Am generating ifds via a shell script for rendering with mantra.

Am used to setting “subdivision from file” in H8 and getting compact/fast ifd generation.

In H9 I've tried “Subdivision from file” and “Procedural” in the “Geometry As” field under the Geometry Render tab and am still getting large/slow ifds containing the geometry… instead of pointers to the geometry files.

Am I leaving out some step or setting?

Using H9.0.745 on linux

With H9, the geometry from the Render flag is sent into the IFD (unlike with H8 ). You should put a NullSOP inside the object with the render flag on it.

This was done so that certain procedurals could read the geometry as do stuff with it - like the Fur procedural for instance, where the geometry in the object is considered as the guide hairs. The side effect is, of course, with things like Delayed Read Archives and such where you must explicitly send nothing into the IFD.

Wow, that sounds like one of those huge gotcha's like having the render flag on the wrong node and not realising.
Wouldn't this work better as an object level flag? Something like “Include geometry in ifd”, it would default to on but you could then explicitly turn it off when you set up your delayed read archive render option if you knew you didn't need it…

Simon
Wow, that sounds like one of those huge gotcha's like having the render flag on the wrong node and not realising.
Wouldn't this work better as an object level flag? Something like “Include geometry in ifd”, it would default to on but you could then explicitly turn it off when you set up your delayed read archive render option if you knew you didn't need it…

There is a Render Property called ‘Force Geometry Output’ which is turned on by default. Add it and then toggle it off and you should be good.

Cool, that's good to know

Wolfwood
There is a Render Property called ‘Force Geometry Output’ which is turned on by default. Add it and then toggle it off and you should be good.

I didn't know about this one, thanks.

It would be great if all the procedurals had this property on them by default, and it's value set appropriately. It might help optimize this process a bit - and offer some publicity over this Property.

Cheers,
Jason

This looks like a good approach…

Added the “Force Geometry Output” property to my render rop and have unchecked it. Have also made sure that “vm_forcegeometry” is set to “off” when rendering from shell. Ifd's are still large.

Besides specifying that your geometry is “Render from file” or “Subdivision from file”… what else is there to do? What do you mean by “set up your delayed read archive render option”?

Thanks

fgillis
This looks like a good approach…

Added the “Force Geometry Output” property to my render rop and have unchecked it. Have also made sure that “vm_forcegeometry” is set to “off” when rendering from shell. Ifd's are still large.

Still large with what exactly? bgeo definitions (retained geometry)? Compiled VEX Shaders?

Unless they have changed things in H9 you can open ifds in a text editor and have a scan though to see what is taking up all the room. The only thing that won't be readable is all the embedded bgeo geometry, but that will still show up as lots of garbage characters so you can still see if its in there or not.

In this case, an ifd with a simple object and a simple shader is just under 1Mb.

Assuming the “unreadable” stuff is binary geometry… when it's removed the file is 5k.

Setting “Force Geometry Output” on or off doesn't seem to make any difference to ifd file size when rendering the ROP from the package either.

H9.0.745 on linux

Sounds like you're using a Houdini 8 Geometry Object with spare parameters instead of a Houdini 9 Geometry Object. I would suggest using a Houdini 9 Geometry Object where you can specify a Mantra Delayed Load shader in the Procedural Shader parameter found under Render > Geometry tab. Then check the Polygons as Subdivision toggle.

I did a quick test & it seems to work properly. Hip file attached.

Cheers!
steven

Yes, you're right. I was just in the middle of troubleshooting some shadow problems when I discovered there are ISSUES with using H8 geometry objects in H9.

Am in the process of switching more objects over to H9… will see how this affects my “File from Subdivision” problem.

As an aside… it sure looked great loading in those H8 objects and appearing to have everything working… and even have all those parameter options visible. This is going to make it a real pain updating old jobs to H9.

Thank you.

fgillis
This is going to make it a real pain updating old jobs to H9.

I'd finish a job on H8 and start a new one on H9 instead, myself.

For those OTLs or setups that you need to bring into H9, I have found that its better to just rebuild than copy/paste/update - for a couple of reasons:
*/ pasted H8 nodes have droves of confusing superfuous parms that will only confuse you - and possibly Houdini itself.
*/ its a great way to learn the H9 way, and end up with a lot cleaner a setup.
*/ it doesn't take long once you get the hang of it.

stevenong
Sounds like you're using a Houdini 8 Geometry Object with spare parameters instead of a Houdini 9 Geometry Object. I would suggest using a Houdini 9 Geometry Object where you can specify a Mantra Delayed Load shader in the Procedural Shader parameter found under Render > Geometry tab. Then check the Polygons as Subdivision toggle.

O.K. That did it. Nice compact IFD's.

Have to admit I never would have thought to add another “shader” to have simple “render from file” functionality. Guess I missed that one in the docs or list. Seems like another case of a simple procedure becoming more complex.

jason
*/ pasted H8 nodes have droves of confusing superfuous parms that will only confuse you - and possibly Houdini itself.
*/ its a great way to learn the H9 way, and end up with a lot cleaner a setup.
*/ it doesn't take long once you get the hang of it.

Am looking forward to cleaner hip files… was wondering why my new H9 versions were twice the size as the old H8 ones.

Thank you.

jason_iversen

fgillis
This is going to make it a real pain updating old jobs to H9.

I'd finish a job on H8 and start a new one on H9 instead, myself.

For those OTLs or setups that you need to bring into H9, I have found that its better to just rebuild than copy/paste/update - for a couple of reasons:
*/ pasted H8 nodes have droves of confusing superfuous parms that will only confuse you - and possibly Houdini itself.
*/ its a great way to learn the H9 way, and end up with a lot cleaner a setup.
*/ it doesn't take long once you get the hang of it.

O boy, that does sound like fun :roll:

Simon
O boy, that does sound like fun :roll:

Heh heh, well, to me it's about as fun as medical visualization. :twisted:

ouch!