# Proxy of a proxy. **URL:** \ **Category:** General\ **Created:** [January 9, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647 "2016-01-09T15:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/1 "2016-01-09T15:33:34Z")
im using animated proxies to simplify creation of an animated assembly of parts. i animate a mesh, export it as a proxy, use the proxy as “full mesh” allowing me to continue editing it, deforming it along with other duplicates, as part of a larger grouping. this is to avoid issues with circular references and other wierdness in my animation setup. once ive got this larger grouping animated, i wish to export the whole thing as a single larger proxy. i cant see any technical reason why this should not work.. a mesh is a mesh. however if i try to export a group of proxies ( edited, with modifiers on top, and “show full mesh” enabled) i get an error “no exportable objects selected”. i can see why this would be undesirable if you are using a reduced preview mesh, but thats not the case here. any workarounds? i kinda need this to work asap. ---
**Author:** ![joconnell](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/user_avatar/forums.chaos.com/joconnell/32/36063_2.png) [@joconnell](https://forums.chaos.com/u/joconnell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/2 "2016-01-10T15:50:17Z")
Xmesh or import the source meshes. One annoying thing is importing a mesh into a scene places it at 0,0,0 instead of where it currently sits within your scene. ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2016, 4:08pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/3 "2016-01-10T16:08:29Z")
does importing the mesh bring it in animated? might be a way to solve my issues. ive now got the issue that animated proxies dont update during render, if they have modifiers on top. which is a right ballache. to be honest i think proxy should let you re-proxy. you could edit, group, etc. the proxies then re export. ---
**Author:** ![squintnic](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/chaosprd/user_avatar/forums.chaos.com/squintnic/32/70835_2.png) [@squintnic](https://forums.chaos.com/u/squintnic)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 6:24am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/4 "2016-01-11T06:24:14Z")
sounds like a job for xmesh very friendly to use in a situation like this ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 8:19am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/5 "2016-01-11T08:19:45Z")
ill have a look at xmesh, 2 recommendations after all.. However id note that buying another plugin to cover 2 issues with proxy that could both be considered bugs (particularly the animated proxy playback one) seems a bit.. annoying. ---
**Author:** ![vlado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/779978/32.png) [@vlado](https://forums.chaos.com/u/vlado)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 8:51am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/6 "2016-01-11T08:51:17Z")
We could easily remove the export check for a proxy object when creating a new proxy object and get you a build for that; the animation issue shouldn’t be too hard to fix either. Depending on how urgently you need these, we can probably get you a build in a couple of days. Best regards, Vlado ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 9:09am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/7 "2016-01-11T09:09:47Z")
well its -quite- urgent, particularly the animation playback problem. as if i cannot fix it ill have to find an alternative, then redo about 2 days animation work. the proxy export thing i can work around if absolutely necessary.. although if it is easy, it would make my final scene management much easier. i have nightly access so if something could be done for either/both issues id be extremely grateful. ---
**Author:** ![vlado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/779978/32.png) [@vlado](https://forums.chaos.com/u/vlado)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 9:11am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/8 "2016-01-11T09:11:21Z")
Ok, I’ll try to patch these for the next nightly build tomorrow. Best regards, Vlado ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 9:20am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/9 "2016-01-11T09:20:58Z")
ok ive actually reconsidered.. the playback one is less important, its the export limitation thats the killer. because if i can “collapse” a collection of animated proxies with animated modifiers on top down into a single simple animated proxy, i wont need to render them with modifiers over them! it will also mean i can render them at my clients renderfarm without requiring them to install a nightly build on all their machines (not gonna happen) ---
**Author:** ![vlado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/779978/32.png) [@vlado](https://forums.chaos.com/u/vlado)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 9:22am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/10 "2016-01-11T09:22:34Z")
> [@Faceted normals on poly faces - normal smoothing broken in glossy reflections](https://forums.chaos.com/t/faceted-normals-on-poly-faces-normal-smoothing-broken-in-glossy-reflections/46369/6): > > ok ive actually reconsidered.. the playback one is less important, its the export limitation thats the killer. I was going to do both anyways… Best regards, Vlado ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 9:24am UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/11 "2016-01-11T09:24:13Z")
as usual.. top man! ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/12 "2016-01-12T14:21:16Z")
i usually wait longer to start pestering, but ive just found out ive got 3 days to produce a preview of this scene, and several others, so it would be a massive help if i could get at least the “proxy of proxy” thing working in the next day or two? any chance? ---
**Author:** ![vlado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/779978/32.png) [@vlado](https://forums.chaos.com/u/vlado)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/13 "2016-01-12T15:06:10Z")
It’s already working in the nightly/stable builds from today. If you don’t have access to these builds, please drop me a line at [vlado@chaosgroup.com](mailto:vlado@chaosgroup.com) Best regards, Vlado ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 10:36pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/14 "2016-01-12T22:36:50Z")
ok that works GREAT! i can simplify my scenes no end with this method. particularly for sending to client. next question: should i want to use my animated proxy geometry in houdini, as a collision object for a sim, is there a workflow for this? i guess i need to convert vrayproxy-alembic or something? of course fbx export wont export an animated proxy, even if its set to “show all faces” i do have a plugin which will create a vdb volume from any mesh (including a proxy with “show all faces” enabled.. ) so maybe thats an option.. complete overkill though. ---
**Author:** ![vlado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/779978/32.png) [@vlado](https://forums.chaos.com/u/vlado)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/15 "2016-01-12T22:40:40Z")
Hm, maybe you can use V-Ray for Houdini… I have to check if it’s possible to use the proxy Houdini in this way. Best regards, Vlado ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/16 "2016-01-12T22:43:20Z")
hm.. i just noticed the proxy is 1.6 gb.. for a 250k face animated object over 140 frames. does that sound normal? seems rather chunky to me! ---
**Author:** ![vlado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/779978/32.png) [@vlado](https://forums.chaos.com/u/vlado)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/17 "2016-01-12T22:47:30Z")
\ It is what it is… Sometimes objects have extra UVW channels, or vertex color channels, which V-Ray must write to the proxy even if they are never used. Best regards, Vlado ---
**Author:** ![super\_gnu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@super\_gnu](https://forums.chaos.com/u/super_gnu)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://forums.chaos.com/t/proxy-of-a-proxy/56647/18 "2016-01-12T22:56:05Z")
no extra channels used, a straight mesh with a single uv channel.. maybe since almost every vertex is in constant motion it cant compress it very well? its not a biggie, i was just surprised the file is so large. will need to consider that for sending files to client.