The framecycler seemed to be the logical choice, but when I tried it, houdini would crash on me.
When I read the help, it seemed that it wasn't intended to be used the way I was using it.
I'll have to try it again and see if I can make that work.
Found 12 posts.
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Technical Discussion » Rendering a set of frames (not a range)
- frame13
- 12 posts
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Technical Discussion » Rendering a set of frames (not a range)
- frame13
- 12 posts
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What's the best way to render a general set of frames?
I had to do some pick up renders where some random frames were bad.
I ended up doing it a frame at a time, but I know there is a better way.
What I need to figure out is how to make it only render frames that are not already in the folder.
I know this is all possible, but I haven't found anything saying exactly how to do something like that.
Thanks
kj
I had to do some pick up renders where some random frames were bad.
I ended up doing it a frame at a time, but I know there is a better way.
What I need to figure out is how to make it only render frames that are not already in the folder.
I know this is all possible, but I haven't found anything saying exactly how to do something like that.
Thanks
kj
Technical Discussion » Light Linking in H9 - Bug?
- frame13
- 12 posts
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-Correction - It seems that primarily the volumes are what ignore the light linking.
I guess I need to see if I can light link the volume shader?
I guess I need to see if I can light link the volume shader?
Technical Discussion » Light Linking in H9 - Bug?
- frame13
- 12 posts
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Does light linking just not work any more? I am having very unreliable results.
I thought that if I put the name of a light in the light mask that would be the only light to illuminate the object. This does not seem to be the case.
I even tried excluding specific lights with ^ and it does not seem to pay attention to that on a reliable basis, either. Besides, that method will require some very long light mask lists.
I got excited when I saw the new Bundle option, but that does not seem to help at all.
I hope I'm just missing something.
Thanks
kj
I thought that if I put the name of a light in the light mask that would be the only light to illuminate the object. This does not seem to be the case.
I even tried excluding specific lights with ^ and it does not seem to pay attention to that on a reliable basis, either. Besides, that method will require some very long light mask lists.
I got excited when I saw the new Bundle option, but that does not seem to help at all.
I hope I'm just missing something.
Thanks
kj
Houdini Lounge » Safe Area for HD
- frame13
- 12 posts
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Is there a way to make safe area adjust for outputs other than NTSC?
I have a camera set to HD 720 and if I turn on safe area, they show a box in NTSC which is almost worthless. The top and bottom are close to what they should be, but the left and right safe area is right in the middle and not where it should be.
I'm sure there is a way to change that, but I haven't found it yet.
Thanks
kj
I have a camera set to HD 720 and if I turn on safe area, they show a box in NTSC which is almost worthless. The top and bottom are close to what they should be, but the left and right safe area is right in the middle and not where it should be.
I'm sure there is a way to change that, but I haven't found it yet.
Thanks
kj
Technical Discussion » Caching Volumes
- frame13
- 12 posts
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Yeah, I'm not sure what I need is something that can be done.
The volume is only generated at render time by the shader. I've already saved the bgeo of the metasurface that is used for the volume and I'm using cached shadow maps, so I may be as optimized as I can get.
It's down to 7 minutes a frame at 720P with about a dozen different volumes in the frame, so that's probably about as good as it's going to get.
The volume is only generated at render time by the shader. I've already saved the bgeo of the metasurface that is used for the volume and I'm using cached shadow maps, so I may be as optimized as I can get.
It's down to 7 minutes a frame at 720P with about a dozen different volumes in the frame, so that's probably about as good as it's going to get.
Technical Discussion » Caching Volumes
- frame13
- 12 posts
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I have a number of volume clouds that are not moving.
Is there a way to cache the volume information, so Houdini doesn't have to run all the intensive calculations on each frame?
The volumes are generated from metaballs with the volume shader based on the heavy smoke example. These use rendered bgeo files for the metaballs and the only thing moving is the camera.
I can cache the shadow maps and that seems to work OK, but it just seems there should be a way to cache the volume info, too.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
kj
Is there a way to cache the volume information, so Houdini doesn't have to run all the intensive calculations on each frame?
