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Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 05 Aug 2011, 14:50
by SamHowell
Well the Softimage to Thea export plugin is still being developed but it is at a stage where accurate mesh,clusters and camera information can be transfered no problems. Translate and rotate animation is supported also. I think Steve Caron (the plugin author) is planning some extra support for particles in the future but I'm not sure. He's done a fantastic job so far but his job isn't helped by the small user base (I'm guilty of not providing enough feedback and submitting bug reports myself). For shape animation you will need to export a .XML file per frame (the plugin now supports this) containing mesh information and then run a custom .IPT script through Thea to render each frame in turn.

As for Thea, it's cheap and powerfull. The development team really do listen to the user base and are constantly inovating. GPU support is still in development.

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 06 Aug 2011, 14:25
by milanvasek
mopman is great :) but there is something weird going on with strands on his hands. is it possible to tweak that somehow, make it more smooth?
anyway, really cool B-)

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 06 Aug 2011, 15:39
by kitesflyer
Awesomeeeeee...

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 06 Aug 2011, 17:49
by SamHowell
Thanks Guys

Hey Milan, I know what you mean about the twitching arm. I could never quite work it out myself. I played with length, width, iterations, gravity, drag etc. but no joy. I altered the arm animation, even removed it completely but the twitch remains. It doesn't happen on the legs so I have no idea.

It might also have something to do with the scene scale and the distance between opposing polygon faces on the underlying mesh. I'm not sure if the strands inherit the normals of the mesh they are generated from and use that as some kind of control. The underlying man mesh is very low resolution and the arm is a sort of mangled stump created by dissolving the polygons on the arm of the XSI man model and rig.

I would love to fix it but I gave up when I made him all those years ago. Hopefully I can find some time to play around some more...

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 31 Jan 2012, 16:08
by SamHowell
Weird Spawn

Image



Another test transfering animation from Softimage to Thea Render, this time with Lagoa particles.

Some liberal use of FX Nut's save rendermesh plugin to get the particles across as mesh data is a big help. This fact obviously limits the amount of particles that it is practical to transfer. Still quite handy though until another solution presents itself.

I tried a bit of fairly dense and strong displacement on the spheres and still had quite decent render times until the particle count got too high.

The simulation all goes a bit floaty half way through but it was just a case of emit and go. Not too much preperation went into that.

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 31 Jan 2012, 17:54
by Memag
That looks really great!

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 31 Jan 2012, 17:59
by SamHowell
Thankyou, very kind.

Thea gives the most wonderfull and tactile renders.

I've got still got another 100 frames to render. Hopefully I can update Vimeo soon.

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 01 Feb 2012, 00:00
by scaron
Death_By_NURBS wrote:Weird Spawn
Another test transfering animation from Softimage to Thea Render, this time with Lagoa particles.

Some liberal use of FX Nut's save rendermesh plugin to get the particles across as mesh data is a big help. This fact obviously limits the amount of particles that it is practical to transfer. Still quite handy though until another solution presents itself.

I tried a bit of fairly dense and strong displacement on the spheres and still had quite decent render times until the particle count got too high.

The simulation all goes a bit floaty half way through but it was just a case of emit and go. Not too much preperation went into that.
thanks for sharing sam...

do you have access to 2012? why not use ICE Modeling to turn the particle cloud into real topo?

i know i still need to support ICE features in my plugin, just i got NO TIME.

s

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 01 Feb 2012, 15:55
by SamHowell
Hey Steve

Yes I am using Soft 2012.

I gave the ICE modelling a quick look but there seemed to be a slightly random poly count limit when I attempted to convert ICE spheres to geometry. I also ended up getting frames here and there where the topology compounds just refused to work and had some trouble with the UV's transfering to the new mesh.

I'll admit I only gave this method a quick try on a quiet afternoon. I shall definately give it another go
i know i still need to support ICE features in my plugin, just i got NO TIME.
:D He he. I know the feeling. The fact you spend any time on the Softimage plugin in the first place with such a small user base is very much appreciated. Work always comes first, you've got to put food on the table.

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 05 Jul 2012, 15:39
by SamHowell
Some more fun with Thea Render




Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 29 Aug 2012, 11:12
by SamHowell


Getting distracted again.

ICE strands with attractors. Rendered with Thea.

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 30 Aug 2012, 19:23
by Kerro Perro
It says it's a private video.. :-??

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 30 Aug 2012, 19:39
by SamHowell
Hmmm, I've complained to the staff at Vimeo about this but it keeps on happening. Anyhoo, it's public again. Enjoy the Thea goodness.

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 01 Sep 2012, 14:05
by milanvasek
nice one :-bd

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 02 Sep 2012, 00:04
by wireframex
Well done Sam :)

Re: Softimage animation to Thea Render

Posted: 03 Sep 2012, 10:45
by SamHowell
:o) Thanks guys.

You have got to do some fun stuff every now and again to keep yourself sane.