TV Video

[Grapho978]

hello everyone, I have to make a video with Vantage where you see a TV and I wanted to associate a movie and not a static image, is it possible?

[Alexander.Atanasov]

Hi Grapho978,

Yes, it is possible with the release of 1.8.0. Which DCC are you using (Max, SketchUp, etc) because it is different setup for each app?

Best regards,
Alexander

[pavol_pastork]

Hi Grapho978,

Yes, it is possible with the release of 1.8.0. Which DCC are you using (Max, SketchUp, etc) because it is different setup for each app?

Best regards,
Alexander

I am also interested in that workflow....I am using Rhino Thank you

[Peter.Chaushev]

Hello, Grapho978 and pavol_pastork ,
You can create an animated TV screen with V-Ray for Rhino using animated imagery in the form of an image file sequence.
There are three main steps to achieve this:

1. Set up an animation in Rhino.
   This is done either via its native animation tools, e.g. Fly-through or Path animation, or with V-Ray for Grasshopper's Timeline component.
   If you wish to have an animation where the camera does not move at all and only a TV screen is animated, prepare your animation in GH using this template: static_camera_animation.zip
   
2. Supply animation sequence for the TV screen.
   V-Ray can currently animate only image sequences, thus, you need to have the source file in form of multiple image files, all indexed based on their frame number, e.g. screen_animation.0001.png, screen_animation.0002.png, etc.
   If you have only video files (e.g. *.mp4 or *.webm), you will need to export an image sequence from them. This can be achieved with a single click using Chaos Player (https://www.chaos.com/player) - simply load the video file and choose File > Save Layer as... , then pick PNG or JPEG Sequence.
   Alternatively, it can be done with other similar 3rd-party software products of your choice.
   
3. Create a material to simulate the animated screen.
   Use an Emissive material with "Compensate EV" enabled for your TV screen surface. Create a Bitmap texture in its Color map slot.
   Enable the Bitmap's advanced settings from the button at its top-right corner, then choose any of the image files from the sequence created in Step 2. Finally, enable the Bitmap's "Sequence" toggle.
   You will notice the Bitmap preview will then change to display the very first of the image sequence files.
   
   
   Please note that using Emissive materials or Mesh Lights for scene illumination may not always be the most performant method in terms of render speed. If the TV screen is going to be your main light source, better keep its material intensity to 1 and instead add an invisible Rectangle light with the same Bitmap in front of the screen. This will help reduce render time in V-Ray (and to some extend in Vantage) as the Rectangle light's illumination is more optimized for calculation than that coming from emissive meshes.

Once all this is all done, your scene will be ready for export from V-Ray for Rhino to Chaos Vantage.
Additionally, be informed that:

• Animation length cannot be adjusted in Vantage. The number of frames must be set in V-Ray for Rhino.
• Emissive material's "Compensate EV" option is currently not supported in Chaos Vantage. While the adjustment mentioned above is aimed at producing good result in V-Ray, when exported to Vantage, the intensity must be adjusted manually, depending on the Camera EV.

Hope these instructions will suffice!

Kind regards,
Peter

[fixeighted]

Hmm, well I have a problem with this in Max also.
I have a simple b/w mask ifl in diffuse and it does not show up...remains black throughout.
Is there a trick to this Max to get it work?

EDIT: Don't worry I think I know why, so ignore this please, unless it still is problematic after my presumed fix

[fixeighted]

Nope, this does not work for me.

The scene is one object with the ifl in the diffuse.
I export to an archive and no use.
I export not to an archive and still no use.
I try by using the Max icon 'send as an etc....' and still nothing.
I can send the scene to support I guess, though it should be simpler than this is proving.

[vladimir.nedev]

Nope, this does not work for me.

The scene is one object with the ifl in the diffuse.
I export to an archive and no use.
I export not to an archive and still no use.
I try by using the Max icon 'send as an etc....' and still nothing.
I can send the scene to support I guess, though it should be simpler than this is proving.

Well, unfortunately we haven't made the update (between different frames of the sequence) automatic when you are in interactive mode.
You are most likely running into this.
We did this for performance reasons, as we haven't implemented a streaming/caching solution yet.

There is a button in the lower right to do the update.
When rendering a "high quality" sequence, the update is of course automatic.



Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[fixeighted]

Ah right, the secret button

Thanks for the info. Sadly it does not help me, as the collaborator would want to view the thing animating
in order to plan camera moves.
Such a shame.

[seltzdesign]

Peter.Chaushev I have just followed your instructions on this and I simply cannot get it to work. I have also been in touch with Natalia Gruzdova and she pointed me to this. I am following all the steps, but it simply does not work and I don't see the button to update the image sequence. It shows when I open Vantage, but then disappears. Even if I render in Vantage the sequence does not play.

I have:

1. set up animation in Grasshopper and set 300 frames. Then sent the camera animation to Rhino.

2. set up a new emissive material and put an image sequence in the bitmap.

3. I even created an .ifl file and made sure there are no numbers in the file paths, which according to Natalia is a (ridicolus) requirement

4. Made sure in the V-Ray asset editor animation is enabled


But still nothing.

Why is this so difficult, when in other renderers I can just set an .mp4 as a texture and don't have to do anything else.

