Bug in 2.0b with Softbodies

#1

Hi there,
I got my Studio 2.0b copy.
I used Animate 3.3 before.

Is there a bug with the Softbodies?
It sound weird but I think there is somewthing wrong:

If you load from messiah_content :
EffectTypes_SoftBody_Advanced_Collision_1.fxs or
EffectTypes_SoftBody_Advanced_Collision_2.fxs
EffectTypes_SoftBody_Beginner_Method_2.fxs
Softbody_DrapeSlide.fxs

and play this scene it’s behavior is completly weird.

I also get this comments in the command list when I start one of these scenes.
‘C:\rad_test’ does not exist on this system. Your Color output path will be set to 'C:\DOKUME~1\THOMAS~1\LOKALE~1\Te

Could someone check it out?

Thanx a lot
Greets TOM

#2

No doubt. Those are some very old scenes and there were some changes to SBD that makes it easier to control. I do know that all old scenes were tested and eveything checked out, but it’s possible that some slipped through the cracks.

How’s SBD performing in your scenes?

That’s not a bug. The scene file has a color path of “C:\rad_test” which doesn’t exist on your system. That message is just informing you that the path is changed.

-lyle

#3

Hi Lyle,

Thanks for checking out.
Softbodies works in my system, I was just wondering, because the old ones
had some weird behavior, and I am a softbody freak!! Especially your realtime stuff.

Something other I discovered is with rendering.

I have a dual Dell Xeon 2.66 Ghz with Hyperthreading enabled.
Messiah just render 50% of performance.
If I disable Hyperthreading, there is 100% use f performance.

Otherwise, Messiah is just great!!!

Greets Tom

#4

Hmmm… when you say “performance” are you refering to system resources in Task Manager? If so, then that makes sense. Just up the number of threads in the Render->Output area. If not, can you clarify?

Thank you for the feedback, Tom :})

-lyle

#5

Hi,

The Taskmanager shows following:

With Hyperthreading Enabled:

Messiah Thread Taskmanager CPU Usage
1 25%
2 50%
3 50%
4 50%

With Hyperthreading Disabled:

Messiah Thread Taskmanager CPU Usage
1 50%
2 100%

It seems, that Messiah ignore Hyperthreading on a Dual System.

Dell Precision 650
Dual Xeon 2,66 Ghz
1 Gig RAM

Thanx and Greets
Tom

#6

Isn’t messiah threading caped at two threads internally? I have no idea why but I think I remember something like that from a discussion some time ago. It would make your results at least understandable.
This is even more bad since AMD quad systems are no longer completely out of reach… 8 threads would be a more reasonable limit IMO.

Lyle, can you clarify?

#7

Just some more few questions about M:S 2.0b

-Is there a messiahMAYA60.mll ?
-To toggle with key 0 through the motion panel is not possible.
1 to 9 is working fine, but I can’t map the 0 for toggle move,rotate,scale

-About UV support, would be nice if messiah would be able to have
width tile /height tile reset,repeat,mirror (like in the lightwave surface panel)

Feature Request:
-For the selection of the softbody affected surface, it would be useful having
a menu showing all surfaces in the scene for select the needed name.

Just some questions and inputs…messiah

Greets Tom

#8

Hmm… I may have missed that discussion. I don’t recall threads being limited to 2, but I’ll check it out. brb…

EDIT: I’m back;}) I’ve checked it out and the maximum allowable threads is 8. Have you had any problems going above 2?

-lyle

#9

Have you actually changed the number of threads in Render->Output->Management->Threads?

-lyle

#10

I don’t think so. I thought that it was possible to use the messiahMAYA50 connection with 6. That’s outside my area, though. Ron’s on vacation right now, but I’ll check with him as soon as he gets back.

It’s working here. Go to Customize->KeyCommand Manager and hit “0” on your keyboard. Is it assigned to “Cycle Channel Groups”? If so then it should be working. If not, then it may have been reassigned somehow; just assign it, yourself;})

For UVs? I think I’m missing something here. Can you clarify?

