DP Motion Designer

[dpont]

Hi,

After fixes in MDD/BDD/PC2 displacement plugins
like negative time unefficiency,
unrespect of MDD file frame rate,
adding new "Spline" Interpolation, "Oscillate" End Behavior,
Displacement "Scale"
and adding a new MCC Pointer plugin,
I embedded them in a new Motion Designer Pack
including the following displacement point cache readers,

MDD Pointer (LW format streaming)
MDD MetaPointer (LW format streaming)
BDD Player (LW format )
PC2 Pointer (3DSMax streaming)
MCC Pointer (Maya streaming)

Should be compatible with older saved scenes with
standalone version of this plugins.

In Streaming mode Pointers read data from the file only per frame,
instead of storing the whole file in RAM memory.
frame updating is slower, but scene loading is faster.

Object position, rotation, scaling transformation with "KeyMove On".
"Start" time to begin animation.
"Speed" multiplier, positive or negative.
"End Behavior" choice, "Stop", "Repeat", "Oscillate", "Reset".
"Scale" factor for displacement data.
"Linear Interpolation" or "Spline" (except MDD MetaPointer).

"Mapped Time" for time warping effect with an enveloppe.


Note that this new options have also been added
in the MDD/BDD nodes of DPKit recently.
Thanks to Marvin Landis for the win64 version,
http://dpont.pagesperso-orange.fr/plugins/MDD_Pointer.html

Regards,
Denis.

[olivier MICHON]

Woohoo ! Nice fixes and update, Denis :thumbsup:
Thanks a lot !

[dee]

Thanks Denis! :thumbsup:

[Dodgy]

That's awesome stuff Denis, thanks a lot!

[lightmann]

Thank you Dp .More dark arts to the lightwave side of the force.:yoda:

[Cageman]

Wow!

This is really good stuff!

Thanks ALOT Denis!

:thumbsup:

[dpont]

A few fixes in DP MD Pack,
-Loading a second file in all streaming loaders, crashed.
-"Multifile" was not correctly handled in MCC Pointer.
-MCC Pointer with "Multifile" always started at file/frame 0, even with
higher start-frame.
-Added the correct MCC startframe (from xml file) as "Start" in MCC Pointer.

Also in the x32 version of DP Kit yet,
new MCC Pointer and PC2 Pointer nodes,
MDD Cache hability to load xml/mc, pc2 beside mdd files,
as shared point cache file for all (cloned) objects in the scene.


Denis.

[dpont]

Fixes/changes also available in the x64 version of DP MD and DP Kit.

Denis.

[lino.grandi]

Thank you so much Denis!

[PeT]

denis, you are our best ..

:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

[adk]

... great stuff Denis & thank you so much :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[arsad]

Thanks a lot Denis!

[dballesg]

Thanks a LOT Dennis.

David

[tyrot]

who is gonna release a tutorial DVD for just DP_motiondesigner ? please somebody

[jwiede]

Mac version? Puhleeze?

[Greenlaw]

Hi,

Would it be difficult to update the plug-ins to work with FX Metalink and FX Hardlink, like ClothFX's MDD reader does? Currently, these FX plug-ins only work with ClothFX and no other MDD readers, including DP, Point Oven, and other native LW versions. So I *could* use ClothFX, except a problem we've run into is that ClothFX needs to be set to Last in Displacement order, which means it won't work properly with nodal object displacment mapping.

Actually, we've sort of gotten this to work in the past through multiple baking passes, but this is another one of those dumb labor intensive workarounds which we shouldn't have to do, and I'm trying to avoid that on our current project. I guess what I really want is one MDD reader that does everything we need it do: reads any .mdd file, can be set to seconds or frames, has an envelope, can stream or cache, works with Metalink and Hardlink, AND isn't fussy about object displacement order. Plus anything else I just left out. Right now, we seem to jump between five or more different MDD readers and various combinations of readers to do multiple baking passes, which isn't very efficient or much fun.

Thanks for listening, Denis, and keep up the fantastic work!

