ECW-Support

[tobihofer]

Hi! Is there a chance of having ECW-support (http://geospatial.intergraph.com/pro...Downloads.aspx) implemented into vray?

There is already a 3rd-party plugin doing this:

http://www.terratorrent.com/index.ph...roduct_id=6904

would be a killer-feature using unlimited texture sizes, especially when doing animations of the earth

[joconnell]

Hmm - Tiled EXR files might do this for you?

[vlado]

There used to be a plugin called WavGen that could read ECW files and it worked fine with V-Ray from what I remember. Other than that, like joconnell suggested, tiled OpenEXR files might an alternative approach.

Best regards,
Vlado

[bigbossfr]

Or .tx file (less memory)

[tobihofer]

Hi Guys!

Thanks for your answers! The link I have posted was the WavGen-plugin, which is quite expensive (500 €).

We've already tried tiled EXR's. Converting a 80k-texture to a tiled EXR doesn't work if you don't have a LOT of RAM (even a machine with 64GB RAM fails).

[tooves]

We use wavgen. Although expensive it is unavoidable when you are constantly dealing with massive ECW files from clients.
Just another cost of doing business.

We worked out a deal with the guys who make it. Maybe contact them and see if you can work something out.

I have tested tiled EXRs previously and they aren't an efficient solution for super huge GIS data.

[vlado]

Well, the other option is to try maketx to make it into a .tx file; it might more memory-efficient (but then again, maybe not).

Best regards,
Vlado

[tobihofer]

I wrote an email to the wavgen-guys, still waiting for a response.

We've als tried .tx-conversion without success.

Vlado, what are the chances of getting ECW implemented into vray?

[vlado]

We've als tried .tx-conversion without success.

Which program did you use for it?

Vlado, what are the chances of getting ECW implemented into vray?

I don't know yet; plenty of other stuff to do first How can I generate these files by the way?

Best regards,
Vlado

[tobihofer]

We've been using maketx by OpenImageIO 1.0.5. The conversion worked, but we are having issues with RAM-usage during rendering. (My partner already contacted you regarding this problem via email.)

You can generate ECW-files with GlobalMapper for example.

Best regards

Tobi

[vlado]

Ok then, I will check with the support guys; btw which V-Ray version are you using? Older builds had issues with tiled exr files in VRayHDRI. (Note that you need to use VRayHDRI, not the 3ds Max Bitmap texture).

Best regards,
Vlado

[henning]

Hi, I'm the colleague of Tobi.

I'm currently testing vray_adv_24501_max2013_x64_22953 but the main problem still is there, although I cleaned our scene a bit which helped somewhat.
After rendering, one of the biggest maps (tiled openEXR, 500mb, 24000x12000px) always gets reloaded which results in a bit lag.
All the maps are already on a local drive. The VrayHDRI cache size is set to 4000mb and doesn't get cleared on render end.
I'm still trying to figure out why the map gets reloaded, using bitmap proxies didn't help and according to the asset tracker it didn't generate a proxy for that map.

The problem might not be with vray but with max. For example the compositing map always wants to generate its own little thumbnails it seems.
All texture display (that I know of) is disabled.

regards,
Henning

[chriserskine]

+1 for ecw support.

it also allows you to save its co-ordinates, scale, projection etc... (which you can remap from world co-ords to something max can use via global mapper) though i guess this falls more into the wavegen plugin area.


henning are you using slate editor? and do you have global rendering disabled? (alt-ctrl-u)

[henning]

henning are you using slate editor? and do you have global rendering disabled? (alt-ctrl-u)

yes, both.
A constant observation is that the map gets reloaded everytime I cancel a render and when I save the file.

The map is also sitting in a VrayExtraTex map slot.

[henning]

Okay now I renamed my 3dsmax.ini and let max create a new one. For now that seems to have "solved" the problem.