May 2012
1 post
1 tag
Copy Path – a simple OS X droplet
Drop any file or folder onto this app and its path will be put in the clipboard, ready for pasting (cmd+v). Place the app in the dock for easy access.[[MORE]]
The source code was grabbed from Cole’s Mac OS X Hints post, so all credit goes to him!
Download: Copy Path 1.0
Source code:
(*
I use this script to show people where to find files on our LAN.
Just drop a few files/folders onto...
April 2012
1 post
2 tags
fseventsd – a Mac OS X resource hog?
I’m running no apps but the computer is very busy and when checking the Activity Monitor, this “fseventsd” process is hogging a lot of CPU and RAM…[[MORE]]
What is it?
The FSEvents framework, which was introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, relies on a single, constantly running daemon process called fseventsd that reads from /dev/fsevents and writes the events to log files...
March 2012
1 post
3 tags
Nuke & CPU usage: Priority vs Affinity
On Windows, sometimes Nuke and Maya fights over resources, especially the CPU. This can become apparent when background rendering with Maya.
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Priority
By launching the Task Manager, you can right-click the Nuke6.3.exe process and choose to set its priority to “Realtime”. This will make Nuke respond without having to fight with a background Maya render.
In order to launch...
February 2012
3 posts
3 tags
Getting V-Ray to render "Nuke-style" Z-depth
Out of the box, V-Ray for Maya does not render Z-depth the same way Nuke does. Here’s a quick fix for that (not applicable for most DOF plugins).
Problem
When “3D-comping” something into an already 3D rendered image using a V-Ray generated Z-depth AOV to describe the depth, Nuke’s ZSlice will not work very well. The reason behind this is that Nuke internally computes Z...
4 tags
V-Ray for Maya: notes on arbitrary location setup
Running V-Ray for Maya in a production environment has its quirks. I have collected some bits and pieces off the Chaos Group forum and assembled it all here.
Table of contents
Arbitrary location installation
Arbitrary location configuration
Python launch script and MEL sourcing
Launching the V-Ray render slave from the arbitrary location
Arbitrary location installation
Choose a server...
2 tags
November 2011
2 posts
2 tags
Nuke script: Browse directory
Launch the source directory of the selected Read or Write node.
The script will take the selected Read or Write node’s file path, and open it using Explorer on Windows or Finder on Mac OS X. Optionally, you can feed the script with your own path of choice and make that open up. The script was built for Nuke 6.3 and has support for filenamefilter callback.
Installation
Download:...
2 tags
Nuke script: Read node from Write node
Written in Python, with Nuke 6.3 in mind, generate a Read node from the selected Write node.
The script will attempt to load an image sequence or a single file (such as a movie file), based off the selected Write node. If the first and last frame can not be determined, it will fall back to the project settings’ frame range and warn the Nuke compositor about this
The script comes with one...
October 2011
1 post
3 tags
Nuke 6.3 small studio setup for Win/Mac
This is a quick guide to setting Nuke 6.3 up with a custom menu and make it work more seamlessly across operating systems.
Since I jump between my Mac laptop and a Windows based workstation, I used to mess around with broken file read nodes in The Foundry’s Nuke and other stuff related to file paths being different on Windows and Mac OS X. Well… no more!
In this article, I will...
July 2011
1 post
1 tag
Adding external folders to Dropbox as a short-term...
How to use Dropbox as a backup for external files and folders outside of your Dropbox folder.
Like many others, I have an external hard drive to keep a long-term backup. I simply back up my stuff by manually arranging files and folders onto it, for personal archiving. However, if my laptop would be stolen or experience a hard drive crash, what would happen to all working files and documents...
June 2011
1 post
1 tag
Remote Windows management with PsTools, pt 3
In this third article on PsTools I talk about how to control V-Ray DR slaves remotely with the PsTools suite.