Greenlaw

[dpont]

...Would it be difficult to update the plug-ins to work with FX Metalink and FX Hardlink, like ClothFX's MDD reader does? Currently, these FX plug-ins only work with ClothFX and no other MDD readers, including DP, Point Oven, and other native LW versions...

FX Metalink and FX Hardlink are tied to ClothFX and HardFX,
two dynamic engines, not only point cache readers,
the doc say that there is no calculation needed in them,
I guess that they inherit directly some matrix rotation
rather than only point displacement for a fast 'link' of
a part of the high mesh to a 2-point poly.
So a reader is not enough, it can't get these extra infos
another plugin should do its own calculations
a 'nearest' search for a poly, then build matrix...
MetaPlug or MetaPointer are rather an interpolation
system based on the nearest face/poly, couldn't
work with 2-point polychain.
Note that any object with same part number and order
can be displaced with BDD Player, so a low mesh can
be calculated in HardFX and resulted BDD played by a high
mesh object.

Denis.

[Greenlaw]

Hi Denis,

Thanks for the informative response!

Our .mdd data in this situation is typically baked out of Maya and applied to character objects in LightWave for lighting, hair & fur fx, and final rendering. What we often use FX Metalink with ClothFX's .mdd reader for is to attach guide chains to a character for Sasquatch hair, or to attach some other character accessories that may or may not have dynamics on applied to them. But, as I pointed out, ClothFX's .mdd reader seems to have issues when it comes to combining it with displacement nodes. Very frustrating.

G

[littlewaves]

Mac version? Puhleeze?

yes Mac version please Lightwolf if you're reading this?

We'll say nice things about you forever more

[dpont]

yes Mac version please Lightwolf if you're reading this?

We'll say nice things about you forever more

Yes, time to say,
DP Motion Designer is now available for Mac UB,
32-bit and 64-bit version embedded in the same file,
http://dpont.pagesperso-orange.fr/plugins/MDD_Pointer.html

Thanks to Michael Wolf http://www.db-w.com/

Denis.

[dpont]

I updated DP Motion Designer, win32 yet,

A few fixes,
A calculation error with "Spline Interpolation" in MDD Pointer,
MCC Pointer, PC2 Pointer and MDD Cache nodes.
Switching from "Spline" to "Linear" Interpolation Mode crashed.

I Added the Particle Scan Displacement plugin,
slightly different from the standalone version,
optimized MDD data export with particle life and particle size info
(no improvement related to 3rd party particle systems).

Added a MDD Emitter Custom Object plugin for streaming MDD files exported by Particle Scan, with same option than other DP Motion designer players, Mapped Time etc,
Allows Particle Age and Relative Age Gradients with Hypervoxels.

Denis.

[serge]

Nice! Thanks Denis!

[dpont]

...Added the Particle Scan Displacement plugin,
slightly different from the standalone version,
optimized MDD data export with particle life and particle size info
(no improvement related to 3rd party particle systems).

Added a MDD Emitter Custom Object plugin for streaming MDD files exported by Particle Scan, with same option than other DP Motion designer players, Mapped Time etc,
Allows Particle Age and Relative Age Gradients with Hypervoxels...

Also available in the win64 version.

Thanks Marvin,
Denis.

[dpont]

DP Motion Designer has been updated, both win32 and win64 versions,
Fixes for PC2 Pointer and MCC Pointer (not minor..)
also fixed for the node versions in DP Kit.
I added a Pointcache Scan Displacement plugin, for baking frozen points
of an object, including subpatched mesh, between start and end preview frames,
for saving MDD, PC2, MCC one or multi files.

Denis.

[hunter]

Hi,
I'm trying to use this plug with pc2 created in max and even though a pointcache file is loaded the plugin says No File. This is true in both LW 9.6 1553 and LW 10 64 bit. Any ideas?

[drako]

Amazing....bravo monsieur dpont.....

[dpont]

Hi,
I'm trying to use this plug with pc2 created in max and even though a pointcache file is loaded the plugin says No File. This is true in both LW 9.6 1553 and LW 10 64 bit. Any ideas?