Planned… although it’s not as simple as you might think: like all messiah effects, SBD may be attatched to multiple targets. In any case, we’ll have a good solution.

-lyle

#11

Hi Lyle,

Thanx for checking and answering.

I don’t think so. I thought that it was possible to use the messiahMAYA50 connection with 6. That’s outside my area, though. Ron’s on vacation right now, but I’ll check with him as soon as he gets back.

Maya 6 says, that messiahMAYA50.mll has been compiled by an older Version of Maya.

It’s working here. Go to Customize->KeyCommand Manager and hit “0” on your keyboard. Is it assigned to “Cycle Channel Groups”? If so then it should be working. If not, then it may have been reassigned somehow; just assign it, yourself;})

It’s weird, I checked it and it was assigned with “Cycle Channel Groups” . I also reassigned it
again and there is still no toggle. I also checked if the key is working.
I also checked it on an other PC, the same. With Messiah Animate 3.3, it works.
hmmm???

Planned… although it’s not as simple as you might think: like all messiah effects, SBD may be attatched to multiple targets. In any case, we’ll have a good solution.

I don’t even thought it’s easy :slight_smile: Cool to have these features in a next reslease.

For UVs? I think I’m missing something here. Can you clarify?

Hmmmm, maybe I abused those UV’s. I will check again…

Quote:
Originally Posted by tomtm
[i]Hi,

The Taskmanager shows following:

With Hyperthreading Enabled:

Messiah Thread Taskmanager CPU Usage
1 25%
2 50%
3 50%
4 50%

With Hyperthreading Disabled:

Messiah Thread Taskmanager CPU Usage
1 50%
2 100%

It seems, that Messiah ignore Hyperthreading on a Dual System.

Dell Precision 650
Dual Xeon 2,66 Ghz
1 Gig RAM

Thanx and Greets
Tom[/i]

Have you actually changed the number of threads in Render->Output->Management->Threads?

Yes I did, I can increase the numbers of Threads and the Taskmanager Perfromance
always just show 50%…

Messiah Thread Taskmanager CPU Usage with Hyperthreading enabled:
1 Thread 25%
2 Thread 50%
3 Thread 50%
4 Thread 50%

Thanx Lyle,
Greets Tom

#12

Set your threads to 8, start a render: two green lines = two threads. Or are there “hidden threads”? I have never seen more than two green lines for years.

This discussion happened quite some time ago, “Advance” to release 1.5 times I think, there was something said to the effect that you “shouldn’t use more threads than processors” anyway and there weren’t hyperthreading or quad procs available at that time so someone decided to cap it at two to prevent the user from selecting something bad.
I’ll be happy if you prove me wrong.

On the other hand: “Hyperthreading” are virtual processors. I get something between 10% and 20% performance improvement with it activated. But the Taskmanager isn’t in any way accurate with it. One single thread will not be half as fast as two threads (as with real dual procs) but more towards 80%. Basically it is just an improved multithreading, you don’t loose 50% even if taskmon is showing it.
I can give you a link to a tool that meassures real processor work percentage if you are interested and you will be shocked to learn that it will hardly ever raise above 55% (in any software), more often it will only be 35% - all the rest of the time the CPU waits for data (taskmon counts that time as “work” too) … horrible… :slight_smile:

#13

On the softbodies theme, I noticed that the taron tia scene does not perform as well in messiah 2.0 as messiah 1.5. In 1.5, the softbody dynamics look very nice; in 2.0 it looks like the character is standing in a breeze - i.e. her hair has a lot of movement that looks as if it should not be there.

Best regards

Alex

#14

Hi,

I found out, the Softbodies applied in the Tia scene are different.
I mean, If you set all parameters like Flex,Struct,Shear to 10 instead of 1000
the scene looks like in MS 1.5.
So I think, they have a little different behavior because the new softbodies have
more parameters.

But the Softbodies in Messiah are far the best and most funny to use.

Greets Tom

#15

And you have your #files set > 2 ?

-lyle

#16

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#17

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