[Reordering Master Materials]

Here is a not so obvious way to sort master materials in the project window:

 

1. Start with the hierarchical project view. The first entries in the project window are usually the (unsorted) master materials followed by the Word object.

 

2. Drag each master material and drop it just below the World object. Important: Drag the materials in the sort order you want. When you wish alphabetic sort order, drag the "A" materials first and the "Z" materials last.

 

When you add a new master material, it's placed at the end of the materials list. To sort again:

1. Drag the Word object just below the last master material.

2. Proceed as explained above: Drag each material again just below the World object, following your sort order.

 

Hope this helps (and I hope there is a simpler method). 

 

--VK

[Reverse Normals + Missing Faces = Crash]

Hello

 

Today I tried to add a .fac model exported from Silo. Something was wrong with the model. (I found out later that the problem was Orphan Vertices.)

 

Just for the heck of it I clicked Reverse Normals in the Info window and got the following error (see picture)

 

Of course I clicked the Debugger button and Animator crashed.

 

The first few lines of the Crash Report are:

 

Process:         Animator [8493]

Path:            /Applications/EIAS 9.0/Animator.app/Contents/MacOS/Animator

Identifier:      com.electricimage.animator

Version:         9.0 (???)

Code Type:       X86 (Native)

Parent Process:  launchd [156]

 

Date/Time:       2013-05-30 00:26:24.109 +0200

OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63b)

Report Version:  9

 

Interval Since Last Report:          2947093 sec

Crashes Since Last Report:           20

Per-App Interval Since Last Report:  264736 sec

Per-App Crashes Since Last Report:   1

Anonymous UUID:                      

 

Crashed Thread:  0  Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

 

Exception Type:  EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)

Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000

 

Application Specific Information:

abort() called

objc[8493]: garbage collection is OFF

 

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

0   libsystem_kernel.dylib         0x90c509c6 __pthread_kill + 10

1   libsystem_c.dylib             0x945e6f78 pthread_kill + 106

2   libsystem_c.dylib             0x945d7bdd abort + 167

3   com.electricimage.animator     0x0000bb1b Atlas::Dbg_NotifyPAC::Error(char const*) + 43

4   com.electricimage.animator     0x0000b456 Atlas::Dbg_Imp::AssertFailed(char const*, int, char const*) + 86

5   com.electricimage.animator     0x00d0aa6a CPolygonList::ReversePolygonList() + 890

6   com.electricimage.animator     0x00409630 DisplayDataReverse(DisplayData*) + 112

7   com.electricimage.animator     0x007c1caf WShadeRec::DrawWindowGeometry(WViewRec*, DStack*, long, bool) + 655

8   com.electricimage.animator     0x007c4831 WShadeRec::SystemDraw(WViewRec*, WCacheRec*, DStack*, long, long) + 1313

9   com.electricimage.animator     0x007aa7aa EIWindowView::UpdateEvent(FWEvent&, FWDrawContext&) + 298

10  com.electricimage.animator     0x0018b8cf FWEventDispatcher::WindowUpdateEvent(FWEvent&) + 47

11  com.electricimage.animator     0x0075b19c EIEventDispatcher::Dispatch(FWEvent&) + 92

12  com.electricimage.animator     0x0018c6b4 FWEventManager::Execute() + 68

13  com.electricimage.animator     0x005a0c70 main + 432

14  com.electricimage.animator     0x00046f75 start + 53

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks, VK

 

 

[Layer shader and output gamma]

Hi Tom

 

I've sent you a sample project.

 

Thanks, VK

[Layer shader and output gamma]

I've noticed that the DOF layer shader does not respect the special output gamma setting in the render tab (in EIAS 8 and 9). The .psd output always looks like gamma 1 regardless of the gamma setting. Is this a bug or a feature?

 

 

[Speed comparison]

It will render slower, but you will achieve a better transparency, reflection and refraction.

Yes, this is what the manual says, too. Strange enough, render times go up when using the Irradiance setting for transparency (13 vs. 9 min). This is why I used Layers for all transparent materials. I forgot to update the green glass material, though. When I adjust this one, it renders even a little faster (9:8 vs. 9:43 min).

BTW the cores are accounted for in my calculation. EIAS 8 isn't this slow, after all. ;)

[Speed comparison]

You miss the hours. It's 12 hours vs. 9 minutes. :)

[Speed comparison]

I have a "secondary stress test" project containing complicated reflections and refractions lit by GI.

EIAS 8 renders the scene in 12 h 38 min 20 sec (single thread):

http://atlantis23.co...neglass_7_1.jpg

EIAS 9 renders the same scene in 9 min 43 sec (8 threads):

http://atlantis23.co...eglass_7_14.jpg

Based on the same number of threads the new renderer is about 10 times faster than the old one. The GI settings are pretty low. And to be fair, some refractions are more accurate in the EIAS 8 render.

[Snapshots looking different]

When I render a full size snapshot and a detail of the same scene (a "Selected Full Size" snapshot) the same object looks different. Why?

The attached picture shows the detail render and a clipping of the full size render. The green object (its transparency) looks considerably different. It is lit by an adaptive sky light and an area light, no photon maps.

[OSX Lion Dongle Installer is ready!]

Do I really need to install this driver? I have Lion and my EIAS dongle is working well.

[Amorphium PC Installer]

I have the Amorphium 3 DVD which contains the Windows installer. There is a serial number included so I don't know whether you could use the installer with your license.

