Surpass replacement anyone?

#1

Is there a Surpass render management replacement app?

Is the older version compatiable with Lightwave 9.2

Do any of the LW Houses use some type of render management software to prep scenes for compositing or is it all in-house custom scripts?

#2

I would love to know more about this too. I’m busy separating out a lot of shots into different layers for our current production and its TEDIOUS!! :banghead:
Would love a tool that could do it for me.

#3

No, no, and anything that does exist for this is most likely in-house I’m afraid. Though it’s need is definitely agreed upon.

#4

Lightwave’s Spreadsheet and Scene Editor is clumbersome and inadequate and admittingly overbearing, not to mention its not tied to the render globals/panel.

We need a simplier and more streamline tool with the exact emphaisis on compositing and render management. Ability to create presets that has access to all the attributes of a object and can be save to a external text file.

#5

Hey Jeremy,
Not too of topic I hope, but I remember on the newtek forum you once mentioned you were thinking of developing a LW pipeline, and was asking if people would be interested. Did you ever get any further on that?

Mike

#6

yes, please!

mlon

#7

Hi Julez,

I think experimental tools like Denis Pontonnier’s NPF are steps in the right direction. A Pixel Filter like that could send these data to an Image Filter to store and save each property as a buffer. Render presets could be created below this scheme easily. I know an unreleased tool that makes this with an attribute unavailable by the SDK; so I’m aware that’s possible.

Gerardo

#8

OOh, ill take two of whatever is in development. This is probably my main frustration with the LW pipeline right now.

A

#9

www.infinimap.com

#10

Yes, ExrTrader is great. But a PF solution together with that, would be even better.

Gerardo

#11

I think a node base render managment system might be kool but really something simple that allows for fast switch on and out and batching, saves presets galore, maybe a debug (for network rendering); file management for easy folder creation, move, copy, rename; and layer system for matte and beauty objects.

A simple version of XSI 's robust compositior.

#12

I’m curious of others who own Surpassess: have you tried it with 9.2 yet?

I only ask this because I have and it does work with at least one caveat that I’m aware of: I haven’t figured out how to use a redirected shortcut to work with it. “Huh”, I hear…
By this I mean that it won’t work with the -c and/or the -p triggers. If you have none of those in there then it will work. Or so it has for me.

Maybe I’ve missed something.

#13

Working on it :wink:

Erm… and no pixel filters needed either.

Cheers,
Mike

#14

Did you really work on it LightWolf?

If you need help to Beta Test I’m your man…

#15

I didn’t, but I will soon. The concept is ready, most of the issues sussed out… Coding and testing will still take a bit of time, but I’m very eager to get it done.

Cheers,
mike

#16

Talk with Newtek… Maybe they plan to work on someting similar… So many people (include me…) have request that over the years…

Good luck anyway!!!

#17

Yes, that would be really great. Currently pass setting in LW can be extremely hard and slow and tedious and (most of all) boring task…
I’m keeping an eye on that pixel node thing it seems quite useful, I just didn’t get much time to play with it.
I’d really like to see something (like softimage one, maybe…) comes out for LW. It would be well worthy of money spent in most lw production houses…

Cheers!

#18

It sounds interesting. I find these type of tools useful (Image or Pixel Filters Node Editors) since is possible to compose within them as well, or isolate an unavailable pass for example, or other procedures that could improve the workflow :slight_smile:

Gerardo

#19

Do you think they’ll answer? :wink:

Cheers,
Mike

#20

The problem with image/pixel filters for compositing is that you need to do a full render to see your changes (unless you add a previewing mechanism, which would almost be a small compositing package).
Currently I’m more concerned with getting anything you’d want out of LW.

Cheers,
Mike