LuxusCore Carrara

Dartanbeck

I would suggest looking deeply into your extensions folder - for I believe that that is where your problem(s) lie(s).

I am in a similar situation with an unralated thing, bit at least mine isn't bringing my whole Carrara down! 

Joepingleton

I am not sure what more I can do than the fresh install I just tried.
Do you think it's conflicting with the basic extenstions?

Dartanbeck

Joepingleton said:

I am not sure what more I can do than the fresh install I just tried.
Do you think it's conflicting with the basic extenstions?

To test my situation, I looked at my extensions folder and moved all of my plugins to a temporay folder on my desktop.

I have a whole lot of plugins, so it wasn't all that simple - I opened my install files to see which file were plugins. Sparrowhawke was easy, just downloaded a fresh copy - they're all in one zip - and selected them according to his package. I guess it was easy, but I did take extra time to get it right.

Then I fired up Carrara - sure enough... non of my plugins were in there except the one that I wanted to test. Bummer... that's not my problem :(

===================================================================================

Nervously, I put all of my plugins back into the extensions folder... Whew! All seem to be there and no errors firing up Carrara.

So I thought of you and loaded up the sample scene. Can't stand the shaders on the sphere and the ground, so I used the LuxCore Material > Glossy2 and loaded in some maps.

never really tried looking at the LuxusCore sun before, so I played with that a little - as well, I tried running my eight core cpu vs my XFX Radeon R7 200 vs running both without changing any other settings. They all seem to work fine.

One day I'll actually MAKE some time to study up on this system and learn its ways - as well as the first Luxus for Luxrender 1, which is also pretty cool.

Dartanbeck

As you can see, infinite planes are not infinite using this engine - nor does it pick up on whatever it is that the Plant Modeler does to create all of its branches and leaves. (Can't see that here - but I've just tested it)

Also, I've noticed that if we add things or translate things around the scene, while it will show that it's rendering over again (updating, if you will) it still won't reflect the changes until we Stop, and Render again - which is still not a big deal at all!!!

This thing is pretty cool - and I must say - Really darned fast, even with my ATI card. Still not impressed with ATI cards. This one was supposed to compete nicely against GTX 9 somethings... although I've never tried one of those yet, I'm already fairly sure that the nVidia models blow this away - but that's neither here nor there, since I don't really need a zippy G-Card anyways... not for what I do ;)

Dartanbeck

Another cool thing is that, once we launch LuxusCore, it's window shows up in all rooms! I haven't checked the modeling room yet... I'll have to do that next time.

But it's neat how we can hit the Stop button if we have a lot of changes to make to a shader, and don't need it to continuously try updating each change - then hit the render button again to activate its auto update/rendering! Really Sweet!

I also enjoy how the render room allows us to enter code to change things. While I can't code my way out of... well... anything (LOL), I can still understand what stuff I can copy and paste in there - perhaps even make little pesonal-needs alterations here and there. SphericalLabs is pretty good at explaining all of that stuff. 

So while I think this thing and my own experience (or lack thereof) still needs some work, I really like what's going on. I'd love to see this thing compared to Octane.

cdordoni

Hopefully SphericLabs will get paid for all their work on this. I'll definitely buy it.

mindsong

Joe,

Is it possible that even though the base installation does not seem to have any default settings file included, that maybe the first time it's run that it creates a default settings of some-sort in your user-area (C:\Users\Jpingleton\AppData\Roaming\Daz 3D\Carrara8.5\...) that would not have been removed or updated in your re-install efforts? Such a file might get updated as the plugin is used and carry local settings information that affects you, but not us...

I'm not running it right now, or I'd happily look around for such a beast, but I could imagine that with your extensive (and *really* cool) experiments, that your settings are more advanced than most folk's and might be worth moving 'out of the way' to get things working again!

The other thing that occurs to me is perhaps a scene that used to work might not with the update (some material issue, etc.?), but a fresh session, rendering a simple sphere at world 0,0,0 might give you some hints. I assume you tried this and other 'simplifying' variations, but it's worth mention.

