Behavior rendering without Standalone licence 2005-06-27 - By Nils Koesters
Back
Hi thanks for all the answers.
Since I come from pop modelling, I am just doing XSI since 3 weeks or
so. I kinda managed to understand though over the weekend what you mean.
For the lesser experience I wrote a wee starter to Behavior in XSI for
less than 100 characters.
Here I used Ex11_Animatic from the Behavior Tutorial and added not the
"awkward" Ravehatus Model but the male model as in GENERAL Content Actors
Male. You then write in startup.pc at the end.
InitializeRecord(24);
for(actor = list.First(); actor != nil; actor = list.Next())
{
var sa = CreateSkillActivity(actor, "cheer", 300);
sa.SetFlags(drvSKILLACTIVITY_LOOP);
world.AddActivity(sa);
SubmitActor("C:SoftimageBEHAVIOR_2.0TutorialEx11_Animaticmocap.xsi",
actor);
}
StartRecord();
Here is some VBS code that can load a test scene with more models. For
"C:SoftimageXSI_4.2DataXSI_SAMPLESRender_PicturesBrownSuit.xsi", you have
to set your weight mapped model. You can get such a model from the Render
Scene in XSI as described in the tutorial. Pityfully the generated .xsi
model has some nodes set as grey H [Don't know the technical term for half
hidden or so]. You have to set them unhiden [ie UnhideAll] and then to set
them. I would recommend to either save the resulting model as emdl or as
xsi and then load it. I tried to dublicate clone and instantiate the
models, but it doesn't eat the extra motion tracks. Hence I load as many
models as memory allows it and then apply the mocap data from Behavior to
it. I'll post it if I frind a better way.
Go to the Script editor and try something like this. New Scene!!!!
iCount = 0
set oFileService = CreateObject("XSI.XSIFileService")
oFileService.ImportDotXSI
"C:SoftimageBEHAVIOR_2.0TutorialEx11_Animaticmocap.xsi", SIGetModel
Set oFolder = EnumElements("mocap.Mixer.AnimSources")
For Each oItem In oFolder
oFileService.ImportDotXSI
"C:SoftimageXSI_4.2DataXSI_SAMPLESRender_PicturesBrownSuit.xsi",
SIGetModel
if iCount = 0 Then
dotXModel = "BrownSuit"
else
dotXModel = "BrownSuit" & iCount
end if
SourceMCTrack = "Sources.mocap.Male" & iCount
SourceAnimTrack = dotXModel & ".Mixer.Mixer_Anim_Track"
AddTrack dotXModel, dotXModel, 0
AddClip dotXModel, SourceMCTrack, , SourceAnimTrack, 0
iCount = iCount + 1
LogMessage iCount
Next
Any improvment advice appreciated [It's my first VBS Script]. This works
with 4 GB Memory probably up to 400 actors. I have 1/2 GB and manage to
load 120 or so. Dunno if duplicating cloning would work. I didn't manage
to get the movement data in it, so I have to reload the same character. I
assume it works loading an emdl too. I might have a look at what Sascha
suggested later on. Thanks also Kim!
Regards
Nils
-- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------
Dr Nils Koesters
Research Fellow/Programmer
RUWPA - St Andrews University
Email: nils@(protected)
On Fri, 24 Jun 2005, Sascha Robitzki wrote:
> You can also write your own Behavior plug-in for writing the deformed
> geometry onto disk and a geometry shader for XSI for loading, but you
> will need much disk space for this, or let the geometry shader do the
> deformation.
>
>
> kim aldis wrote:
>
> >If you don't have standalone mental ray then your biggest issue is going to
> >be managing the thousands of charactors you have in the scene. Bottom line,
> >chances are Xsi won't be able to hold all of those characters. You've two
> >choices here; output a series of dotxsis files, characters laid out in such
> >a way that they can be composited after render or get mental ray standalone
> >license(s).