The volumes are generated from metaballs with the volume shader based on the heavy smoke example. These use rendered bgeo files for the metaballs and the only thing moving is the camera.
I can cache the shadow maps and that seems to work OK, but it just seems there should be a way to cache the volume info, too.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
kj
Technical Discussion » H9 Deep Shadows on vex shaded sprites
- frame13
- 12 posts
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Just a note on what I've found so far with this.
Andrew, thanks for the insight there. It's nice to have a rough formula for figuring these things out.
Keeping that in mind, I'd suggest keeping the sprite size as small as possible and increasing the number particles so you can keep the shadow bias lower. Too much shadow bias and your shadows become really inaccurate.
Balancing the bias with softness as Jason mentioned then gets pretty nice results.
The last trick is to duplicate your lights and offset them a bit. Lower the intensity of both so they don't over-light the scene and you'll get automatic blurring of the shadows as the renderer multiplies the offset shadow values together.
This gives you a little more room to lower the shadow bias and softness and still get good results quickly.
I can't express how happy this makes me. I may actually finish my thesis now!!
Andrew, thanks for the insight there. It's nice to have a rough formula for figuring these things out.
Keeping that in mind, I'd suggest keeping the sprite size as small as possible and increasing the number particles so you can keep the shadow bias lower. Too much shadow bias and your shadows become really inaccurate.
Balancing the bias with softness as Jason mentioned then gets pretty nice results.
The last trick is to duplicate your lights and offset them a bit. Lower the intensity of both so they don't over-light the scene and you'll get automatic blurring of the shadows as the renderer multiplies the offset shadow values together.
This gives you a little more room to lower the shadow bias and softness and still get good results quickly.
I can't express how happy this makes me. I may actually finish my thesis now!!
Technical Discussion » Sprites and Shadow Maps
- frame13
- 12 posts
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Thanks, can't believe I missed that post! ops:
I'll move over to that thread to continue this.
I'll move over to that thread to continue this.
Technical Discussion » Sprites and Shadow Maps
- frame13
- 12 posts
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I'm sure I'm just missing something obvious, but whenever I try to render sprites with shadow maps turned on, I get a hard line on the sprites.
The line is perpendicular to the angle of the light and sort of goes away if I crank the shadow softness up. But sometimes I have to go all the way to 100 to get a more satisfactory look.
This kills the straight lines, but starts jacking up the render times significantly.
Do I need to render sprites with ray tracing on? Either way, I'm getting unreasonably long render times considering I'm rendering sprites.
Any help appreciated
Thanks
The line is perpendicular to the angle of the light and sort of goes away if I crank the shadow softness up. But sometimes I have to go all the way to 100 to get a more satisfactory look.
This kills the straight lines, but starts jacking up the render times significantly.
Do I need to render sprites with ray tracing on? Either way, I'm getting unreasonably long render times considering I'm rendering sprites.
Any help appreciated
Thanks
Technical Discussion » Human readable render time in Alfred progress
- frame13
- 12 posts
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Ahhh, so apparently, any pre-calculations (shadows, etc.) won't be shown in that final number, so I'd have to add all the “u” numbers together, then convert to minutes:seconds. Still better than nothing.
Now if I could just figure out how to email a beer 8)
Thanks
Now if I could just figure out how to email a beer 8)
Thanks
Technical Discussion » Human readable render time in Alfred progress
- frame13
- 12 posts
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When I have Alfred Progress turned on and verbose output, Houdini Console prints this when the render completes:
Render Time: 73.812u 2.343s
I have not been able to find anything about making those numbers standard minutes:seconds format. I thought the second one was seconds, but when I timed the above render with a stopwatch, I got 1 minute 20 seconds.
So if anyone knows what those numbers mean or how to get Houdini to output that, I will buy you a beer. Or a soda or something if you don't drink :wink:
Thanks
kj
Render Time: 73.812u 2.343s
I have not been able to find anything about making those numbers standard minutes:seconds format. I thought the second one was seconds, but when I timed the above render with a stopwatch, I got 1 minute 20 seconds.
So if anyone knows what those numbers mean or how to get Houdini to output that, I will buy you a beer. Or a soda or something if you don't drink :wink:
Thanks
kj
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