Importons and Irradiance Particles

[GALACTUS]

Thanks Max

[GALACTUS]

For some reason, when I uncheck rebuild it goes right ahead and recalculates and over writes the previous saved pre pass.

Is anybody else using Max2009 Design and experiencing the same problem?

I am also not saving locally, but to a file server and the path is fine as it is able to save in the pre calc in the first place.

[pBarrelas]

an outdoor attempt to test env with mr sky.

max

Ctrl.studio,
This test is looking really good. What were the settings for the Importons? I’m asking you this because I’m getting some weird white points and I know it has to do with the Importons settings. Your image is really clean!!

[mthemelis]

hi,

has anyone compiled ghost settings for mac osx?

thanks in advance,
enjoy your summer holidays!
mike

[GALACTUS]

For some reason, when I uncheck rebuild it goes right ahead and recalculates and over writes the previous saved pre pass.

Is anybody else using Max2009 Design and experiencing the same problem?

I am also not saving locally, but to a file server and the path is fine as it is able to save in the pre calc in the first place.

Is this post still live?

Just wondering if anyone had an answer for the above.

I know this is the Maya section, but cannot see anyone else discussing this over in the Max segment.

[KamiNoNamida]

Another feature that comes with mr3.6+ is an advanced framebuffer memory management. Indeed, the cached mode. When in cache mode you can render any image size (even on 32bit). In fact, if enabled, only a small fraction of the resulting image (or user framebuffers) is present in memory: newly rendered tiles and tiles recently accessed.

This mode should be used only for batch rendering (it will crash maya if used for the render view… also it does not make too much sense rendering big size images in a viewer). I just rendered a 20k image, in floating point, on a 32bit system. Slower than the others methods, it should be used only if mr is not able to create a framebuffer of a huge size (generally more than 4k images on 32bit).

RC 0.2 info : option: fb mem management cached
RC 0.2 info : option: image	type	 interpolate
RC 0.2 info :			 0	rgba_fp yes
RC 0.2 info : camera: focal length	 1.37795
RC 0.2 info : camera: aperture		 1.41732
RC 0.2 info : camera: aspect			0.8
RC 0.2 info : camera: resolution		16000 20000

Hey people, I finally took some time to look a bit deeper into max’s post, and this part is kind of intriguing.

The thing is I could really use this fb mode right now, since some of my scenes are very likely to crash when I’ll render them. But I can’t seem to find a way to set this fb mode inside maya, or even outside like in the batch command.
I looked over maya’s doc, but nothing that helps in there…

But since this mode is setable in command line, I’m guessing it exists in the mayaMR too, so there must be an attribute that controles it somewhere. Am I completely wrong here ?

If anyone could clear this up a bit, that’d be really great.

Thanks

[ctrl.studio]

But I can’t seem to find a way to set this fb mode inside maya, or even outside like in the batch command.
you might just use the geoshader I posted which will take care of that ?

max

[KamiNoNamida]

Woops, didn’t think it was required for this…
I guess I was confused by this sentence:

Another feature that comes with mr3.6+ is an advanced framebuffer memory management.

So i thought it was a proper feature of mayaMR, usable by itself…

Thanks !

[living3d]

yust a cuestion, how can i conect a bump map to a mia_material_x if i disable “export state shader”?? if i do that i lost mi bump3d node

I haven’t found the answer on this question too…Any ideas?

[greyface]

XSI 7 IP Tests

Core 2 duo 2.8ghz

5min30 with interpolation (including importon shooting)

Subsequent frames all took about 1min using the previously generated importon map:

~2min total; IP generation:1min10s; raytracing: 47s

A

[withego]

Max & Dagon, when you back from holiday, give some feedback please…!

I hope that this new series of tests, will finally demonstrate that Ctrl_Ghost Settings, IP

& Importons, does work as expected, and follows the previous tests I posted at this thread:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=87&t=659021

It seems that this new features are now fully implemented in the new MR 3.7 version and

hopefully you will use them with a simple mouse click.

To bring Maya & MR to the limit, I have added 3 area lights for the wall lamps with very

high samples, and they all emits photons…!

12. 
    This image was rendered with Ctrl_Ghost Settings, IP & Importons enabled, and here comes

the very smart solution pointed out by Dagon, based on the old FG map freezing technique.

First you have to launch a render through the batch render, which I prefer, or through the

main render window, with the Importons settings as follows:

Density 1, Emitted 100000, Merge 0.1, Size 64, depht 4.

IP settings: rays 64, passes 4, interpolation never, interpolation points 64,scale

1,enviroment enabled, enviroment rays 64, enviroment scale 1, rebuild enabled and provide an

absolute path on your hard disk, that points to a file with an .ip extension.
Name the file as you like.

After the Importon & IP calculation phase, MR will save the .ip file on your hard disk, and

will start the main rendering phase.
Now you have to interrupt the rendering, and go back to the Ctrl_Ghost Settings window and

replace the Importons settings as follow:

Density 1, Emitted 100000, Merge 0.1, Size 256, depht 4.