Could be just delayed, closed the panel,
move the cursor on the time line
to see if at least it plays your pc2
animation.

Denis.

[hunter]

Could be just delayed, closed the panel,
move the cursor on the time line
to see if at least it plays your pc2
animation.

Denis.

Thanks for replying. I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong. :) I got it to work. I think it was the object I had exported. Probably point order or something. D'oh!
and of course thank you for all the great plugins! just awesome work.

[Andrewstopheles]

Dennis you are some kind of unknown superhero. Thank you!
Thank you another ten or twenty times, for all the times I've scratched my head thinking "I'll never need that" and then come looking for it a week or two later.

[jasonwestmas]

I Added the Particle Scan Displacement plugin,
slightly different from the standalone version,
optimized MDD data export with particle life and particle size info
(no improvement related to 3rd party particle systems).

Added a MDD Emitter Custom Object plugin for streaming MDD files exported by Particle Scan, with same option than other DP Motion designer players, Mapped Time etc,
Allows Particle Age and Relative Age Gradients with Hypervoxels.

Denis.

Hi Dennis, I was wondering if there was a brief description some where on how to import any point clouds into Lightwave using the xml/mc format. AKA ncache.

[dpont]

...I was wondering if there was a brief description some where on how to import any point clouds into Lightwave using the xml/mc format. AKA ncache.

The MDD mode of DP MD particle scan is similar,
then playing the resulted cache from a MDD Emitter
is better than playing with a classic MDD player with
point object.

Speaking of your question about Softimage ncache of particles,
I have no experience with this workflow, don't know
how 'limby' or 'dead' particles are coded,
and there are always those usual questions about export settings
for both object and cache for compatibility with the player plugin.

I commonly study this with content, sample object
and cache file.

Denis.

[jasonwestmas]

The MDD mode of DP MD particle scan is similar,
then playing the resulted cache from a MDD Emitter
is better than playing with a classic MDD player with
point object.

Speaking of your question about Softimage ncache of particles,
I have no experience with this workflow, don't know
how 'limby' or 'dead' particles are coded,
and there are always those usual questions about export settings
for both object and cache for compatibility with the player plugin.

I commonly study this with content, sample object
and cache file.

Denis.

Thanks Dennis, as you may know, what I'm talking about is a similar process to how softimage can connect point cloud data to Max's Pflow nodes and Maya's emitters. All three of these apps. understand the use of maya nCache in a cumulative point cloud emission kind of way. which is similar to the "Bin" format from real flow. (Of course that is only the virtual description for what is happening.)

I can try to get some example files that would be easy to test with.

[jasonwestmas]

Here are some .mc cache files from SI Lagoa, Dennis. Also known as maya nCache. The Isohedron emitter object in in that folder as well. I hope this is helpful. If not I can take another look.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ypz5ab

[dpont]

Here are some .mc cache files from SI Lagoa, Dennis. Also known as maya nCache...

This is doable with a specific MCC Emitter,
just particle position.

Animated test (60 frames only),
102933

Does it match the original emitter?
coordinates correct?

Denis.

[jasonwestmas]

oh wow! Yeah that looks pretty darn good, very similar to what I saw with the lagoa particles though they were a very big particle size for simplicity sake. Very impressive.

Thanks Dennis!

[dpont]

DP MD has been updated, win32 yet,
I added a MCC Emitter, for playing MC MultiFiles of particles,
not fully tested of course, hope that this format is standardized
for using with other nCache particle exporter.
It should read the 'rotation' and 'scale' channels,
but only with linear interpolation,
I skipped the 'force' and 'masse' channels.

Denis.

[dpont]

DP MD has been updated, win32 yet,
I added a MCC Emitter, for playing MC MultiFiles of particles,
not fully tested of course, hope that this format is standardized
for using with other nCache particle exporter.
It should read the 'rotation' and 'scale' channels,
but only with linear interpolation,
I skipped the 'force' and 'masse' channels.

Also available in the win64 version.

Thanks Marvin,
Denis.

