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zardoz
06-02-2010, 04:01 AM
Hi everyone,

In this thread (http://www.newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109478) I asked for this so I'll just paste the post in here.

I would like to suggest a new plugin that would be a simple render passes system. Very simple one.

When we have our scene complete, lets call it Ball_v001.lws (in the Project/scenes directory) with all it's objects in the Project/objects directory, this script would simply ask for the pass name and would 1st save a new scene called Ball_v001_PASS.lws and 2nd would make copies of all the objects in a new directory Project/objects/PASS.
And of course this scene would use this version of the objects, while the 'mother' scene would continue to use the objects in the Project/objects directory.
This way we can make passes and send them to the farm without the problem of overwriting anything. Maybe this script could have an option to create a new pass scene without opening it, this way if we wanted to create 5 passes for example, while having our mother scene open we could create PASS01 (the script would then save ball_v001_PASS01.lws and copies of all the objects for this pass in Project/objects/PASS01/), create PASS02 (same stuff), create PASS03, etc. Then we could simply open each pass, and do whatever we want without overwriting the 'mother' objects.
Maybe in a different phase we could have another script that could recognize the scenes in the scene directory and have like a drop down menu to open them (maybe looking for some part of the file name or maybe writing the pass name in some part of the .lws file and the 'Open Pass' script could recognize this).

I know this is not a true render passes solution, but this would improve my workflow a lot because today what I have to do is 1st save a new scene, 2nd in windows create a directory and copy all the objects inside and 3rd edit the lws in wordpad to replace the objects name with PASS/object.lwo.

So for a first phase the script would simply save a new scene and copies of all the objects in a directory named from the PASS that we input in the script. From what I've seen I guess this would be easy for you to create. I'm no programmer so I have no idea of the implications to create such a script.

Tx for reading.
Luís

Matt
06-02-2010, 04:35 AM
Couldn't 'Package Scene' do this?

Lightwolf
06-02-2010, 05:11 AM
Hm, it may well be that shaderMeister (if you excuse the plug) would help here. Assuming that the reason to have separate object copies is because the surfaces are changed for every pass.

Cheers,
Mike

Matt
06-02-2010, 05:15 AM
Hm, it may well be that shaderMeister (if you excuse the plug) would help here.

You have no shame Mike! :p

Lightwolf
06-02-2010, 05:20 AM
You have no shame Mike! :p
Nope, not in this case ;)

Cheers,
Mike

zardoz
06-02-2010, 06:40 AM
well...I don't know if what I'm asking needs to be as complex as shadermeister (I haven't looked into it yet, sorry mike)
for what I do something that would copy the scene to the same folder as the main scene, only with _PASS added and a copy of the objects in a folder with the same name as the PASS would be enough. Because I need copies of the scene where I can save the objects properties as matte, etc, not necessarily the materials, it's more about the objects properties in the scene, it's more for stuff like unseen by camera, rays, etc, matte, dissolves, etc (it's also about the materials too, but mainly the scene properties).

Lightwolf
06-02-2010, 06:47 AM
Because I need copies of the scene where I can save the objects properties as matte, etc, not necessarily the materials, it's more about the objects properties in the scene, it's more for stuff like unseen by camera, rays, etc, matte, dissolves, etc (it's also about the materials too, but mainly the scene properties).
Those are scene properties though, they're not saved with the object. So you don't need copies of the objects to change them.

Cheers,
Mike

zardoz
06-02-2010, 08:06 AM
yes, but like I said 'it's also about the materials too, but mainly the scene properties' so in some passes I make an object completely transparent, but keep the IOR so I get another objects matte through the transparent one, and things like that, so sometimes I also change the objects surface in a very specific way, so I need to save the objects in another directory to prevent overwriting the objects in their final state.

tajino
06-02-2010, 08:35 PM
I would highly suggest JANUS (http://janus.faulknermano.com/), it would do a great job at what you are asking for.

Get it! you'll never regret :)

3dWannabe
06-05-2010, 08:25 AM
Yes, Janus & exrTrader (and of course by shaderMeister when buying exrTrader).

Watch the video tutorials shown in this thread, an you'll understand why this is the way to go!

http://www.newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93407

jwiede
06-07-2010, 02:17 PM
I would highly suggest JANUS (http://janus.faulknermano.com/), it would do a great job at what you are asking for.

Get it! you'll never regret :)
Shame that JANUS is only available for PC. Not such an excellent solution if you're a Mac LW user (or dealing with mixed environments).

Matt
06-07-2010, 02:30 PM
Shame that JANUS is only available for PC. Not such an excellent solution if you're a Mac LW user (or dealing with mixed environments).

PassPort (http://www.lwpassport.com/) is multi-platform.

zardoz
06-07-2010, 05:58 PM
well for my workflow the script that I'm asking for would be enough. And my waiting for core, so buying new plugins it's not part of my plans right now.
but thanks for all the tips.