Chenarch

Hi All, I'm not sure I'm doing it right, but I rendered a square resolution in EIAS (1024 I think) but rendered it as "environment." I placed the camera in the center of space and (without ever moving camera) I rotated it 90º to capture the four sides, then rotated it to capture top and bottom. I will check my notes, but I think this is how I I ended up with a vertical cross of the whole space. I took the vertical cross into Photoshop and carefully cut it into six squares. I then went to internet and found some javascript that displays six squares as VR (one-two-three-four-top-bottom) and got this result: http://www.mostbeautifulroom.com/thomas-jefferson-capitol/thomas-jefferson-capitol-virtual-reality.html I'd like to find out more about the stereo part... not sure I'm doing it right... Richard (chenarch)

Thanks for your help, Tom! I'll work on figuring out an abbreviated version... right now the folder is larger than a GB! Many thanks! Richard

Hmmm... post would not do the second link, so here it is: http://www.mostbeautifulroom.com/resource/a3.mov

Hi Tom at al... Thank you all for your help! I reinstalled my Snow Leopard after some house-cleaning, and inadvertently screwed up my pathways, I think, and my big project would no longer render. Anyway, long-story-short, I re-assembled the file in v9.1 and everything is working really fast and flawlessly now. My model (1.2M poly without the furniture) and 3 lights, renders 720x480 in about 4-7 minutes using 32 bit and 8 cameras. The three lights are: (1) Roof Object light emits photons at the skylights. (2) Window Object light emits photons in the windows. (3) Sun parallel doe not shoot photons but creates the hot spots and shadows. Setup is this: GI Only--Database--Permanent, 700K photons, 3 Lookup Photons, 3.12 Lookup Radius Here is typical light setup: http://www.mostbeautifulroom.com/resource/photons-roof.png Q? As you can see in the 12 sec animation, the sun moves across the southern sky from about 7 AM to 7PM and camera is pointing north. I like this result a lot, but I think the overall ambient lighting in the room would probably brighten more, becoming brighter at noon, and dimmer in the evening, etc. Should I make the sun emit photons as well to achieve more variation in overall lighting? Or can I animate the Roof Object and the Window Object to simulate overall ambient brightness within the room? Should I use "Always" "Always" instead of "Database" "Permanent" on the photons? Here is the animation: http://www.mostbeautifulroom.com/resource/a3.mov%C2"'> Many Thanks!! Rich PS: Couldn't be doing this viz without my EIAS. BTW, I will be lecturing on this project at Johns Hopkins University in March.

Thanks, guys, will check it out! Richard Getting Less Ignorant for over 56 years

Here are some tests I did, as scientifically as I could... (( I had to add the "Camera_64 exe" to each Slave folder. )) All renders are being sent to a Mac Pro Nehalem (2009) with 24GB RAM. File only uses one Uber Shape plus Mr. Nitro and no textures. Threw away the cache file and render folder between each test. #1: v9 / 32 bit / 16 thread / 8 slaves / 361 frames / 1950 MB @ camera (optimized) / 00:09:32 #2: v9 / 64 bit / 16 thread / 8 slaves / 361 frames / 24376 MB all 16 threads (optimized) / 02:02:00 #3: v8 / ......... / 8 slaves / 361 frames / 1950 MB @ camera (this was set) / 01:41:09 When I ran it on 32 bit 16 thread w 8 cameras it was only 9 minutes. I don't understand what's going on technically between 32 and 64, but I suspect the 64 is supposed to be faster. I can post the file if anyone is curious to try. Thanks! Richard

Hi Tom! I upgraded to 9.1 and created a new Renderama Slave on the Nehalem Machine (10.6.8). I do get that choice of 32 or 64. I try to run it at 64 and I get this error... Can it have something to do with the Ethernet connection between the two computers? The main machine (the local) will run 64 bit... http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/no64.png

The EIAS 9.0 is running on a 2008 MacPro and does see 64 bit. The Slave Camera 9.0 running on 2009 MacPro (connected by Ethernet) does not see the 64 bit. Both machines running Snow Leopard.

Hey all, I am experimenting with v9 now and Renderama. I work on a MacPro 2008 with 8 threads running Snow Leopard. I set up the Slave on a Mac Pro Nehalem 2009 with 16 threads also running Snow Leopard. Connected with ethernet. I only need one Slave, is that correct? When I try to make the Slave machine do 64 bit architecture, it errors. But the main (local) machine will do 64 bit. So far the single Slave on Mac pro Nehalem is faster than running eight Slaves using v8. Any words of wisdom on v9 Renderama or Slaves or 32 bit versus 64? Thanks! Richard

Thanks Tomas! And thanks all... Here is the Frog Tree Test on v8 versus v9... a much better render that goes 6X faster on my Power Mac using one Camera... http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/Frog-tree-test.jpg

Got it, my mistake!

