Author Topic: Lightmix with Backburner  (Read 1455 times)

2021-04-16, 07:24:17

MAY3D

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Hi all

Most of the projects I work on require multiple camera angles of the same model/scene, often requiring a separate Lightmix setup for each view. At the moment I'm saving as .cxr and rendering via backburner, but file sizes are huge and it saves all elements as well (which I know is a 3ds Max issue, but still really annoying). I have some animation work coming up and need a less file-heavy option.

If I submit to backburner as jpg/tif/png/etc. will it save the lightmix settings active in the VFB, or just the beauty pass? Can anyone recommend any other solutions to prevent Max from saving the render elements?

Thanks in advance
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2021-04-16, 09:37:59
Reply #1

Frood

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The BB job would save the same as when rendering locally. You can activate/deactivate every render element in the Render Elements tab and choose which one you'd like to have saved. So you could deactivate the LightMix element while still having the LightSelect elements for mixing in post for example (not in CIE though).

Can anyone recommend any other solutions to prevent Max from saving the render elements?

The only option I'm aware of using Corona is to render layered EXRs ("Automatically Add/Remove Render Elements from Render Dialog"). Here is a overview:

https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=25686.msg162908#msg162908

Also covered in that thread is the issue with local settings of the farm nodes, you have to make sure that the local settings of every node are set to write layered EXRs, for a prerender script to report the settings in the log file and to set/unset this option (just edit the script and remove the comments for your needs) see

https://forum.corona-renderer.com/index.php?topic=25686.msg158408#msg158408


Good Luck


Never underestimate the power of a well placed level one spell.

2021-04-23, 08:54:41
Reply #2

MAY3D

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Thanks, I'm trying to avoid the larger file sizes though, and EXRs would give me a similar output to CXRs unfortunately. I have figured out a couple of workarounds though:

1. Save as Jpeg and set Lightmix for each render in the VFB before I submit them to Backburner. I then delete all but the "LightMix" Jpegs. Not great for animations but I can deal with it for stills.

2. Create Separate lighting groups and "bake" the relevant Lightmix settings to their corresponding groups. Will make the file a little heavier/cumbersome to work with, but better than having 100s of GBs of unwanted files being created whenever I render out an animation.

It would be great if we could assign each Lightmix to their corresponding camera, this would be such a time saver.
3D Generalist #OpenToWork

2021-04-23, 21:42:02
Reply #3

Daniel Schmidt

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psd-manager for 3ds max has a special file format plugin "Don't save file .xxx"  to handle a similar situation. You can use it everywhere you don't want an image file saved in 3ds max - for the main render output or render elements etc. since psd-manager can be used to save all of this. It does not save .xxx files - it does nothing so it also wastes no time.
You could also save a PSD with just those render elements and settings you need using psd-manager. You can still have all the other outputs you have now (psd-manager saves in addition to the other 3ds max outputs).

Regards,
Daniel - psd-manager Developer