Like Dartanbeck, I appreciate the cool stuff you've been doing and sharing, and really hope you can get this working again!

Question: what are your symptoms - does Carrara even try to start the plugin, or does it start and die later, or ...?

cheers,

--ms

3drendero

Strange, just tried the latest Luxuscore and it works fine with the test scene.
Running latest Carrara (8.5.1.19 64bit) on Win10 64bit, updated AMD graphics drivers.
Running carrara as admin or user works in both cases.

Silly questions:
-Are you running the 64bit Carrara?
-Do you have multiple Carrara installation folders and just copied the files to the another Carrara installation?
-Are the 3 files there (agressive virus killers removes files)
-Correct ZIP file and correct checksums?
-Any difference if you start Carrara as admin? Right click Carrara-Run as admin
-Updated graphics drivers?

SphericLabs

Joe,

Usually that error you are getting is related to a missing dll or a driver is choking on something.

A person can usually figure out which dll is missing by using dependency walker.  Caution, it is an advanced tool that can give errors when there are none, but it does give us clues as to what is going on.  So go get dependency walker, http://www.dependencywalker.com/ ; I assume you want the x64 version. Extract it and run it.  Drag your LuxusCore.mcx file onto the dependency walker window.  It will take a little while and then produce something like the image shown.  By default it expands the depenency tree,  we only want to see one level deep so  close them all so it looks like the images shown.

One image is correct and all dependant dlls were found, the other has a yellow quesion mark next to OpenCL.DLL.  OpenCL.DLL is missing in that case.  What does yours look like?

 

 

Joepingleton

SphericLabs said:

Joe,

Usually that error you are getting is related to a missing dll or a driver is choking on something.

A person can usually figure out which dll is missing by using dependency walker.  Caution, it is an advanced tool that can give errors when there are none, but it does give us clues as to what is going on.  So go get dependency walker, http://www.dependencywalker.com/ ; I assume you want the x64 version. Extract it and run it.  Drag your LuxusCore.mcx file onto the dependency walker window.  It will take a little while and then produce something like the image shown.  By default it expands the depenency tree,  we only want to see one level deep so  close them all so it looks like the images shown.

One image is correct and all dependant dlls were found, the other has a yellow quesion mark next to OpenCL.DLL.  OpenCL.DLL is missing in that case.  What does yours look like?

 

 

SphericLabs YOU ROCK!
I tried your suggestion and it appears my "OpenCL.DLL" was corupt.  I replaced it and everything work great.  Thanks for all your help and hard work.  Looking forward to the final release of this product so I can buy it to support all your work. :)

 

Attached is a 20 second test render with the latest plug in 

mindsong

yay from the peanut gallery!

And @SphericLabs, keep us updated on your plans and any possible ways we can do a local 'kickstarter' to keep it alive, even if it's done using spare-cycles!

cheers,

--ms

 

Dartanbeck

Wow, thanks SphericLabs! I'm going to see if that work for my non-related plugin issue!!! I really appreciate your geniusness and constant awesome support!

You ROCK!!!

Joepingleton

Here is another quick LuxusCore Carrara test with the latest build. It uses Stonemasons' "Jungle Construction Kit" and the surface replicator.  I combined it with a depth map render to simulate fog.

Dartanbeck

Joepingleton said:

Here is another quick LuxusCore Carrara test with the latest build. It uses Stonemasons' "Jungle Construction Kit" and the surface replicator.  I combined it with a depth map render to simulate fog.

Stunning, Joe! 

So, do you use the Glossy2 material shader element to get your textures onto stuff?

Do you know of a link to a place to know more about the various options in Carrara?

My most difficult attempts to switch over is finding out how these darned shaders work 

But it's so cool! I know I'll get it. Even just using Glossy2 (I've been using that one because it looks so similar to my usual Carrara options) I know I can at least get stuff going rather easily. I just wish I knew more! LOL

But I guess that's the same with any shaders, come to think of it. Maybe we just have to trial and error these options and figure out what works best for our individual needs.

