progressive rendering in xsi2012, still not there?

[gfxman]

or i'm missing something? should i use crtl ghost, to activate it?

[Maximus]

yep, it works with ctrlghost, also IBL working great too, and iRay works too

[owei]

@maximus
...are you serious? Can you provide some more information about this and how it works..?

thanks a lot..

best,
oliver

[Saturn]

How to get the iray dll to be registered ?
where did you copy them ?

[Maximus]

iRay works great, and for the first time it uses GPU, wich is F***in good (i never managed to activate gpu mode in iray previous in 2011, i have a gt460, but now it works)

Anyway, you must have 3ds max installed, because you need 3 .dll to have it to work.

-libiray.dll
-libiraymr.dll
-cudart64_32_7.dll

Here is the procedure but do it at your own risk, and i would suggest you to make a copy of the .dll you are gonna swap in case something goes wrong.

Softimage2012 comes already with the cudart64_32_7.dll so you wont need that

Install 3ds max, go into 3ds max main folder (C:\\blablabla\PIXAR!!\3ds Max 2012), and copy the 2 dlls, libiray.dll and libiraymr.dll

then go to softimage folder:

"C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Softimage 2012\Application\bin\nt-x86-64" and paste those 2 .dlls in here

iRay works with those dlls, thats it.
Pointless to remind you that probably this is against Autodesk rules, anyway enjoy.

Oh forgot, you need ctrlghost, wich its kinda easy to install, if you need how to do i'll explain.
Regarding stuff from MR everything works:

- progressive render works and update the render region (or preview window) way faster and smoother than before
- iRay works great, but for some reason it doesnt fully use the CPU, it uses 100% GPU probably ctrlghost needs some string to tell it to use both, and its not updated, anyway its hella fast with GPU. Use only mia_material, otherwise it renders default gray, also i'm struggling a bit to have it read textures + uv, but i guess it doesnt want the factory "Image" node, it wants mental ray nodes like mib_texture_lookup. i'm experimenting.
- IBL works great
- IP and importons works great too

One note is, sometimes (at least for me) it happens that if you enable for example IBL the render region doesnt update, if you got it open, just hit F5 refresh, somehow you need to press render 2 times before the screen update, i guess there is something going on but no big deal. (also remember that IBL wants a light present in the scene, if you want to light only with HDRI put a point light with diffuse 0, it just needs to be present).

Lemme know, and have fun

oh as you might know, there is an issue with mental ray at the moment so as soon as your scene gets populated with geometry it hangs at render time, hope they fix it soon, anyway this might cause even more issue with refreshing render region when using progressive rendering or iray. (got couple of crashes for that matters

[owei]

...wow! Thanks for this clarification! I´ll try that out asap..Much appreciated!!

cheers,
oliver

[Saturn]

One note is, sometimes (at least for me) it happens that if you enable for example IBL the render region doesnt update, if you got it open, just hit F5 refresh, somehow you need to press render 2 times before the screen update, i guess there is something going on but no big deal. (also remember that IBL wants a light present in the scene, if you want to light only with HDRI put a point light with diffuse 0, it just needs to be present).

Yes that is due to the geometry shader not being refreshed when using render region because it is cached.
That why it needs to be exposed.

Thanks for the rest.

[Saturn]

Code: Select all

    declare shader color "builtin_bsdf_lambert" (
        color       "diffuse",
        array light "lights",
        integer     "mode" )
        version     1
    apply material, shadow, photon
    end declare

    declare shader color "builtin_bsdf_phong" (
        color       "diffuse",
        color       "glossy",
        scalar      "exponent",
        array light "lights",
        integer     "mode" )
        version     1
    apply material, shadow, photon
    end declare

    declare shader color "builtin_bsdf_ashikhmin" (
        color        "diffuse",
        color        "glossy",
        scalar       "exp_u",
        scalar       "exp_v",
        array light  "lights",
        integer      "mode" )
        version      1
    apply material, shadow, photon
    end declare

    declare shader color "builtin_bsdf_mirror" (
        color       "reflection"             default 0 0 0 1)
    apply material, shadow, photon
    end declare
    

    declare shader color "builtin_bsdf_architectural" (
        color       "diffuse_refl"           default 0 0 0 1,
        scalar      "diffuse_refl_scalar"    default 1,
        scalar      "diffuse_dev",
        color       "specular_refl"          default 0 0 0 1,
        scalar      "specular_refl_scalar"   default 1,
        scalar      "refl_gloss"             default 1,
        boolean     "metal_material"         default on,
        color       "specular_trans"         default 0 0 0 1,
        scalar      "specular_trans_scalar"  default 1,
        scalar      "trans_gloss"            default 1,
        color       "diffuse_trans"          default 0 0 0 1,
        scalar      "diffuse_trans_scalar"   default 1,
        scalar      "anisotropy",
        scalar      "anisotropy_rotation",
        integer     "mode",
        array light "lights")
    apply material, shadow, photon
    end declare

    declare shader color "builtin_bsdf_architectural_comp" (
        scalar  "diffuse_weight"      default 1.0, #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        color   "diffuse"             default 0.5 0.5 0.5,
        scalar  "diffuse_roughness"   default 0.0, #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        
        scalar  "reflectivity"        default 0.6, #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        color   "refl_color"          default 1.0 1.0 1.0,
        scalar  "refl_gloss"          default 1.0, #: min 0.0 max 1.0 softmin 0.15 
        integer "refl_gloss_samples"  default 8,   #: min 0 softmax 128
        boolean "refl_interpolate"    default off,
        boolean "refl_hl_only"        default off,
        boolean "refl_is_metal"       default off,
        