[3DGFXStudios]

Reall great node, exactly what I need right now :D I checked the x64 version, but when I try to open an ncache particle file from maya it returns this error "Read only Positions Channel ()" and it doesn't load any thing. In maya there are no options for exporting positions only. Is there something else I'm missing?

Thanks

[dpont]

...when I try to open an ncache particle file from maya it returns this error "Read only Positions Channel ()" and it doesn't load any thing. In maya there are no options for exporting positions only. Is there something else I'm missing?..

MCC Pointer is not able to read or play ncache particle files,
also the above testing wasn't exported from Maya,
I haven't such sample files.


Denis.

[3DGFXStudios]

MCC Pointer is not able to read or play ncache particle files,
also the above testing wasn't exported from Maya,
I haven't such sample files.


Denis.

HI Dennis, what kind of file does the MCC-pointer node need then?
I uploaded some Maya files on my ftp. These files are Maya nCache Particle files.
There's one single file and a multi-file cache.

www.3dgfxstudios.com/3dgfxdata/Cache.rar

I hope you have the time to check these files out so we can use nparticles in LW.

Thanks

[dpont]

..what kind of file does the MCC-pointer node need then?...

MCC Pointer works with geometry point cache
like common MDD Pointer with a fixed number of points
Particle ncache has a growing number of particles
over frames, needs to be read and played by an emitter
like the above MCC Emitter.

Denis.

[dpont]

...I hope you have the time to check these files out so we can use nparticles in LW...

Actually MCC Emitter isn't compatible with this ncache.

Denis.

[3DGFXStudios]

MCC Pointer works with geometry point cache
like common MDD Pointer with a fixed number of points
Particle ncache has a growing number of particles
over frames, needs to be read and played by an emitter
like the above MCC Emitter.

Denis.

Oh that's it. I forgot to remove the md pack before adding it again so I figured it was the MCC pointer i needed...whoopsy. Now the MCC emitter is showing. But LW locks up when loading the file.

Or it gives an No positions in file error.

[3DGFXStudios]

Actually MCC Emitter isn't compatible with this ncache.

Denis.

Oh crap :( Why not? Is it something I can change or is it just for softimage?

[dpont]

...Is it something I can change or is it just for softimage?

Because the channels of the files exported by Softimage were simply named and easier to parse, I updated the MCC Emitter, so it should
work properly now with multi 'mc' files directly exported by Maya,
but MCC emitter as a streamer doesn't work with one embedded 'mc' file,
also if data files contain both local position and world position,
it takes the world position in priority.

win32 version yet,
Denis.

[3DGFXStudios]

Thanks Dennis! It's working! I had to install the 32bit version of lightwave for it but it looks great. A really useful addition imo.
Keep us posted when it's updated in the x64 version please.

Thanks again! You're AWESOME!

[dpont]

..But with one major issue,
no possibility to link something to the particles, fixed.
I found also a crash issue when reloading the same or another file.
implement the age and the relative age buffers.

win32 update yet.

Denis.

[3DGFXStudios]

I added a TFD container. When trying to scroll I get a crash. Also when I try to load the same file twice like you said it crashes but not immediately. I was able to scroll for a few seconds. Also I noticed the particle colors where flashing randomly?

[dpont]

I added a TFD container. When trying to scroll I get a crash. Also when I try to load the same file twice like you said it crashes but not immediately. I was able to scroll for a few seconds. Also I noticed the particle colors where flashing randomly?

I haven't TFD,
I just add Hypervoxels,
rough Viper animation with particle color for the first 60 frames,
103240

Denis.

[dpont]

There is indeed still unstability, at least one issue is reproducible,
I have another plugin linked to particles which fails.

Denis.

[dpont]

I updated again the win32 version of DP_MD,
Scrolling/Previewing with MCC Emitter should be stable,
correct particle color in preview,
fixed also default scaling problem.

I can link instances to particle with DP Instance or DP Instancer
but it fails with the LW Instance Generator,
don't know about TFD.

Denis.

[3DGFXStudios]

It seems to work now with TFD. Only getting some popping in the fluids but that might also be something that TFD does. Maybe because of the big scale the particle simulation has. I've to dig in to that more.