Hi All, I am trying out the demo version 9 and the install required an installation code (three tries). I have two licenses and dongles for v8, thus I have two installation codes. I types in one of these and it didn't work... am I doing right? Thanks! Richard

Another quick render, without any lighting changes, only switching cameras... (no reflections yet) http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/s55-Cam2-1200.jpg

Thank you, Alex and Tom! I have posted info here on render time: http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/post.jpg My render farm is a MacPro Nehalem w 12GB RAM and ten Cameras running. http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/post.jpg This lighting looks pretty good to me, although I think I see one tiny light leak behind the statue at the window casing. Room dimensions are 110' long x 85' wide x 55' high ceiling. I was wondering how to make the hot spots less sharp, more fuzzy or atmospheric. Maybe render the light only and adjust in PS? It would be very cool to get shafts of light, as though light is colliding with motes and dust etc. Tx for the good word. Richard

I think I got it... I went to the Roof Light Object's "info tab" and the subtab "shadow" and turned off Cast Shadow and Receive Shadow... The two Object Area Lights work w the direct Sunlight now... Thank you very much! If v9.1 is faster and better than this, I can't wait... Rich

Hi Tom! And thank you again! Yes, by doing a small render w Camera, I was then able to create "Permanent" .phm files for further renders using Rama. Fixed. I turned off the Sun and it's photons and the "light leaks" went away. I then adjusted up the light levels so that the entire scene was illuminated by two Light Objects, (1) shining through the vertical windows, and (2) shining through the roof skylights. I have been able to re-introduce the hot spots created by the Sun, but I had to turn off the Roof Light Object to let it shine through. See this: http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/screen-shot.jpg Is there a way to get the all three to work? Many thanks.

Thx, Tom! I am rendering now with Parallel Sun Light turned off. When I switch to "Permanent" I am prompted to create a .phm file. I do this for the two remaining Light Objects (the windows and the skylights). When I run this, Renderama crashes with camera errors on all ten cameras. Should this "Permanent" .phm file be located within each Camera folder? Is the problem that it can't find? Richard

Thank you, Tom. I look forward to upgrading! I think I'll be able to very soon - a client is gonna pay me! @@@ This scene has 2.9 million polygons. It's illuminated by three lights. A light object that covers the windows. A light object that covers the roof skylights, and a sun. There are a few objects in here that have high reflectivity: the silver lamps, the chandelier, the railing. I had a nice glow working but it It renders pretty fast in v8 except when I turn on the reflections, then it slows down considerably. Here's the data: http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/eias3d-data.jpg Thanks again, Rich

Hey all, I'm getting back into a project that has been on-hold for a while... Still using v8 but will upgrade soon. I love the effects I get w photons. But I sometimes get these "light leaks." What's causing these and how do I eliminate? Thanks! Richard Pic posted here: http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/light-leaks.jpg

I'm okay for now... I reversed the text in PS and can move on... But I am curious about what the proper answer is... Thanks! Richard

Sorry for the urgency, gang, but I'm on deadline. I am trying to map some text on the inside of a cylindrical room. The text only goes 288 degrees around the cylinder. Negative Z is on. When I try to set this up, my text appears correct on the outside of the cylinder (drum) shaped room and appears backwards on the inside. I know there must be a quick setting I'm missing... I would like to have the text only appear on the inside of the cylinder shaped room and not be backwards... Thank you! Richard

I also watched a very informative video on YT about Gimbal-Lock, and realized I could also just start my orbit from about 80 degrees up and not 90, thus avoiding the issue. Thank you, Tomas!

Thank you, Tomas! The Effector worked. Best, Richard

Here's the snapshot of the camera info windows at frames 30 and 31, showing the Yaw Angle going crazy for one frame http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/cam_f30_f31.jpg

EIAS v8 I have landscape plan I'm trying to illustrate by animating its sectional profiles. During this short animation the camera starts off looking straight down on the plan Yaw Angle 0, then I attempt to orbit to an angled view of the plan. The 'orbit' move starts with frame 31. So camera is stationary for 0-30 frames, then on frame 31, instead of orbiting smoothly, it goes haywire for one frame, then orbits smoothly after that. Any idea what the issue is? This hasn't happened before. Thanks for any ideas on this... Richard Here's the video: http://www.princetondigitalarts.com/v4.mp4 Here's the camera info showing the Yaw Angle going haywire between frames 30 and 31...