FEATURE REQUESTS

Started by rolland1013, October 03, 2018, 03:03:29 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

rolland1013

I just thought of another one, well actually I've brought this one up before somewhere else in the forums.  But I thought here was a good place to request is again.  SHADOW MAPS.  Render layers/Render Elements/Extra Output Images would be the perfect place for this feature to live.

sjefen

#31
Would be nice to be able to make the previews in the library bigger.
Also to get email notifications when a render is done.
I also think the shaders could be reworked or have more options similar to other software's. It's not easy to get the results I want on with imported objects when it comes to the shaders


- Terje
ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/royalt

AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X
128 GB RAM
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

rolland1013

Ok this feature request is a big one for me (aren't they all?), but I keep running into the need for this.  In Maya we use a feature called "Play Blast" to output a shaded view sequence of an animation.  It's not rendered, but it allows us a quick look at the overall shot.  This would be massively helpful in Terragen.  I've run into situations were I've rendered a TG scene with a tracked 3D camera I've gotten from PF Track (or another tracking package) only to find out that the track is off.  This just happened to me with a shot that was 453 frames at 2K. 

Niel

digitalguru

QuoteIt's not rendered, but it allows us a quick look at the overall shot

Matt can correct me if this isn't right, but I assume Terragen has to render via a micro-polygon render to get the terrain displacement in the preview - looks like a progressive version of the main renderer capped at a certain level of detail, it's obviously not an Open GL preview that you can scrub or render quickly to a playblast.

Maybe an idea would be to add a "terrain only" mode to the render node, so the render would behave like the preview does when the Terrain tab is selected - i.e. no atmos, gi,  terrain shading etc. That would be quicker to render for a test. Would also be great when using the render node to save out a Micro exporter as that's all you need to save an obj or fbx.

Have you tried my script for Maya? -
https://www.highend3d.com/maya/script/terraman-for-maya

I use it all the time to render out animation playblasts, and using tiling for the terrain can get very detailed geo into Maya for a playblast, plus you can use Maya to add useful screen ornaments like frame numbers and camera names burnt in.

QuoteI've run into situations where I've rendered a TG scene with a tracked 3D camera I've gotten from PF Track (or another tracking package) only to find out that the track is off.

I've scripted custom camera rigs to ensure cameras get exported to Terragen quickly and accurately and use .chan data for the export.I  haven't had to deal with a tracked camera from something like PF track, but that's something I definitely want to add soon - just need to write a conversion tool to make sure the FOV, film backs etc translate correctly to Terragen.

rolland1013

Yep we use Terraman for import/export of terrain, cameras and such.  While we have gone that route of exporting TG geo into Maya for playblasting, it does add several steps to the workflow.  In tight deadline situations that can be frustrating.

digitalguru

QuoteYep we use Terraman for import/export of terrain, cameras and such.

Good to know!

Quoteit does add several steps to the workflow.

It does, unfortunately, if you think of anything that could improve that, let me know.

D.A. Bentley (SuddenPlanet)

#36
Quote from: rolland1013 on January 22, 2019, 05:34:11 PM
Ok this feature request is a big one for me (aren't they all?), but I keep running into the need for this.  In Maya we use a feature called "Play Blast" to output a shaded view sequence of an animation.  It's not rendered, but it allows us a quick look at the overall shot.  This would be massively helpful in Terragen.  I've run into situations were I've rendered a TG scene with a tracked 3D camera I've gotten from PF Track (or another tracking package) only to find out that the track is off.  This just happened to me with a shot that was 453 frames at 2K. 

Niel

I suggested to Matt awhile back that it would be nice to be able to render out animations from the RTP (ray traced preview) by having an option to set the maximum refinement time (per frame), and then rendering out the animation. 

Maybe now that Terragen 4 has the Path tracing Render Engine as an alternative to the original, a third alternative render engine could be added as seen in the attached image.

[attachimg=1]
NOTE:  I meant "ray traced preview" not real-time preview.

Derek

Dune

I think the problem being that the ground isn't updated in RTP.

D.A. Bentley (SuddenPlanet)

Quote from: Dune on January 31, 2019, 02:25:11 AM
I think the problem being that the ground isn't updated in RTP.

Yes, but it still would be useful for doing cloud animations.  ;)

D.A. Bentley (SuddenPlanet)

Matt,

You said a long time ago:

QuoteThe Power Fractal Shader only has 256 unique seeds. After that the seeds repeat. I wasn't aware of that limitation when I made the Random Seed button generate values between 0 and 65535. The Alpine Fractal Shader and Fake Stones Shader have this limitation too, and probably other shaders that use noise functions. But other nodes in Terragen might have a larger number of seeds.

But isn't it possible to leave the current seeding code in place and fix the bug to allow for the full number of seeds (65535) using a radio button option for backwards compatibility?   Anywhere there is a seed option there would be two radio buttons (One for 8-Bit, and another for 16-Bit).  For backwards compatibility the default would stay on "8-Bit/256", but by switching to "16-Bit/65535" we could explore the much greater range of seeds.  Mainly I want this for clouds and Density fractals.  Pretty Please?

Derek

Dune

More seed variation would indeed be awesome. I've come across limitations too, which had to be circumvented.

cyphyr

In no way am I a coder but couldn't a solution be to multiple two seeds together.
If two random seeds are generated within the 256 limit and are multiplied together that would give a total of 65536 seed possibilities.

ps: I have for a long time wanted a seed node with a corresponding input override on all nodes that have a seed value.
Actually a seed node would just be a Constant scalar (could have a randomise button on it as well), the issue is to have it input and override the random seed generated by PF's, Cloud fractals and FSS.

Very often I have MANY node networks have multiple duplicates of the same noise functions all of which have to be changed to the same new seed value. This is a slow and tedious process that a seed input on  PF's, Cloud fractals and FSS would solve.
www.richardfraservfx.com
https://www.facebook.com/RichardFraserVFX/
/|\

Ryzen 9 5950X OC@4Ghz, 64Gb (TG4 benchmark 4:13)

Dune

Seed input, brilliant idea!

mhaze

I have a wish list as long as your arm but the thing that bugs me the most is .obj input.  Many .objs I make and use have anything up to 50 part shaders.  When TG loads colour correctly but not displacements I have to manually input them.  Poseray reads the.mtl s correctly but exporting from poseray to TG makes no difference.

Dune

50 is a lot. Can't you combine them (if they can use same texture or color of course)? Like the DAZ figures have 20+ parts, but when combined to the same texture, that can be reduced to maybe 7.