aaOcean Suite updated to V1.5RC1

[Amaan Akram]

Hello everyone,

Apologies for the shameless plug. Just a quick post to say that I have updated the ocean plugin to version 1.5 This version is a complete re-write and is geared towards performance and workflow improvements. New features and improvements include

- 3 to 6 times faster than the last ICE version

- All ocean parameters are now animatable with little/no performance hit

- 3 new mental ray shaders that connect directly to ICE and render ocean data. New shaders for displacement, normal map shader (fixed from v0.9), foam and image-based vector displacement

- All shaders do render-time catmul-rom interpolation to produce smooth surfaces

- Ability to output EXR files via a renderfarm (EXR output is now done from shaders, and is still supported to allow renderers other than mental ray to render oceans)

- Ability to layer multiple ocean shaders on a surface to easily break up visible tiling. Each shader can either generate a high-resolution ocean based on ICE, or can be individually tweaked to produce variations

As before, documentation and downloads at http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aa_ocean.html

The download package now contains 2 sample scenes to show some sample rendering setups. 

To run aaOcean Suite, you need to install the latest security patch from Microsoft for Visual Studio 2005 redistributable packges from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=766a6af7-ec73-40ff-b072-9112bab119c2&displaylang=en

Please do report any bug reports. Since this is a complete re-write, there must be some bugs lurking somewhere.

-amaan

[Nassos Yiannopoulos]

Thank you for this,
the aaOcean Suite is amazing!!!!!
you have my respect

2010/1/19 Amaan Akram <xsi...@warpedspace.org>:

[Gene Crucean]

Nice! Thanks Amaan.

--
[Gene Crucean] - [VFX & CG Supervisor/Generalist]
** Freelance for hire **

"I got a Dell for my Mom from Best Buy for Christmas.  I just learned that she underbid me."
- Todd Sheridan Perry

[Rui Feliciano]

Absolutely no need to apologise!
My sincere thanks for your generosity sharing your work with the
softimage community!

Rui Feliciano

Amaan Akram wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> Apologies for the shameless plug. Just a quick post to say that I have
> updated the ocean plugin to version 1.5 This version is a complete
> re-write and is geared towards performance and workflow improvements.
> New features and improvements include
>
> - 3 to 6 times faster than the last ICE version
> - All ocean parameters are now animatable with little/no performance hit
> - 3 new mental ray shaders that connect directly to ICE and render
> ocean data. New shaders for displacement, normal map shader (fixed
> from v0.9), foam and image-based vector displacement
> - All shaders do render-time catmul-rom interpolation to produce
> smooth surfaces
> - Ability to output EXR files via a renderfarm (EXR output is now done
> from shaders, and is still supported to allow renderers other than
> mental ray to render oceans)
> - Ability to layer multiple ocean shaders on a surface to easily break
> up visible tiling. Each shader can either generate a high-resolution
> ocean based on ICE, or can be individually tweaked to produce variations
>
> As before, documentation and downloads
> at http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aa_ocean.html

> <http://www.warpedspace.org/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aa_ocean.html>

[Alan Fregtman]

There is no shame in plugging something awesome. :)

I look forward to playing with it when I have some free time.
Cheers,

-- Alan

[Gene Crucean]

2010 only build?

[Amaan Akram]

Nassos, Gene, Rui, Alan -- thanks very much.

Gene: Yes, 2010 only. The latest version has been built using some of the new features of the 2010 SDK. Also, this version is not backwards compatible as some of the core algorithms have changed slightly. Forgot to mention both points in my first post

amaan

2010/1/19 Gene Crucean <emailgene...@gmail.com>

[Dan Yargici]

Awesome works Amaan, I'm chomping at the bit for a job that I can try this on!

Thanks!

DAN

[Rob Wuijster]

Hi Amaan,

Just wanted to add my "Thank You!" to the list :-)

And thanks for the demoscenes, much appreciated.

