than in solves. Is this something that could be controlled by the host application, or is it strictly a Mental Ray issue? Seems like Soft should be able to send vectors per-point to MR? On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 2:29 AM, Raffaele Fragapane raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote: It's not an uncommon problem in rendering in general. When we do things like wheels and propellers we normally render wedges of various settings at different incident angles, speeds and so on to make sure the blur looks correct. In these cases the physical accuracy of the motion is absolutely irrelevant (IE: the wheel is theoretically slipping on the ground all the time or the propellers is at a fraction of the RPMs required for the plane to move at that speed), the quality of the blur is everything to sell those things off. The B52 in Sucker Punch took a full two days of testing and rendering wedges and an operator that would modulate the RPMs based on aesthetic choices to produce usable frames. Another classic issue is emulating the forward + rewind + stable blur seen in footage of car wheels accelerating past a camera, which we had to implement controls for so that people could animate parameters based on the actual aesthetics of the blur and motion they wanted instead of animating rotations and shooting in the dark. This was the case with PRMan and Mantra and was run with all kind of data, from straight point caches with a stupid amount of subframes to straight transforms to deformation with additional data coming from a monitored transform. Not that it's not an issue or that it shouldn't be looked at, just saying that if you want to do spinning objects and you want that cinematic blur people are used to you'll have to bite the bullet and NOT go for temporally or physically accurate. Even shooting these things for real on a set often requires tests and wedges for the rigs to be timed and controlled so the DoP gets what he wants. On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 9:44 AM, Jack Kao jack@grapecity.commailto:jack@grapecity.com wrote: I wonder if it's something to do with Mental Ray specific? -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
RE: clumping hair guides on non uniformly distributed geo
We had that problem a bit - so we went with melena then found the dynamics did work in melena how we needed so we modified the compounds and added some of our own - when you get into the strands area, it is much easier to get round such issues. Our compounds are available if you want to check them out - there should be a link somewhere in the mailing list. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Van de Lagemaat [si...@theembassyvfx.com] Sent: 20 July 2012 23:44 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com; Adam Seeley Subject: RE: clumping hair guides on non uniformly distributed geo FYI don't know why that made it in there. From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Simon Van de Lagemaat Sent: July-20-12 2:25 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com; Adam Seeley Subject: RE: clumping hair guides on non uniformly distributed geo FYI Is there a good primer anywhere for an ICE based strand workflow for hair? From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Simon Van de Lagemaat Sent: July-20-12 2:11 PM To: Adam Seeley; softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: clumping hair guides on non uniformly distributed geo heh good idea... that actually shouldn't be too difficult to pull off. From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Adam Seeley Sent: July-20-12 1:36 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: clumping hair guides on non uniformly distributed geo Hi, Depends on the complexity of the mesh, but maybe using Polygonizer shrink wrapping to closest surface might help get you a step closer. Adam. From: Simon Van de Lagemaat si...@theembassyvfx.commailto:si...@theembassyvfx.com To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Sent: Friday, 20 July 2012, 20:11 Subject: clumping hair guides on non uniformly distributed geo Anyone know a workaround for the problem of XSI hair guides clumping up in areas with higher density geo on the base mesh?
RE: Make a pass non-renderable?
RR can be used free with 3 machines I think - meant to be trial, but worth testing - it works very well - we use it on our farm and rendered last weekend 6000 stereo frames at film res. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stephen Davidson [magic...@bellsouth.net] Sent: 21 July 2012 18:46 To: RuiSantos; softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Make a pass non-renderable? Thanks, Rui. That looks interesting. I will give it a try when I have some downtime to install and test. On Sat, Jul 21, 2012 at 12:01 PM, RuiSantos r...@sapo.ptmailto:r...@sapo.pt wrote: Hi guys, First i used to handwrite my own batch scripts...then moved on to Kim' BatchMaker,although i had to hand correct/add some features ,like diferent settings for diferent machines capabilities,matte passes for the weakest machine, etc.. So i ended up having several scripts based on the KA BatchMaker's generated one...and it worked very nicely for a long time... Because i have just 2 machines for render,i didn't feel the need for a full render manager. I discovered Thinkbox Deadline a while ago,and it's my workhorse managing renderings nowadays.. It's free if you have 2 render machines,and it works very well with softimage and other vendors,it has an addon the allows you to submit your renders from inside softimage,remote acess to manage your renders,assigns passes to specific machines,creates dependencies,like this pass renders before that one...etc..etc...i mean it's really nice and EASY to set up. If you have a small shop,i have a go and try it.. later, Rui www.ruisantos3d.comhttp://www.ruisantos3d.com - Original Message - From: Stephen Davidsonmailto:magic...@bellsouth.net To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Sent: Saturday, July 21, 2012 6:15 AM Subject: Re: Make a pass non-renderable? That is lame. Other than that, how do you like Rebus for rendering? On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 10:05 PM, Byron Nash byronn...@gmail.commailto:byronn...@gmail.com wrote: I put in a feature request at REBUS to enable and they just said to delete the passes. That's a lame response. I am sure their system is sending those batch commands somewhere along the way. They just need to open it up just enough to let someone add those pass flags. I do use those a lot in the command line locally. On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 9:42 PM, Chris Chia chris.c...@autodesk.commailto:chris.c...@autodesk.com wrote: 1 advice: I would customised the render farm to take in the -pass flag from your submission page (add an input box or something to grab user's inputs) and pass the following command (if input box is not empty) to render farm. xsibatch -render myscene.scn -pass mypassName Else if no input: xsibatch -render myscene.scn Chris On 20 Jul, 2012, at 3:30 AM, Byron Nash byronn...@gmail.commailto:byronn...@gmail.commailto:byronn...@gmail.commailto:byronn...@gmail.com wrote: I am using REBUS render farm and it seems to be pretty quick and economical. It only seems to render the whole scene however. Is there an easy way to make passes not render when you hit render all? I assume that's sort of what this farm is doing. -- Best Regards, Stephen P. Davidson (954) 552-7956 sdavid...@3danimationmagic.com [X] http://www.3danimationmagic.com My Website is GREEN, Is yours? [affiliate_link]http://www.fatcow.com/join/index.bml?AffID=626478 -- Best Regards, Stephen P. Davidson (954) 552-7956 sdavid...@3danimationmagic.com [http://www.3danimationmagic.com/3Danimation_magic_logo_sign.jpg] http://www.3danimationmagic.com My Website is GREEN, Is yours? [affiliate_link]http://www.fatcow.com/join/index.bml?AffID=626478
RE: Is there an up to date list of studios using Softimage
Just found that one now - thanks. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Michael Heberlein [softim...@michaelheberlein.com] Sent: 23 July 2012 10:55 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Is there an up to date list of studios using Softimage Have you tried the Advanced Search on http://www.cgstudiomap.com? Michael Am 23.07.2012 10:34, schrieb Sandy Sutherland: http://monophyl.com/?p=794 Adn a few google looks as well. Thanks S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ - FROM: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ciaran Moloney [moloney.cia...@gmail.com] SENT: 23 July 2012 10:28 TO: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com SUBJECT: Re: Is there an up to date list of studios using Softimage Which list did you check? On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 9:23 AM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: ...anywhere - I have checked the one I knew of before - there are a lot of links that go awol now - and also studios that have moved to the 'dark side'. Thanks Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ -- - Ciaran
RE: Make a pass non-renderable?
It does - it works off the Hardware address - we are runnin dynamic IPs here and it works fine. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stephen Davidson [magic...@bellsouth.net] Sent: 23 July 2012 17:51 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Make a pass non-renderable? The one thing that stopped me from trying Royal Render is that you must have a static IP address on all machines. It does not support DHCP, as far as I can tell. And, since I am using DHCP On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Tim Crowson tim.crow...@magneticdreams.commailto:tim.crow...@magneticdreams.com wrote: We use RR as well and have had no real problems with it. Works smoothly with all our apps. -Tim Crowson Magnetic Dreams On 7/23/2012 8:54 AM, Byron Nash wrote: I have used Royal Render in the past and found it to be really nice. The system I'm trying to use is a remote render service called REBUS. rebusfarm.nethttp://rebusfarm.net. I've found it so far to be fairly straightforward. It has a check feature that will go through and verify everything is cool before sending. There are not really any options to choose, it just sends the whole scene. Speed seems good and the manager app is decent for pulling files back off the server. We used it with Maya on a job last year and it worked fine. REBUS is the only online renderer that I have found that supports Softimage 2013. On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 8:37 PM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.commailto:ethivie...@gmail.com wrote: Not sure if Holger will take that as a compliment or insult? :D Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 10:33 AM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.commailto:alan.fregt...@gmail.com wrote: Royal Render is made from fire-breathing eagles that shoot lasers of awesomeness... -- -- Best Regards, Stephen P. Davidson (954) 552-7956 sdavid...@3danimationmagic.com [http://www.3danimationmagic.com/3Danimation_magic_logo_sign.jpg] http://www.3danimationmagic.com My Website is GREEN, Is yours? [affiliate_link]http://www.fatcow.com/join/index.bml?AffID=626478
RE: Make a pass non-renderable?
Our actual server machine that we are running RR off is static - but all our workstations are dynamic. The LX nodes are static mainly as we deploy them by script and ssh onto them using their ips - which match the name - egg1 for e.g. is 192.168.1.101. So yes it definitely does work - I think that the guide is aimed at setting the server to static. RR uses the hardware address on the machines - we found this out when we got confused when a machine we renamed appeared as the old name - it picked it up out of the client database using its HW address. Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stephen Davidson [magic...@bellsouth.net] Sent: 23 July 2012 19:10 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Make a pass non-renderable? the installation guide says, specifically, to set the IP as static for RRserver. Are you using RRserver? If it does work with DHCP, that would be great. On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 12:27 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: It does - it works off the Hardware address - we are runnin dynamic IPs here and it works fine. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stephen Davidson [magic...@bellsouth.netmailto:magic...@bellsouth.net] Sent: 23 July 2012 17:51 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Make a pass non-renderable? The one thing that stopped me from trying Royal Render is that you must have a static IP address on all machines. It does not support DHCP, as far as I can tell. And, since I am using DHCP On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Tim Crowson tim.crow...@magneticdreams.commailto:tim.crow...@magneticdreams.com wrote: We use RR as well and have had no real problems with it. Works smoothly with all our apps. -Tim Crowson Magnetic Dreams On 7/23/2012 8:54 AM, Byron Nash wrote: I have used Royal Render in the past and found it to be really nice. The system I'm trying to use is a remote render service called REBUS. rebusfarm.nethttp://rebusfarm.net. I've found it so far to be fairly straightforward. It has a check feature that will go through and verify everything is cool before sending. There are not really any options to choose, it just sends the whole scene. Speed seems good and the manager app is decent for pulling files back off the server. We used it with Maya on a job last year and it worked fine. REBUS is the only online renderer that I have found that supports Softimage 2013. On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 8:37 PM, Eric Thivierge ethivie...@gmail.commailto:ethivie...@gmail.com wrote: Not sure if Holger will take that as a compliment or insult? :D Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 10:33 AM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.commailto:alan.fregt...@gmail.com wrote: Royal Render is made from fire-breathing eagles that shoot lasers of awesomeness... -- -- Best Regards, Stephen P. Davidson (954) 552-7956tel:%28954%29%20552-7956 sdavid...@3danimationmagic.com [X] http://www.3danimationmagic.com My Website is GREEN, Is yours? [affiliate_link]http://www.fatcow.com/join/index.bml?AffID=626478 -- Best Regards, Stephen P. Davidson (954) 552-7956 sdavid...@3danimationmagic.com [http://www.3danimationmagic.com/3Danimation_magic_logo_sign.jpg] http://www.3danimationmagic.com My Website is GREEN, Is yours? [affiliate_link]http://www.fatcow.com/join/index.bml?AffID=626478
RE: Softimage versions to support?
