Shimakaze's Tools (SP2 update)

[sid]

ah ! that's a handy solution. thanks !

[m_hinks]

Hi,

We have been playing with your bat file to convert 100's of vrimg to exr and got it working, really nice. But we wonder if there is a better/different solution to the problem.

We have been trying, without any joy, to write a max script to be used as a post render script that will take the just saved vrimg file from netrendering and convert it to a multilayer 16bit float exr with zip compress for better performance in Nuke/AE in the same folder, then possibly deleting the vrimg to save space. Our test frames are over 150meg a frame at HD with elements.

Does anyone think this is useful, and can it be done!!?

Mark

[Shimakaze]

In my view, any solution that needs Max to be open is less then optimal. The best would be a complete UI based on Chaos's code that would let you automate everything directly with the click of a button. I already have the basic concept and design for such an interface, but lack the resources and competence to actually build the program. Perhaps it could be possible to open source the program itself without sacrificing the proprietary nature of Vray? If so it could certainly be a good compromise between users needs and the amount of time they have to spend on such a project. Would anyone be interested in collaborating on such a program, and would Chaos allow it?

[m_hinks]

Hi,

Our thoughts were that max will be running through backburner anyway with netrendering, it might as well take a couple of seconds after the frame is finished to do the conversion through post script.

Also the space issue is a big one. I'm not sure waiting till 1000 150meg+ frames are finished to convert all at the same time, I imagine taking some time, and also generating 1000 exr frames, maybe 15/20 meg again. Only then could you delete the vrimg's.

I wonder what others here do for this solution, I think I remember at least a couple of animation studios do render to vrimg's and use nuke.

I think you solution and ours are both valid under different studio setups. If space is not an issue, fill your boots!

[Shimakaze]

It should be possible. If not as a script then through a plugin. The main problem I have with it is that it adds another link to the chain of things that can go wrong. In such a setup, if something did go wrong you wouldn't have the originals anymore and would have to re-render the whole sequence. This is the same reason why I haven't included an option in the batch script to delete the files after converting. Because if something does go wrong, or if you set the wrong export parameters, you have no way to undo it. It's always preferable to check the final EXR files before deleting the "negatives". I'm sympathetic to the space issue though. 150Gb isn't really that much space anymore, but it can easily become 10 times as much. I would render out the sequence in sections and inspect each one for errors before moving on to the next one, but that's just me. If the render is simple enough (or you have a crazy render farm) doing the render overnight would definitely be an advantage, but at that point you can probably afford the extra storage space. I'll be interested to see where this is going regardless

[m_hinks]

Yes I was concerned about that also, so you could simply have a switch in the script to allow the user to choose, delete, or not.

We have nearly finished the script! We are trying to get the script to find out the name of the last frame rendered, and save location, and input that in to your batch file to convert. It will work, we just cant get the render file name working yet!

[Shimakaze]

Hmmm What if you input the filename in the script yourself rather then having the script find it automatically? Would be a good temporary solution if nothing else. The frame number should be easier to get.

[Morne]

I've loaded the scripts onto a new pc at work with photoshop cs3. For some reason photoshop can't layer the files on top of each other. If I manually open the exr element files, they open, but I can't layer them onto each other in ANY WAY.

EDIT: Nevermind. Apparently it is because I have CS3 Standard and NOT Extended

[Filib]

WOW Thank your for your stuff. Is there anything new outside? Any small programm or plugin with some GUI? i would spend money for this time improvement.

TY