PSD Manager

[CCS]

Hello all. I have been interested in PSD-Manager and AF Export Channels for some time, but have as yet been unable to get output from either one.

I am hoping that some actual users would post screenshots of their Vray (I'm using v1.46.10) render settings, as well as the effects settings (if PSD mgr) or the utility settings (for AF) as appropriate.

Interested in pros/cons between the two. I like the price of AF better, but PSD mgr looks like it has more features.

My primary need is to be able to easily change object colors. (For example, to change house siding colors without re-rendering.) Although it also might be interesting to be able to tweak shadow density, specular brightness, etc. after the fact.

Bottom line - I need a step-by-step, and I haven't found it here or at cebas.

Thanks!

[gustojunk]

Hi CCS,

Please let us know how it works if you ever find out. I wanted to try Ghostpainter + PSDManager to see if it worked well for my workflow and see if there where any issues with Vray. I sent an email to Cebas inquiring a demo and they never even replied

Maybe they have to much business as it is, or think that since they software is under $500 we should just go ahead and open our wallets blindly.

[CCS]

No one?

[RErender]

well you are asking a lot

As stated several times it works for the most part, why not contact cebas and get a demo?

[CCS]

Maybe I'm not explaining myself well then.

I do have demos of both programs, and I have tried to use both. My problem is that I have been unable to get any output from either of them. I have not found an explanation of *how* you get it to work.

[RErender]

OK, sorry I did not understand

You need to enable the appropriate G-Buffers in the render rollout. For instance material id, object ID etc.

[CCS]

Ok, I'm still not getting this. Finally had time to play with it again.

I turned on effects in the VIZ Common rollout.
I enabled a bunch of G-Buffers in the "VRay: G-Buffer/Color Mapping" rollout.
I added PSD Mgr as an effect as set it active.
Under psd-manager parameters, I specified a PSD file name and checked every checkbox.
Nothing is checked/enabled under render elements rollout.
Under G-Buffer output, I have tried a bunch of things!

Bottom line, when I render, no PSD file is even created. I assume I am doing something fundamentally wrong. Any tips or screen shots would go a long way toward helping me figure this out!

Thanks!


btw, using 1.46.12

[jujubee]

You missed a part in your list of steps. If I remember correctly (this has been a few years) you have to right click the actual objects you want to separate, go to properties, and assign individual numbers to your g-buffer objects on each separate layer. Could have changed since then.

[RErender]

Render elements are not supported, only the g-buffer output, like juju said, you need to set the render id's or use material id's or select the objects

[CCS]

hmmm. It's sounding like this isn't as point-n-click as it appeared.

I was under the impression that it would render out each material onto a separate layer in the PSD. It's sounding like this isn't that easy.

Are you saying I would have to assign g-buffers to each object in my scene? With unique g-buffers by material?

[jujubee]

or group them then id them as a whole...

[CCS]

Good grief.

Even though it sounds too cumbersome to be of much value, I've been pushing ahead to try and at least see what the program will do. I set the settings exactly as in Eric's scrcap. I then selected a handful of objects and set them to g-b #1, a few more to #2, and so on. Then I added all those objects via "Add Objects" in the "Separated Object Output".

Still nothing. No file even created. This is ridiculous. I would expect the PSD would at least be created, even if it was empty, or contained incorrect info. At least I could use it to experiment and see what I'm doing wrong.

Giving up for now. If anyone sees where I'm screwing up, I'd still be interested out of curiousity, but it's beginning to sound more cumbersome than it's worth.

[CCS]

Need to post an update to be fair. It turns out psd manager actually *will* do exactly what I wanted. Daniel from cebas contacted me with some tips. (Thanks!)

I ended up tracking it down by ruling out one thing at a time. When I turned off DR, it worked exactly as advertised.

It would be nice if cebas would include a couple sentences in their help file to help us vray people with specific instructions. It wouldn't take much. Also, it would be nice to have a popup warning about DR and other possible conflicts to help first time psd mgr users.

Will now commence with playing with the program.

Thanks to all who helped.

[dennis]

or even better That Chaosgroup would fix it so gbuffers is working with DR.

[CCS]

Sure, that would be ideal. However, if a company advertises that their product works with vray (and it does) they should put instructions in their included help file and/or on their website.