We are on effectively 2011.5 - 2011 SAP SP1 - we had a bit of a battle doing Zambezia as we swapped from 2010 to 2011 and hit the disconnecting render trees in a big way - so avoiding that now. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Szabolcs Matefy [szabol...@crytek.com] Sent: 24 July 2012 08:01 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Softimage versions to support? We use Softimage 2012SAP and 2013 SP1. From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Martin Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2012 5:16 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Softimage versions to support? Game industry here doesn't change versions too often. Specially online games with a few years running for obvious reasons. We are a little studio so we have adapt to our client's needs and use what they are using. Normally we are using Softimage 2011 SP2 and 2010, but we also used 7 and 6.5 a year ago. M.Yara
[OT] - sorry trying to get hold of Holger
Hi Holger, Trying to ask you something - but my mails to @royalrender.de are being bounced as spam. Please can you get hold of me. Thanks Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: The boy who cried wolf
Wow Brad - very nice spot - deja vu - we are in the middle of doing the same thing - melena + mod compounds on Khumba. What was this rendered in may I ask? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Bradley Gabe [witha...@gmail.com] Sent: 26 July 2012 08:30 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: The boy who cried wolf http://www.themill.com/work/emerson-lukoil-us.aspx Amazing work done by The Mill. The wolf was entirely Softimage (hair done using Melena + modifications). I wish I could have touched that job, but alas I was busy working on other stuff. :-) -Bradley
RE: Simulate RBD and Simulate Bullet RBD issues
Here is one guess - try making a solid bowl rather than single width polygon sides - i.e. take a cube, select the top poly CTRL -D it scale it in - CTRL D that and move it down - I am guessing like the normal RBDs which hate colliding with a grid but find a cube floor much better. Do I make sense? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stefan Kubicek [s...@tidbit-images.com] Sent: 02 August 2012 18:25 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Simulate RBD and Simulate Bullet RBD issues Hi all, I'm having problems getting accurate collisions using Simulate Rigid Bodies and Simulate Bullet Rigid Bodies nodes when trying to fill a box mesh with spherical particles, namely: With simulate Bullet Rigid Bodies I get collisions in areas that are not occupied by any collision geometry. That is: collisions occur even though there is no collision geometry to collide with. See attached SI2013_Simulate_Bullet_Rigid_Bodies_Ghost_Collisions.jpg please. This happens independent of the collision precision. The geo is sane and there is nothing hidden either, I simply created a cube with some subdivs and removed the top polys so particles can fall in. Of course, I had to set Exact Shape for the collision, otherwise the particles would not even fall in but collide with the convex hull. The only remedy I found so far was to cut the box up into pieces for each of the walls and floor, and having particles collide with that. While this results at least in no ghost collisions, I still get a collision offset between particles and the collision geo, whic is also true when using the non-Bullet Simulate Rigid Bodies node, see SI2013_Simulate_Rigid_Bodies_Collision_Offset.jpg please. Ultimately, I guess I have two questions: 1.) How do I get accurate collisions with Concave meshes using Simulate Bullet Rigid Bodies without having to cut the geometry up? 2.) How do I avoid gaps between particles and collision geometry? I could not find any parameter controlling it. I must be overlooking something, otherwise it would be pretty useless. I know, there is Momentum, but one would assume the ootb tools, since they are there, are good enough for such basic stuff. Thanks a lot, Stefan -- --- Stefan Kubicek Co-founder --- keyvis digital imagery Wehrgasse 9 - Grüner Hof 1050 Vienna Austria Phone:+43/699/12614231 --- www.keyvis.at ste...@keyvis.at --- -- This email and its attachments are --confidential and for the recipient only--
RE: render flavor for architecture rendering
Yep I have Steven - just remember all the pain of MR on Zam - and absolutley loving Arnold now - so even if I had to sacrifice a chicken to get it working I would ;^) S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Steven Caron [car...@gmail.com] Sent: 02 August 2012 20:51 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: render flavor for architecture rendering i VERY much like arnold renderer, but i think you might find arnold to be problematic with some interior shots. vray and mental ray's caching options can go a long way for arch vis. @sandy, have you read any of the threads on the sitoa mailing list regarding interiors? On Thu, Aug 2, 2012 at 11:15 AM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Cough..ARNOLD.cough...without a doubt.. Speaking from experience. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Kris Rivel [krisri...@gmail.commailto:krisri...@gmail.com] Sent: 02 August 2012 19:56 To: Softimage List Subject: render flavor for architecture rendering Quick question..what's the flavor of choice for rendering architectural walk-throughs in Soft these days? I may be doing a few of them. I'm thinking of just man-handling MR into submission but wondering if Arnold, 3Delight or whatever may have a few more easy options for doing some great bounce lighting, GI, etc. Its not just stills so it needs to be render farm and sequence friendly. Thanks for any opinions or suggestions. Kris
RE: Autodesk Masters
Have voted this side - funny thing is your message about it Jeremie only came through now - I saw all the other mee too votes from everyone and went onto the autodesk site to see what was going on - had to dig quite a bit to find the area to vote! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Chris Chia [chris.c...@autodesk.com] Sent: 14 August 2012 09:33 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Autodesk Masters Congrats! Impressive! From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Jeremie Passerin Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 1:30 AM To: softimage Subject: Autodesk Masters It seems that Todd Akita and myself are nominated to be Autodesk Softimage Masters this year... If you have an Area account and are feeling like voting... Helge told me they have really nice Autodesk Jacket for the winners :) http://www.the-area.com/masters ;-) Jeremie
RE: Small Annoying Things
Try start writing out a characters mdd files within softimage and then start to type an email to someone - especially if the character has lots of small meshes that start writing out. EACH TIME a mesh starts writing the progress bar pops up and takes over from anything else you are doing on the machine - becomes a tug of war to grab focus back to what you are trying to do! LOL. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Eugen Sares [softim...@keyvis.at] Sent: 17 August 2012 15:03 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Small Annoying Things Am 17.08.2012 12:48, schrieb Matt Lowery: I find the fact that Softimage often makes me doubt my own sanity by saying that the scene I'm about to close has never been saved, even though I saved it just two clicks earlier. Also having just launched Softimage, and gone to the file menu to open a scene, I find it very annoying to have to confirm that I don't want to save the completely empty scene the I'm presented with at start up. This is especially annoying when you are trying to open a scene file that you know will take a good few minutes to open. So you head off to make a nice cuppa only to return and find that the software hasn't even started opening the scene file yet as you still haven't confirmed that you don't want to save an empty scene. G! Good one! Nags me, too, all the time. There's some internal flag indicating if a scene needs saving. This seems to be broken for the longest time now. On 17/08/2012 06:28, Eugen Sares wrote: - File dialog: Would be nice if renaming was possible. A list of available harddrives is missing. Could be a dropdown menu, or a separate, always visible part of the folder tree (the shortcuts button is more like a workaround for this). Am 16.08.2012 23:31, schrieb Votch: This same behavior with modal windows happens in win7 as well and can be very frustrating. On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 8:05 AM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.commailto:alan.fregt...@gmail.com wrote: In Linux modal XSI windows aren't quite modal... You can accidentally click behind them and lose focus, wondering why XSI is unresponsive, only to realise in the taskbar there's a window you have to OK to. And like Xavier said, Copy/paste in Linux ARGHH! Rarely works and when it does it's like two seconds after I trigger a paste. Behavior varies between softwares, too. gedit pastes very quickly but pretty much every other program (like Firefox or SublimeText2) doesn't paste instantly or reliably when having copied from SI. On Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Len Krenzler l...@creativecontrol.camailto:l...@creativecontrol.ca wrote: A very simple thing I find annoying. In the file menu, there's a import model, and export model but no replace model. Also when UI windows like the material editor and explorer are opened and set where I want them I wish SI would remember their preferred location for next time. -- _ Len Krenzler - Creative Control Media Productions Phone: 780.463.3126tel:780.463.3126 www.creativecontrol.cahttp://www.creativecontrol.ca - l...@creativecontrol.camailto:l...@creativecontrol.ca
RE: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question
Not sure what you mean - go to end frame and cache all simulation. What sort of caching etc... - we do lots of caching at TF - including icecaches for fur and mdd caching for geoms - I can send you script snippets tomorrow (at home now) if you like? You do not need to go to end frame - you can just run a cache command which all have start frame and end frame inputs. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Christian [softimagel...@gmail.com] Sent: 22 August 2012 20:24 To: list Subject: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question Hi list, Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I am new to scripting... I am trying to write a script that will open a scene, go to the end frame, cache all the simulation, then open next scene. But how can I check if the simulation is finished? Thanks, Christian
RE: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question
OK Raff - you trying to confuse EVERYONE now - LOL :^) S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 23 August 2012 08:11 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question Why not just batch the command to simulate stuff and then save in place on all scenes? Hopefully this isn't being done in a GUI client :)
RE: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question
Yep that is what we are doing - using RR and the farm - we are passing .sh files with scene, model to cache etc.. and xsibatch does the stuff for us. You could as you say build a batch file to do the same thing - one scene/or cache job at a time in sequence - then run it - no GUI needed. Is that what you meant? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 23 August 2012 10:04 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question You used to be able to pass the batch client a script to run and a scene if I remember correctly. Put together a two lines script that runs the sim and saves in place, and then run a shell script, a cron job, or whatever you use for running jobs that iterates a set of scenes in batch. Using a graphic client to open, simulate and save a number of potentially heavy scenes in sequence is not as ideal as having one instance per scene with no GUI crud. On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 5:38 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: OK Raff - you trying to confuse EVERYONE now - LOL :^) S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 23 August 2012 08:11 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question Why not just batch the command to simulate stuff and then save in place on all scenes? Hopefully this isn't being done in a GUI client :) -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
RE: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question
Yep - I guess i assumed that what Christian was trying to do was just that. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 23 August 2012 10:29 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question Yep, it's pretty standard procedure mostly anywhere for batching this kind of stuff. On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 6:15 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Yep that is what we are doing - using RR and the farm - we are passing .sh files with scene, model to cache etc.. and xsibatch does the stuff for us. You could as you say build a batch file to do the same thing - one scene/or cache job at a time in sequence - then run it - no GUI needed. Is that what you meant? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 23 August 2012 10:04 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question You used to be able to pass the batch client a script to run and a scene if I remember correctly. Put together a two lines script that runs the sim and saves in place, and then run a shell script, a cron job, or whatever you use for running jobs that iterates a set of scenes in batch. Using a graphic client to open, simulate and save a number of potentially heavy scenes in sequence is not as ideal as having one instance per scene with no GUI crud. On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 5:38 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: OK Raff - you trying to confuse EVERYONE now - LOL :^) S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 23 August 2012 08:11 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Checking if simulation is done for current frame | beginner scripting question Why not just batch the command to simulate stuff and then save in place on all scenes? Hopefully this isn't being done in a GUI client :) -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are! -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
RE: WeightMap Tools going Beta
I think Stephen means the factory weight map generator - when you create a weight map - it pops up the operator - and you can specify one 'fill' or fill X, Z, Y - ermm I think - something like that not in front of Soft right now. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Alan Fregtman [alan.fregt...@gmail.com] Sent: 23 August 2012 20:34 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: WeightMap Tools going Beta Where can I find this generator you speak of? On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 12:43 PM, Steven Caron car...@gmail.commailto:car...@gmail.com wrote: did you know the factor weight map generator has that already? but it could be handy to provide arbitrary world start/end points for the grad or more than just a linear grad. On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 6:32 AM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.commailto:alan.fregt...@gmail.com wrote: A gradient generator would be cool too.