Just a quick question, how does one 'loop' a sequence of waves?

rob

\/-------------\/----------------\/

Amaan Akram wrote:
> Nassos, Gene, Rui, Alan -- thanks very much.
>
> Gene: Yes, 2010 only. The latest version has been built using some of
> the new features of the 2010 SDK. Also, this version is not backwards
> compatible as some of the core algorithms have changed slightly. Forgot
> to mention both points in my first post
>
> amaan
>
> 2010/1/19 Gene Crucean <emailgene...@gmail.com

> <mailto:emailgene...@gmail.com>>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 9.0.725 / Virus Database: 270.14.149/2631 - Release Date: 01/18/10 17:56:00
>

[Frank Lenhard]

thanks a lot for this awesome plugin!

ciao
franky

Monday, January 18, 2010, 11:24:09 PM, you wrote:

> Hello everyone,

> Apologies for the shameless plug. Just a quick post to say that I have
> updated the ocean plugin to version 1.5 This version is a complete re-write
> and is geared towards performance and workflow improvements. New features
> and improvements include

> - 3 to 6 times faster than the last ICE version
> - All ocean parameters are now animatable with little/no performance hit
> - 3 new mental ray shaders that connect directly to ICE and render ocean
> data. New shaders for displacement, normal map shader (fixed from v0.9),
> foam and image-based vector displacement
> - All shaders do render-time catmul-rom interpolation to produce smooth
> surfaces
> - Ability to output EXR files via a renderfarm (EXR output is now done from
> shaders, and is still supported to allow renderers other than mental ray to
> render oceans)
> - Ability to layer multiple ocean shaders on a surface to easily break up
> visible tiling. Each shader can either generate a high-resolution ocean
> based on ICE, or can be individually tweaked to produce variations

> As before, documentation and downloads at

> http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aa_ocean.html<http://www.warpedspace.org/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aa_ocean.html>

[Amaan Akram]

thanks everyone -- I hope it comes in handy on a production. we used it not long ago and I found the whole process of exporting EXRs per render iteration very painful--especially when the director says, "I want a bit of that CG sea, and a bit of this CG sea". Hence now this new version.

Rob: afaik, the waves don't loop

amaan

2010/1/19 Frank Lenhard <fra...@ixdream.com>

[Joe Williamsen]

Thanks Amaan - it's great to have this tool available :) 

[Amaan Akram]

Thanks Joe :)

I've just fixed a small bug that was making the rendered oceans from modeling and simulated ICE trees different, even though they looked the same in OpenGL. The addons have been updated.

amaan

2010/1/19 Joe Williamsen <j...@joewilliamsen.com>

[Fabricio Chamon]

Hi Amaan,
you surely have put a lot of effort in this tool! Thank you so much
for making it public.
I hope in some months I'll have some images/video showing your amazing
plugin in action on a feature film here in Brazil. =)
a BIG thank you for that....
Fabricio

[Anthony barritault]

Thank you Amman , this tool are amazing.

Just a question, Can we unlock the resolution to have more than 8 ?


anthony@ArsMagica

[Amaan Akram]

the resolution is only limited by the PPG in ICE, or the SPDL in mental ray. You can edit them and put in new maximum values. Please note that each additional resolution increment adds smaller and smaller frequency waves, so it may not be worth it going higher than 8. 

thanks,

amaan

2010/1/20 Anthony barritault <han...@gmail.com>

[Anthony barritault]

Thank you Amaan,

I've juste realize that the "ocean"grids are  tileable ...... so no need to go over 8, and no need to go to 8, 5-6 is enough for me.

Thank you again for this tool, and thank you for your help :)


Anthony@arsmagica-vfx

[Amaan Akram]

There's a compiled version for XSI 7 in case anyone needs it. Please email me and I'll send it across.