        scalar  "transparency"        default 0.0, #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        color   "refr_color"          default 1.0 1.0 1.0,
        scalar  "refr_gloss"          default 1.0, #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        scalar  "refr_ior"            default 1.4, #: min 0.1 softmax 2.0
        integer "refr_gloss_samples"  default 8,   #: min 0 softmax 128
        boolean "refr_interpolate"    default off,
        boolean "refr_translucency"   default off,
        color   "refr_trans_color"    default 0.7 0.6 0.5,
        scalar  "refr_trans_weight"   default 0.5, #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        
        scalar  "anisotropy"          default 1.0, #: min 0.1 softmax 10
        scalar  "anisotropy_rotation" default 0.0, #: softmin 0 softmax 1
        integer "anisotropy_channel"  default -1,  #: min -4  softmax 64
        
        boolean "brdf_fresnel"         default off,
        scalar  "brdf_0_degree_refl"   default 0.2, #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        scalar  "brdf_90_degree_refl"  default 1.0, #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        scalar  "brdf_curve"           default 5.0, #: min 0.1 softmax 20
        boolean "brdf_conserve_energy" default on,
        
        # Interpolation settings
        
        integer "intr_grid_density"   default 2,    #: min 0 max 5 enum "2 (double):1 (same as rendering):1/2 (half resolution):1/3 (third resolution):1/4 (quarter resolution):1/5 (fifth resolution)"
        integer "intr_refl_samples"   default 2,    #: min 0 softmax 5
        boolean "intr_refl_ddist_on"  default off,
        scalar  "intr_refl_ddist"     default 0.0,
        integer "intr_refr_samples"   default 2,    #: min 0 softmax 5
        boolean "single_env_sample"   default off,

        # Reflection/Refraction optimizations & falloffs

        boolean  "refl_falloff_on"       default off,
        scalar   "refl_falloff_dist"     default 0.0,
        boolean  "refl_falloff_color_on" default off,
        color    "refl_falloff_color"    default 0 0 0,
        integer  "refl_depth"            default 5,    #: min 0 softmax 10
        scalar   "refl_cutoff"           default 0.01, #: min 0.0 max 1.0

        boolean  "refr_falloff_on"       default off,
        scalar   "refr_falloff_dist"     default 0.0,
        boolean  "refr_falloff_color_on" default off,
        color    "refr_falloff_color"    default 0 0 0,
        integer  "refr_depth"            default 5,    #: min -1 softmax 10
        scalar   "refr_cutoff"           default 0.01, #: min 0.0 max 1.0

        # Factors

        scalar   "indirect_multiplier"   default 1.0,  #: min 0 softmax 1.0
        scalar   "fg_quality"            default 1.0,  #: min 0 softmax 10.0
        scalar   "fg_quality_w"          default 1.0,  #: min 0 softmax 1.0

        # Built in AO
        
        boolean  "ao_on"          default off,
        integer  "ao_samples"     default 16,          #: min 0 softmax 128
        scalar   "ao_distance"    default 10.0,
        color    "ao_dark"        default 0.2 0.2 0.2,
        color    "ao_ambient"     default 0.0 0.0 0.0,
        boolean  "ao_do_details"  default on,

        # Options

        boolean  "thin_walled"            default off,
        boolean  "no_visible_area_hl"     default on,
        boolean  "skip_inside_refl"       default on,
        boolean  "do_refractive_caustics" default off,
        boolean  "backface_cull"          default off,
        boolean  "propagate_alpha"        default off,    

        # Other effects
        
        scalar   "hl_vs_refl_balance"     default 1.0,   #: min 0.0 softmax 1.0
        scalar   "cutout_opacity"         default 1.0,   #: min 0.0 max 1.0
        color    "additional_color"       default 0 0 0 0,
        shader   "bump",
        boolean  "no_diffuse_bump"        default off,
        
        integer     "mode"                default 4,	#: property "lightmode"
        array light "lights"				#: property "lightlink"
        
        )
    apply material, shadow, photon
    end declare

copy these in a file called bsdf.mi
and install it in xsi.

That should help you to use with iray or mental ray.
They are very fast shader. The downside is that you can really do some multi layer stuff with it.
some parameters works some doesn't ( they are just here for compatibility purpose)
The Gui isn't very tidy yet but we can always do a better spdl.

Enjoy
H.

[Maximus]

Hm i'm not sure i know how to do that!

i've just copied that whole script into notepad and saved it as bsdf.mi
have no idea how to install it tho, and what it should happen? i should find a new shader into render tree?

thanks!

[Saturn]

You should new shader in the rendertree called builtin*.

I don't have Xsi in front of me, I can't remember if I copied them in my user folder where the other .mi are.

[ActionArt]

Does anyone know where to find the latest Ctrl.Ghost and instructions on how to install it?

[Hirazi Blue]

For the last known version known to me, look here, it's just a dll and a spdl so installing should be no problem. If you are on x64 machine, be sure to read the included "readme64bit.txt"... ;)

[Hirazi Blue]

For the last known version known to me, look here, it's just a dll and a spdl so installing should be no problem. If you are on x64 machine, be sure to read the FYI under that post or the "readme64bit.txt" that's included in the local download... ;)

[Maximus]

ctrl ghost has 2 files, .dll and spdl

put the .dll here:

C:\Users\Yourname\Autodesk\Softimage_2012\Application\bin\nt-x86-64

if you dont have that folder, create it

put the .spdl here:

C:\Users\Yourname\Autodesk\Softimage_2012\Application\spdl

start softimage, Primitive-> Geometry shader primitive
open renter tree, search for ctrl_ghost_settings node and plug it into the geo shader, double click it and open the ppg

[ActionArt]

I must have done something wrong, I just get this when I try to render: ERROR : PHEN 0.4 error 051011: shader "ctrl_ghost_settings" not found

I'll try again.

[Saturn]

did you restart xsi ?