You can launch the V-Ray render slave either as a service or in a stand-alone command line window. I prefer the latter, because it is easy to run into file server permissions issues with the service (it needs to be set up with proper access to the file server’s share). PsTools then...
May 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Remote Windows management with PsTools, pt 2
In this second part of managing Windows machines using the PsTools suite, we will look at how to automate processes involving interacting with a server.
Examples of task scripts for installing Nuke, Maya and V-Ray can be found further down in this article. A zip package is available here with all scripts explained in this article.
The concept
This is the main concept; from a local managing...
1 tag
Remote Windows management with PsTools, pt 1
One of the advantages of running Linux on render farm machines is the possibility to remotely manage them using the command line. However if you are running the farm on Windows, this is a whole different kind of story.
By using Mark Russinovich’s PsTools it is possible to remotely manage render farm machines running on Windows with otherwise quite daunting tasks and without very little (if...
November 2010
1 post
2 tags
Managing Maya scenes on multiple platforms
Ever found yourself trying to open a complex Maya scene with nested references on a Windows/Linux network using your Macbook (or any of the other OS combos)?
I work in a Windows Server environment where PC drive letters are being used – and as I’m on a Mac system this poses a big problem when trying to open a complex Maya scene, linking to files outside of the Maya project; meaning I have...
June 2010
1 post
3 tags
Linear Workflow, part 2
This is how I would deal with the linear workflow (including non-linear preview) between Maya 2010 and Nuke 6.0v6.
If you are new to linear workflows and do not really understand what this is for, please read the Linear Workflow, part 1 article before continuing.
Default render, no gamma correction
Make sure mental ray is loaded by enabling the mrtomaya.mll plugin in the plug-in manager. Put...
May 2010
3 posts
2 tags
Linear Workflow, part 1
There seems to be a general confusion on linear workflows and how 3D/compositing packages work, what sRGB/gamma 2.2 is for and why it’s a good idea to render images in linear data throughout the pipeline. This is my take on a linear workflow with Maya and Nuke as well as a bit of history on the subject.
Most graphics software use a linear data model. Simply put, this means that the math...
4 tags
Enabling iray in Maya 2011
Mental images and/or Autodesk has intentionally not made iray available in the latest release of Autodesk Maya; version 2011. But there is a workaround…
The initial version of iray is bundled with mental ray 3.8 (stand alone and reality server) and takes advantage of the GPU when lighting, shading and rendering. According to a mental forums thread, iray was intentionally left out of mental...
3 tags
Enabling the mental ray production shaders
The production shader library contains a set of shaders aimed at production users of mental ray. The library contains a diverse collection of shaders, ranging from small utilities such as ray type switching and card opacity to large complex shaders such as the fast 2d motion blur shader.
In order to enable the mental ray production shader library, you can edit the mentalrayCustomNodeClass.mel or...
April 2010
1 post
2 tags
WatchDigital Visual Effects Showreel 2008
Also available on YouTube.
A brief breakdown:
Lasers: animation
Space/vehicle sequence: previz, rigging, animation, shading, lighting, rendering, compositing
Forest/vehicle sequence: previz, rigging, animation, shading, lighting, rendering, compositing
Binocular shot: compositing
Hole in wall: greenscreen composit
Eggs characters: modeling, rigging,...
May 2005
1 post
3 tags
Maya Particle Shading Script
A MEL script that hooks your particle system up with a camera automatically, resulting in a z-depth/focus depth/height/age/etc shader, that can be used to render images meant to serve as an aid during compositing. This way you can e.g. render out hardware particles’ depth channel with motion blur.
Please note
The script was written by Björn Henriksson and myself and has been tested on Maya...
March 2005
1 post
5 tags
Z composite with IFF in Shake
Utilizing the Z channel (depth information) of Maya’s IFF files in Shake is a bit tricky because of the way Maya stores depth information… here’s a quick tutorial to get you started.
Please note
This tutorial is applicable on not only Maya’s IFF files but also on other image format files rendered out of other 3D applications. Example files are available for download below....