Problems - (not) Rendering in 2.5

[rcallicotte]

I have had this happen (see attachment) in two of the renders I have tried since downloading the update today.  Not sure why it is stopping at the pre-rendering stage. 

[Jack]

you made sure you have not got write Gi to cache file enabled in the GI settings?

[Dune]

Looks like that indeed. If so, it will have written the file, and you can do the render by having it read it. Instead of starting all over again.

[rcallicotte]

That is what I did.  So...it's been a while.  Do you mean I can just render it with that cache file?

[Simius Strabus]

You should be able to render it again. Just go to GI settings > Read GI cache file(s) and hit the render button.

[rcallicotte]

Thanks Simius.  I tried that earlier this morning by dinking around in it and it worked!  I'm late to the party.   

I found this is the only way to get he Micro Exporter to work as well, once the GI cache system is mobilized.

Thanks everyone! I have been busy with other things and haven't taken the time to play with TG2 for months.  It's great being back in it again.

[Oshyan]

Micro exporter and GI system should have nothing to do with each other. In fact I would think GI Cache output mode needs to be *disabled* for the micro exporter to work properly.

- Oshyan

[rcallicotte]

"work properly" or not work at all?  I haven't completed a sequence with Reading GI Cache on, but I have seen it produced an FBX when I did one frame with GI Cache on.  Let me know so I don't twist up the processes...maybe it creates the file but it isn't structured the same as with the GI Cache disabled or...I have no idea.  Just playing with it now and it's probably old stuff to most of you.

Micro exporter and GI system should have nothing to do with each other. In fact I would think GI Cache output mode needs to be *disabled* for the micro exporter to work properly.

- Oshyan

[Oshyan]

I'm honestly not sure exactly what you're saying. The Micro Exporter exports geometry generated as part of the rendering process to a file. Lighting, e.g. GI, has no effect on the generated geometry. Given those facts, you want to be doing a *regular* render and, not GI cache generation render, and in fact if the export is your only goal, having GI on just unnecessarily slows down the render.

- Oshyan

[rcallicotte]

Okay.  What I did was run through creating the GI cached animation first. Then, I decided to run the export to do FBX.  This second stage seemed to be faster in the exporter part, though I honestly wish I knew a way to prevent rendering altogether when I want to export geometry as well as the scene into FBX (separate files, of course).  I realize the entire process is taking extra time.

What am I missing?  Or is it possible to bypass rendering in order to export only?

[Tangled-Universe]

No, you can't bypass rendering if you want to export geometry.
The geometry will be created at rendertime and thus you can only export after your render has completed.
That's why Oshyan tried to explain why it shouldn't export if you only write out a GI cache, because if you do so then the actual geometry hasn't been created yet.

It's unclear to me, although I'm also wondering if it's clear to yourself , what you want.

If you want to export geometry to FBX then set the file extension to .fbx in the micro handler.
If you want to export geometry to OBJ then set the file extension to .obj in the micro handler.
If you want to export to both then you would need to render the image once using .fbx as extension and once using .obj as extension as TG2 can only deal with one micro handler for every render node.

FBX also contains geometry so you probably only would need this.

If you want to export camera, animations, lights etc. then use the "file -> export to FBX" menu.
You don't need to render your scene to do this, since it won't contain geometry.

[rcallicotte]

TU, yes it's clear to me what I want.  I know all of the above.  But, what I didn't know is why it makes a difference whether the GI Cache is enabled or disabled whether the micro exporter is on.  GI Cache speeds up future renders, especially animations.  So...I was experimenting to see what would happen and it looks like an FBX mesh can be exported when GI Cache is running, though I'm not sure TG2 is built that way.

It's a shame I need to render during an export of geometry.  This slows everything to a crawl. Great renders, but then if I only want geometry this seems slow.  But, anyway, I'm grateful for the FBX export, which seems to work okay.

[Tangled-Universe]

No like Oshyan explained you don't need GI for your geometry. Hell, you won't even need light or shadows, whatever.
So it won't make any difference to your geometry. It would only make the process of exporting your geometry slower.

So it seems you want to export geometry for multiple frames, isn't it?
If so, then I'd just render an entire separate sequence for the geometry, why?
(If not, then still the same applies lol)

1) exported geometry polycount depends on detail parameter in the renderer and usually a detail of ~0.35 is already quite dense.
You DON'T want to export geometry at your final render detail, of say 0.7, for an entire sequence (or still).

2) you don't need light, shadows or GI for your geometry to be exported. So disable your light, disable enviro light and set GI to 0 in the renderer.
Together with reduced detail setting from the first suggestion above this will GREATLY reduce rendertime for each frame for your geometry export.

[Oshyan]

Also ask yourself if you actually need geometry export for each frame or if, for example, a top-down geometry export capturing your whole area of camera movement at a constant detail would be better. Remember that the micro exporter geometry detail is camera-relative, so you'll have more geometry-per-area in parts of the scene closer to the camera. If you want a constant level of detail scene-wide, exporting from a top-down view is a better option.

- Oshyan