I made you a donation for all the hard work. (so you can fill you gas tank for free this weekend ;))

[dpont]

Last fixes for MCC Emitter available in the win64 version of DP MD.

Thanks Marvin,
Denis.

[dpont]

DP MD has been updated again, win32 and win64,
emitters are now compatible with the LW Instance Generator.

Denis.

[3DGFXStudios]

Oooow very nice :) Thanks!

[dpont]

I added a BDD Scan displacement plugin for baking animated rigid bodies,
works with multi-parts objects.
I tested it with HardFX, LW11 Bullet..
baked dynamic animations can be played
with BDD Player or HardFX with its Load Motion command.

In DP Motion Designer win32 yet.

Denis.

[dpont]

DP Motion Designer has been updated, win32 yet.

Added Export and Overwrite Motion options in BDD Scan,
this option works for single part object only,
Motion is exported in the LW "mot" format.

Denis.

[dpont]

Updated again DP Motion Designer, win32,
BDD Scan failed on sample object with a high number of parts,
modification of the process for matching exactly part index order.

Sphere object with 1500 parts,
animation of baked BDD over original HardFX dynamics,
wind explosion, position and roll,
103507

Animation of a single part sphere object,
left, original Bullet
right, baked motion (X position shifted for comparaison)
103508

Denis.

[dpont]

BDD Scan has been added in the win64 version of DP Motion Designer.

Thanks Marvin,
Denis.

[dpont]

DP Motion Designer has been updated for both win32 and win64 version,

BDD Scan export wasn't correct for assymmetrical geometry, this affected only motion files.
Fixed a BDD Scan refresh problem for huge geometry.
MDD Emitter broken since last fix a few weeks ago.

Denis.

[dpont]

After a LW Bullet has been baked with BDD Scan,
bdd file can be loaded in HardFX,

you can export an individual part path to a motion file
with 'Command' button,

103605

you can edit an individual part, selected with a right click,
modify its position, rotation,
re-save the modified bdd with HardFX.

103606

Denis.

[Greenlaw]

Wow! That is awesome. Thank you VERY much for this Denis. (Time to send in another donation.) :)

[joelaff]

Incredibly useful! Thanks!

[joelaff]

I am having an issue with the latest DP Motion Designer (64bit LW 11.01).

IN Layout I can use an MDD Pointer plugin to load in an MDD for an object. I can then put a Texture Displacement plugin (the plugin-not the little "T" up above the plugins list) AFTER (below) the MDD Pointer and affect the mesh using this Texture Displacement combined with the MDD file. This works fine in layout.

However, when I go to net render with LWSN the MDD Pointer works as expected, but the Texture Displacement seems to be ignored, and has no effect on the mesh.

Any thoughts? I could re-MD Bake the object after the Texture Displacement, but before rendering...

[dpont]

Updated DP Motion Designer, win32 and win64,
fixed a few things in Particle Scan for compatibility
with LW11 Flocking Generator.

Denis.

[joelaff]

I am not finding BDD_Scan in the Displacement plugins drop down under LW11.01 64bit. Am I looking in the wrong place, or is it perhaps not in the 64bit build?

It is not listed in the Edit Plugins as being part of the DP_MD64.p I would try the 32 bit, but I don't even even 32bit LW11 installed as of now (and this scene would not load on 32bit).

Thanks.

I am using the plugin dated 5/9/12

[Cageman]

After a LW Bullet has been baked with BDD Scan,
bdd file can be loaded in HardFX,

you can export an individual part path to a motion file
with 'Command' button,

103605

you can edit an individual part, selected with a right click,
modify its position, rotation,
re-save the modified bdd with HardFX.

103606

Denis.

VERY cool and extremely usefull!

Thanks a lot Denis!!! :thumbsup:

[jwiede]

Denis/Mike, any notion when an updated Mac version that includes BDD Scan, etc. will appear?

[joelaff]

Can anyone confirm that BDD_Scan is in the 32bit version but not the 64bit version? I think I need to install 32bit.