Dartanbeck

  Damn   Darn that's a beautiful render! 

Joepingleton

Dartanbeck said:

Joepingleton said:

Here is another quick LuxusCore Carrara test with the latest build. It uses Stonemasons' "Jungle Construction Kit" and the surface replicator.  I combined it with a depth map render to simulate fog.

Stunning, Joe! 

So, do you use the Glossy2 material shader element to get your textures onto stuff?

Do you know of a link to a place to know more about the various options in Carrara?

My most difficult attempts to switch over is finding out how these darned shaders work 

But it's so cool! I know I'll get it. Even just using Glossy2 (I've been using that one because it looks so similar to my usual Carrara options) I know I can at least get stuff going rather easily. I just wish I knew more! LOL

But I guess that's the same with any shaders, come to think of it. Maybe we just have to trial and error these options and figure out what works best for our individual needs.

Thank you, 
It was just a quick test to see the "LuxusCore Carrara" plug-in was working.  It just used the default shaders, I need to convert them to "LuxusCore " shaders to get the real benefits of the plug-in.

I converted the shaders in the "Cyborg" picture of my first test of the latest build.  I consolidated the shaders first, then went through and played with the "luxuscore Mirror" settings.

More experimentation is needed ;)

I don't know of any resources other than http://carraracafe.com/plugins/luxuscore-for-carrara-plugin-unofficial-manual-2015-02-15/ and http://www.luxrender.net/forum/

cdordoni

I have not worked with Luxcore yet, so perhaps that would answer this question ... are there any multipass options?

I know LuxRender can save EXR format but that's only the complete rendered image as far as I know. What I'd like to do is get the depth (or other pass) out as 16bit/channel.

Joepingleton

cdordoni said:

I have not worked with Luxcore yet, so perhaps that would answer this question ... are there any multipass options?

I know LuxRender can save EXR format but that's only the complete rendered image as far as I know. What I'd like to do is get the depth (or other pass) out as 16bit/channel.

I don't know of a way of getting any multipass options out of Luxuxcore.  I got the depth pass for the last image by rendering it regulary in Carrara and combined them in Photoshop. 

Dartanbeck

Yeah, I'd really be interested in some kind of list of various commnds we can type into the Render Room panels to get different render results - like perhaps multi-pass and EXR results, etc.,

 

cdordoni said:

I have not worked with Luxcore yet, so perhaps that would answer this question ... are there any multipass options?

I know LuxRender can save EXR format but that's only the complete rendered image as far as I know. What I'd like to do is get the depth (or other pass) out as 16bit/channel.

One thing to consider - for a Depth pass, we could easily switch to the Carrara PR engine and jam one out with everything in the scene using just the simple default shader for speed (thinking of long animated output here, when mentioning the default shader thing)

Then use that with the output of the LuxusCore result? Just thinking aloud - since the native engine cranks out depth passes in almost no time at all ;)

Dartanbeck

cdordoni said:

I have not worked with Luxcore yet,

Duuuuuuude!!! LOL

Just sayin... it's pretty cool - you should try it ;)

SphericLabs

It's cryptic to do, but the following passes are available:

RGB, RGBA, RGB_TONEMAPPED, RGBA_TONEMAPPED, ALPHA, DEPTH, POSITION, GEOMETRY_NORMAL, SHADING_NORMAL, MATERIAL_ID, DIRECT_DIFFUSE, DIRECT_GLOSSY, EMISSION, INDIRECT_DIFFUSE, INDIRECT_GLOSSY, INDIRECT_SPECULAR, MATERIAL_ID_MASK, DIRECT_SHADOW_MASK, INDIRECT_SHADOW_MASK, RADIANCE_GROUP, UV, RAYCOUNT, BY_MATERIAL_ID, and IRRADIANCE

 

It was mentioned here:
​-> http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/912192/#Comment_912192

 

Dartanbeck

Cool! I'm bringing this up here so we can see it:

 

 

SphericLabs said:

Philemo said:

The more I play with it, the more I like it.