RE: WeightMap Tools going Beta
Sorry - forgot my manners too - thanks a stack for this one Simon - it will be a big help - the biggest plus for us is the mirroring feature! Good one! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Anderson [simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com] Sent: 24 August 2012 02:01 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: WeightMap Tools going Beta yeah you can blame the tool, i shall join you this week on some D3 goodness, need to level up though im only 35 DOW! haha.. Awesome feedback, will try add everything in the coming weeks Thank guys, On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 9:47 AM, Edy Susanto Lim edysusant...@gmail.commailto:edysusant...@gmail.com wrote: I didn't know about the those gradient settings for many years until one day Raff showed it to me.. me -- xsi noobs btw, Good job Simon. Should I blame this tool for kidnapping you from D3 world? -edy On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 9:40 AM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.commailto:alan.fregt...@gmail.com wrote: Thanks. I was over-thinking it. I'm aware of the Generator but didn't know of those settings and I was thinking it was a new factory compound I hadn't heard of or something. On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 2:44 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: I think Stephen means the factory weight map generator - when you create a weight map - it pops up the operator - and you can specify one 'fill' or fill X, Z, Y - ermm I think - something like that not in front of Soft right now. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Alan Fregtman [alan.fregt...@gmail.commailto:alan.fregt...@gmail.com] Sent: 23 August 2012 20:34 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: WeightMap Tools going Beta Where can I find this generator you speak of? On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 12:43 PM, Steven Caron car...@gmail.commailto:car...@gmail.com wrote: did you know the factor weight map generator has that already? but it could be handy to provide arbitrary world start/end points for the grad or more than just a linear grad. On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 6:32 AM, Alan Fregtman alan.fregt...@gmail.commailto:alan.fregt...@gmail.com wrote: A gradient generator would be cool too. -- Edy Susanto Lim TD http://sawamura.neorack.com -- --- Simon Ben Anderson blog: http://vinyldevelopment.wordpress.com/
RE: Autodesk Layoffs
Softimage or Maya running off a cloud would effectively halt all animation in South Africa as our internet is crap at best and has endless problems with international connections - which to fix - i.e. go to dedicated high speed lines etc... costs an incredible amount of $ - Internet in South Africa still sits in the stone age. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Tim Leydecker [bauero...@gmx.de] Sent: 25 August 2012 11:53 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Autodesk Layoffs 7% layoffs is quite a few people. There are testable approaches to online/cloud based application options offered from Autodesk: http://www.123dapp.com/ Personally, I think that has a few catches. *Your entire business day depends completely an active and fully functional internet connection *NDAs and IP regulations are difficult to protect when storing data on something like a US based server... *Software licenses for Entertainment products like Maya/Softimage/etc probibit use of the product outside the region they where bought in, e.g. you are actually not allowed to use a german license in the US... *Licenses are handled remotely *Usage of the programm is handled remotely *Userbase management and terms of use are handled remotely *Codebases and Plug.ins are handled remotely *Available versions are handled remotely *A simple connection/app crash results in data dumped somehwere out of reach *The entire business´s activity becomes loggable remotely I don´t see the benefit over the following: *License runs on local server, usage based on amount of available licenses *Programm versions and modifications are based on project needs and local setup *Internetconnection is only required for updates and licensing setup I could be willing to see a benefit if: *There would be anything reliable in the cloud/app that gives me an added business value or creative edge without risking violation of NDAs, IP, unwanted logging of business processes etc. Cheers, tim On 25.08.2012 02:04, John Richard Sanchez wrote: This was posted on SI Community . I am posting so you can reflect. /Car bass said: The restructuring is focused primarily of the company’s shift to cloud and mobile computing.“This action allows us to continue to invest in recruiting and hiring people who can bring Autodesk the skills and experience that are critical for achieving our mid and long-term goals, says Bass. “As part of the ongoing platform shift, it’s clear to us that design and engineering software will move to cloud and mobile platforms. Cloud and mobile has been a major investment area for Autodesk over the past couple of years and this restructuring will accelerate our progress as we intend to further invest in employees with expertise and skill sets essential to this transition./ Stephen on cgtalk brought up an interesting quote from awhile back. /According to a recent interview with Autodesk's CEO Carl Bass, in a few years the company's software would be running online (cloud-based only). Quoting from the interview (2m26sec): I'd say 2 to 3 years from now every one of our products will be used online. The only way to use them will be online.*/ / / On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 11:53 AM, Stefan Andersson sander...@gmail.com mailto:sander...@gmail.com wrote: I doubt there will be any official statement. Let's hope they (who ever it will be) will find a safe harbor somewhere. Unemployment isn't good for anyone Media division was apparently down 10% this year, let's hope it will mostly effect 3dsmax. Regards Stefan On Friday, August 24, 2012, Greg Punchatz wrote: Not wanting to start a doom and gloom thread, just wanted to know if this is going to affect us sooner than later, and whether or not we have lost any of our friends at soft to this. http://mashable.com/2012/08/23/autodesk-lays-off-7-of-entire-staff/ ( *Greg Punchatz* *Sr. Creative Director* Janimation 214.823.7760 tel:214.823.7760 www.janimation.com http://www.janimation.com -- stefan andersson - digital janitor - http://sanders3d.wordpress.com -- www.johnrichardsanchez.com http://www.johnrichardsanchez.com
RE: Trying out backburner
Cough .RR..cough.. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stefan Andersson [sander...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 August 2012 08:13 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Trying out backburner I gave up. Didn't even work with maya, Linux permission swamp. So anyone using tractor? We are about to switch to a new dispatcher since rush is... Let's just say that it hasn't changed much the last 5 years. So we are testing everything out there. Best regards Stefan On Wednesday, August 29, 2012, Stefan Andersson wrote: this is from the log file 2012/08/29 11:41:33 INF Receiving new job from 192.168.0.102 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF Job 'jobName' received and ready 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF Launching 'Command Line Tool' 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF New task assigned: 1 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF [ServerMessage]ProcessStarted processId=7397 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF No $home variable set. 2012/08/29 11:41:34 ERR Task error: Cmdjob adapter: Process exit abnormally,Exit code is 1 2012/08/29 11:41:34 ERR Cmdjob adapter: Process exit abnormally,Exit code is 1 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF Application is down On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Stefan Andersson sander...@gmail.comUrlBlockedError.aspx wrote: yes, http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112id=18699866linkID=9242259 the submit is commandline based, so it will work with just about any program. All I get is this error message (from the manager, carl is the slave): carl Cmdjob adapter: Process exit abnormally,Exit code is 1 Here is the submit command. /usr/discreet/backburner/cmdjob -jobName:SoftimageRender_2 -workpath:/usr/discreet/backburner -logPath:/tmp -group:Softimage -progress -userRights -manager:moe.madcrew.sehttp://moe.madcrew.se /usr/Softimage/Softimage_2012.SAP/Application/bin/xsibatch -r -scene /madcrew/projects/TESTING_/000_dev/000_010_DEV/3d/scenes/light/000_010_light_005a_sa.scn -startframe 401 -endframe 402 -pass bea_clean -script /madcrew/applications/madcrew/skull/lib/madcrew/render/softimage_render_path.py -lang Python regards stefan On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 11:20 AM, Stefan Kubicek s...@tidbit-images.comUrlBlockedError.aspx wrote: There is Backburner on Linux? Anyone been able to use it on Linux? I've been trying to get it up and running, and so far I can submit jobs but it never starts to render... ergh.. So if anyone have any helpful tips it would be most welcome. /s -- --- Stefan Kubicek Co-founder --- keyvis digital imagery Wehrgasse 9 - Grüner Hof 1050 Vienna Austria Phone:+43/699/12614231tel:%2B43%2F699%2F12614231 --- www.keyvis.athttp://www.keyvis.at ste...@keyvis.atUrlBlockedError.aspx --- -- This email and its attachments are --confidential and for the recipient only-- -- stefan andersson - digital janitor - http://sanders3d.wordpress.com -- stefan andersson - digital janitor - http://sanders3d.wordpress.com -- stefan andersson - digital janitor - http://sanders3d.wordpress.com
RE: Trying out backburner
We use it on a Mix of Win 7 and FC 15 here - our whole farm apart from some caching nodes are all LX - works 100% We have also developed a bunch of tools around it to do caching and submission - it is pretty cusomizable. A recent version had a whole bunch of new python stuff integrated to get data out of RR into whatever you need it for. Absolute best thing about RR is that Holger is the man in charge and he always provides superb support, help and takes any suggestion you give seriously. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stefan Andersson [sander...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 August 2012 09:29 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Trying out backburner I did take RR for a quick test a few years back. How is the linux integration these days? Also, how much can you customize it? We use quite a lot of python scripts for pre-render and post-render. regards stefan andersson On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 8:30 AM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Cough .RR..cough.. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stefan Andersson [sander...@gmail.commailto:sander...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 August 2012 08:13 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Trying out backburner I gave up. Didn't even work with maya, Linux permission swamp. So anyone using tractor? We are about to switch to a new dispatcher since rush is... Let's just say that it hasn't changed much the last 5 years. So we are testing everything out there. Best regards Stefan On Wednesday, August 29, 2012, Stefan Andersson wrote: this is from the log file 2012/08/29 11:41:33 INF Receiving new job from 192.168.0.102 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF Job 'jobName' received and ready 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF Launching 'Command Line Tool' 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF New task assigned: 1 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF [ServerMessage]ProcessStarted processId=7397 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF No $home variable set. 2012/08/29 11:41:34 ERR Task error: Cmdjob adapter: Process exit abnormally,Exit code is 1 2012/08/29 11:41:34 ERR Cmdjob adapter: Process exit abnormally,Exit code is 1 2012/08/29 11:41:34 INF Application is down On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Stefan Andersson sander...@gmail.comhttp://UrlBlockedError.aspx wrote: yes, http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112id=18699866linkID=9242259 the submit is commandline based, so it will work with just about any program. All I get is this error message (from the manager, carl is the slave): carl Cmdjob adapter: Process exit abnormally,Exit code is 1 Here is the submit command. /usr/discreet/backburner/cmdjob -jobName:SoftimageRender_2 -workpath:/usr/discreet/backburner -logPath:/tmp -group:Softimage -progress -userRights -manager:moe.madcrew.sehttp://moe.madcrew.se /usr/Softimage/Softimage_2012.SAP/Application/bin/xsibatch -r -scene /madcrew/projects/TESTING_/000_dev/000_010_DEV/3d/scenes/light/000_010_light_005a_sa.scn -startframe 401 -endframe 402 -pass bea_clean -script /madcrew/applications/madcrew/skull/lib/madcrew/render/softimage_render_path.py -lang Python regards stefan On Wed, Aug 29, 2012 at 11:20 AM, Stefan Kubicek s...@tidbit-images.comhttp://UrlBlockedError.aspx wrote: There is Backburner on Linux? Anyone been able to use it on Linux? I've been trying to get it up and running, and so far I can submit jobs but it never starts to render... ergh.. So if anyone have any helpful tips it would be most welcome. /s -- --- Stefan Kubicek Co-founder --- keyvis digital imagery Wehrgasse 9 - Grüner Hof 1050 Vienna Austria Phone:+43/699/12614231tel:%2B43%2F699%2F12614231 --- www.keyvis.athttp://www.keyvis.at ste...@keyvis.athttp://UrlBlockedError.aspx --- -- This email and its attachments are --confidential and for the recipient only-- -- stefan andersson - digital janitor - http://sanders3d.wordpress.com -- stefan andersson - digital janitor - http://sanders3d.wordpress.com -- stefan andersson - digital janitor - http://sanders3d.wordpress.com -- stefan andersson - digital janitor - http://sanders3d.wordpress.com
RE: Some work of ours! (shameless plug)
LOL - that is so awesome - nice idea too, and very nicely executed - well done! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Arvid Björn [arvidbj...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 August 2012 15:43 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Some work of ours! (shameless plug) Hey list =) Just wanted to show off the latest spot! Directed by Traktor, graded by MPC, vfx by us - your friendly post house, Stopp! Softimage + Nuke Story context for the Swedishly impaired: Despite trying 14 times, our guy failed to get a drivers license, however, when he won the lottery, he solved the problem by constructed a life-sized Scalextric track in his home town. Spot: http://vimeo.com/47507429 Vfx breakdown: http://vimeo.com/48504852 Some shiny CG: https://vimeo.com/48508095 Cheers! _ Arvid Björn CG Lead, vfx dept. Stopp Stockholm Office +46 8 50 70 35 00 Stockholm | Los Angeles | Linz www.stopp.sehttp://www.stopp.se/
Feathers done with ICE, developed from our development based on Melena.
Hi all, Thought I would pop this amazing pic done by our super duper Fur lead - she took Fur and developed it into feathers, we used MB feathers on Zambezia - which are super cool, but as we had to do a whole bunch of fur anyway, Sue took it further and did the birds as well! [X] _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: Feathers done with ICE, developed from our development based on Melena.
LOL - yeah yeah - on it's way - was pasted nicely into the email when I sent it - admired it as it went - but obviously pasting into emails does not work - so it is coming (hopefully) attached to another one. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of ThomasV [li...@thomasvolkmann.com] Sent: 30 August 2012 16:39 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Feathers done with ICE, developed from our development based on Melena. Pic or it didn't happen! Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za hat am 30. August 2012 um 16:22 geschrieben: Hi all, Thought I would pop this amazing pic done by our super duper Fur lead - she took Fur and developed it into feathers, we used MB feathers on Zambezia - which are super cool, but as we had to do a whole bunch of fur anyway, Sue took it further and did the birds as well! [X] _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: Feathers done with ICE, developed from our development based on Melena.
