Hi all.
I have read all the threads on importing sequences into an image map shader but with no luck.
I imported first frame then copy and pasted _%04d.jpg over the frame number in the shaders file path box but it will not read the file after doing that.
So I have the full file path but with xxx_%04d.jpg I have also tried xxx.%04d.jpg. No joy.
I think the number variable depends on the number of 0s in your sequence image render. I have had to use %06d with a walking sequence. Are your sequence images like 0000001, 0000002, 0000003.....etc?
Hi there.
I have four digits so I thought %04d was the correct format? I will take another look. Its late I have probably made a mistake.
04d will be for 0000 digits, yes. But it won't change images unless it's progressed a frame. So frame 1 is image_0001.jpg, frame 2 is image_0002.jpg, and so on.
Hi.
Yep thats what I have except my sequence starts at fm 400. So it goes 0400 0401 etc etc.
Its is strange because I type %04d into the path when I write the files out of Nuke.
Not sure if Terragen starts from closest file, or assumes files named according to frames, so it may not be working because it's starting at frame 400.
Quote from: WAS on December 09, 2020, 02:38:45 AMNot sure if Terragen starts from closest file, or assumes files named according to frames, so it may not be working because it's starting at frame 400.
I guess, that's it. Otherwise it seems correct, what you did.
Try starting your TG animation with frame 400, and it should work.
Hi all.
Thanks for the feedback.
My project is set to the input frame range. So it's 400-600 on the timeline and %04d on the sequence. fm 0400-0600.jpg
I must be missing something as this clearly works for you guys.
I may try renumbering the sequence and project to start at frame 0001 and see what that does.
Thanks again.
James.
Have you tried setting your timeline to frame 400 and pressing play?
My timeline in Terragen? I am pretty sure the files are not there as I checked the preview image wotsit on the image shader file input menu.
I will give it a go right now.
Cheers.
The tg timeline plays.
The preview image on the shader just shows an empty white box.
Argh.
Right. Solved! I was expecting the preview image to update to the current frame. It just seems to show the first frame in the sequence which I guess makes sense kinda. So I took your advice Was, stuck the image map on a card and played through
and it works. Which means it always worked :o
Cheers for the help peeps.
Nope.
Back in my actual scene which is 400-600 not 0-200 and it fails on the import again. So I have extended the clip so it now starts at 0000 and it works. I must be missing something basic here i am gonna blame no sleep. I have it working but its a fudge if anyone knows what I am doing wrong I would love to know. so here is what I have tried.
Actual clip 0400-0600.jpg in a project 400-600 with %04d pasted at end of import string. No joy
Rendered extra frames at front of clip so it runs from 0000 to 0600 and it works.
Yes, you to timeline to manage animations within the software. There is a frame input which tells you what frame it's on. You can open this from Window -> Animation Timeline too.
If you put in 400 it will set the frame to 400.
When previewing I'd use the RTP for best results that are comprehensible.
But you can also render a sequence starting from frame 400 to say frame 410 and test the results.
I am just puzzled as it seems to read a sequence into the image map shader you need a sequence to start at 0.
Any other software I have used my sequence would be relative to the shot who's frame numbers would reflect their position in the overall timeline. So i would have my nuke scene for this shot running from 400-600. All elements for that shot would be rendered %04d from 400-600 in whatever app they came from and they would read. And thats what I have done with Terragen. I set my project frame range to match the nuke frame range for the same shot.
I feel I am missing something. Also it is pretty confusing that the preview frame option in the image map shader does not show the
actual frame you are on. Anyway I know now and it is working plus without the feedback I would have given up and found a different route for what I am trying to do so thanks for the help.
And the same for Terragen. If you render a sequence of 400 to 600 that's exactly what you get, and Terragen will read the files accordingly. And the timeline is probably not at 400 so the image map shader has no image. Not sure.
I think I may have confused the issue. The timeline has and does behave as it should whatever number I have in my project settings. It is just when I have tried to use a sequence in the image map shader that I have had a problem. When I put %04d in the image map shader file input terragen is looking for a frame of 0000.jpeg so I have had to put dummy frames at the front of my sequence to get it work. So 399 dummy frames and all work as normal from there. I am just sure there must be something going on that I am missing because that can't be how it is supposed to work. Oh! maybe %04d+399 would work?
Anyway I'll leave there.
When I remove the files 0000 - 0050 from a 100 frame long image sequenz I loaded in a image map shader (connected to the Default shader of a Card) Terragen simply renders the Card black when I start the render at frame 0 in the timeline. When it reaches frame 51 it loads my bitmap from the sequence.
The annoying thing is that I cannot stop the Error Reporting popup window from popping up - even though I turned that behaviour off in the Preferences.
So, this little bugger interferes for every missing frame...
CHeers Klaus
Yeah. It is pretty quirky. I was going to try to put %04d+ the offset and see it that works but have not tried it yet.
If your shot goes from 400 to 600, your textures are named from 0400 to 0600, and you only try to move the timeline through frames 400 to 600, everything should work. What frame are you on when it's looking for frame 0000? The only time it should try to load 0000 is if you're on frame 0. But I wonder if there is some other part of the system that's not aware of the frame number. Is it applied to an object or the terrain? Are you using RTP or non-RTP?
Hi Matt.
Thanks for responding.
Yep thats what I would expect. I was on frame 400. Loaded in sequence by selecting frame 0400.
When I did the copy and paste thing %04d I got an error saying can not find 0000.jpg.
So in the end I rendered my source clip out looped 3 times so it went from 0000-0600 and it worked fine.
The map is applied to an obj. I was getting the errors before I even tried to look at the preview I was looking at the preview image
on the image map shader and would just get an empty white box. After extending the clip like I said it worked fine.
Thanks for the additional information. I think it might be coming from our OpenGL textured object preview using frame 0. You can probably avoid the error by creating 0000 and the rest won't be needed. RTP should show the animated texture.