Fabricio, thanks -- I'll look forward to it!

amaan

2010/1/20 Anthony barritault <han...@gmail.com>

Thank you Amaan,

[Anthony barritault]

Hi Amaan,

It's seems there is a little problm when using the "aaoceanImgVecDisplace" node, when we use it in rendertree an error message appears :

ERROR : LINK 0.2  error  191007: cannot load \\srv-global\xsi_workgroup\Addons\aaOceanSuite15RC1_x64\Application\spdl\..\Plugins\aaOcean.dll, Le module spécifié est introuvable.
' ERROR : PHEN 0.4  error  051011: shader "aaOceanImgVecDisplace" not found
' ERROR : PHEN 0.4  error  051011: shader "aaOceanImgVecDisplace" not found


Did we miss something ?

thank you

Anthony@arsmagica

[Amaan Akram]

Hello,

do the rest of the shaders work fine?

amaan

2010/1/21 Anthony barritault <han...@gmail.com>

[Amaan Akram]

Hello

just a quick msg to say that I've uploaded a new build (RC2). Direct link:

http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aaOceanSuite1.5RC2.zip

A few key bugs were identified with the last build, so if you are using RC1, please upgrade to RC2.

Fix list:

major: ICE/Mental Ray connection sync error [resolved]

major: Foam Shader intensity varying over time [resolved]

minor: EXR output sequence not getting correct frame padding [resolved]

-amaan

2010/1/22 Anthony barritault <han...@gmail.com>

Hi Amaan,
Excuse me for the late reply,
yes of course, I'll send you directly a scene.

Antoher thing, maybe is a clue, we are on Windows 7 here.


Thank you

Anthony@arsmagica

[Marc-Andre Carbonneau]

Very nice Amaan.

Now without sounding too childish and asking for more and more… what if psyop shared this nice idea of rolling wave rig. ;-)

http://vimeo.com/4697942

[Rob Wuijster]

Let's get greedy and have a 'wakes' compound to fit as well?? ;-)

rob

\/-------------\/----------------\/

On 1/27/2010 4:34 PM, Marc-Andre Carbonneau wrote:
> Very nice Amaan.
>
> Now without sounding too childish and asking for more and more… what if
> psyop shared this nice idea of rolling wave rig. ;-)
>
> http://vimeo.com/4697942
>

> *From:* softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com
> [mailto:softimag...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Amaan Akram
> *Sent:* January 27, 2010 10:20 AM
> *To:* soft...@listproc.autodesk.com
> *Subject:* Re: aaOcean Suite updated to V1.5RC1

>
> Hello
>
> just a quick msg to say that I've uploaded a new build (RC2). Direct link:
>
> http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aaOceanSuite1.5RC2.zip
>
> A few key bugs were identified with the last build, so if you are using
> RC1, please upgrade to RC2.
>
> Fix list:
>
> major: ICE/Mental Ray connection sync error [resolved]
>
> major: Foam Shader intensity varying over time [resolved]
>
> minor: EXR output sequence not getting correct frame padding [resolved]
>
> -amaan
>

> 2010/1/22 Anthony barritault <han...@gmail.com <mailto:han...@gmail.com>>

>
> Hi Amaan,
> Excuse me for the late reply,
> yes of course, I'll send you directly a scene.
>
> Antoher thing, maybe is a clue, we are on Windows 7 here.
>
>
> Thank you
>
> Anthony@arsmagica
>
>
>
>

> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com

> Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2647 - Release Date: 01/26/10 20:36:00
>

[Alan Fregtman]

Hi Amaan,

I don't remember if I've asked this before, but why do we need 2
addons for 64bit and 32bit flavours? Is there a reason for that?

Doesn't Soft let you say what dll gets loaded with the naming
conventions .32.dll and .64.dll?

What if I wanted both flavours to work?

