VrMesh Conversion

[bradon]

I have a very stubborn mesh that is not importing into maya.

I create the geo sequence from houdini and use the ply converter.

this is the error that i get.

// Error: ("Y:/_PROJECTS/2010/0117_Frigidaire/06_3D/Houdini/meshes/All_spouts_v2/pt1_1/Vr20-45smallFix.vrmesh") does not exist. Cannot create proxy.

It is a seq that is 25 frames long. IF i just do one frame then the mesh will import fine. this error doesn't really tell me why it failed it just does. I have created a mesh from these same files in 2 smaller groups of 10 frames each and also with other frames in a larger sequence this issue is bothersome because it appears to me at random. I have a pretty high res mesh.. its about 3 mill polygon per frame. perhaps thats just too big for vrmesh?

[vlado]

Does it work if you move the .vrmesh file to another folder? The mesh size itself is not a problem, I have loaded much larger meshes without issues.

Best regards,
Vlado

[ultrasonic]

this looks more like a syntax error....Vr20-45smallFix.vrmesh looks like you want to convert Vr20smallFix.vrmesh to Vr45smallFix.vrmesh....
i think you need to use wildcards...e.g. Vr??smallFix.vrmesh or Vr*smallFix.vrmesh and only have files 20-45 in that folder...

does this help?
cheerio

[bradon]

no It still does not work if i move the vrmesh to a different folder. I tried to move it local so was not reading it off the network.

when i created the ply I used the wildcard Mesh*.geo to create an animated seq in one vrmesh.

I only named it with 20-45 so I knew that that particular mesh was frames 20 through 45. perhaps the dash "-" syntax is a problem? but my other meshes that i create with "-" in the name work fine.

there were no errors recieved during the ply cmd line.

I had to break 266 frame sequence into about 8 or 9 chunks which is pretty annoying considering ill have to import all 9 and then figure out the offsets so it plays back correctly etc. but not the end of the world.

each section mesh is around 1-2GB. with one or two larger seq that are 4 and 8GB. what is the limit on what size vrmesh one should try to make?

[vlado]

There is no limit to the size of the .vrmesh file; I've had files that are several gigabytes in size. Does it work if you put a simple .vrmesh file (a sphere for example) in the same folder with the same file name? Also, is Y: a mapped drive?

Best regards,
Vlado

[bradon]

well I cant directly overwrite the file from within maya.. because maya changes all the "-" to "_" so i try to create the proxy with a sphere then in windows change the underscores back to dashes. That works fine for the sphere.. but in the case of my sim mesh it still will not import even if i change the dashes to underscores.

Y: is a mapped drive

here i try from the desktop and change the dash to underscore in windows. // Error: ("C:/Users/eatdrink/Desktop/Vr161_180FIX_Bad.vrmesh") does not exist. Cannot create proxy.

I used dashes in other sequences that import fine so im not sure if its dash thats the problem.

could it be changing vertex numbers or point count changing in the mesh?

like i said all i have to do is keep breaking down the sequence into smaller and smaller chunks sometimes only 10 frames or less to get them to import. so i think the mesh are fine? but clueless whats wrong.

[bradon]

I can possibly upload the vrmesh so you can see it. if that helps. Ived tried it in maya 2009 with the build from sep 15th and also tried it in maya 2011 with the build from jan 3. I just dont have the tools to know whats going on. cause command just says does not exist!! but clearly it does! Is there any other application that can read this vrmesh so I can rule out if its a maya issue or a conversion issue?

[vlado]

V-Ray for 3ds Max can read .vrmesh files too. If you can get me that file to vlado@chaosgroup.com I can take a look at what's going on.

Best regards,
Vlado

[bradon]

ok sorry for the delay I have upload our mesh for you to check in studio max. I'll email the details

[bradon]

Im still having this problem with some longer sequences of meshes.

mostly Im exporting meshes from houdini.

the meshes they work if i only do less than 100 frames or so at a time. also file size is dependent on the number of poly in the mesh. but i cant explain why when i split the same .geo sequence into 5 folders the 5 vrmeshes import fine, however if i try to make one long vrmesh of the whole sequence it fails every time?

kind of bogging my workflow down. because i have to work with frame offsets in maya and multiple meshes when I'd rather just use the one.

is it also possible to combine vrmeshes into one mesh. so if i can make my 5 meshes of shorter sequences, then use plyconvert or something to combine those 5 mesh into one single vrmesh?

[vlado]

You could try to get the ply2vrmesh converter from a newer build of V-Ray; I remember there was some problem with this in some of the builds.

Best regards,
Vlado

[bradon]

You could try to get the ply2vrmesh converter from a newer build of V-Ray; I remember there was some problem with this in some of the builds.

Best regards,
Vlado

Is it possible to only install a newer version of ply conversion without installing the latest version of vray nightly?

[vlado]

You can certainly use just the executable, but there is no way to extract just one file from the installation. You will have to run the installation on some machine and take just the ply2vrmesh converter.

Best regards,
Vlado