IP settings: rays 256, passes 4, interpolation always, interpolation points 256,scale

1,enviroment enabled, enviroment rays 256, enviroment scale 1, rebuild disabled, and provide

the absolute path on your hard disk, that points to the .ip extension file previously

created.

Now you start a new render through the batch render, which I prefer, or through the main

render window, wait a few hours (5/6 hrs. in this case) and VOILA’.

13. 
    Same technique as above, just replaced the Importons settings, as follows:

Density 0.2, Emitted 0, Merge 0.1, Size 64, depht 4 in the Importons & IP prepass.

Density 0.2, Emitted 0, Merge 0.1, Size 256, depht 4. in the final Importons & IP

interpolated pass.

As you can see light distribution is much better with this 0.2 Density technique.

I used the value 0,2 for density, because the huge size of this maya scene (193 MB.),
and the presence of many area lights with very high samples.
With this scene, I could not manage to increase the Density value to more than 0.2 in the

Importons settings, without Maya crashing down…!
With a less heavy Maya scene, you can safely increase the Density value to 1.

14. 
    Same technique as above just increased the Indirect contribution of the Christmas Tree

light bulbs and as you can notice the bright IP spots appears again.
With the old FG/GI technique, to get rid of the light blotches you had to increase the FG

Density, Interpolation Points and FG filter.
I just would like to know how to get rid of the bright IP spots, when you push the Indirect

contribution of the Mia x Material with the IP IMPORTONS technique.

Apart from this, everythings works just great…!

15.

16.

17. 
    Using Ctrl_Ghost Settings, IP & Importons, I have also managed to output an Ambient

Occlusion, Zdepht and Shadow pass with the help of Ctrl_Buffers and Puppet’s Maya & MR

materials.

Enjoy with this new features…!

Ciao…!

Alex Sandri
http://www.samui3d.com

[ctrl.studio]

ehy Alex

max

[JustLearning]

ok. i originally posted on how i couldnt even figure out how to get this set up…

Through endless searching in Maya, i have found my way… sort of. I have finally set up my scene a bit and finally, after a ton of renders of nothing but BLACK have an actual image showing up, granted it looks terrible, finally something!

Please take a look at my scene and test render. obviously getting excessive splotching. There should be a sphere showing up. I dont understand why the sphere isnt showing up. I gave the sphere and the cube(representing a room) a mia_material with the ctrl_ghost_settings shader as the geometry shader for both(each piece of gemoetry had a different instance of the ctrl_ghost shader.

Area light with mia_portal_light as the MR light shader( no photon emitter shader used)
emitting photons.

So many settings in the ctrl_ghost_settings…would someone mind taking a look and seeing if i have some conflicts? importons, global illumination, and final gather are enabled in the sphere node. Do they also need to be enabled in the render globals? is it best to set the sphere node globals to RelyOnGlobals.

Any help at all is greatly appreciated. after i have this well understood i will be recording a tutorial video to help other non-experts get moving

[withego]

ok. i originally posted on how i couldnt even figure out how to get this set up…

Through endless searching in Maya, i have found my way… sort of. I have finally set up my scene a bit and finally, after a ton of renders of nothing but BLACK have an actual image showing up, granted it looks terrible, finally something!

Please take a look at my scene and test render. obviously getting excessive splotching. There should be a sphere showing up. I dont understand why the sphere isnt showing up. I gave the sphere and the cube(representing a room) a mia_material with the ctrl_ghost_settings shader as the geometry shader for both(each piece of gemoetry had a different instance of the ctrl_ghost shader.

Area light with mia_portal_light as the MR light shader( no photon emitter shader used)
emitting photons.

So many settings in the ctrl_ghost_settings…would someone mind taking a look and seeing if i have some conflicts? importons, global illumination, and final gather are enabled in the sphere node. Do they also need to be enabled in the render globals? is it best to set the sphere node globals to RelyOnGlobals.

Any help at all is greatly appreciated. after i have this well understood i will be recording a tutorial video to help other non-experts get moving

Dear Just Learning, if you just read my previous post:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=87&t=659021

and the informations posted above, I think you should get going.

By the way, I’m posting a new test with increased Indirect contribution of the Christmas Tree light bulbs.

In this one I just tried to render out the image from the uninterpolated settings, without to interrupt the rendering with Dagon’s technique.

It took almost 20 hrs. and the results quite disappointing .

So I guess the Dagon’s technique is the only way to go at the moment.

Let’s see how the guys @ Autodesk have implemented this features with Maya 2009 & MR 3.7…!

Ciao…!