-- Alan

[Amaan Akram]

@Alan

It's because of the shader SPDLs. Each shader SPDL points to just one dll file, so I can't have two dlls of different names/platforms. My shaders and the ICE node are all embedded in a single DLL. If you have any ideas about how to make this work--am all ears :)

@Marc-Andre

thanks. That'd be great! let's milk them :)

@Rob

I did a version with tessendorf iwave and ocean waves integrated and we used it in production here on a cg galleon shot. The solver was not very stable and hence is not ready for public release. A stable & fast solver is planned for the future though.

amaan

2010/1/27 Alan Fregtman <alan.f...@gmail.com>

[Thomas Helzle]

Hi Amaan,

long time no see :-)

For shaders it works differently than for other plugins (where you have to use the .32.dll / .64.dll naming).
For shaders, you create two directories in your bin folder, one called nt-x86, the other called nt-x86-64.
The 32 and 64 bit dlls have exactly the same name, but reside in their respective folder.
Therefore you also only need one SPDL for both.

That is how I do it for my own shaders.

Cheers!

Thomas Helzle

[Amaan Akram]

Hi Thomas,

Long time indeed! Hope all is well.

>For shaders, you create two directories in your bin folder,

Yes, that's how we manage our 32/64 bit XSI pipeline as well for shaders. However, the last time I tried to put a copy of the shader in nt-x86-64 folder, I got a shader-not-found error which seemed very odd because it should have worked. I didn't investigate it further.

In theory, the following should work for a hybrid 32/64 setup.

a) copy the 32bit version to Applications/bin/nt-x86

b) copy the 64bit version to Applications/bin/nt-x86-64

c) rename the 32 bit version in Applications/Plugins to aaOcean.32.dll

d) rename the 64 bit version in Applications/Plugins to aaOcean.64.dll

amaan

[Thomas Helzle]

Hi Amaan,

yeah, all is well - other than my reading capabilities late at night ;-)
I somehow didn't catch that you have the shader as well as the ICE node in one dll. Doh...
Sorry.

I guess the current simplistic 32/64 bit scheme doesn't allow for this case, because basically with your setup, you would still try to load the same dll twice, once as plugin and once as shader, even if the names are different (your "shader dlls" in case a.) and b.) are named "aaOcean.dll", right? And you have set the SPDL to look for that name? - I'm sure you have, just double checking ;-) ).
Maybe it would work if you give the plugins a really different name from the shaders, not just the .32  .64 extensions?
What namespace does XSI assume internally for dlls which follow that pattern?
I could imagine that those extensions are ignored for internal naming and then you would maybe have a simple name conflict...?

But I'm just brainstorming here, haven't had that case so far ;-)

Cheers and thanks for your brilliant tools!

Thomas Helzle

[Amaan Akram]

Hi Thomas

>in case a.) and b.) are named "aaOcean.dll", right?

yes. the spdls  are set to aaOcean.dll. Thankfully, ICE doesn't have that restriction.

I've just tested the scenario in the last email and it works for a mixed 32/64 setup. I'll repackage.

ta,

amaan

[Thomas Helzle]

Cool :-)

Cheers,

Thomas

[Amaan Akram]

Final version with support for 32/64 shaders/compounds to work together is now up at

http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aaOceanSuite15.zip

Important:

A major bug was fixed today that was causing the ocean surface to mirror itself. If you have any production scenes made with RC2, then please note that upgrading to this version will change the shape of the ocean. The mirror is only visible when chop is off, and wind direction is 0 degrees.

On a related note, anyone care to help me by answering some questions about a linux compile? I've got a compiled version of aaOcean but I am unable to properly link it with shared libraries  (my lack of basic linux knowledge is to blame) and it is not being recognized by Softimage.

amaan

[Alan Fregtman]

Thanks for combining 32bit and 64bit, Amaan. It is appreciated. :)

-- Alan

[Amaan Akram]

no problem, Alan :)

[Amaan Akram]

If you ever want to do boat wakes on a tessendorf ocean, I am releasing an unsupported version of my Tessendorf iWave implementation (http://vimeo.com/7350049). This ICE plugin can be downloaded from

http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aaOceanSuite_unsupportedInteractiveWaves.zip

The zip file contains a Softimage 701+ addon and a hastily-constructed example scene of how you can very easily mix tessendorf ocean sims with the iWave plugin. 

