cookiemonster Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 Hey all, I am trying to skinwrap a mesh to my animated growfx tree. Unfortunately this doesnt work (because it is not really a mesh, but a procedural system?). So I am trying to pointcache the tree, but it won't do it, because there is a change in the pointcount. All that's animated on the growfx system is a wind animation, no vertices are beeing generated. I turned optimize off in all my growfx meshes. Any idea what could cause the pointcount change? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 Hi! Please send me your model, I'll check it... You can send me to support@exlevel.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fx83tmh Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 What is the proper way of caching out the animation? I currently have the "convert to mesh" option checked, then I add a conversion modifier "turn to mesh" following a "point cache" modifier. I have optimized mesh turned off. It seems the point cache data gets corrupt when the leaves count gets too high and then the "manual updated" gets automatically checked on during the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted November 4, 2011 Report Share Posted November 4, 2011 I don't know why it happens, I need to look at your model. Please send me your model... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fx83tmh Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 I'm currently breaking down the caching into chunks. It seems to have trouble with caching out leaves with a vert count of over 1million. That's with the trunk and branch mesh turned off as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted November 5, 2011 Report Share Posted November 5, 2011 I'm currently breaking down the caching into chunks. It seems to have trouble with caching out leaves with a vert count of over 1million. That's with the trunk and branch mesh turned off as well. I cannot help you if you don't send me your model I earlier created trees with over 2 million vertices, and a caching worked fine! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fx83tmh Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Here's a scene similar to what I'm working with. Thanks for looking into this. dense_tree.7z.txt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Here's a scene similar to what I'm working with. Thanks for looking into this. Ok, thanks! I not found any problems with the Point cache... I'm a bit to optimized your tree, ie no need turned off the mesh optimization. But I was not able to optimize your leaves, because your leaves objects (for Instance geometry) were converted to Editable mesh. But I reduced the number of leaves by: twigs_01 > Distributors path > PathPosDistr_02 > Levels I set equal to 1. As a result we have tree with about 2 million vertices and about 3 million faces. dense_tree_2.max The proper way of caching animation I think as follows: 1) generate a cache file (click New... and Record buttons); 2) convert the tree to Editable mesh. Prior to this, you can save a copy to avoid losing the original model; 3) apply a new Point Cache modifier and load your file cache. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fx83tmh Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Thanks Eduard. I will take a look at your changes. So there is some limitations to what can be cached? Does my original tree cache well at all for you without optimization? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 So there is some limitations to what can be cached? I don't know But I think it's limited only by your RAM. Does my original tree cache well at all for you without optimization? Your original tree has 5 million vertices and 7.5 million faces. I have only 4GB RAM, so I could not wait for the caching process even 1 frame animation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fx83tmh Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 My workstation has 12 cores with 24gb of memory running win7. Looking at the cpu/memory usage when caching it never even comes close to maxing out my computer. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 My workstation has 12 cores with 24gb of memory running win7. Looking at the cpu/memory usage when caching it never even comes close to maxing out my computer. Thanks again. Yes, your workstation is cool I think there should be no problems... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fx83tmh Posted November 10, 2011 Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 Yes, your workstation is cool I think there should be no problems... I've tried your scene Eduard and I've noticed you've only set your cache limit to 10 frames. I was able to cache that easily but when I cranked it up to 200 frames the cache file will get corrupt towards the end of the frame range. Sometimes it'll only cache half of the data. So far my safe zone is plant/tree meshes with a triangle count of less than 800k. Anymore than that it seems to be unstable. I'm curious to know if anyone else is having any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 I've tried your scene Eduard and I've noticed you've only set your cache limit to 10 frames. I was able to cache that easily but when I cranked it up to 200 frames the cache file will get corrupt towards the end of the frame range. Sometimes it'll only cache half of the data. So far my safe zone is plant/tree meshes with a triangle count of less than 800k. Anymore than that it seems to be unstable. I'm curious to know if anyone else is having any problems. Yes, you're right. Calculation of the cache file was successful, but when we moved the time slider to the end of the frame range, the tree looked like ruins )). Maybe a problem here in the Point Cache? There is another solution... What renderer are you using? If VRay or MentalRay, you can convert the tree into an animated proxy object. Many of our customers use it. Another way to try to divide the animation into 2 parts, ie create 2 cache files, one from 0 to 100-th frame, the second from 101 to 200-th frame... Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fx83tmh Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 Yes, you're right. Calculation of the cache file was successful, but when we moved the time slider to the end of the frame range, the tree looked like ruins )). Maybe a problem here in the Point Cache? There is another solution... What renderer are you using? If VRay or MentalRay, you can convert the tree into an animated proxy object. Many of our customers use it. Another way to try to divide the animation into 2 parts, ie create 2 cache files, one from 0 to 100-th frame, the second from 101 to 200-th frame... Cheers The data is being imported into another 3d program and using another renderer. I will look into animated proxy object. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduard Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 The data is being imported into another 3d program and using another renderer. I will look into animated proxy object. I checked, it's a problem in the Point Cache... I tried the following: convert a tree into an editable mesh, then applied the Point Cache, recorded animation, then received the same cache file (about 5GB). After that, at the end of the frame range, I also got a broken tree. Accordingly, to use the Point Cache you can just split the animation into parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RomboBellogia Posted August 25, 2018 Report Share Posted August 25, 2018 (edited) Hi Eduard, I am using v.1.9.9 SP6, and I managed to create some nice loops with trees and plants, but there are some that seem to just not work. Even the tree you posted that I just downloaded is getting a hick-up in the transition of the loop, where it should be smooth. 100f loop, 30fps. Someone mentioned before it wasn't working nicely with 25fps, but I am working on 30fps, and testing the tree you put up for download, and I still can't get that one to loop properly. This is one of the main features I was looking for in this software, and unfortunately, I still can't get it to work. I know it is probably pretty challenging, and we appreciate your effort, but it would be nice if this feature would be a bit more solid, I feel like I really can't count on this function yet. Let me know if there is any daily build where one can use this feature correctly as I am taking a nightmarishly long time to finish a few trees and shrubs. Kind regards, and thank you. R. PopulousNigra.gfx Edited August 25, 2018 by RomboBellogia Updated Attachment - Right Settings, No Loop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxyz Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Trying to do this with version 2. The only available cache format is .gfxcache How can I load this into point cache which only accepts pc2 and xml files? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptrain03 Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Could you just use a point cache modifier in the stack? This should get you the formats you need. I haven't done this in a long time but I think I am pretty sure I just used the modifier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxyz Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Version 2 doesn't seem able to save out a compatible format. Thanks for responding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptrain03 Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 I think you would have to do all of point caching outside of the growfx object. You would create the growFX with animation, then in the stack add a point cache modifier. Within the point cache modifier, you export the cache file to the format you need. The point cache file you create should work for any mesh object as long as the vertex count doesn't change. I don't think you would be able to reload this file into the growFX object because it's not really a mesh. It's just a series of instructions that builds a mesh. The built mesh is accessed up the stack. hope it helps. I am still in v1.99 (upgrading soon ), so v2 could be different. It looks like 1.99 handles the .gfxcache files the same way though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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