Don't tell me the pic that I pasted into the mail did not come through trying again - S _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Sandy Sutherland [sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za] Sent: 30 August 2012 16:22 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Feathers done with ICE, developed from our development based on Melena. Hi all, Thought I would pop this amazing pic done by our super duper Fur lead - she took Fur and developed it into feathers, we used MB feathers on Zambezia - which are super cool, but as we had to do a whole bunch of fur anyway, Sue took it further and did the birds as well! [X] _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ attachment: scn_052_047.-004.jpg
RE: Friday Flashback
Stephen Blair has been MR Softimage for US - Autodesk - sorry but you are the biggest bunch of blundering idiots that 3D animation has ever seen! my 0.02c _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stefan Andersson [sander...@gmail.com] Sent: 31 August 2012 13:06 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Friday Flashback btw, I don't like this friday flashback, please remove it :) /stefan On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 1:05 PM, Stefan Andersson sander...@gmail.commailto:sander...@gmail.com wrote: Thank you so much for all of your support or the years! You have been awesome! And you will be dearly missed! best regards Stefan Andersson On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 12:54 PM, Stephen Blair stephenrbl...@gmail.commailto:stephenrbl...@gmail.com wrote: Friday Flashback #85 The end part II http://wp.me/powV4-24o On Fri, Aug 24, 2012 at 3:42 PM, Chris Chia chris.c...@autodesk.commailto:chris.c...@autodesk.com wrote: My memories working with Softimage 3D on a SGI... Sent from my iPhone On 24 Aug, 2012, at 10:47 PM, Stephen Blair stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.com wrote: Friday Flashback #84 Japanese brochure for good ol' #SOFTIMAGE 3D http://wp.me/powV4-23R From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Blair Sent: August-17-12 10:21 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Friday Flashback Friday Flashback 83 2000 - Softimage hit the ground running with XSI a beautifully constructed environment to work in http://wp.me/powV4-232 From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Alan Fregtman Sent: August-10-12 10:52 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Friday Flashback Oh my Darwin, SO much red! My yeess On Fri, Aug 10, 2012 at 8:08 AM, Stephen Blair stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.com wrote: Friday Flashback #82 XSI's first SIGGRAPH http://wp.me/powV4-22f From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Stephen Blair Sent: August-03-12 10:44 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Friday Flashback Friday Flashback 81 From 2004, Softimage XSI the perfect fit: - Everything you need - Everything you want - Everything there is http://wp.me/powV4-21j From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Raffaele Fragapane Sent: July-30-12 4:00 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Friday Flashback I think Olivier can still be seen shuddering when Batchserve is mentioned in his vicinity :) On Sat, Jul 28, 2012 at 4:58 AM, Stephen Blair stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl...@autodesk.commailto:stephen.bl
RE: Friday Flashback
Cannot remember their name Graham - was about 2 years ago - they came to Triggerfish when they were in Cape Town - they were certainly from the Maya side of things, and made a lot of effort to tell me how they were going out of their way (As Autodesk policy) to stop people such as myself having any possiblity of getting in touch with Dev people like Stephen - they seemed to think that having people such as myself talk to the devs - DISTRACTED THEM - their exact words. I did tell them at the time it was exactly because of the accessibility of Softimage people to ourselves that we found Softimage to be the most Awesome tool of all time, as we could help to get stuff fixed and it was because of the awesome people at softimage that it worked so well...I found it was like talking to a blank wall with those suits - was the first time I was truly scared for the future of Softimage, and I have avoided getting into the discussions before about lack of any effort from AD side to do with Soft - but this to me is the final straw! If it would help to know who those guys actually were, let me know and I can contact Touchvision and find out who they were? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Graham Bell [graham.b...@autodesk.com] Sent: 31 August 2012 14:51 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Friday Flashback I agree Sandy. I’d love to know who those ‘suits’ were and I don’t agree with them, but then different industries operate in different ways. Email me privately if you wish. From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sandy Sutherland Sent: 31 August 2012 13:14 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Friday Flashback I am going to be very honest with you Graham - this is probably going to be a turning point for some decision making to do with Softimage Software - I had Autodesk suits here one day crowing about how they had stopped their clients having access to the developers of the software - they insanely seemed to think it was a good idea and a good thing to do - someone like Stephen has kept the good name of Softimage alive and well in many studios including the one I work for now and before and without him I am pretty sure there are quite a few who would have got more than fed up with the negativity of Softimage/Autodesk or rather their apparent lack of interest in the wellbeing of Softimage and moved on. I am going to suggest to the users on this mailing list that this is now the time to collectively voice our complete dissaproval of the way Autodesk handle Softimage and in fact the way they handle any of their software - yes I do know about the shit that the Maya users go through - note my mention above of the suits and their idiotic ideas! Where and how can we complain before it gets to the point we we start looking at something like Houdini? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Graham Bell [graham.b...@autodesk.com] Sent: 31 August 2012 13:53 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Friday Flashback Frankly no, the recent layoffs have affected many locations, divisions, and departments. No one in particular seems to have been singled out. For the record, I didn’t like this news any more than anyone else. G From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Rob Chapman Sent: 31 August 2012 12:36 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Friday Flashback I wonder if this is the action of Mr. 'Mayalicious' Softimage's new product manager? I need a phone number or email address to complain to, this is a truly preposterous decision.
RE: Asset viewer / manager
We use a system that runs within Softimage - it is based on Python and PyQT - it runs off a sql db running on linux. It shows thumbnails and has drop downs that show the different versions/resolutions - it is called squirrel - aptly - as Triggerfish is based on a farm - we work out of a converted barn. The system was started by Simon Anderson who is now at Animal Logic and is now mostly kept going by one full time dev guy Jared and one part time dev guy - and also includes my caching stuff. The system also runs all our other pipeline/hack/fix/tweak/emergency fix tools also. I am going to see if we can possibly provide this to the Softimage community at some stage - need to do some managment arm twisting, which should not be too hard, as they are quite into the 'cummunity' vibe. Will see what I can do. No promises but that is the plan. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Marc-Andre Carbonneau [marc-andre.carbonn...@ubisoft.com] Sent: 04 September 2012 19:45 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Asset viewer / manager Hi, We’re looking into archiving and building a library of assets we have. By assets I mean: 3D assets(.obj, .FBX, .abc, .emdl…) and 2D assets(reference images, textures, concept art…) How are you guys organizing all this in your studio? Do you use a system that’s both a viewer and a repository or you’re using regular windows folders along with a viewer? Thanks for any advice, info you can give me. MAC
RE: Small Annoying Things
LOL I used to get caught by that one too - now I pretty much use the parent button all the time! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Alan Fregtman [alan.fregt...@gmail.com] Sent: 05 September 2012 18:57 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Small Annoying Things One more thing, irrelevant to the PyQt discussion but relevant to the thread: - dragging a long list of objects to another (to reparent) in the Explorer results in individual CopyPaste() commands for each object which is crazy slow compared to a single ParentObj() command if I were to use the Parent button. Sometimes I forget and have to wait a while for a thousand commands to trigger. It should be smarter than that. :/
RE: ICE in Maya is an engineer's worst nightmare
Wondering myself - as we have used ICE extensively to huge set dressing and creation of bushes etc.. for Khumba - worked like a charm - and using that 'other' renderer proved to be the cherry on the top - we certainly did not hit any walls. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Stefan Kubicek [s...@tidbit-images.com] Sent: 06 September 2012 17:22 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: ICE in Maya is an engineer's worst nightmare Scalability is a good buzzword, but what does it actually mean? Does it mean you can process more data in the same amount of time compared to another app? And what kind of data? Procedural geometry? Rendered Images? Does it mean you can load more assets into the same amount of available RAM on a machine compared to another app? How would the automation of such processes need to look like to scale well? Scripted? C++? Node-based like ICE? Multithreading across the board? Or is it a question of architecture rather than which programming language was used to implement it (scripted vs C++)? What does Maya offer in this regard, or where does it differ, to scale well/better than Soft or app X in your opinion? In my experience Softimage offers pretty much the same mechanisms to automate processes and handle scene complexity as Maya does, + ICE on top, and I found it can load a good chunk more data simultaneously than Maya can fit into the same amount of memory, especially when it comes to working with textures and realtime shaders. That was up until two versions ago, maybe that has changed? If all that doesn't mean it scales well, what exactly does it mean then? Note: I'm not a Softimage fanboy or Maya hater (ok, just a little, but not enough to not use it if it offers something that helps me to do my work), I just try to understand what scalability means by your (or anyones) standards compared to how I understand it. There is not as much enthusiasm in having ICE in Maya internally as you'd think, and I think that mail from Chris means to infer that to the community to cause some reactions, and to look beyond ICE. One reason is that unlike XSI 6.0, Maya has always been node-based, so it would not be as much as game changer in Maya as it is in XSI which had nothing. The confusing hypergraph UI and some legacy stuff (like older nodes having too many inputs) obscures the use of Maya existing node system, but the Maya team is working on that already with the new Node Editor, no need to introduce a duplicate system. Another reason is much more interesting, though I suspect the message boards will incinerate me for suggesting it. Basically, there is a train of thought that ICE is great, but it's just the Now, not the Next; it's not scalable to the extremely large scale procedural work that the Maya film clients are _already_ doing in custom apps and a series of odd tools. This is work that they wouldn't be able to undertake in ICE today, because it doesn't scale well to extremely large data sets. Since any kind of development takes several years, Autodesk wants to focus on finding the Next, rather than just trying to catch up to the Now. The creators of Naiad, who worked on PhysBAM and Zero at ILM and have multiple film credits are cooking up that vision. Since Maya is targeted at the large studios and not the one-man boutique, Autodesk doesn't want to work on any tech that works just fine for general data sets, but falls flat on its face on extremely large one. Large data set scalability is a requirement for anything new we add to Maya. That might mean something comes up that's comparatively less elegant to use than ICE in XSI, but more scalable. Maya is more like a construction truck than a family car, it needs to move large stuff around, and that stuff keeps getting larger. On Thu, Sep 6, 2012 at 8:26 AM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.com wrote: OK, thanks all. so what confirmations, if any, do we actually have or 'allowed' to talk about? 1. its not going to be ICE but will have same workflow / functionality - I really dont appreciate the difference? so each node will be called a mayacompound and not xsicompound ? will there be any interop with Softimage / Maya planned in this regards? 2. Its going to take a few years 3. Its not a separate App, but part of the main Maya I am good to assume these as actual facts then? :) And certainly dont want or need yet another tirade / rant / sky is falling thread, am trying to tread carefully, be less emotional and just ask rational questions based upon facts, which would be much more rewarding for those that feel are being kept in the dark. but as a Softimage customer using ICE everyday since the last 6 years
RE: Clip time property expression is not refreshing..
Can you try plotting it before submitting to render? Maybe with an Fcurve there it might work - I have found similar things before that worked like that. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Szabolcs Matefy [szabol...@crytek.com] Sent: 10 September 2012 10:44 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Clip time property expression is not refreshing.. Hey List, I’ve got a mixer clip, and the scale parameter is driven by an expression. However, the expression is not refreshing unless the time property is open. I’m rendering the scene over network, so the PPG opening is not an option…I’ve tried to connect the parameter to a custom parameter on the scene root, but it doesn’t refresh… Any idea? ___ This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322 Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli
RE: Clip time property expression is not refreshing.