This is unsupported because its based on a very weak numerical integration solution which explodes easily and sometimes the values you enter in the sliders make no sense. However, it's still usable in production.

I've added some multi threaded code to this to make it faster than the documented version. I hope you will find it useful.

amaan

[Andy Moorer]

Just so you know I've currently got an ocean effect and I feel aaOcean compares quite favorably to Maya ocean being fast to implement and quite good looking. Nice job, and thanks.

[Rob Wuijster]

Hi Amaan,

I just had a look, and it might be my lack of caffeine this morning, but
I'm not sure how the scene is intended.

Opening the scene in 2010SP1 I get a grid with the wakes, but the wakes
'lag' behind the boat and don't restore the grid back to the normal
'flat' state after passing. Also the ocean node is not connected.

Is this the scene as intended, or is the move from 701 to 2010 doing odd
things? If it's the first, ignore me and just tell me to get myself
another cup of coffee ;-)

Again, like the ocean node, thanks for releasing this for free,

rob

\/-------------\/----------------\/

On 1/30/2010 11:12 PM, Amaan Akram wrote:
> If you ever want to do boat wakes on a tessendorf ocean, I am releasing
> an unsupported version of my Tessendorf iWave implementation
> (http://vimeo.com/7350049). This ICE plugin can be downloaded from
> http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aaOceanSuite_unsupportedInteractiveWaves.zip
>
> The zip file contains a Softimage 701+ addon and a hastily-constructed
> example scene of how you can very easily mix tessendorf ocean sims with
> the iWave plugin.
>
> This is unsupported because its based on a very weak numerical
> integration solution which explodes easily and sometimes the values you
> enter in the sliders make no sense. However, it's still usable in
> production.
>
> I've added some multi threaded code to this to make it faster than the
> documented version. I hope you will find it useful.
>
> amaan
>
> On 30 January 2010 12:02, Amaan Akram <xsi...@warpedspace.org

> <mailto:xsi...@warpedspace.org>> wrote:
>
> no problem, Alan :)
>
>
> On 29 January 2010 20:51, Alan Fregtman <alan.f...@gmail.com

> <thomas...@gmail.com <mailto:thomas...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >> Cool :-)
> >>
> >> Cheers,
> >>
> >> Thomas
> >>
> >> On 28 January 2010 11:22, Amaan Akram

> <xsi...@warpedspace.org <mailto:xsi...@warpedspace.org>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hi Thomas
> >>> >in case a.) and b.) are named "aaOcean.dll", right?
> >>> yes. the spdls are set to aaOcean.dll. Thankfully, ICE
> doesn't have that
> >>> restriction.
> >>> I've just tested the scenario in the last email and it
> works for a mixed
> >>> 32/64 setup. I'll repackage.
> >>> ta,
> >>> amaan
> >>> On 28 January 2010 09:25, Thomas Helzle

> <xsi...@warpedspace.org <mailto:xsi...@warpedspace.org>> wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Hi Thomas,
> >>>>> Long time indeed! Hope all is well.
> >>>>> >For shaders, you create two directories in your bin folder,
> >>>>> Yes, that's how we manage our 32/64 bit XSI pipeline as
> well for
> >>>>> shaders. However, the last time I tried to put a copy of
> the shader in
> >>>>> nt-x86-64 folder, I got a shader-not-found error which
> seemed very odd
> >>>>> because it should have worked. I didn't investigate it
> further.
> >>>>> In theory, the following should work for a hybrid 32/64
> setup.
> >>>>> a) copy the 32bit version to Applications/bin/nt-x86
> >>>>> b) copy the 64bit version to Applications/bin/nt-x86-64
> >>>>> c) rename the 32 bit version in Applications/Plugins to
> aaOcean.32.dll
> >>>>> d) rename the 64 bit version in Applications/Plugins to
> aaOcean.64.dll
> >>>>> amaan
> >>>>> On 28 January 2010 01:46, Thomas Helzle