> >
> >
> >
> >>-- --Original Message-- --
> >>From: owner-xsi@(protected)
> >>[mailto:owner-xsi@(protected)] On Behalf Of Nils Koesters
> >>Sent: 24 June 2005 19:03
> >>To: xsi@(protected)
> >>Subject: Behavior rendering without Standalone licence
> >>
> >>Hello,
> >>
> >>Hi,
> >>
> >>Have I understood this correctly, that if you do not have a
> >>standalone...rendering license and you maybe have 500 actors
> >>you essentially have to export 500 actor files....?
> >>
> >>I have posted this on discussion and one of the answers was.
> >>--
> >>the resulting .xsi file will contain the animation for all
> >>your actors. each of the animations will be stored in action
> >>clips. so...
> >>
> >>you will import the .xsi file into your scene and start
> >>applying the action clips to the characters. of course,
> >>having 500 animated characters in your scene is going to
> >>unmanageable, to say the least. think in terms of layers and
> >>passes to manage the resulting scene in xsi. also, scripting
> >>the application of the action data should be considered,
> >>perhaps in conjunction with reference models.
> >>
> >>it's doable...you just have to be creative with the
> >>management of the data in xsi.
> >>
> >>--
> >>
> >>
> >>This is probably the wrong place to ask. The discussion forum
> >>is for arsing around. Try posting on xsi@(protected)
> >>There's a few people there have been using behaviour, one of
> >>whom at least I know has been using it without ray
> >>standalones ans while it wasn't the easiest process for him
> >>I'm pretty sure he didn't have to go as far as exporting each
> >>actor separately.
> >>Behaviour isn't easy. It's not surprising not many people are
> >>using it.
> >>
> >>-- -----
> >>
> >>
> >>Does anyone have more hints? I come primarily from a
> >>population modelling background and have used XSI for a wee
> >>while, but I am no 3D artist, so the behavior part is easy,
> >>but all the xsi stuff not yet, I know what layers etc are ..
> >>not completey stupid, but has anyone a link to before posts,
> >>the search function is broken.
> >>
> >>CreateRecordset error '8004181f'
> >>
> >>Service is too busy.
> >>
> >>/Community/Xsi/Discuss/private/Search.asp, line 71
> >>
> >>
> >>I find behavior as a concept really exiciting [as a
> >>population modeller] but the out pipe is quite awkwardly
> >>described in the tutorial... I went through all of it, just
> >>to learn at the end I can't render it in any easy way..
> >>
> >>Example 12: Rendering
> >>
> >>Once the simulation for the crowd shot is debugged and ready
> >>for rendering, the last step is to get the data to the
> >>renderer. There are multiple paths that you can take. One
> >>path is to record the simulation data in some motion format
> >>that your rendering pipeline understands.
> >>Using the Piccolo File API, it's a simple step to add scripts
> >>to handle such a strategy. Furthermore, you can use the
> >>StartRecord helper function to record the motion of the
> >>actors as dotXSI files that can be brought into XSI for
> >>further processing. In this section however, we will discuss
> >>the built-in rendering pipeline from Behavior to the mental
> >>ray renderer.
> >>
> >>The shot:
> >>Thousands of soldiers navigating a treacherous terrain.
> >>
> >>The challenge:
> >>The client expects you to deliver your best work on a tight
> >>deadline with a restricted budget. Clearly, the old methods
> >>are out of the question.
> >>
> >>http://www.softimage.com/products/behavior/v2/default.asp
> >>
> >>Trust me for falling for the marketing ploy .. easy only if
> >>having a standalone licence... :(
> >>
> >>Any help, appreciated.
> >>
> >>
> >>Regards ~~
> >>Nils
> >>
> >>
> >>-- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ------
> >>
> >>Dr Nils Koesters
> >>Research Fellow/Programmer
> >>RUWPA - St Andrews University
> >>Email: nils@(protected)
> >>
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> >>
> >
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