Even when submitting to render? We have a system that generates a 'render' scene, that has a whole bunch fixed/plotted/etc... the lighters scene is untouched and is on a different array to the one being rendered. I understand when the shot is being worked on it needs to be interactive - but Anyway - just a suggestion. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Szabolcs Matefy [szabol...@crytek.com] Sent: 10 September 2012 11:41 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Clip time property expression is not refreshing. Unfortunately it’s not an option, it must be “interactive” From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sandy Sutherland Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 11:01 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Clip time property expression is not refreshing. Can you try plotting it before submitting to render? Maybe with an Fcurve there it might work - I have found similar things before that worked like that. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Szabolcs Matefy [szabol...@crytek.com] Sent: 10 September 2012 10:44 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Clip time property expression is not refreshing.. Hey List, I’ve got a mixer clip, and the scale parameter is driven by an expression. However, the expression is not refreshing unless the time property is open. I’m rendering the scene over network, so the PPG opening is not an option…I’ve tried to connect the parameter to a custom parameter on the scene root, but it doesn’t refresh… Any idea? ___ This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322 Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli
RE: object center orientation
You could try with spacer nulls for each geo - snap to their current POS - then direction constrain them to a null in the center of the globe - parent each geo to it's respective null and freeze transforms - you could do this once and use a quick hacky script to iterate through the remaining ones if they are named with a number. Once frozen xforms you could unparent if you need to. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Eric Lampi [ericla...@gmail.com] Sent: 10 September 2012 19:08 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: object center orientation I'm not sure how to accomplish this, I am drawing a blank at the moment... A modeler build a globe and cut up the continents into little pieces, the orientation needs to point toward the center of the globe so they can animate out on a local y axis. Is there any way to globally make the center axis to point towards a null or to global 0 without moving the individual objects? The geo is properly oriented, but the center points are all at the same default rotation. Eric -- Freelance 3D and VFX animator
RE: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
You can use any rig - as long as you can tag it - if you open the tag rig dialogue you will see what 'section' you need to tag. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Tim Leydecker [bauero...@gmx.de] Sent: 11 September 2012 12:03 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons? Hi Rob, thanks! I haven´t touched the Softimage Animate menue much, especially in the last three years... Completely missed Motor and the Actions library at my disposal. Just shows it´s always good to ask. Those actions, what rig do they use? I guess it´s that rig layout I´d like to add more Mocap data on in Motionbuilder? Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 11:44, Rob Chapman wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I´m poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you´d suggest to base things on? I´d like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
RE: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons?
You can indeed. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Adam Sale [adamfs...@gmail.com] Sent: 11 September 2012 18:03 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Motionbuilder/Softimage default rig for MocapData slap-ons? hey Tim.. far as I remember you can export a tagTemplate for reimport onto other characters.. On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:18 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Ahh. Actionplot to Fcurves using a loaded *.motor file gives me a new action to drag into the mixer. Reality check: I want to abuse an exisiting Softimage rig to preview-envelope my human meshes onto, ideally using one allready tagged for Motor. Which one would you suggest, the biped rig, the armoured man or any of the others? This way I would have to only once create a tagtemplate for *.bvh import... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 15:33, Tim Leydecker wrote: ,/. change fixes my garbled result but how do I get the imported Motor file to show up as an action? I thought you do the following: *Tag your target rig *Import *.bvh *Mocap to Rig using Tags for both the *.bvh skeleton and the target rig *get bvh mocap data as an new action loaded into the animation mixer? no? do i need to plot the motor file? why isn愒 it an action clip? cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:26, Tim Leydecker wrote: Bingo. Steve, Thank you. That愀 it. Arghh. The second time you point this out to me, if i recall correctly. Nice little fuck up ,/. Gives alot of frustration to start the day with... I惻l miss you even more when I惴 finished transfering to win7 and need to go through licensing setup and license transfer... Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 14:10, Stephen Blair wrote: Maybe this? http://xsisupport.com/2011/02/24/motor-load-motion-malfunction/ On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi Chris, I get garbage when I try Rob愀 walkthrough with the xsisamples actions and the armoured man? Both in 2012sp1 and 2012sap. nuked my prefs but no dice. The character is pushed and magled way off screen, looks hurt and that愀 it. It would be nice if the Motionbuilder Template would be MOTOR tagged for *.bvh already to have something to derive/learn/transfer from. The COG/Pelvis/Spine tagging bit seems a bit foggy in the docs, too. Of course, I may do something wrong but it still seems not correct. I惴 trying the MocaoToRig now, bvhMotionbuilder Template. Cheers, tim On 11.09.2012 12:55, Chris Chia wrote: Motor comes with support for the different XSI built in rig. Note: diff rigs might perform slightly different because of the difference in the tagging. Chris On 11 Sep, 2012, at 5:45 PM, Rob Chapman tekano@gmail.commailto:tekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:t__ekano@gmail.commailto:t__ekano@gmail.com mailto:tekano@gmail.commailto:tekano@gmail.com wrote: Oh Motionbiulder ive not touched, but Ive seen plenty of demos of 'slapping' on mocap data with just default Softimage that its odd you don't know, but here you go , if you are not aware of this already then its easy to show. 1. Get Primitive Character (Armoured guy, man or little dude works) they have to be set up for MOTOR or something with tags already 2. Animate Tools Motor get motion 3. it usually points to C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage XX\Data\XSI_SAMPLES\Actions 4. whole load of mocap data files converted to Motor already. :) On 11 September 2012 10:35, Tim Leydecker bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauer__o...@gmx.demailto:bauer__o...@gmx.de mailto:bauero...@gmx.demailto:bauero...@gmx.de wrote: Hi guys, I惴 poking through Motionbuilder currently, trying to find out how to best set up a human biped rig that would let me easily slap-on found footage MoCap data. Do you guys have a good link to freeware Mocap sources? What rig layout do you guys use to be most flexible? Is there something like a default Motionbuilder rig I should look into and if so, is it that what you悲 suggest to base things on? I悲 like to end up with one rig (male/female) I can test human motion data on and for building a library of slap-on motion. Any specific tips or hints to a better approach? Cheers, tim
RE: Clip time property expression is not refreshing..
Ah yes - did not realise you had THAT problem - that has hit me before - if the clip does not sit on the whole time line, and you render on a farm - can be chaos - always stick a hold on! S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Szabolcs Matefy [szabol...@crytek.com] Sent: 12 September 2012 10:38 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Clip time property expression is not refreshing.. Hi Chris, Our first solution was to create a selfinstalling property and set the value via those paramteres, and it worked. The second solution was to use the Hold function of the Clip, so before and after Hold was set to a huge value, and it worked. It looks like that if the clip is not active on the frame when the parameter is adjusted, the expression doesn’t refresh. Thanks for logging! Cheers Szabolcs From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Chris Chia Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 10:18 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Clip time property expression is not refreshing.. Hi Szabolcs, We have logged this as a defect. In the meantime, our Dev has suggested to do a “GetValue of that scale param” to force XSI to evaluate the expression in order to update the animation mixer. Regards, Chris From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com]mailto:[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Szabolcs Matefy Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 4:44 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Clip time property expression is not refreshing.. Hey List, I’ve got a mixer clip, and the scale parameter is driven by an expression. However, the expression is not refreshing unless the time property is open. I’m rendering the scene over network, so the PPG opening is not an option…I’ve tried to connect the parameter to a custom parameter on the scene root, but it doesn’t refresh… Any idea? ___ This message contains confidential information and is intended only for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required please request a hard-copy version. Crytek GmbH - http://www.crytek.com - Grüneburgweg 16-18, 60322 Frankfurt - HRB77322 Amtsgericht Frankfurt a. Main- UST IdentNr.: DE20432461 - Geschaeftsfuehrer: Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli
RE: picking up ICE attribute in RenderTree still buggy???
You could try a simple ice tree on the point cloud brining in the cache - that reads the attribute and writes it directly back. We have not had too hectic problems with this stuff and caches here. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Juan Brockhaus [juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.com] Sent: 14 September 2012 13:19 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: picking up ICE attribute in RenderTree still buggy??? Hi, It’s the pass changing which causes the problem. Everything is there, all attributes values are correct. (Cached, none cached, set after cache. etc.) As I said, I can see (get, set) the attributes and they are all fine. It’s the render tree not picking it up correctly. As you said, if I manually just reselect the attribute it ‘snaps’ back and all is good. Then I change pass. Color attribute is lost. Deselect, re-select attribute. Everything is fine. Problem is the render farm… that one can’t deselect and reselect manually… I will have a look into the OnPassChange event Pete mentioned. Cheers, Juan - - - Juan Brockhaus | Head of CG Studio Prime Focus London Commercials T: +44 (0)20 7565 1000 | M: +44 (0)7944 720 557 A: 37 Dean Street, London, W1D 4PT, UK www.primefocusgroup.comhttp://www.primefocusgroup.com From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Rob Chapman Sent: 14 September 2012 12:10 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: picking up ICE attribute in RenderTree still buggy??? ok , well i believe any problems with the render tree attribute not getting passed over are more to do with the attribute not being stored. Like I said even though the attribute name is available from the cache, when connected to anything it produces a red node or an error about 'wrong type' or similar. This is where I would check first. For render tree , Ive noticed that sometimes the attribute selection gets lost if its anything other than default 'color' and I always turn the default color value to a purple or red so then its easy enough to see that its reverting to default value when rendering because the data is not there. Some folks here have had a problem with passes changing and materials not updating correctly. and in the case the best thing is go to the pass in question, relook at the material and from color_attribute node reselect the correct attribute again. then do a render region. sometimes it takes a 'jiggle' to remind the softimage stack of what you set it to in the first place. On 14 September 2012 11:54, Juan Brockhaus juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.commailto:juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.com wrote: The scene is already really basic… One is just random color which doesn’t always get picked up... The other one is (as per other mail) just a color value driven from distance from camera to another object. Writing out the cache is not the problem. I can get the values and display them. They are fine. One of the values is also set after reading the cache… Next week I will have a look at the that onPassChangeEvent like Pete suggested. I am up against it and don’t have the time to write a script just now… Thanks, Juan - - - Juan Brockhaus | Head of CG Studio Prime Focus London Commercials T: +44 (0)20 7565 1000tel:%2B44%20%280%2920%207565%201000 | M: +44 (0)7944 720 557tel:%2B44%20%280%297944%20720%20557 A: 37 Dean Street, London, W1D 4PT, UK www.primefocusgroup.comhttp://www.primefocusgroup.com From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Rob Chapman Sent: 14 September 2012 11:47 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: picking up ICE attribute in RenderTree still buggy??? depends how or what you are trying to do. Lately Ive found adding a custom attribute display per attribute I need caching will always save that attribute in the cache. without then ICE saves the attribute name but not the type or any data. Always when bringing in the cache into a new scene I can check if the attribute has been saved correctly. Ive not had much problem with render tree attributes passing over is there anyway you can recreate in a simple scene? On 14 September 2012 11:33, Juan Brockhaus juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.commailto:juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.com wrote: Hi, Is it true, that it is still buggy as hell to pick up ICE attribute in the Render Tree? Or do I miss something here? Display attributes doesn’t really help, getting and setting the attribute also
RE: picking up ICE attribute in RenderTree still buggy???
Out of interest - what version of Soft are you guys using - we are still on 2011.5 and the only issue we have had is losing instance connections, mainly when finallers forgot to use this_model instead of the model name and then the finalling got into lighting and the model name changed. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Juan Brockhaus [juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.com] Sent: 14 September 2012 15:08 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: picking up ICE attribute in RenderTree still buggy??? I know. But this is not a solution when sending 4 (or more) passes to the farm with attribute overrides. Basically I have to wait until one pass is rendered, then open scene, switch pass, re-save the scene, re-submit for the pass to pick up correctly… Or I have to create four scenes… and submit to farm… This kinda defies the whole passes workflow… Cheers, Juan - - - Juan Brockhaus | Head of CG Studio Prime Focus London Commercials T: +44 (0)20 7565 1000 | M: +44 (0)7944 720 557 A: 37 Dean Street, London, W1D 4PT, UK www.primefocusgroup.comhttp://www.primefocusgroup.com From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Chris Chia Sent: 14 September 2012 13:29 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: picking up ICE attribute in RenderTree still buggy??? The pass issue is a known bug and has been worked on... But to workaround it, save and open the scene in that pass and the ice attribute should be evaluated fine (in that pass)... Chris On 14 Sep, 2012, at 7:19 PM, Juan Brockhaus juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.commailto:juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.com wrote: Hi, It’s the pass changing which causes the problem. Everything is there, all attributes values are correct. (Cached, none cached, set after cache. etc.) As I said, I can see (get, set) the attributes and they are all fine. It’s the render tree not picking it up correctly. As you said, if I manually just reselect the attribute it ‘snaps’ back and all is good. Then I change pass. Color attribute is lost. Deselect, re-select attribute. Everything is fine. Problem is the render farm… that one can’t deselect and reselect manually… I will have a look into the OnPassChange event Pete mentioned. Cheers, Juan - - - Juan Brockhaus | Head of CG Studio Prime Focus London Commercials T: +44 (0)20 7565 1000 | M: +44 (0)7944 720 557 A: 37 Dean Street, London, W1D 4PT, UK www.primefocusgroup.comhttp://www.primefocusgroup.com From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Rob Chapman Sent: 14 September 2012 12:10 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: picking up ICE attribute in RenderTree still buggy??? ok , well i believe any problems with the render tree attribute not getting passed over are more to do with the attribute not being stored. Like I said even though the attribute name is available from the cache, when connected to anything it produces a red node or an error about 'wrong type' or similar. This is where I would check first. For render tree , Ive noticed that sometimes the attribute selection gets lost if its anything other than default 'color' and I always turn the default color value to a purple or red so then its easy enough to see that its reverting to default value when rendering because the data is not there. Some folks here have had a problem with passes changing and materials not updating correctly. and in the case the best thing is go to the pass in question, relook at the material and from color_attribute node reselect the correct attribute again. then do a render region. sometimes it takes a 'jiggle' to remind the softimage stack of what you set it to in the first place. On 14 September 2012 11:54, Juan Brockhaus juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.commailto:juan.brockh...@primefocusworld.com wrote: The scene is already really basic… One is just random color which doesn’t always get picked up... The other one is (as per other mail) just a color value driven from distance from camera to another object. Writing out the cache is not the problem. I can get the values and display them. They are fine. One of the values is also set after reading the cache… Next week I will have a look at the that onPassChangeEvent like Pete suggested. I am up against it and don’t have the time to write a script just now… Thanks, Juan - - - Juan Brockhaus | Head of CG Studio Prime Focus London Commercials T: +44 (0)20 7565 1000tel:%2B44%20%280%2920%207565%201000 | M: +44 (0)7944
RE: In house Softimage hair broken?