> <thomas...@gmail.com <mailto:thomas...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Hi Amaan,
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> long time no see :-)
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> For shaders it works differently than for other plugins
> (where you
> >>>>>> have to use the .32.dll / .64.dll naming).
> >>>>>> For shaders, you create two directories in your bin
> folder, one called
> >>>>>> nt-x86, the other called nt-x86-64.
> >>>>>> The 32 and 64 bit dlls have exactly the same name, but
> reside in their
> >>>>>> respective folder.
> >>>>>> Therefore you also only need one SPDL for both.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> That is how I do it for my own shaders.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Cheers!
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> Thomas Helzle
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On 27 January 2010 17:20, Amaan Akram

> <xsi...@warpedspace.org <mailto:xsi...@warpedspace.org>> wrote:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> @Alan
> >>>>>>> It's because of the shader SPDLs. Each shader SPDL
> points to just one
> >>>>>>> dll file, so I can't have two dlls of different
> names/platforms. My shaders
> >>>>>>> and the ICE node are all embedded in a single DLL. If
> you have any ideas
> >>>>>>> about how to make this work--am all ears :)
> >>>>>>> @Marc-Andre
> >>>>>>> thanks. That'd be great! let's milk them :)
> >>>>>>> @Rob
> >>>>>>> I did a version with tessendorf iwave and ocean waves
> integrated and
> >>>>>>> we used it in production here on a cg galleon shot. The
> solver was not very
> >>>>>>> stable and hence is not ready for public release. A
> stable & fast solver is
> >>>>>>> planned for the future though.
> >>>>>>> amaan
> >>>>>>> 2010/1/27 Alan Fregtman <alan.f...@gmail.com

> <mailto:alan.f...@gmail.com>>

> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Hi Amaan,
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> I don't remember if I've asked this before, but why do
> we need 2
> >>>>>>>> addons for 64bit and 32bit flavours? Is there a reason
> for that?
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Doesn't Soft let you say what dll gets loaded with the
> naming
> >>>>>>>> conventions .32.dll and .64.dll?
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> What if I wanted both flavours to work?
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> -- Alan
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 10:19 AM, Amaan Akram
> >>>>>>>> <xsi...@warpedspace.org

> <mailto:xsi...@warpedspace.org>> wrote:
> >>>>>>>> > Hello
> >>>>>>>> > just a quick msg to say that I've uploaded a new
> build (RC2).
> >>>>>>>> > Direct link:
> >>>>>>>> >
> >>>>>>>> >
> http://www.amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aaOceanSuite1.5RC2.zip
> >>>>>>>> > A few key bugs were identified with the last build,
> so if you are
> >>>>>>>> > using RC1,
> >>>>>>>> > please upgrade to RC2.
> >>>>>>>> > Fix list:
> >>>>>>>> > major: ICE/Mental Ray connection sync error [resolved]
> >>>>>>>> > major: Foam Shader intensity varying over time
> [resolved]
> >>>>>>>> > minor: EXR output sequence not getting correct frame
> padding
> >>>>>>>> > [resolved]
> >>>>>>>> > -amaan
> >>>>>>>> >
> >>>>>>>> > 2010/1/22 Anthony barritault <han...@gmail.com

> <mailto:han...@gmail.com>>

> >>>>>>>> >>
> >>>>>>>> >> Hi Amaan,
> >>>>>>>> >> Excuse me for the late reply,
> >>>>>>>> >> yes of course, I'll send you directly a scene.
> >>>>>>>> >>
> >>>>>>>> >> Antoher thing, maybe is a clue, we are on Windows 7
> here.
> >>>>>>>> >>
> >>>>>>>> >>
> >>>>>>>> >> Thank you
> >>>>>>>> >>
> >>>>>>>> >> Anthony@arsmagica
> >>>>>>>> >
> >>>>>>>> >
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>

> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com

> Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2657 - Release Date: 01/30/10 08:35:00
>

[Amaan Akram]

Andy, happy to know you like the plugin. Tessendorf's algorithm deserves much credit.

