Dp_pfne 9.6 new version

gerardstrada · 07-03-2009, 03:36 AM

Hello,

Just to let you know that the prolific developer and excellent CG artist Denis Pontonnier has updated his experimental Pixel Filter Node Editor:

DP_Pixel Filter Node Editor (PF NE)

http://pagesperso-orange.fr/dpont/pl...DP_Filter.html

This version brings a new function with stunning benefits. By enabling the option "Raytracing/Global 3D Shad." it applies nodal shading setups globally! so don't need to apply Extra Buffers node surface by surface! But if you need a more detailed setup, you still can use it in the old way.

Let's take a look at the setup with this simple scene:

The setup for, let's say, an occlusion pass would be like this:

Result:

or an AO pass

or a SSS pass (Chanlum)

or an ID_Object pass

or a Reflection Occlusion pass!

or maybe a focus pass?

or passes per light groups! (with the so useful Single Light Lambert node from Michael Wolf)

This PFNE plays nicely with Classic Camera, but by activating the "MultiThread/Persp. AA" option, it works also with Perspective Camera, Advanced Camera and Surface Baking Camera:

There are a lot of more things you'll can figure out about what we can do with a Pixel Filter NE.

But there's more, we can export these custom-made buffers/passes to our favorite buffer saver. We can't preview this kind of buffers but all other conventional buffers (from Render Buffer Node) are preview-able in Viper. Plus, we can save presets!

Remember, they are experimental tools and some things might not work as expected with some third-party nodes. So consider this before to report any odd behavior.

Btw, do notice the final result has not been processed in any compositing package. All optical effects (like the subtle DOF, glares)and other filters like film grain, vignetting and color gradings have been added and composed within Lightwave through the DP_Image Filter Node Editor. But that's for other thread

Comments and suggestions to improve this tool are very welcome.

Gerardo

allabulle · 07-03-2009, 04:34 AM

I need a button that reads "Thank you for the info bit, Gerardo". Well, there you go. :--)

And, as suggested by "someone", thank you Denis, of course!

pierre · 07-03-2009, 04:56 AM

Thanks Gerardo,

Very interesting this pilot, we have a lot of control.

It is a great help.
Thanks to Denis Pontonnier.

video online LW:
http://www.yoyase.com

wacom · 07-03-2009, 11:31 AM

Thank you for this- it brings some of the "advanced" render pass techniques home to LW- very cool and like all of your work VERY appreciated!

Dodgy · 07-03-2009, 12:04 PM

Hm, when I use the 9.6 version with 9.6, and try to open the panel, LW crashes. The 9.5 version works, but with simple sample scene I get a lot of noise over the background.... Anyone else?

dpont · 07-03-2009, 12:58 PM

Background is no more evaluated in Global 3D Shading
in the last updated version.

A crash in the panel? I'm using the 9.6 version
intensively (opening panel often) I never got this,
config, install ?
I recommend always to remove older plugin,
even from folder.

Denis.

monovich · 07-03-2009, 01:01 PM

so this is very similar to that other pixel filter plugin, only more feature rich and works with all cameras? woot!

Greenlaw · 07-03-2009, 04:25 PM

Hey, this is VERY cool! I know we've been using this node here at work, but I haven't played with it myself yet. It's time I got started.

I was wondering which x64 bit version to use with 9.6? The website has links for DP_Filter_x64 and DP_Filter_9_x64, and both seem to have the same Date Modified. My guess is DP_Filter_x64 but I want to be sure.

Thanks for posting this info, and special thanks to DP for creating all these great nodes!

Greenlaw

monovich · 07-03-2009, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerardstrada

Hello,

Btw, do notice the final result has not been processed in any compositing package. All optical effects (like the subtle DOF, glares)and other filters like film grain, vignetting and color gradings have been added and composed within Lightwave through the DP_Image Filter Node Editor. But that's for other thread

Gerardo

I would love to know more about this process. you are a ninja, gerardstrada.

GraphXs · 07-04-2009, 01:54 AM

Nice! But how do we export the images? Like AO or any other for animation? Do I use the Buffer Exporter in Add Image Filter? Is their another way for it to export all the various passes through the node?

gerardstrada · 07-04-2009, 12:49 PM

Greenlaw, there's no a 64-bits version for LW 9.6 so far.

Monovich, Hey! there's a lot of more things we can do with this kind of tools. We can for example, add DOF or enhance LW DOF (classic or Photorreal) with only very few AA passes. We can compose shadows in a BG plate, we can simulate a linear workflow by working in gamma space, we can use FG for animated deformed objects with less render times, we can even have a proxy DI! and many other things.

For people interested, I'm writing a series of 3 articles by showing several of these new possibilities and experimentations with these kind of tools with practical examples. In the first article I gonna share scenes, all these presets for render management and several others. Thanks to HDRI3D generosity, the presets will be available in the website and the scenes will be available for the readers. Hope to finish the first article very soon!

GraphXs,the exporting process is very simple. Just plug the output of your custom-made buffer node (or node tree) to the buffer you want to export (be careful in to use the appropriate kind of buffer - Color/Scalar) - in this way:

Here, we are overwriting the diffuse buffer.

Then, use any buffer exporter in Image Filter:

We can export multiple buffers as well.

Since they are custom-made passes/buffers, it would be great if they could have their own extrabuffer saver.

Btw, do notice that with Perspective Camera, Advanced Camera and Surface Baking Camera, the AA sampling (AS) takes into account the areas of the final color buffer only.

Gerardo

Dodgy · 07-04-2009, 10:48 PM

Trying the new version again, it works as expected, but if the Persp/AA toggle is on, LW crashes when it comes to do the pass.

TeZzy · 07-05-2009, 02:28 AM

this is actually really awesome update....just started to get into the dpkit nodes.

yea as dodgy said having that checked did cause crashes if you had multi threads rendering(in my case it was 4 threads). Didn't crash when I checked it and had 2 threads though.

oh, gerard.....how do you get such smooth edges on your depth pass?

dpont · 07-05-2009, 03:22 AM

Multithreading is used for Advanced Camera AntiAliasing (AS) in Pixel filter,
even for single core, it is known as a 'dangerous option'.
DP filter Pixel Filter node editor can't control it directly,
and I think that Pixel Filter NE evaluation itself, is thread safe.

I don't know if NT could fix it in LW 9.6.1,
may be a fogbuz report with a link to DP Filter 9.6?

Denis.

gerardstrada · 07-05-2009, 12:49 PM

TeZzy, Just in case, the above case (first post) is not a depth pass, but a focus pass

I've used Adaptive Sampling (0.02) for the AA of that Scalar output, but a RGB Depth pass can be made also with a Color output:

Though you might want to consider that most of the times it's better to render the depth buffer without AA at double/quadruple resolution. LW also export the Depth buffer with AA by enabling DepthBufferAA option in render panel.

Quote:

I don't know if NT could fix it in LW 9.6.1,
may be a fogbuz report with a link to DP Filter 9.6?
Denis.

it would be great if this MultiThreading issue can be solved for the next release.

Btw, Thank you very much for so useful tools, Denis!

Gerardo