GI Crop Thoughts

neuspadrin · March 21, 2009, 01:29:28 AM

As cropped renders that are then stitched together have the issue of the GI calculations getting off due the cropping, I was wondering if its possible to program in the Crop Region tab if its possible to do like a "force full GI pass", where it calculates all the GI for the image, but only fully renders the cropped area, and would then share GI for each crop and fix the issue. This would allow the optional choice to do it, where you would take a little bit of a hit on the GI pass due to doing the entire image, but it would still allow cropping an image to cut down the overall render time.

Oshyan · March 21, 2009, 01:32:17 AM

Yes, this is an option we've considered. We are still working out the best long-term solution to these issues. Most likely it's something that will have to be fixed after release. But we are definitely working to address it.

- Oshyan

domdib · March 21, 2009, 07:18:40 PM

It's v good to hear that this issue is on the "to-do" list, especially for those of us who don't have 'monster rigs'

Mr_Lamppost · March 23, 2009, 06:24:04 PM

Just a though but would it be useful to save the results of the GI pass to a file for later use? I have seen similar options to save the radiosity calculations in other applications although I have never used them.

Mohawk20 · March 23, 2009, 07:54:56 PM

If that would be possible, it would also be very interesting to see what happens if you load the GI pass from an entirely (and significantly) different scene... It could result in some very funky images.

jaf · March 23, 2009, 11:42:30 PM

I know this is slightly off topic, but I saw the word "stitched" and wondered if anyone has tried the free Microsoft Ice ( http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/ ) with TG2?

I tried it on some photo panoramas and was impressed in how easy and efficient it was, including the auto crop at the end.

jaf · March 26, 2009, 02:03:45 AM

I just wanted to add, a free companion program to ICE is WPanorama ( http://www.wpanorama.com/wpanorama.php?r=1238046684 ).

This program is a panorama viewer/screen saver generator and works great, especially for free.

I tried making a few quick TG2 panorama's and as expected, ICE worked flawlessly (it's much easier to render out a sequence of images than trying to shoot them with a camera and no tripod.)

There are applications like Starry Night, a real time planetarium software package, that lets you install a panorama from your viewing position. Usually these are made from photos, but there's no reason a nice TG2 panorama couldn't be used.

Mohawk20 · March 26, 2009, 06:32:11 AM

Jaf, Why not start a new topic about this? That would be better...

As to saving the GI pass, that would have a nice filename: *.tgi
Would this be easy to do?

Cyber-Angel · March 26, 2009, 08:24:01 AM

You know you could do it if some kind of GI Cache where implemented, other applications have a feature like this and the use it to store the GI calculation (to allow for faster scene calculation, only rendering those parts of a scene that have changed).

Regards to you.

Cyber-Angel

Mr_Lamppost · March 27, 2009, 08:53:55 PM

Quote from: Mohawk20 on March 23, 2009, 07:54:56 PM
If that would be possible, it would also be very interesting to see what happens if you load the GI pass from an entirely (and significantly) different scene... It could result in some very funky images.

Oshyan · March 30, 2009, 03:05:11 PM

GI caching is something we have considered and will be looking at in the future.

- Oshyan