Rob, that doesn't sound right--the ocean node should definitely be connected. Is ocean working in other scenes? it should all look similar to the vimeo video.

amaan

[Ben Rogall]

I know this has been discussed but I didn't find any hints to deal with
this. I've got a mildly complex scene with a couple of moderately
complex trees. When I add nodes or change connections it will freeze for
up to 30 seconds. Sometimes it happens when I just move nodes. Obviously
it makes it very hard to work. Are there any tricks to dealing with
this? I've tried disconnecting parts of the trees.
Thanks,
Ben

[Alan Fregtman]

Have you tried using the ICE performance counters? It's not a fix but
it might help spot a bottleneck that may be slowing stuff down.

[Sajjad Amjad]

This might not help but, I typically come across this 'freezing'
whenever I add a node or change connections in any but the first frame
of the scene. With complex graphs, I've started to make changes in the
first frame and simming forward to wherever I need to check things.
I'm fairly certain this behaviour is connected to the simulation mode
(live, interactive or standard).

--

-----
"Consistency is the last resort of the unimaginative" - O. Wilde

[christian keller]

kill all your other ice trees, save - reload and check if this helps

[Ben Rogall]

Thanks Alan, Sajjad, and Christian. I've just tried all your
suggestions, but no improvement. I'm going to have to change the way I
approach this scene.
Thanks again,
Ben

[Ben Rogall]

Well it turned out that it was due to a complex emitter which sets up a
lot of stuff in the first frame. I was able to cache just the first 2
frames and then have it switch back to the main tree and now the UI
interaction seems smooth again. The funny thing is that it never took
much time to actually run the simulation.

[Amaan Akram]

Hello,

Just a quick msg to say that I've updated the ocean suite to be compatible with 2011.

Direct download link:

http://amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aaOceanSuite15.zip

Please see the change log in the readme file.

amaan

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[Amaan Akram]

Hello again,

Another quick note to say that a new version (1.7) is online. I've reduced the memory footprint of the shaders, and fixed some stability issues. For those interested, there is an Arnold port too.

I have also had to disconnect the connection between ICE and mental ray so now the shaders have to be manually synched to the ICE PPG. This has been done to improve stability, at the cost of user-experience. Until Softimage adds support for attribute data for non-particle meshes, the shaders will continue to be disconnected from ICE.

This version is not compatible with any scenes you may already have made with v1.5.

downloads for mental ray and Arnold/sitoa:

http://amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.7/aaOceanSuite17.zip

http://amaanakram.com/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.7/aaOceanArnold1.02.zip

amaan

[Nassos Yiannopoulos]

Thank you for the time and effort you have put into this :-)

2010/7/19 Amaan Akram <xsi...@warpedspace.org>

[adrian wyer]

Indeed many thanks Amaan, starting to get some frames out now, and it works a treat!

 

a

 

---

[Amaan Akram]

you're welcome guys

[Fabricio Chamon]

thanks a lot Amaan.
this plugin is amazing, I love it.

[John Payne]

Thanks for releasing this to the community, much appreciated!

- John

[Joe Williamsen]

Thanks Amaan - I haven't had a project to use it on yet, but I really appreciate your willingness to actively develop this and share it.  You will be paid back in Good Karma, if nothing else :)

[Mirko Jankovic]

Heya, I've just tried to install it but it seems that I don't have shaders needed and download page is not working. Anyone could share?

Thanks!