[vladimir.nedev]

3. I even created an .ifl file and made sure there are no numbers in the file paths, which according to Natalia is a (ridicolus) requirement

The IFL file is needed only if you need the sequence to loop once it reaches the final frame.

It shows when I open Vantage, but then disappears.

The button disappears when the live link starts, because it's not needed in this case - the update is automatic.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[seltzdesign]

Ah right, the secret button

Thanks for the info. Sadly it does not help me, as the collaborator would want to view the thing animating
in order to plan camera moves.
Such a shame.

I know it's been a while, but for future reference: you can do something like that in D5 Render. You just add a video texture and add a .mp4 file. It will then play the texture right in the viewport. It's a great feature of a great tool and I think what they got right is that they let you edit materials in the Renderer. If Vantage did that you would be able to have things that are specific to Vantage.

Still I would much rather use Vantage, since the quality is way higher and its actually faster to render out the high quality videos.

I would love it if Vantage basically became a fast stand-alone V-Ray, but for that it's still got a looong way to go.

[seltzdesign]

The IFL file is needed only if you need the sequence to loop once it reaches the final frame.



The button disappears when the live link starts, because it's not needed in this case - the update is automatic.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

Good to know, thank you.

It is not needed for live link? But that would mean I have to somehow play the animation back in Rhino, for it to update in Vantage? You can't really do that unless you render an animation. Either way rendering a camera animation in Vantage I do not get the texture updating even with live link.

I set up the animation in Grasshopper as per Peter's instructions. If I play the animation in the timeline, the texture does not change in Vantage.

[vladimir.nedev]

It is not needed for live link? But that would mean I have to somehow play the animation back in Rhino, for it to update in Vantage?

Yes. It's possible in 3dsMax, but I don't know about Rhino.

Either way rendering a camera animation in Vantage I do not get the texture updating even with live link.

How do you change the current animation frame in V-Ray for Rhino ?

I set up the animation in Grasshopper as per Peter's instructions. If I play the animation in the timeline, the texture does not change in Vantage.

Do you mean the Vantage timeline or the Rhino timeline (does it have one) ?

For the Vantage timeline, this is a current limitation, that's why we have an "update" button.
We haven't implemented caching for the images in the sequence and reloading them each time the frame changes can be slow and block the UI.
That's why it's not automatic.

Does the image sequence update if you click the "update" button ?

I would love it if Vantage basically became a fast stand-alone V-Ray, but for that it's still got a looong way to go.

We are trying to add features in this direction, but yes, it will take time.
If you have suggestions about this, you can start a thread in the wish list section.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[seltzdesign]

How do you change the current animation frame in V-Ray for Rhino ?

You don't really. Rhino doesn't really do animation, except for simple camera animations. But there is only really a V-Ray animation timeline in Grasshopper inside Rhino. But if I play there, the frame does not update in Vantage. Other than that I think as far as V-Ray is concerned, the frame in Rhino only changes when you do a production render.

Does the image sequence update if you click the "update" button ?

That's the thing, if I use live link the button is not there. If I load the .vrscene I get the button, but it does nothing.

Also loading the .vrscene I cannot get to the scene properly. I am somewhere in space (probably like the 0 position) and can't see my scene. Not sure why it does not go to the view I had in Rhino when I saved the .vrscene. This doesn't happen after I first have started Vantage after a restart, since it will then import the scene into that scene with the tree and then I can get to my scene objects. For some reason ever other time after that when I start Vantage I get the Tree Scene, I load the .vrscene and I am catapulted somewhere into the ether.


I am fully aware that Rhino is lets be honest, super shit at anything animation or a lot of stuff that traditional 3D software has. But its still super powerful and Grasshopper is amazing. I can't learn another tool though, just for this one thing that isn't working.

We are trying to add features in this direction, but yes, it will take time.

I'm aware of that, although I would have said the same 10 years ago when I started using V-Ray. I think Octane showed everyone how simple, yet powerful a standalone Renderer can be. Something like Vantage shows that as well since it already does a lot of things a 3D tool does if you take away all the modelling and setup.

I think the logical next step would be to basically have the asset editor in Vantage, so editing of materials is possible. Then you add the whole Cosmos stuff, so you can drop in those assets and materials and so on - basically just do it like D5 does it, which has its asset placing I believe inspired by City Skylines (an awesome city builder game). Last basically add Light Gen and the ability to do light mixes right in Vantage.

I'm sure it will take a while, but it will be glorious!

[vladimir.nedev]

That's the thing, if I use live link the button is not there. If I load the .vrscene I get the button, but it does nothing.

I don't have access to Rhino right now in order to test the live link update,
but you can send me the .vrscene and I can check if it's setup properly for image sequence animation.

Also loading the .vrscene I cannot get to the scene properly. I am somewhere in space (probably like the 0 position) and can't see my scene. Not sure why it does not go to the view I had in Rhino when I saved the .vrscene. This doesn't happen after I first have started Vantage after a restart, since it will then import the scene into that scene with the tree and then I can get to my scene objects. For some reason ever other time after that when I start Vantage I get the Tree Scene, I load the .vrscene and I am catapulted somewhere into the ether.

Maybe you've set the following preference to merge/place ?



Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev