Cycles for Softimage

[I3D]

And now you can render instances of one mesh with different colors. Default cycAttribute node allows to obtain attributes of the mesh. For different instances the value of these attributes are the same. But the node cycObjectInfo return some special attributes for individual objects (even if these objects are instances of the same mesh).

Thanks Shekn for the explanation. So if I am understanding correctly, using sycAttribute instead of cycObjectInfo we can utilise the instance feature of cycles and color it as we need? If that is correct, can you provide a sample connection tree to showcase how it's hooked?

Thank you

[SPJ]

Thanks I3D & Shekn for the replies. Totally on the ball with your responses.

The cycObjectInfo is a perfect workaround, superb suggestion! This does away with the pre-processing altogether. The color of the particles is slightly different to the results of the previous method but I'll just make tweaks.

To explain for I3D, I just disabled the "Use Pointcloud Attributes for Instances" option and instead used the cycObjectInfo in the material editor, in the way Shekn demonstrated in the screen grabbed. It looks like the copies of the source mesh are given their color data and this allows you to access it without dumping (I guess) ALL the ICE data.

I am definitely starting to get to grips with this renderer, back in the game!

[Shekn]

In Cycles renderer the scene contains different objects. Each object contains one of three geometry structures (Mesh, Hair or Volume). In most cases one object corresponds to one mesh. But different objects can share the same mesh. In this case these objects are instances of one abstract mesh. cycAttribute shader node gets data from the mesh, which connected to the object. So, if two objects share the same mesh, then this node return the same values. For example, if there is a particles system, where each particle is an instance of one master object, then all these instances share one mesh from this master object. If shader needs some attributes, then it will use attribute values from the master, but not from instances. This is because it gets data from the mesh, but not from the object. That's why there is a parameter "Use Pointcloud Attributes for Instances". If this parameter is turn on, then the system creates different meshes for different particles and copy ICE-attrbute from the particle to each individual mesh (mesh can contains any custom attribute). As a result the scene become very heavy, because it contains many different meshes.

cycObjectInfo works in different way. Each object (even with the same mesh) contains some unique data. Color - one of them. And cycObjectInfo node extract this color not from the mesh, but from individual object. In this case one mesh cane be used in different object with different colors. This approach is very limited, because it works only with very few set of attributes (Color, Object index, Material index and Random value, which is unique random for each object). For example, if you need some custom ICE-attribute (particle age or something similar) to transfer from particles to the shader of the instance, then there is only one possibility - convert instances to individual unique object and write ICE-attrbiute to it meshes.

[opoppopopp]

In Cycles renderer the scene contains different objects. Each object contains one of three geometry structures (Mesh, Hair or Volume). In most cases one object corresponds to one mesh. But different objects can share the same mesh. In this case these objects are instances of one abstract mesh. cycAttribute shader node gets data from the mesh, which connected to the object. So, if two objects share the same mesh, then this node return the same values. For example, if there is a particles system, where each particle is an instance of one master object, then all these instances share one mesh from this master object. If shader needs some attributes, then it will use attribute values from the master, but not from instances. This is because it gets data from the mesh, but not from the object. That's why there is a parameter "Use Pointcloud Attributes for Instances". If this parameter is turn on, then the system creates different meshes for different particles and copy ICE-attrbute from the particle to each individual mesh (mesh can contains any custom attribute). As a result the scene become very heavy, because it contains many different meshes.

cycObjectInfo works in different way. Each object (even with the same mesh) contains some unique data. Color - one of them. And cycObjectInfo node extract this color not from the mesh, but from individual object. In this case one mesh cane be used in different object with different colors. This approach is very limited, because it works only with very few set of attributes (Color, Object index, Material index and Random value, which is unique random for each object). For example, if you need some custom ICE-attribute (particle age or something similar) to transfer from particles to the shader of the instance, then there is only one possibility - convert instances to individual unique object and write ICE-attrbiute to it meshes.

Very informative!
So seems cycObjectInfo is a official "walk-around" node, for its own limitation/design choice.


Not every application is as consistent as XSI

[SPJ]

Here is the results of my first scene using Cycles for Softimage:



I'm pretty happy with it and thought I'd share after all the problem solving I've undertaken with the guidance from you guys here. Lots of things going on – point clouds for the floor, the floating pixels, the dry ice (emRPC rendered). The liquid effect is driven by blending the mesh with aaOcean using ICE topo nodes.

I used the Cycles volume shader for the dry ice initially as well, but whilst I did eventually get nice results, the render time was approaching 6 hours a frame. I rolled back to the safety of emRPC which I'm familiar with, it has some draw backs, but renders volume FX pretty bloomin' quick.

The texture work for the floor was done with Quixel Mixer.

[xsisoft]

very cool!
how about a lesson - how did you do it?

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European Football Championship 2021 ?!

[SPJ]

very cool!
how about a lesson - how did you do it?

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European Football Championship 2021 ?!

In terms of Cycles?

[xsisoft]

I wonder how I did it! looks good

[I3D]

These are great SPJ, well done.

I'm writing a guide on how to setup a render farm on the cloud (e.g. AWS) that could help a lot of people using Sycles or even blender to render using CPU and up to 8 Tesla GPUs at a cost effective way instead of investing in a local renderfarm on your own. My tests so far have gone as far as ~$25 USD per hour on a 64 threads and 8 GPUs and ~$5 if using CPUs only, speed is amazing of course when it is on a GPU as what takes 15-20 minutes takes a minute or less on these bad boys.

I'll put a link to the guide here once it is done.

[xsisoft]

in blender soon Cycles X
https://code.blender.org/2021/04/cycles-x/

Blender Developers Live: Cycles-X

[I3D]

I've been using the Cycles X Alpha for a week now, massive speed increase over Cycles. Cannot wait to see how the final one will shape up to be.

[Surface_VR]

I want to post my renderings too!


All videos were created in Softimage and rendered in Sycles.
Textures were created in Substance Painter, Quixel Mixer, and free PBR textures.
It's great that ICE can be rendered in Cycles!

[I3D]

All videos were created in Softimage and rendered in Sycles.
Textures were created in Substance Painter, Quixel Mixer, and free PBR textures.
It's great that ICE can be rendered in Cycles!

These are awesome Surface_VR, you've obviously spent a great deal amount of time to get things working with Sycles across everything in SI. well done.

[xsisoft]

Surface_VR
very cool!

As I understand it, almost everything is done in softimage + cycles?
(your YouTube channel)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXgF8I ... 2qg/videos


maybe we will create a separate branch -and put there -the final renders in cycles and softimage (especially ice is interesting (because it does not seem to support everything) -and note to the developer) what do you say? it will be more final and structured - the(test &) final renders in cycles and softimage

[Surface_VR]

Thanks!

All the videos on my youtube channel were made in Softimage and rendered in Sycles!

I know it's a bit heavy-handed, but I used emTopolizer to mesh the particles, then cached them in mzd format for rendering.
In this case, the particle color is set to Vertex color on ICE and rendered with Sycles.
(If you use mzd, you can also convert weight maps into colors.)

---

The video is in Japanese, so please be careful.

And here's a sample scene.

[wireframex]

I want to post my renderings too!


All videos were created in Softimage and rendered in Sycles.
Textures were created in Substance Painter, Quixel Mixer, and free PBR textures.
It's great that ICE can be rendered in Cycles!

Great job you've done