Mirko

[Amaan Akram]

Hi Mirko

try
http://warpedspace.org/plugins/aaOceanSuite_1.5/aaOceanSuite17.zip

the addon should just be a drag-and-drop thing. there are samples scenes also included to test if the installation went fine.

amaan

[Mirko Jankovic]

yea I;ve got that one and installed addon but when i tried to render some of those sample scenes I've got message that shader is missing:

' ERROR : LINK 0.2  error  191007: cannot load C:\Users\mirko.jankovic\Autodesk\Softimage_2010_SP1\Addons\aaOcean17\Application\spdl\..\bin\nt-x86-64\aaOceanShader.dll, The specified module could not be found.

' ERROR : PHEN 0.4  error  051011: shader "aaOceanDisplaceShader" not found

' ERROR : PHEN 0.4  error  051011: shader "aaOceanFoamShader" not found

' ERROR : PHEN 0.11 error  051011: shader "aaOceanDisplaceShader" not found

' ERROR : PHEN 0.11 error  051011: shader "aaOceanFoamShader" not found

And there is no spdl in zip file, only .addon

[Amaan Akram]

Mirko, are you on 2011? The .addon for 2011 seems busted. I'll repackage and upload a new one later tonight.

[Mirko Jankovic]

actually 2010 x64 SP1

[Amaan Akram]

I have no problems installing 2010 version here. Is the ICE deformer working?

On 20 July 2010 18:26, Mirko Jankovic <mirko.j...@aeonproduction.com> wrote:

actually 2010 x64 SP1

[peter boeykens]

did you run dependency walker?

 

http://www.dependencywalker.com/

 

If you get the "shader/plugin/... not found" message, most often it's some dll missing - dependency walker will give you that info.

 

 

From: Mirko Jankovic

Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 7:26 PM

To: soft...@listproc.autodesk.com

Subject: Re: aaOcean Suite updated to V1.5RC1

actually 2010 x64 SP1

[Mirko Jankovic]

in instructions on web page for installation says that I need to install .spdl for shaders, but there is no spdl in zip file.

I'm guessing that is the only problem here? :)

Or shaders should be installed along with .addon as well?

[Amaan Akram]

sorry Mirco, the documentation on that page needs to be updated. You just need to drag and drop the addon and that should be it. There is a sample scene with the ICE deformer -- may be called aaOceanICE_and_Normals -- do you see a moving mesh in the viewport when you press play? 

[Malcolm Zaloon]

Thanks Amaan for your fantastic effort here. it is the best and fastest ocean creator i seen.

i see a 1.7 readme.txt have a very simple changelog.

can you say more about changes in this version?

Malcolm Zaloon.

__________________
Malcolm Zaloon - Lighting TD - XSI Generalist
Quote:
"Everything can be interconnected and will update according by interface"

[Amaan Akram]

Anyone else having issues with installation on 2010? 2011 is definitely not working for me for the shaders and I'll post an update soon.

A workaround for now:
just drop an aaOcean ice node on any object in your scene. There's no need to connect the node for execution, just leave it hanging around in an ICE tree. Save and restart and the shader should start working from that point onwards.

Malcolm, thanks. The change-log is in my first post as well for v1.7. The biggest change is that you must now manually sync up the ocean parameters in ICE and in the SPDLs.

amaan

[Amaan Akram]

Hi all,

I need some help with testing a new build which addresses the workflow issues from v1.5 and 1.7. Is -an experienced TD  who has used the ocean plugin on some complex shots available to give the new upcoming version a ride through some scenes?

Thanks to the SDK additions in 2011 for Shader Definitions, I've added OpenEXR support back and also added the ability to cache oceans for the mental ray version. This brings the shaders very close to the performance of the ocean port for arnold. 

many thanks,

amaan

[Amaan Akram]

forgot to add -- the new version is not on my website. Please email me off the list if you have time to test

thanks

amaan