We have a system based off melena that I have mentioned before, we modified it mainly because the dynamics side of melena did not really work for us, and we wanted to use the strnd dynamics setup as they work quite well - it did not stop there - our clever fur lead got hooked and eventually it turned into a feather system too! The nodes we use are available as unsupported download - we can give pointers and help if asked, but anyone using them must realise we cannot develop anything based on what might be needed outside our scope. There was a posting about it a while ago - if you cannot find the thread let me know and I can email you the link to the zip file. Please note that the system does require melena being installed to work, as we use their hair to curves system. BTW out of interest someone mentioned softimage fur being buggy - we have not really found that here - but we are still on 2011.5 so I wonder if there are new issues to do with 2012 and 2013 fur/hair. Cheers Sandy _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Szabolcs Matefy [szabol...@crytek.com] Sent: 19 September 2012 07:39 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: In house Softimage hair broken? Both Melena and Kristinka has its strength and weakness…I wish the mixture of both :) From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Adam Sale Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 6:33 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: In house Softimage hair broken? I've been using Kristinka, but never tried Melena. I'll dig into it. Thanks for the heads up.. Adam On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 8:33 PM, Miquel Campos miquel.cam...@gmail.commailto:miquel.cam...@gmail.com wrote: For Melena better check in http://rray.de/xsihttp://rray.de/xsi/ ;) 2012/9/18 Gene Crucean emailgeneonthel...@gmail.commailto:emailgeneonthel...@gmail.com Yeah definitely look into Melena and Kristinka http://www.matkovic.com/anto/kristinka-hair.html http://opensource.nestanimation.com/melena.html On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 8:18 PM, Ben Houston b...@exocortex.commailto:b...@exocortex.com wrote: Melena, written by Helge and open sourced, is quite popular I understand. Haven't used it myself though. -ben On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 11:10 PM, Adam Sale adamfs...@gmail.commailto:adamfs...@gmail.com wrote: Its been a while since I've tried the Softimage hair, but I find it so ridiculously buggy, to be almost unusable in 2013. My main issue is with the grooming. It seems like if I turn on render hairs while styling the guides, after a few moves of tips, or whole strands, that other sections of hair I've groome, suddenly pop into a different position, or straighten... What the? Is anyone else experiencing this, and if so I hope its on the radar to fix... Granted, there are so many other hair solution out there today, but for quick jobs like the one I needed today, I tried old school, and it bit me. Adam -- Best regards, Ben Houston Voice: 613-762-4113tel:613-762-4113 Skype: ben.exocortex Twitter: @exocortexcom http://Exocortex.com - Passionate CG Software Professionals. -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** Freelance for hire ** www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com/ for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~
RE: Our latest work
Awesome stuff Nick! @Raff - I am going to get Simon to buy you a big wooden spoon - LOL. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 20 September 2012 09:03 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Our latest work Not bad for a particles plugin, man. So what did you use for everything else that wasn't particles? ;)
RE: Our latest work
LOL - no wooden spoon here - just a nice split length of bamboo - makes everyone obey the word of the Supe. Ask Simon about it. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 20 September 2012 09:25 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Our latest work He mentioned you used to beat him with one. HR here frowns on the practice though, big shop and all, but I do have an animator hokey stick for when they get pesky. On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 5:10 PM, Sandy Sutherland sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za wrote: Awesome stuff Nick! @Raff - I am going to get Simon to buy you a big wooden spoon - LOL. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Raffaele Fragapane [raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com] Sent: 20 September 2012 09:03 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Our latest work Not bad for a particles plugin, man. So what did you use for everything else that wasn't particles? ;) -- Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
Adventures in Zambezia feature film
Just letting you all know there was a small featurette released on vimeo - http://vimeo.com/49767597 We finished the movie completely in Softimage rendered with Mental Ray, it was a huge learning experience but given the size of Triggerfish, it would not have been possible to have done this in any other software. ICE is used extensively to create various assets and effects AND to fix stuff - it certainly was a Swiss Army Knife for us. Oh - the dust and smoke stuff was rendered with Fury from Exocortex - feathers for Zam were done with MB_feathers which we built a pipeline around to do caching to geometry for rendering. Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _
RE: Adventures in Zambezia feature film
Hi Rob, Zam was done in MR - Khumba is being rendered with Arnold - still busy with that one. Night and day though - we did sweat somewhat with MR. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Rob Wuijster [r...@casema.nl] Sent: 20 September 2012 12:34 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Adventures in Zambezia feature film Hi Sandy, it looks great! Nice to see our beloved particle plugin can pull this off ;-) I was under the impression though you rendered this with Arnold? cheers, Rob Wuijster E r...@casema.nlmailto:r...@casema.nl \/-\/\/ On 20-9-2012 10:45, Sandy Sutherland wrote: Just letting you all know there was a small featurette released on vimeo - http://vimeo.com/49767597 We finished the movie completely in Softimage rendered with Mental Ray, it was a huge learning experience but given the size of Triggerfish, it would not have been possible to have done this in any other software. ICE is used extensively to create various assets and effects AND to fix stuff - it certainly was a Swiss Army Knife for us. Oh - the dust and smoke stuff was rendered with Fury from Exocortex - feathers for Zam were done with MB_feathers which we built a pipeline around to do caching to geometry for rendering. Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2441/5278 - Release Date: 09/19/12
RE: Adventures in Zambezia feature film
Hi all - thanks for the kudos - will pass it on to the guys here. To answer your question peter - MB was done in post, using motion vector pass and Reelsmart in Nuke. Rendering JUST squeezed in in time, pretty much to the suprise of everyone here, we thought it would be way over as there were some pretty big sets and all the leaves and stuff in the tree. Yep simply amazing what one can do with a particle system these days, especially the particle bones and control setups! It is currently on screen in Russia, Germany and Israel - there is a page somewhere showing release dates - I will try and find it. If you go to the Triggerfish site, there are links to both movies - with a few renders from Khumba, unfortunatley they are not anywhere near the 'Knock your socks off' level that we do have now, but it is being held under wraps. Will try and come up with some numbers to do with Zam - will post them in this thread. http://triggerfish.co.za/en/ Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of pete...@skynet.be [pete...@skynet.be] Sent: 20 September 2012 19:55 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Adventures in Zambezia feature film Hey Sandy - its always good to see a softimage based movie completed – and another one in progress? cool! Based on all you squeezed out of that particle plugin, perhaps Autodesk should make a case study of your production: “ Want to boost your overall 3dsmax or Maya workflow? With the Softimage Universal Plugin you can replace your complete workflow, and enjoy improvements on all fronts! “ Sorry to derail the thread – I’m certainly looking forward to seeing both movies – on the screen or DVD – whichever way they make it to Europe. Silly question (or not?) – was motion in post or rendered? From: Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 1:32 PM To: r...@casema.nlmailto:r...@casema.nl ; softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Adventures in Zambezia feature film Hi Rob, Zam was done in MR - Khumba is being rendered with Arnold - still busy with that one. Night and day though - we did sweat somewhat with MR. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Rob Wuijster [r...@casema.nl] Sent: 20 September 2012 12:34 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Adventures in Zambezia feature film Hi Sandy, it looks great! Nice to see our beloved particle plugin can pull this off ;-) I was under the impression though you rendered this with Arnold? cheers, Rob Wuijster E r...@casema.nlmailto:r...@casema.nl \/-\/\/ On 20-9-2012 10:45, Sandy Sutherland wrote: Just letting you all know there was a small featurette released on vimeo - http://vimeo.com/49767597 We finished the movie completely in Softimage rendered with Mental Ray, it was a huge learning experience but given the size of Triggerfish, it would not have been possible to have done this in any other software. ICE is used extensively to create various assets and effects AND to fix stuff - it certainly was a Swiss Army Knife for us. Oh - the dust and smoke stuff was rendered with Fury from Exocortex - feathers for Zam were done with MB_feathers which we built a pipeline around to do caching to geometry for rendering. Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2441/5278 - Release Date: 09/19/12
RE: Our latest work
Good idea - do you think I should post about Zambezia there too? S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Gene Crucean [emailgeneonthel...@gmail.com] Sent: 21 September 2012 17:48 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Our latest work You should post this to the 3dPro list. It would be nice to get some Softimage love out there. I mean everyone on this list already knows what Soft is capable of but others... well... Excellent work btw! On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 3:22 AM, Nick Angus n...@altvfx.commailto:n...@altvfx.com wrote: Johnnie Walker commercial completed by us last week, took around 8 weeks with five 3d artists and two compositors. The before and after video is on the right side of screen. Completed entirely in Softimage and rendered in Vray (except sand partices that were done in Fury). It is nice to be able to sleep again after this one! Thanks to everyone on the list that helps me out from time to time… http://www.altvfx.com/videos/jw.php [Description: ALT_signature_NANGUS] -- Gene Crucean - Emmy winning - Oscar nominated VFX Supervisor / iOS-OSX Developer / Filmmaker / Photographer ** Freelance for hire ** www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com ~~ Please use my website's contact form on www.genecrucean.comhttp://www.genecrucean.com/ for any personal emails. Thanks. I may not get them at this address. ~~ inline: image001.gif
RE: soft 2013 - multiple workgroups
Works well here too - we are still on 2011.5 - have various workgroups depending on dept. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Xavier Lapointe [xl.mailingl...@gmail.com] Sent: 25 September 2012 11:30 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: soft 2013 - multiple workgroups Works well on Linux 2013 as far as I know. Like Eric said works well with tons of them, but we don't use Arnold/sitoa or the other one stated.
RE: Multiple particle spawning on collision.
