.AUR to .VDB converter

[Marcus_Litterer]

I am wanting to convert my files till they fix the volume grid for vray. How do i use converter?

Path C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 2016 for x64\tools\cache_convert.exe but when I try to open it the command prompt disappears. What am I doing wrong.

Yes I have looked at previous post nothing on how to use.

[flipbook]

The help file explains how to use it... https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...oenix+FD+Tools

Just tried it (first time I've used it) .. Im sure you could set an environment variable up but I just copied the exe to the folder of the cache and used the commands the help file says.. works fine ... you navigate to that folder via command prompt and run the command from the help file.

[Marcus_Litterer]

Thank you I will try that.

[Marcus_Litterer]

No luck. Still cant get it to open

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

You need to first open a cmd prompt and navigate to where the exe is and run it.

[Marcus_Litterer]

Yes i tried that no luck, I am an idiot. I will wait for the new nightly to be updated and we should be fine thank you for all your help.

[flipbook]

Lets say the cache is in C:\Phoenix\Cache.####.aur. Copy the exe into that folder. Open a CMD and type 'cd c:\Phoenix' (without the quotes) This will put you into that folder.

All you need to do then is use the command from the help so it be like this:

cache_converter.exe -srcfile Cache.####.aur -dstfile cache.####.vdb -start 0 -end 100 -verbose

Now of course you need to change the names for the cache etc but also change the start and end frame range which in my example is 0-100. It will write the vdb sequence into the same folder.

[squintnic]

any tips on how to use this - i desperately need to export some AUR to VDB but im not a programmer
and a total beginner with CMD

can this be made to be a normal EXE with a GUI? or a step by step guide?

[squintnic]

the steps adam outlined dont seem to work for me
will i have to re-sim?

+1 for making this tool opart of the right click menu in phx or something artist friendly please!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, please check our replies in the other thread you posted the same question

[Marcus_Litterer]

hey sorry for late response I see the the team at chaos Group already got back to you i hope you can figure it out, you can always resim and change save file to vdb. if you cant get it to work hopefully sim doesnt take a long time

[squintnic]

Thanks for the replies
Im trying to find a dev to get this working for me and make a basic tool to do this.

I have re-simmed one but not really feasible to re-do 2TB of frames and reluctant to always do VDB cos its slower to render and bigger files, but going to Houdini and C4D its the only way is VDB

Wonder if tyflow can do this ?

[Morbid Angel]

This tool is good to have but it should be improved. For example converting large sequences like 500-1000 frame cache to vdb can take days. I wish there was a way to multithread it.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Oh, it should be multithreaded already, but it's possible that the reading and writing from the disk are slowing it down. How does it look in Task Manager?

[Joelaff]

If you store your files on a server you may be able to install the Linux version of Phoenix (the Maya version, even without Maya) and then use it locally on the server to avoiding transferring the files twice.

Of course running code in the file server is scary. So you could instead have a Vm local to the file server and run it there to skip the network ( just Loopback).