Alex Sandri
http://www.samui3d.com

[JustLearning]

withego, thank you for the informative reply. just quick question. When you’re stating in that thread about the setup of your scenes when using the GeoShader…

“0. You can use any maya shader.
1.‘Suppress all Maya Shaders’ shouldn’t be checked.
2.'Export with Shading Engine’instead should be checked.
3. The same goes for lights. ‘Suppress all Maya Shaders’ shouldn’t be checked, and a custom light shader should be supplied (mr sky portals work good).
4.Finally, in the Rendering Settings, go to Translation->Customization and check the ‘Export State Shader’.”

this contradicts what is stated in the original post of this thread. it says

“You should avoid any maya shader:
‘Suppress all Maya Shaders’ should be checked.
‘Export with Shading Engine’ shouldn’t be checked, in the shading engine node (tests were made with mia_material).
The same goes for lights. ‘Suppress all Maya Shaders’ need to be checked, and a custom light shader should be supplied (mr sky portals work good).
Finally, in the Rendering Settings, goto Translation->Customization and de-check the ‘Export State Shader’”

Comparing your post and Ctrl.Studio’s, they literally are completely different. Whichof these workflows is the correct path to take?

[withego]

withego, thank you for the informative reply. just quick question. When you’re stating in that thread about the setup of your scenes when using the GeoShader…

“0. You can use any maya shader.
1.‘Suppress all Maya Shaders’ shouldn’t be checked.
2.'Export with Shading Engine’instead should be checked.
3. The same goes for lights. ‘Suppress all Maya Shaders’ shouldn’t be checked, and a custom light shader should be supplied (mr sky portals work good).
4.Finally, in the Rendering Settings, go to Translation->Customization and check the ‘Export State Shader’.”

this contradicts what is stated in the original post of this thread. it says

“You should avoid any maya shader:
‘Suppress all Maya Shaders’ should be checked.
‘Export with Shading Engine’ shouldn’t be checked, in the shading engine node (tests were made with mia_material).
The same goes for lights. ‘Suppress all Maya Shaders’ need to be checked, and a custom light shader should be supplied (mr sky portals work good).
Finally, in the Rendering Settings, goto Translation->Customization and de-check the ‘Export State Shader’”

Comparing your post and Ctrl.Studio’s, they literally are completely different. Whichof these workflows is the correct path to take?

Mine I guess, since that also Max of Ctrl_Studio (the creator of this settings) gave me his
thumb up!
Just kidding…!
With my settings you don’t loose the bump of the mia material X, for example.
But since that I tested this features with very heavy maya scenes, with high samples
settings for portal light and the various area lights,
plus tested with Fur, Displacement and Ctrl_ Buffers as well, I can say that with my settings everythings works out just fine,
as long as you set up the IP & IMPORTONS in the proper way.
Keep an eye on the Photons emitted from the lights, don’t increase too much the number of
photons emitted, if you use scenes of 200 mb like mines.
With lighter scenes you can emit up to 1.000.000 photons or even more, I guess.
You need to apply the Ctrl_Ghost settings just ones to the MR geometry shader slot of a dummy poly cube or sphere.

Cheers.

Alex Sandri
http://www.samui3d.com

[living3d]

With my settings you don’t loose the bump of the mia material X, for example.

This is what I was looking for.
Thank you, Alex. So what was a purpose for enabling “supress all maya shaders” and other things when all works just as default?
…and of course many thanks to max and ctrl studio for great shader and dagon for amazing testing. :bowdown:

[JustLearning]

so with the geo shader your using a piece of geometry as the emitter? like in a scene of a room, inserting a dummy sphere or cube and appyling the geo shader(and setting up importons and IP) is using the cube or sphere as the emitter that is shooting out importons and irradiance particles?

[withego]

so with the geo shader your using a piece of geometry as the emitter? like in a scene of a room, inserting a dummy sphere or cube and appyling the geo shader(and setting up importons and IP) is using the cube or sphere as the emitter that is shooting out importons and irradiance particles?

Please read the first page of this thread:

’ A short description of the technique may be given as follows: before rendering,
importons are shot to the scene from the camera. Their hit positions with
information on the amount of direct (and possibly indirect) illumination coming at
their position (hence the name “irradiance particles”) are combined into a map.
Optionally, one or more passes of indirect illumination can be computed. The
nature of the algorithm is that the computation is importance-driven. During
rendering, Irradiance Particles are used to estimate the irradiance for every
shading point; if only direct illumination is collected for irradiance particles, then
this is equivalent to one bounce of indirect lighting. Irradiance can also be
interpolated from precomputed values at particles’ positions. ’

Ciao…!
Alex Sandri

[JustLearning]

like some people have mentioned. I believe these have potential. I finally started getting some reasonable results with Importons and IP set up.

I have tried the cancelling renders to build the IP map and than bumpign up the rays but was getting the same black spot artifacts others have gotten.

Here’s my first half decent render. The shadows have gotten a bit strange at the base of the geometry and the lighting at the base of the sphere in the back is weird. Not sure exactly how to clean up either of them. attached is also a snapshot of my ctrl.settings image