Anyway, I have a few more questions :

Is it possible to create an EXR output using Luxcore ?

If not, is it possible to export a LXS file to render using Luxrender ? (I have Luxus , but I would have to change all the materials).

Is emission plugged in ? I did some tests and I can't really see the result. Maybe I'm using wrong settings (I've checked the normal, so it's not the issue).

 

With the last build no, but with this new build YES.

- http://sphericlabs.com/preview/win64/LuxusCore.zip

You will need to put something like the following in the config section:

batch.periodicsave=15
film.outputs.1.type=RGB
film.outputs.1.filename=image.exr

This means every 15 seconds write an RGB image with filename image.exr. The file will apear in the extension folder.  You can specify a path such as C:/Users/Spheric/Documents/image.exr

 

You could also do stuff like write an HDR and a tonemapped png with

batch.periodicsave=15
film.outputs.1.type=RGB
film.outputs.1.filename=image.hdr
film.outputs.2.type=RGB_TONEMAPPED
film.outputs.2.filename=image.png

 

types can be: RGB, RGBA, RGB_TONEMAPPED, RGBA_TONEMAPPED, ALPHA, DEPTH, POSITION, GEOMETRY_NORMAL, SHADING_NORMAL, MATERIAL_ID, DIRECT_DIFFUSE, DIRECT_GLOSSY, EMISSION, INDIRECT_DIFFUSE, INDIRECT_GLOSSY, INDIRECT_SPECULAR, MATERIAL_ID_MASK, DIRECT_SHADOW_MASK, INDIRECT_SHADOW_MASK, RADIANCE_GROUP, UV, RAYCOUNT, BY_MATERIAL_ID, and IRRADIANCE

 

 

 

 

Dartanbeck

You can specify a path such as C:/Users/Spheric/Documents/image.exr

So where would we include that? Would it be like:

film.outputs.2.filename=C:/Users/Spheric/Documents/image.exr

Dartanbeck

See... this stuff is really exciting to me and I'd love to find a resource to figure out what all is possible - I'm not very savvy at geekdom, but I can often catch on fairly quickly with learning simple commands - especially ones that I need to use a lot ;)

Thanks SphericLabs... This is So Cool!

(I knew I saw that code stuff somewhere!)

Dartanbeck

So could I use batch.periodicsave to render animations? Wait... that would be a different command, wouldn't it? Something like batch.nextframesave or batch.periodicsave.nextframe ???

Dartanbeck

I'll have to go back and read through this whole thread - take some notes ;)

cdordoni

SphericLabs said:

It's cryptic to do, but the following passes are available:

RGB, RGBA, RGB_TONEMAPPED, RGBA_TONEMAPPED, ALPHA, DEPTH, POSITION, GEOMETRY_NORMAL, SHADING_NORMAL, MATERIAL_ID, DIRECT_DIFFUSE, DIRECT_GLOSSY, EMISSION, INDIRECT_DIFFUSE, INDIRECT_GLOSSY, INDIRECT_SPECULAR, MATERIAL_ID_MASK, DIRECT_SHADOW_MASK, INDIRECT_SHADOW_MASK, RADIANCE_GROUP, UV, RAYCOUNT, BY_MATERIAL_ID, and IRRADIANCE

 

It was mentioned here:
​-> http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/912192/#Comment_912192

 

Thanks, that opens up a lot of possibilities ....

cdordoni

Dartanbeck said:

cdordoni said:

I have not worked with Luxcore yet,

Duuuuuuude!!! LOL

Just sayin... it's pretty cool - you should try it ;)

Yup, the multipass option gives me a good reason.

chickenman

here are some test images using the PBR texture set below.

http://www.daz3d.com/medieval-brick-collection-pbr-textures

 

These took about 3 seconds to render.

Need to look at the Shader tree again and see if there are better ways to utilize the maps.

 

chickenman

here are some test images using the PBR texture set below.

http://www.daz3d.com/medieval-brick-collection-pbr-textures

 

These took about 3 seconds to render.

Need to look at the Shader tree again and see if there are better ways to utilize the maps.