New Build (315)

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

• Added support for e4 on the render farm (updated the farm as well to 315).
• Made e4 an "official" choice in the interface under Lighting->Advanced. -- choices are e0 (Standard), e1 (Path Tracer), and e4 (Hybrid).
• I now pass a frame number to RPCs during animation.  This should make animated RPCs such as fountains work, but it's completely untested.  Let me know if it isn't working.

[Garret Diduck]

It seems the bump offset for texture mapping is opposite for the E4 (Hybrid) engine.  (All 3 were run for 2 mins.) 

nXt version 1.0.316

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

I'll check-- but it's unlikely.  The code for resolving materials is shared by the PT and Hybrid.

[Wayne Williamson]

Roy can you offer a few simple guide lines on when to use each engine, i.e. when engine 4 will preform faster or better than path tracer.

Thanks

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Not really-- they're both valid.  e4 is definitely the engine of the future-- whether it makes sense for your present depends.  It's new and likely still has a few problems.  It's also still in flux-- I may change it's characteristics suddenly and without warning.  The original engine is still quite fast for a lot of drawings.  It's preferred by our SketchUp community who seem less concerned with capturing more light paths.

I like e4 much better from a technical standpoint.  I set out to design an engine that could efficiently handle skylit interiors without resorting to pre-determined daylight portals.  I also wanted to get rid of "transparent shadow rays" and capture refractive caustic paths as an integral part of the engine.  Both of these goals have been (mostly) met by this engine.

[Garret Diduck]

If I switch the bump offset from a negative number to a positive number (eg. -2.0 to +2.0), then the Hybrid render looks like the Standard and Path Tracer.

Doing this though makes the Standard and Path Tracer offset in the wrong direction. So there is something going on that makes the Hybrid render the bumps opposite of the other two engines.

 
Roy Hirshkowitz said:

I'll check-- but it's unlikely.  The code for resolving materials is shared by the PT and Hybrid.

[akinlolu olugboji]

Anyone else tried the RPC animation of fountains, with success yet? unable to at my end.

[akinlolu olugboji]

I now have to appload before loading nxt every time after installing the new latest build. Why?

[Alejandro Testa]

It works as usual here, no changes with last version.

[Marc Chaumier]

No problem here.

[akinlolu olugboji]

Thanks to you all. Was on build 315, upgraded to build 316 and everything works fine now. 

akinlolu olugboji said:

I now have to appload before loading nxt every time after installing the new latest build. Why?

[Roy Hirshkowitz]

Garret-- can you send this example model?  Use the upload link if it's too big or you don't want it to be public.  Otherwise just attach it to a response.

Garret Diduck said:

It seems the bump offset for texture mapping is opposite for the E4 (Hybrid) engine.  (All 3 were run for 2 mins.) 

nXt version 1.0.316

[Garret Diduck]

No problem at all. I had to strip out the floor texture as it makes the file huge when embedded. The wall texture is embedded. I was rendering from the Walkabout window.