If you can post your scene somewhere we can take a look and buld on it - but I am with Rob on this one - before you even press play on such a setup, make some methods to delete particles very quickly - as spawning particles off spawning particles can kill a machine very quickly - LOL - almost like the endless loops the guys got the ME29 into when I was at college. S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Rob Chapman [tekano@gmail.com] Sent: 26 September 2012 15:05 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Multiple particle spawning on collision. couple of things, I think the 'enable spawning from spawned Particles' is what you need and of course if you are spawning from spawned particles in the manner you describe it *will* grow exponentially regardless of how you do it. I think the key here is to try and track the collision / spawning part carefully and make sure it is only spawning the desired amount at a specific time rather than for every subframe or within a certain distance from collision object. - which depends a lot on how your collision is set up. perhaps it may help to delete the original once spawned and to only respawn after a certain length of time being alive, or some similar strategy. best Rob On 26 September 2012 13:52, Anthony Martin anthonymarti...@googlemail.commailto:anthonymarti...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi Olly. Yeah, I tried the Enabled spawning from Spawned Particles. And tried using a fairly simple state system too but having quite got what I want. Switching on Enabled spawning from Spawned Particles is also fraught with danger(!) I clicked it on and then casually scrubbed through the timeline- the particle count grew exponentially, like a virus, and ground my machine to halt. On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 1:04 PM, Olwen Nash ollimat...@googlemail.commailto:ollimat...@googlemail.com wrote: Hiya, Not tested it loads but what about checkbox: Enable spawning from Spawned Particles ? I guess the spawns of the spawns will the same particle ID though so harder to differentiate If you use TestCollision + SpawnOnTrigger you could break into down into further stateIDs, using state machine, and it might be easier to see what's happening. Hope that helps : ) On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 10:56 AM, Anthony Martin anthonymarti...@googlemail.commailto:anthonymarti...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi everybody, I'm trying to do something that I think should be fairly straightforward but for some reason is eluding me. As the subject suggests I'd like have particles spawning on collision, multiple times. Let me break it down a bit and explain what's not happening for me at the moment: I emit one particle, apply some velocity and some gravity. When that particle collides with a simple flat grid I'd like it to spawn a few particles that shoot off away from the plane and still be effected by the gravity force. Now, when those spawned particles collide with plane again, I'd like that spawning process to happen again. This whole process would happen maybe 3 - 4 times. At the moment the 1st initial spawning happens and the spawned particles behave and move as I'd like but I can't get them to spawn more particles when they collide with the grid. I've checked the docs and can't seem to find an answer. Anyone done this thing before? It seems like it would be a fairly typical thing to do. Cheers, Anthony
RE: Adventures in Zambezia feature film
Hi Simon - no password protect - so not sure why you cannot see it. Yep guys are all good - starting to wind down on Khumba - holy camoly dude the renders are looking so sweet! Arnold is the bees knees by a long shot! Off on leave now - about to drive to Sedgefield. Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Simon Anderson [simonbenandersonl...@gmail.com] Sent: 29 September 2012 02:49 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Adventures in Zambezia feature film Hey Sandy, looking good ;) hehe.. was trying to view the video you posted and it says i don't have permission...? is it password protected or region set? Hope the teams all going well :) looking forward to seeing khumba. Cheers Si On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 5:13 AM, pete...@skynet.bemailto:pete...@skynet.be wrote: Looking good. less of a spoiler than the previous featurette. ooh, and you got Mr Spock, how cool is that! -Original Message- From: Sandy Sutherland Sent: Friday, September 28, 2012 2:12 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Adventures in Zambezia feature film New trailer been posted - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwVcjdEe0c8 S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of ma...@glassworks.co.ukmailto:ma...@glassworks.co.uk [ma...@glassworks.co.ukmailto:ma...@glassworks.co.uk] Sent: 21 September 2012 11:08 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Adventures in Zambezia feature film Hey Sandy. Huge congrats on getting Zambezia out the door! And on getting it to look pretty damn good too! Nice to finally see some top quality features coming out of good old SA. Kudos to the whole team. Khumba looks amazing by the way! Can't wait to see both films. m@ Hi all - thanks for the kudos - will pass it on to the guys here. To answer your question peter - MB was done in post, using motion vector pass and Reelsmart in Nuke. Rendering JUST squeezed in in time, pretty much to the suprise of everyone here, we thought it would be way over as there were some pretty big sets and all the leaves and stuff in the tree. Yep simply amazing what one can do with a particle system these days, especially the particle bones and control setups! It is currently on screen in Russia, Germany and Israel - there is a page somewhere showing release dates - I will try and find it. If you go to the Triggerfish site, there are links to both movies - with a few renders from Khumba, unfortunatley they are not anywhere near the 'Knock your socks off' level that we do have now, but it is being held under wraps. Will try and come up with some numbers to do with Zam - will post them in this thread. http://triggerfish.co.za/en/ Cheers S. _ Sandy Sutherland Technical Supervisor sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za _ From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of pete...@skynet.bemailto:pete...@skynet.be [pete...@skynet.bemailto:pete...@skynet.be] Sent: 20 September 2012 19:55 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Adventures in Zambezia feature film Hey Sandy - its always good to see a softimage based movie completed – and another one in progress? cool! Based on all you squeezed out of that particle plugin, perhaps Autodesk should make a case study of your production: “ Want to boost your overall 3dsmax or Maya workflow? With the Softimage Universal Plugin you can replace your complete workflow, and enjoy improvements on all fronts! “ Sorry to derail the thread – I’m certainly looking forward to seeing both movies – on the screen or DVD – whichever way they make it to Europe. Silly question (or not?) – was motion in post or rendered? From: Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.zamailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2012 1:32 PM To: r...@casema.nlmailto:r...@casema.nlmailto:r...@casema.nlmailto:r...@casema.nl ; softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.commailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
RE: Animation Editor question - randomize keys
Does the same thing not work - grab them all, tag the frame in question and enter R(x,y) in the relevant field - does work here (I think LOL - busy doing something else so cannot check it right now) S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Rob Wuijster [r...@casema.nl] Sent: 19 October 2012 13:45 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Animation Editor question - randomize keys Hi all, Maybe a silly question, but in the AE, is there a way to randomize a bunch of similar keyframes between a given frame range? Like the r(x,y) command in the MCP? e.g. all objects from frame 1 to frame 1 to 25, and from frame 100 to frame 75 to100. I would like randomize start and endframes of an animation, but over lot of objects doing the same thing. -- cheers, Rob \/-\/\/
RE: Irraniance Particles random black frames?
Look at logs from the farm - best place to start. Need to know which machines rendered the black frames. S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Claudio Pavan [cloudl...@lung.co.za] Sent: 25 October 2012 10:37 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Irraniance Particles random black frames? Hi everyone I am rendering a scene using irradiance particles but when I send it to the render farm I get random black frames from random machines. Any ideas? Thanks
RE: Irraniance Particles random black frames?
Mmm not sure Clouds - one thing I have noticed is that MR gets pretty funky when you hit close to RAM limits. How are you in this regard? S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Claudio Pavan [cloudl...@lung.co.za] Sent: 25 October 2012 11:50 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Irraniance Particles random black frames? Yup I did that and logs say nothing, also frames go black on random machines too, I noticed that other passes are doing the same thing that don’t even have IR particles activated. So I imported the scene to a new scene and this time didn’t activate IR particles and created new passes – Result is AO and other passes all render fine. The min I activate IR BOOOM! Black random frames here and there. Its Odd :( From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sandy Sutherland Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2012 11:05 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Irraniance Particles random black frames? Look at logs from the farm - best place to start. Need to know which machines rendered the black frames. S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png]http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png]http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png]http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Claudio Pavan [cloudl...@lung.co.za] Sent: 25 October 2012 10:37 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Irraniance Particles random black frames? Hi everyone I am rendering a scene using irradiance particles but when I send it to the render farm I get random black frames from random machines. Any ideas? Thanks
RE: Importing FBX from Maya to SI
If you want/can send the FBX to me I will have a look see my side? S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Debdas Mohanty [devj...@gmail.com] Sent: 29 October 2012 13:42 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Importing FBX from Maya to SI First i thought of that problem and reset everything to 24 frames on all the softwares. only softimage is showing error. rest softwares are importing correctly.
RE: Importing FBX from Maya to SI
Wierd thing is Debdas sent me an FBX, I do have Crosswalk that comes with 2011.5 running and it has a framerate setting in the options, which is defaulted to 30 - the FBX is supposed to be 24 - anyway the FBX works fine my side. S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Manny Papamanos [manny.papama...@autodesk.com] Sent: 29 October 2012 17:58 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Importing FBX from Maya to SI Hi this is known and logged here: SOFT-7341 Send to SI: Animation is erroneously plotted when object is frozen in Maya I had made a video displaying the problem at the time : http://www.3dmastermind.com/MANNYrepro_when_frozen.mp4 This only happens when you freeze transformations in Maya... So you know what not to do. Manny Papamanos Support Specialist, Softimage and MotionBuilder Montreal, Quebec, Canada From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Alok Sent: Monday, October 29, 2012 11:08 AM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Importing FBX from Maya to SI Exactly which parameters in maya scene that are getting extra keys in soft, it is just transforms of locators, curves, meshes, surfaces or something else like some other attributes? [cid:image001.gif@01CDB5CC.C64467A0] On 29/10/2012 11:03 AM, David Barosin wrote: Yeah someone else had the same issue. in and out of maya fine but not softimage. Just check to see if there are pivots that are not zero'ed out. On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 9:44 AM, Debdas Mohanty devj...@gmail.commailto:devj...@gmail.com wrote: Hello David, Problem is when i am importing the same FBX file i.e. exported from maya and importing again in maya and other softwares, its showing no change in animation curve. But only in softimage, it is changing. Why i dont know? As Sandy suggested me to change the import fbx default frame rate from 30 to 24 and it worked for him. But no good luck for me yet..May be i am missing some thing... - No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.comhttp://www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.2221 / Virus Database: 2441/5361 - Release Date: 10/29/12 inline: image001.gif
RE: Importing FBX from Maya to SI
Why not install Softimage 2011.5 to do your fbx stuff - we know it works in this version. S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Debdas Mohanty [devj...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 October 2012 07:45 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Importing FBX from Maya to SI Hello Min Rui, The option you mentioned is not going to help because its fixed to frame rate 30. we cant change it to 24 now in 2013. this horrible. Alok and Manny as you informed that freeze transform, causes the problem, that is true for 2013. If you check in 2011.5 and just change the frame rate option it works perfectly. I tested 2 ways with freeze transform objects and animate the objects. Case 1: created a sphere in maya(Frame Rate 24)Transformed to different spacefreeze transformation animate 24 framesexport fbx Result: Imported in Si2013: than 30 key frames generated. in between frame number 1 and 24. Imported in Si2011.5: ( Frame rate30 ) Same result as XSI2013 Imported In SI 2011.5 ( Frame rate 24 ).. 24 Frames Generated without any decimal frame values. PERFECT Case 2: created a sphere in maya (Frame Rate 24)Transformed to different space animate 24 framesexport fbx Result: Imported in Si2013: 2 key frames generated. On frame number 1 and 24. Imported in Si2011.5: ( Frame rate30 ) 2 key frames generated. On frame number 1 and 24. Imported In SI 2011.5 ( Frame rate 24 ).. 2 key frames generated. On frame number 1 and 24. AD changed the option of Crosswalk and Now its showing all the errors. Any Solution please??