[Lion Compatibility - Loaded Question(s)]

of course the the job would be easier if apple hadn't hidden the User Library folder form view.

In OS X 10.5 and later you can use the "chflags" terminal command to show and hide files and folders. Open the Terminal and issue the command:

chflags nohidden ~/Library

to show your Library folder in the Finder. Use

chflags hidden ~/Library

to hide the Library folder again.

[Evermotion room - help!]

Just for the sake of completeness...

there's a similar IOR list in the Animator manual (appendix B).

[Flower]

Here's the formula for the ParametricSurface plugin:

http://www.atlantis23.com/ei_parmsurf/vk_Flower.txt

To use the formula,

1. Open the link.

2. Save the entire text as *.frm file.

3. Put the *.frm file into the "/EI Sockets/Parametric Data" folder.

BTW, more formulas are here:

90 Popular Parametric Surfaces

[rotation axes in texture map window?]

Yes, very useful shortcuts. They should be listed in the manual. You could post them in the EI forum on CGTalk. There's a special thread, something like cool secrets nobody knows.

You can also control-drag or hit "r" and then drag to rotate the texture. Without axis constraint, though.

[rotation axes in texture map window?]

Very nice shortcuts. How did you find them?

You can do the same by choosing "Tool > Rotate Local X Only" etc. in the main menu bar.

BTW, I can see the axes in the texture info window, and your shortcuts rotate about these axes. What do you mean by "do it using the axes"?

[UV mapping]

What FelixCat said. I use different settings, though.

- To place the map properly, I uncheck (disable) the "Normalize" option in the group info, and use Position (0,0,0) in the texture info.

- To scale the map properly, I use Scale (0.002, 0.002, 0.002) in the texture info.

[SimCloth test]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the comment.

Im waiting to see your batman animated....

Yes, I'm waiting, too. I have the story and all the frames are in my head. Now I just need to make some props, paint some textures, rig the characters, animate, and render... :D

[SimCloth test]

Hi Tom, Igors

Thank you very much for the SimCloth update. It works very well, and fast. Here's a simple test

batman windy

I have two glitches:

- The Clear... button switches to Simulate mode but doesn't delete the files. (I can delete the files in the Finder, though.)

- The Set... button gives the message "Error renaming folder".

I'm using the OSX PPC version.

[Area Light Comparison]

Hi Igors,

Thanks for the explanation.

My first test using your settings on 3 area lights produced a lot of redundant calculations. Image quality was excellent but render time was exorbitant.

Here's the last test using 1 area light with slightly reduced settings

www.atlantis23.com/bluebedroom7igors_3.png

and the photon map

www.atlantis23.com/bluebedroom7igors_2_pm.jpg

Baking time is about 4 minutes. Render time on my computer is 1 h 24 min. Using 6 Intel cores, this means about 7 minutes render time.

The settings are:

- 1 area light, ray count 300

- photon count 1000K

- photon density 194

- segment length 0.2

- direct radius 0.1

- bounced radius 0.15

- GI ray count 600

- GI color tolerance 1

- sampling level 1x1

- "4x4 Average" antialiasing

[Area Light Comparison]

Hi Igors,

Thanks for the testing. Did you increase the ray count for your single area light? From 100 to 300, for example?

A single light is probably faster because of reduced baking time. I'm rendering now using 3 lights and your settings (Direct radius 0.05, Bounced radius 0.1), baking time for one map is about 15 min (about 1.5 million data points). I will post my render time in a few minutes.

[Area Light Comparison]

Hi Tomas,

Thanks for the comment. Looks like the lookup radii are very important. Another question would be how area light ray count versus GI ray count affect speed and quality in this case.

[Area Light Comparison]

Hi Igors,

Thanks for the clarification.

Hi Tomas,

Thanks a lot for the modified project. Render time on my computer is now 48 min.

www.atlantis23.com/bluebedroom7tom_1.png

Most of the time saving is probably due to your sampling level 1x1 instead of 2x2. I used 2x2 for a fair comparison --the old render was 2x2-- but also to get better texture detail.

You're using much larger lookup radii (and database segment length). Your lookup radii cover the entire scene. According to the manual, p. 258, larger radii increase render time. Why are your larger radii faster than my smaller radii?

I used the same lookup radius for "Direct" and "Bounced". You use a higher lookup radius for "Bounced". Does this mean your bounced light is brighter? Does a higher Bounced radius affect render time?

When I render your project on my computer, some of the ambient occlusion shadows are missing, for example curtains shadow on the floor, bed shadow on the floor, ledge shadow on the wall, lower part of the night-stand. There is bounced light between the night-stand and the bed which shouldn't be there, IMO. I will see if this is caused by your "Bounced" lookup radius.

BTW, what is the render time of my project on your computer? A single Intel core seems to be more than twice as fast as a G5.

Thanks again for the testing.

[Area Light Comparison]

Thanks for the comments.

Tomas, I PMd you a link to the prj. I'm sure there is some potential for speed optimization.

[Area Light Comparison]

Here's an old indoor test scene, rendered using the old area lights (LightPlane shader), and a new render using the v8 area lights, photon maps, and gamma correction.

Render time for the old version was 22 h (at 1680x1050 on my iMac G5 @2.1 GHz). Render time for the new version was 2.5 h (same resolution, same computer).

Full resolution images are here

Old version www.atlantis23.com/bluebedroom6_4.png

New version www.atlantis23.com/bluebedroom7_3.png