RFRK - Rendering Magnitudes with Cinema4D

[tim_c]

Does anyone have the solution to rendering magnitudes with Cinema4D using RFRK?

I thought that I could generate a vertex map for the appropriate magnitude and then use this in a vertex map shader. However when I try this the vertex map shader doesn't appear to have any information. I can see the magnitudes when I use the display parameters on the Mesher object, but cannot seem to use the information in a shader. I also copied the vertex map that was generated by RFRK onto a plane object and the vertex map shader immediately worked this way, it just doesn't work when the material is applied to the Mesher object. I'm guessing this is due to the lack of 'real' vertice as it is a generator object and the vertex map shader needs the vertex information.

So how can we render magnitudes with Cinema4D? Any tips appreciated, thanks.

Tim

[Richard]

Bump!

I am having the same issue, I thought after checking off "create vertex maps" that a vertex map might have been created so I can toss that into a shader, but after checking it off nothing happened O.o where is the vertex map it is supposed to create??

[Richard]

Ah ha! after clicking on my phong tag for fun the vertex map appeared! =D

[Richard]

and after dropping that vertex map into my colour shader nothing happens can someone please confirm this part of the RFRK plugin actually works? it's a bit unsettling seeing this posted so long ago and never answered =/

[Richard]

After a few minutes of banging my head against the wall I look over at my computer and now can see 3 different vertex maps, 5 minutes after the 1st vertex map showed up.... I think this plugin still needs more work!!! anyhow, with my newly found vertex maps I dropped them into the alpha instead of the colour and just made my own colours, seems to be working fine.. and by fine I mean after all these steps Cinema 4D crashes 80% of the time, good grief charlie brown!

[Richard]

I take that back.. so after a few hours I am still as confused as when I started.... this is still not working. who do I have to bribe for a RFRK + C4D in depth manual?!

[tsn]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for your reports and sorry for the late reply. I'm just an external member of the RF team, so please bear with me. You're totally right: the C4D plug-ins and the C4D RFRK do indeed need more specialized manuals. There are so many differences in contrast to 3DS, Maya etc. that the workflows are actually not comparable.

At the moment, C4D's RFRK also contains a severe bug that makes it impossible to use magnitudes with meshes. You've seen the results in form of constant crashes. The standard workflow to apply magnitudes to a RFRK mesh is as follows:

1. Load BIN sequence, adjust mesh params.
2. Check "Create Vertex Maps" under "Magnitudes" and choose the desired properties.
3. Click "Update mesh" to create a base mesh with vertex maps + "Auto update frame" to get new maps each frame. For the reference mesh, activate "Show mesh" as well.
4. Create materials, drag the vertex map tags to the "Alpha" slots.
5. Start the render process.

You need three individual materials (one for each vertex map) + a base material without a vertex map. The base material must be the first in the row, the other ones can follow without any specific order. The problem that causes the crashes is the "Create Vertex Maps" option. When it's unchecked, the scene can be rendered, but without magnitudes. If the option is active, C4D crashes.

It seems as if there are also problems with the vertex maps themselves, because I have the impression that they do not correctly represent the values we can see in RF. The RFRK and plug-in developer is already working on these issues and I hope NL will soon announce updates.

EDIT (2012-11-07): The vertex maps are 100% correct, but they show normalized values and therefore completely differ from the viewport representation in RF.

Best,
Thomas

[Richard]

Thank you so much for clearing that up Thomas I will keep my eye out for the future update!

[tsn]

You‘re welcome Richard. I have good news for you: the C4D developer sent me Betas of the plugins and the RFRK and the problems you've seen are fixed. Anyway, there is one thing we have to investigate on a little more. It's about differences in the vertex maps of BINs and MDs (mesh import plugin). Fortunately, there is a scale factor with each vertex map in the MD tab to boost the effect and with this parameter it is possible to get almost identical results.

Another thing is the RFRK's MultiPoint option, which is great for foam rendering. This feature can only be used to a certain extend, is pretty slow and eats up your entire RAM. This is because the RFRK doesn't use a procedural approach (that's not so easy to implement inside C4D), but creates instances. Instances need much more resources. If you have access to Maxwell Render you can also render an extra foam pass there and combine the result in AE, for example. MR creates millions of additional particles within 2 or 3 minutes and renders them really fast - even with accurate motion blur.

I think the new plugins will soon be available.

[Richard]

I downloaded the updated plugin yesterday and this now works great!