Cebas PSD-Manager

[dans]

If I am not mistaken, masks from layers will not work with progressive, correct? I thought I was told that it is in the workings.

psd-manager masking tools currently require deep data, which V-ray unfortunately provides only in bucket mode. However, let me repeat myself from the cebas forum: It's on top of my wishlist - I'm working on something, if there is something ready to test I will let you know - not promising anything.

Daniel

[dans]

I've been using it for years and I absolutely love it. It does take a long time to make the layers with high res images though, but still worth it.

If you see something worth improving - please report it - don't assume others did or feel the same. I'm aware of one specific case that could slow things down a lot in the past: - using V-Ray Curves color correction + many Render Cutout mode layers. There have been some improvements for this case in 3.2.2. Reason was that applying Curves adjustment takes V-ray a lot longer then the other corrections.
Using the new adjustment layer for V-Ray color corrections in psd-manager 4 also solves this special case.

If you don't render animations and have a large SSD you can try to turn PSD file compression off to test if this speeds things up for you. Files will get much larger of course - so please set format to .PSB beforehand. You will not loose data if you use PSD, but internally psd-manager will first try PSD and if the file gets over 2 gigabytes it will start over with PSB - so that would skew time measurements. In 3ds max simply use this line of script to turn file compression off (assumes psd-manager is first render effect):

(getEffect(1)).compression = off

or

(getEffect(1)).compression = on

to turn compression back on.

I would be intererested in speedtest results - you can send them to mail@daniel-schmidt.biz If some users think this is useful I will add it to the UI. Photoshop has a similar option to turn file compression off in preferences.

Using minimize filesize in the psd-manager advanced options can also help a little.

Thanks Deflaminis,
Daniel

[pg1]

I have had a quick go of the demo and the masking by layer alone is awesome.

Am curious how/if psd manager handles updates to the psd files.

I do a render and it assembles my psd.
I start to grade and duplicate and mask and group.
Get a change from a client and re-render and psd manager generates a new psd and I have to either start again or copy everything to my psd.

Not a problem if I have 1 file but if I have 50 this becomes a real issue.
I understand that this is a flaw with photoshop itself but I would love an xref type workflow.

To combat this we are writing a sync script for photoshop that update a psd with the latest renders in a folder.
It will look at say v02 folder and as the files always have the same name (vray lighting etc) and the layers in the psd are named after the files it goes through and replaces each layer with the file from the folder.
It kind of works, still bugs and easy to break but I can really see the potential in it.
Would be great if it was built into something as stable and well developed as psd manager.

[dans]

'Updating' the PSD file is on the roadmap. If you have a PSD setup in psd-manager that already matches the way you would build it in Photoshop, then swapping things out between 2 PSDs isn't that difficult. Atleast that was the feedback I got from some of the Beta testers, but there are lot of different working styles. If you have to do it for many files, then each step matters of course. Simplifying such workflows is exactly my kind of thing and I'm no stranger to Photoshop plugins and scripts. Somehow I never run out of things to add or improve.

BTW, for the early adopters - 3ds max 2018 support is in good shape - should be out next month as a free update.

Daniel

[glorybound]

I would love for automatic file naming. Maybe, from the camera name.

[pg1]

Hey Dans,
If you could simplfy the workflow for updating the psd file would be a game changer for me and would definitely be a reason to buy.
Would make grading in photoshop as versatile as nuke.

[Syclone1]

Maybe next month when Im past my current project I may have a go at PSDM and try it in my workflow being it looks to be a good plugin and the support looks to ne equally as good.

[dans]

psd-manager 4.0.1 for 3ds max 2018 is available since a few days. (If you had check for updates enabled within the cebas product manager settings you may already know) The trial has been updated too. www.cebas.com/psdmanager

Daniel

[Syclone1]

psd-manager 4.0.1 for 3ds max 2018 is available since a few days. (If you had check for updates enabled within the cebas product manager settings you may already know) The trial has been updated too. www.cebas.com/psdmanager

Daniel

Thanks for the update (no pun intended lol) I still havent had a chance to try it yet and might not for anther month or so but still looking forward to it.

[Art48]

A suggestion:

We render in 16bit float, but do post usually in 8bit since PS has way more options there. We sometimes use adjustment layers on the 16bit float / 32bit float image to compensate overexposed areas etc.

Before we used PSD-Manager we just opened the EXR, converted it into a smart object, then reduced to 8bit. That way we can go into the smart object, do HDR adjustments there, and have all the flexibility of 8bit retouching in the main document. If you select 8bit output in PSD-Manager it spits out a flattened 8bit image, which is expected.

What would be cool is an option to retain the HDR information but still get an 8bit document with the approach described above.

[leotchest]

looking at the CPM, when i check for updates it does not show an option for Max 2018. How do i unstall the 2018 version ?

[dans]

looking at the CPM, when i check for updates it does not show an option for Max 2018. How do i unstall the 2018 version ?

- Cebas product manager should be at version 3.0.31
- make sure you already have Autodesk 3ds max 2018 installed
- in Cebas Product Manger > Settings > Host Products Tab the Automatically configure checkbox should be enabled (which is the default).

Then click on Download & Install... and it should show up.

Daniel

[Streetwise]

PSD-Manager seems to be running really slow since upgrading to 2018 and recently 2019. It routinely takes 2 minutes for a file to save out to PSD manager, whereas it seems like it took a fraction of that time, not too long ago.
I was going to post this on the Cebas forums but I see it's no longer there.

[glorybound]

Since I have been using GPU rendering, I haven't used it, so it has been a while. When I was using it, I don't recall a slowdown.

[dans]

PSD-Manager seems to be running really slow since upgrading to 2018 and recently 2019. It routinely takes 2 minutes for a file to save out to PSD manager, whereas it seems like it took a fraction of that time, not too long ago.
I was going to post this on the Cebas forums but I see it's no longer there.

I consider it unlikely that the 3ds max version would make a difference. My guess is you didn't just change 3ds max version, but also something else of your workflow. Could it be you use 32-bit PSD now instead of 8/16 in the past or simply higher resolutions? If this is not it, then feel free to send me a (simplified) scene to mail@daniel-schmidt.biz - and I will have a look,

Daniel