MASH : optimization & advanced emitter setting

[Fred Eben]

Hi,
my first post here, so hello to everyone :-)

I'm using MASH to scatter trees on a terrain.i'm using redshift as renderer.
I've got a lot of instances and i would like to optimize my scene.
I would like to know what's the parameter "advanced emitter setting" in distribution node.
it's not documented.it would be nice that's it's a parameter to multiply the number of point in batch render fly,
but it doesn't seem to work. any other tip to have a roughly "smooth" viewport refresh ?
thanks,
regards,
eben

[Ian Waters]

Hey,

The batch multiplier works unless you’re in Grid distribution mode (or you’re feeding in positions into the Distribute node, but I doubt that).

I’ve just tested it here and it’s working for me in linear/ radial/ mesh etc. If you could let me know more details about your setup I can take a better look at the exact combination of settings.

I don’t know if Redshift has proxies, but Vray proxies work with the Instancer in MASH, they’re obviously much lighter to draw then full meshes. The instancer also has a draw bounding box option.

You can of course temporarily reduce the viewport load with a Visibility node to turn off x % of your objects - or filter the objects that aren’t inside the view frustum by dragging  and dropping your camera onto the Visibility Camera slot.

I’ll have a think to see if any more tips spring to mind :)

Ian

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[Fred Eben]

thanks for your answer,

so if i have for example, 50 in my "number of point" in distribute node, and i have 100 in "batch multiplier",
i have 50 point in my viewport and 5000 when i batch render ?
my setup is rather simple, i've got about 25 different trees distributing on a mesh. i've got some random rotation&scale and a visibility node with frustrum + strengh map.
Redshift proxies is a way to go, it's my next test.
the visibility node is very interresting too, as a feature request i would be nice to have separate parameter between viewport and render.

thanks !

[Ian Waters]

That’s right, you should end up with 5000 objects. If that’s not the case, feel free to send over a scene and I can see what’s going on.

About having one setting in the render and another in Maya - this is possible with a tiny bit of MEL:

In the Render Settings common tab:

Pre-render MEL: setAttr MASH1_Distribute.pointCount 5000;

Post-render MEL: setAttr MASH1_Distribute.pointCount 50;

Obviously change the name of the Distribute node if needed.

That way you’ll have 5000 objects render but only 50 in the viewport :)

Best,

Ian

[Fred Eben]

thank you!
i'll dig into that and i tell you.

[Fred Eben]

i did some test with my scene.

first, i think there's a problem with redshift not reading the batch multiplier. it's works with other renderer like maya software, mental ray but not rs.
i'll send a report to rs team.
but the pre & post render mel script are working very well.thanks for this tip, that's make my day!
i tried also redshift proxies but it doesn't seem to render quicker so but i test that quickly.
and RedShiftt render well maya native instance.

just one question about scatering ( trees in my case ) on a mesh.
is there a way to influence density? i tried to put a map in the visibility node ( strengh) but
it seems to to just acceptt pure black and white map.
i would like to have more point there and less there on the mesh based on grey level map.
is it possible ?
 thanks again,
regards,
Fred

On Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 2:03:14 PM UTC+2, Fred Eben wrote:

[Ian Waters]

Hi Fred,

There isn’t a ‘probability’ based distribution system, however you can easily control this with a map.

In this scene there are 10,000 cubes scattered over a plane, I’ve then used a ramp on a Visibility node, with one side of it plugged into a noise node, to make it so you have fewer points on one side of the plane then the other.

Does this help?

Best,

Ian

[Fred Eben]

thnaks Ian,

sorry for my late answer.
Yes, it's help a lot, i could did what i wished.
I think mash could be a nice system to scatter meshes on terrrain.
I don't know if it's the place to request some features,
but i think it would be interresting to  have a map connection to random strengh ( invisibility node)
i would like to have a distribution ponderation on the different instances/ mesh
and in general some builtin ramp to be near an ecosystem builder ( like slope distribution etc...)
It would be more user friendly than xgen.
I know mash is more a motion design tool, but it's not far from an ecosytem tool...just saying :-)
thanks again.
regards,
Fred.

On Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at 2:03:14 PM UTC+2, Fred Eben wrote:

[Ian Waters]

Hey Fred,

We’re on the same page here :)

Best,

Ian