RE: BA Fluid Shader
I must admit I am very guilty of this - extremely sorry Holger, as one who very much values your expertise as we also use RR I should have known better. I think part of the problem is the stuff we work on has to wait for permission from certain parties before we can release frames, so when it gets to that level - we tend to forget about you, and I think because the BA stuff has pretty much become the de-facto standard install after Softimage itself. One way to get round it is to do as someone suggested - make the shaders run on a time period until you have some pretty image in hand? Don't know how easy that is for you to do or I can certainly dig some Zambezia frames out if you would like some? As there is a bunch of marketing material out and about for that now - in fact it has been on circuit in Germany already. Cheers S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Eric Thivierge [ethivie...@gmail.com] Sent: 30 October 2012 12:41 To: Morten Bartholdy; softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: BA Fluid Shader Just chiming in with some support for Holger. I don't do surfacing, rendering, compositing, etc. So I have no real way to give feedback on stuff I don't use. However, as someone who's contributed to the community with commercial and non-commercial plug-ins I can say that feedback, notes on projects that use the plug-in, and also customer quotes for marketing are essential to keeping the development and contributions coming. Take the few minutes to give a little back. It's greatly appreciated. Eric Thivierge http://www.ethivierge.com
RE: LAGOA limiting velocity
Probably best way is to test velocity and if over a certain number - delete the particles, did that before to fix something similar happening from realflow. S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Jules Stevenson [droolz...@googlemail.com] Sent: 06 November 2012 03:48 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: LAGOA limiting velocity Hey List, I'm running some lagoa sims at the moment (a glass full of liquid being detonated), and on the whole the sim is running well *apart* from about a third of the particles shooting off at an extremely high velocity. Is there a simple way to limit this? I've tried with air damping to no effect. It seems you can't just hard limit the vel either, since it has to come after the simulation node and therefore doesn't really seem to do anything. The sim is allready very slow motion (150fps) and at 30 subframes, which helps, but still getting a lot of these really high velocity particles. Any magic tricks I should know about in terms of limiting these? Any help really appreciated. Jules
RE: LAGOA limiting velocity
Jules, I had something similar come out of some realflow sims, so I just tested for PointVelocity and if over a certain threshold, deleted the particle. S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Jules Stevenson [droolz...@googlemail.com] Sent: 06 November 2012 03:48 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: LAGOA limiting velocity Hey List, I'm running some lagoa sims at the moment (a glass full of liquid being detonated), and on the whole the sim is running well *apart* from about a third of the particles shooting off at an extremely high velocity. Is there a simple way to limit this? I've tried with air damping to no effect. It seems you can't just hard limit the vel either, since it has to come after the simulation node and therefore doesn't really seem to do anything. The sim is allready very slow motion (150fps) and at 30 subframes, which helps, but still getting a lot of these really high velocity particles. Any magic tricks I should know about in terms of limiting these? Any help really appreciated. Jules
RE: BA Fluid Shader
Hi Holger, Sorry this arrived in email, I saw it then forgot about it - (very big red cheeks here) - best you see if you can see the trailer/movie anything and then if you see something that you think might be worthwhile - let me know and I will make the plans this side! Cheers Sandy Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Schoenberger [x...@digidragon.de] Sent: 31 October 2012 12:17 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: BA Fluid Shader Hi Everyone Some of you started to post some links to fluid/volume examples in my forum thread, many thanks. I got more replies than in the whole year the shader exists. @Sandy: I can certainly dig some Zambezia frames out if you would like some? Of course. :-) Or I will check the trailer. Or you can simply tell me some shots so I can find them when I view the movie. @Peter: | Just a suggestion – how about forcing some goodwill, by offering the tools with a temp license – | and the possibility to convert into a permanent license only after reception of a feedback mail with | included image? Could be working. @Olivier: | In some case, a user (ahem, me...), urgely needs to download some of your BAshaders for some work | he has to deliver the day after (typicaly the clients needs to see a cloud or some emfluid smoke, etc.) | If I have to wait some kind of authorizations or friend invitation, it's awfull, I'm already dead. | So, couldn't there be some (symbolic) quick paying access ? I mean, I have no friends, I'm in a hurry, and I can pay ... But if you urgently want to buy it, then you know the shader already, what it is capable of. You know productions which have used them. Perhaps you are a freelancer who has worked with the shader before. You would not buy anything you don't know. If you wouldn't know anything about the shader, you would ask for a trial. And if you were a new customer, you wouldn't see anything as there are no production examples. Note: License generation is not an automated web form anyway, so I need the shader in an hour is not possible anyway. But I understand you and in in some cases you are right, perhaps I could create an automated trial license generator for a 2 day license. @Daniel: | Let me also say, Im sure if you put a Donate button up on your site, I would hope alot of people would stick | donations your way for your hard work. i for one would. If they do not even have 10 minutes for sending an email with some information, why would I think that someone would pay which is worth a lot of hours of paid work? And what about companies with many employees? The Artists/Freelancer in the company downloads it. Then he tries and uses it. And perhaps he reminds himself about informing the supervisor, producer, accounting. And most of all, I need feedback, I need examples to improve and finish the shader. Once it is completed, then I can just close the package and sell it. And a word about NDA work: There are news outside on which project your company is working. And if not, I can check half a year later. An example when I started on the volume shaders: I only got I am creating a shot with a very long stream of fire falling down. And I was able to track the shot to a spaceship falling down in Alien vs. Predator (release 2004). So I got everything: 1. Country/Company the shader is used. 2. What kind of production (feature/ commercial/ animation/ games) 3. What kind of shots are produced (fire, smoke, explosion, ...) 4. The final shot. About a commercial release: It was planed to create a new bunch of shaders for volumes and then sell them as a package. Right now there are not enough shaders for this package. But it would be possible to implement licensing. It would be a per artist license. Rendering for free. So you could order the package although it does not yet include all shaders. The price would be less than 1000 EURO. But still, this would require that I have enough examples to sell the shader. It has to be production proven. cheers, Holger Schönberger technical director The day has 24 hours, if that does not suffice, I will take the night From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Sandy Sutherland Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 12:42 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com; Morten Bartholdy Subject: RE: BA Fluid Shader I must admit I am very guilty of this - extremely
RE: Mental Ray Features, Integration Autodesk's failure
I would suggest that most Softimage folk are using other renderers such as Arnold! S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Ed Manning [etmth...@gmail.com] Sent: 07 November 2012 20:26 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Cc: cory.m...@autodesk.com; mschoenna...@gmail.com Subject: Mental Ray Features, Integration Autodesk's failure Hi all -- Not to start another flame war, but after months struggling with what should be simple things, I have to ask: Why is Mental Ray integration so haphazard in AD products in general and Softimage in particular? For example, MR now supports much-improved IBL, ptex, iRay, and per-object sampling settings, as well as a set of new BSDF-based surface shaders. NONE of these are exposed in Softimage. Third-party means of exposing some of these do work, but not very well. IBL, for example, seems not to support transparent shadows at all. In Maya, they work. Having only global settings for unified sampling is a crapshoot -- for some shaders, it's like super-speed, while others actually get noisier and slower. Ray-depth-based optimizations, which should be simple, have to be manually set, per parameter, IF you can even get your hands on a third-party shader that provides accurate counts of raydepth and type. Framebuffers only work properly with third-party shaders (they slow down renders ridiculously when used with the native x shaders) and don't properly account for reflections and refractions that are more than one ray-hit deep. The list goes on. The few features newly-exposed in Softimage, such as Unified Sampling and MetaSL, are poorly documented if at all. The only help for working with these tools, which we pay Autodesk for, comes from third parties, NVidia's forums, and Maya users. I have to spend time translating tutorials and blog posts from Maya-speak to glean the most basic information The failure on Autodesk's part seems to be universal, if worst in Softimage-land -- even though more things seem to work in Maya (or even MAX), there's little in the way of documentation or tutorials from AD. For example, because Maya's render settings are so lame and poorly-oriented for Mental Ray, there is a 3rd-party plug-in (Mental Core) simply to make it possible for users not working at fully-pipelined facilities to set up MR renders and get useful framebuffers and passes out. There is also this: http://elementalray.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/new-maya-rendering-ui-testing/ Basically, if I understand this, NVidia, not Autodesk, has written a new MR render UI for Maya, which has to be installed as a plug-in, and which bears a striking resemblance in its organization to the venerable Softimage Render Options. So AD's devs can't even port a UI that they developed from one 3D package to another? NVidia has to do it for them? Am I the only one frustrated disappointed by this? etm
RE: Mental Ray Features, Integration Autodesk's failure
We are pretty much doing the same here - we did Zam in MR and it did get there and looked good for what it needed to be - but I have a few more grey hairs because of it - Khumba has been such a pleasure to light and render in Arnold and it just looks so much better so much easier! Sorry - not meaning to add to any software wars - but it is difficult to keep in the amazement we get at seeing our renders now! S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Votch [megavo...@gmail.com] Sent: 08 November 2012 07:28 To: softimage Subject: Re: Mental Ray Features, Integration Autodesk's failure I'm rendering scenes in sitoa with 20trillion triangles (instanced), 2 diffuse bounces, 2 glossy bounces, refraction (yes I said it), thousands of textures, Motion Blur, and very complex lighting at 4K in under 6 hours per frame. Render nodes are not exotic 24HT cores and 32GB ram. No baking, no pre-processing. That's a 4k render in 6 hours. HD is around 2 hours per frame. It's comedic to say these stats out loud. I could NEVER do anything like this in MentalRay or Mantra or prMan. LBA (that's Life Before Arnold) I would not have thought this possible. V- On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 2:12 PM, Andy Moorer andymoo...@gmail.commailto:andymoo...@gmail.com wrote: The sad thing is Mental Ray is a good and powerful renderer. Mental image's fateful decision to not participate in integration/implementation and leave it to Autodesk has done them tremendous damage. Ed, your post is dead on. There's some good tech available which isn't getting into artists's hands, and in general rendering is the point of the whole exercise, so you would expect the MR integration to be something given constant attention and priority. Sent from my iPad On Nov 7, 2012, at 1:44 PM, Juhani Karlsson juhani.karls...@talvi.commailto:juhani.karls...@talvi.com wrote: Definetly and thats why I think everyone working on anything serious in softimage has moved to 3rd party renderers. (Arnold, v-ray, 3Delight) Kinda wish they would forget MR altogether and focus on more important stuff. -j On 7 November 2012 20:26, Ed Manning etmth...@gmail.commailto:etmth...@gmail.com wrote: Hi all -- Not to start another flame war, but after months struggling with what should be simple things, I have to ask: Why is Mental Ray integration so haphazard in AD products in general and Softimage in particular? For example, MR now supports much-improved IBL, ptex, iRay, and per-object sampling settings, as well as a set of new BSDF-based surface shaders. NONE of these are exposed in Softimage. Third-party means of exposing some of these do work, but not very well. IBL, for example, seems not to support transparent shadows at all. In Maya, they work. Having only global settings for unified sampling is a crapshoot -- for some shaders, it's like super-speed, while others actually get noisier and slower. Ray-depth-based optimizations, which should be simple, have to be manually set, per parameter, IF you can even get your hands on a third-party shader that provides accurate counts of raydepth and type. Framebuffers only work properly with third-party shaders (they slow down renders ridiculously when used with the native x shaders) and don't properly account for reflections and refractions that are more than one ray-hit deep. The list goes on. The few features newly-exposed in Softimage, such as Unified Sampling and MetaSL, are poorly documented if at all. The only help for working with these tools, which we pay Autodesk for, comes from third parties, NVidia's forums, and Maya users. I have to spend time translating tutorials and blog posts from Maya-speak to glean the most basic information The failure on Autodesk's part seems to be universal, if worst in Softimage-land -- even though more things seem to work in Maya (or even MAX), there's little in the way of documentation or tutorials from AD. For example, because Maya's render settings are so lame and poorly-oriented for Mental Ray, there is a 3rd-party plug-in (Mental Core) simply to make it possible for users not working at fully-pipelined facilities to set up MR renders and get useful framebuffers and passes out. There is also this: http://elementalray.wordpress.com/2012/08/10/new-maya-rendering-ui-testing/ Basically, if I understand this, NVidia, not Autodesk, has written a new MR render UI for Maya, which has to be installed as a plug-in, and which bears a
RE: Multiple Deltas
LOL - that sounds to me like one of those Naughty geoms that given you are following a nice sensible Ref model loading setup anyway, should be placed in a locked cupboard never allowed to be used by any animator - you know the kind, that suddenly starts saving as a 500BM model instead of 5MB and moans about disconnected this and that! Seriously - we have not used Ref models in a long time, as Simon can tell you we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get round them using normal models and tools to do updating/animation storing etc S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nick Angus [n...@altvfx.com] Sent: 08 November 2012 07:51 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: RE: Multiple Deltas It always starts platonic… From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] On Behalf Of Raffaele Fragapane Sent: Thursday, 8 November 2012 3:54 PM To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Multiple Deltas In a sexual way, or in a more platonic fashion? On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 4:47 PM, Enrique Caballero enriquecaball...@gmail.commailto:enriquecaball...@gmail.com wrote: i love this list
RE: Multiple Deltas
Certainly - we also found animation layers + ref models to be a big no-no - but we are also still on 2011.5 - not sure if there was anything done in that regard in 2012 or 2013+ S. Sandy Sutherlandmailto:sandy.sutherl...@triggerfish.co.za | Technical Supervisor [http://triggerfish.co.za/en/wp-content/uploads/udf_foundry/images/logo.png] http://triggerfish.co.za/en [http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v2/ym/x/lFV-lsMcC_0.png] http://www.facebook.com/triggerfishanimation [https://si0.twimg.com/a/1349296073/images/resources/twitter-bird-white-on-blue.png] http://www.twitter.com/triggerfishza From: softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com [softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] on behalf of Nicolas Langlois-Demers [n...@oneanimation.com] Sent: 08 November 2012 08:09 To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com Subject: Re: Multiple Deltas @ Xavier: Oui, they all have the same target. Some have the same animated parameters in 2 different deltas with different value. @ Everyone: Thanks a lot for these leads. Some animators are using the layers, I'll investigate. I'll also re-check our import scripts and events to make sure they're clean. Please tell us if you have other ideas of what could be causing it.. On 8 November 2012 13:53, Raffaele Fragapane raffsxsil...@googlemail.commailto:raffsxsil...@googlemail.com wrote: In a sexual way, or in a more platonic fashion? On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 4:47 PM, Enrique Caballero enriquecaball...@gmail.commailto:enriquecaball...@gmail.com wrote: i love this list
