PSD manager 3.0 released!

[theedge]

The fact that psd manager will soon support vfb will certainly make me consider buying this plugin. It is the one feature I was expecting !

[Mats_O]

A question: I use a lot of displacement in VRay using the VRayDisplacementMod modifier. Will all masks etc in PSD manager support the displaced object correctly?

The VRay VFB support will make my desicion to buy or not easier as well..

[dans]

A question: I use a lot of displacement in VRay using the VRayDisplacementMod modifier. Will all masks etc in PSD manager support the displaced object correctly?

Yes that works, just tried it.

The VRay VFB support will make my desicion to buy or not easier as well..

Thanks for the feedback. I'm working on it.

Daniel

[Mats_O]

Thanks for your quick response! Now I will go get it!!

[wxyz]

Daniel,

Really looking forward to the upgrade

Lorin

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

When PSB version will come out ??

Also would it be possible to save to separate psd/psb file maskas / layers etc etc? So instead of hawing 1 huge files we can have 3 separate maybe?

Thanks, ciao.

[dans]

Thanks for all your interest and feedback, very motivating.

When PSB version will come out ??

You mean, if a psB-manager comes out? It will quite take some time to rename everything.
Seriously, no date for this because you never know how accurate the Adobe PSD documentation is.
The V-ray Framebuffer has priority.

So consider this a definitive maybe

Also would it be possible to save to separate psd/psb file maskas / layers etc etc? So instead of hawing 1 huge files we can have 3 separate maybe?

Yes, that is already possible. Just add multiple psd-manger effects and specify different PSD filenames. One advantage of the render effect approach, even if it is a bit unusual at first sight.

Thank you
Daniel

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Heya

Yea the PSB file save - since my PSB would end up being at 5-10gb size and PSD is limited to 2.5 gb...

About the different PSD files - thats great ! Will look for some youtube videos to have a look how does it works - thanks

[Mats_O]

After just one days testing I must say PSD manager is great and will save me hours and hours of work! I just add all My objects in the scene and automatically get masks for each tiny part of the image. That and the way it handles render elements is just great. Highly recommended!!! Just waiting for the VFB to be supported

[tricky]

I've just looked through the videos. PSD-Manager has always appealed, but the fact that there is no trial/demo has always put us off in the past. We just aren't sure how it would integrate into our pipeline. 2 questions:-

1) Update/File link - Typically, one of our artists will be working on the modelling/rendering side of things, and another artist will work on the Photoshop/PP side of things. Renders will be generated at numerous points to ensure the PP artist is always up-to-date. These 'base renders' are manually copied into the working PSD file so that all adjustment layers are applied. PSD-Manager can create many layers - elements and mattes. Is there a good way to have the working PSD file 'reference' these layers so that when the PSD-Manager file is re-created, the working PSD file will be automatically updated (or at least the PP artist will be notified of the update and the layers replace the old versions in his stack)?

2) Render elements matching render 100% - the video of render elements shows how PSD-Manager can stack up the elements in the right order to achieve the end render. However, the video also highlighted that there was a significant discrepancy between the render-elements and the final 'flattened' render layer. Why is there this difference? We need to be sure that they match 100%. Can they be made to match 100% if we use 32bit output? What are the exact limitations here?

[themaxxer]

Am I understand it right and the psd manager is supporting VFB soon? great news. a demo would be really cool. I second that.

another question, I don't see if psd manager supports "scene states" my whole workflow is based on it... ok, layers are cool, too.
any news about release?

ps. nice to see that cebas "accepts" other render engines besides finalrender. but that's a question about making money. hehehe

best regards
themaxxer

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

I think that demo that can save up to 500 pixeli images would be a interesting idea...

[dans]

I've just looked through the videos. PSD-Manager has always appealed, but the fact that there is no trial/demo has always put us off in the past. We just aren't sure how it would integrate into our pipeline. 2 questions:-

1) Update/File link - Typically, one of our artists will be working on the modelling/rendering side of things, and another artist will work on the Photoshop/PP side of things. Renders will be generated at numerous points to ensure the PP artist is always up-to-date. These 'base renders' are manually copied into the working PSD file so that all adjustment layers are applied. PSD-Manager can create many layers - elements and mattes. Is there a good way to have the working PSD file 'reference' these layers so that when the PSD-Manager file is re-created, the working PSD file will be automatically updated (or at least the PP artist will be notified of the update and the layers replace the old versions in his stack)?

Such a 'reference' workflow really works best with After Effects, where you can import the PSD file/sequence produced by psd-manager as a AE composition. The composition will always reflect any changes to the layers in the PSD file.
For Photoshop, the best I can think of would be automating replacing layers in the work in progress PSD file with layers from another PSD file with a script (no idea if such a script exists).

2) Render elements matching render 100% - the video of render elements shows how PSD-Manager can stack up the elements in the right order to achieve the end render. However, the video also highlighted that there was a significant discrepancy between the render-elements and the final 'flattened' render layer. Why is there this difference? We need to be sure that they match 100%. Can they be made to match 100% if we use 32bit output? What are the exact limitations here?

Well, I don't think their exists any renderer that has a 100% pixel perfect match between render and composition of render elements. This has nothing to do with psd-manager.

A render does computations on the sub-pixel level, with render elements you are always working at the pixel level. This alone makes a small difference. Another example: the shadow render element of the 3ds Max Scanline renderer can cause a small gap between the object and its shadow. The V-Ray render element for shadows is much better and accurate. psd-manager just helps you get you render elements into Photoshop without hassle and minimal setup. Some inherent limitations of render elements I have no influence on and are the same if you get your render elements into Photoshop manually.

Using 32-bit definitely helps, since it avoids problems with clamped colors and limited precision.

Thanks for your interest.
Daniel

[dans]

Am I understand it right and the psd manager is supporting VFB soon? great news. a demo would be really cool. I second that.

Yes, V-Ray VFB support will arrive in Q4 2011 as a free update for psd-manager 3.

another question, I don't see if psd manager supports "scene states" my whole workflow is based on it... ok, layers are cool, too.
any news about release?

You can save a PSD for each "scene state" using Batch Render but not all into one PSD file (I had looked into this in the past and there was no way to figure out which Scene State is currently rendered for a render effect).

ps. nice to see that cebas "accepts" other render engines besides finalrender. but that's a question about making money. hehehe

That always seems to be a surprise, but psd-manager always supported V-Ray (and some other Cebas plugins do too).
The V-Ray support for 3ds max features like the G-Buffer just got better over time.
Even psd-manager 2 had presets for V-ray render elements.

Plugin developers have other things to be concerned about, like the insane levels of software piracy.

Daniel

[glorybound]

I just ordered my upgrade, which they do offer, so I am excited.