3Delight/Blender 0.7.5

April 25th, 2012 . 9 comments

It’s been a while, but the 3Delight/blender exporter has been getting progressively more out of date, with changes in Blender’s python API leaving version 0.7.0 broken in current releases. Blender 2.63 will also include the new bmesh system, which is incompatible with old versions. I’ve updated the addon to fix these issues, and add a few more little things. This version now requires Blender 2.63 – until it’s released, you can use a pre-release version. As always, I’ve tried to test it on the main OSes, but if you find any issues, please let me know.

Update: There was a last minute Blender python API change which renders v0.7.5 incompatible with the Blender 2.63 release. The addon has been fixed and updated to v0.7.6.

Download the addon here: render_3delight_0.7.6.zip

Changes include:

  • Enabled editable output paths, including RIB file export, shadow maps, and point clouds. These path properties support using environment variables, or other blender data variables that are built in to the exporter. Environment variables can be read from outside blender, or default environment variables can be edited from within the Environment Variables panel in Render Properties.
    More info at: http://mattebb.com/3delightblender/documentation/
  • Added option to either both export RIB and render interactively, or just export the RIB (better for render farms)
  • Added choose of Display Drivers – currently accepted are ‘auto’ (integrated in blender image editor), idisplay, and tiff.
  • Added access to Hider settings. Using idisplay with the raytrace hider allows progressive rendering.

§ 9 Responses to 3Delight/Blender 0.7.5"

  • Nate Winckler says:

    Unless I just installed something incorrectly, I can’t seem to make the “Generate Shadow Map Automatically” function to work with the lights. When I have it checked, 3Delight generates the RIB file, but then Blender never shows a final render. However, if I uncheck the box mentioned above, it uses the shadow map just generated in this new render, except this time it actually renders a final output. It’s the exact same thing with the Point Cloud with Global Illumination (with checking and unchecking “Generate Point Cloud Automatically.”
    Are you experiencing a problem with this too?

  • Matt says:

    Hi Nate, i haven’t had this problem – I tried to test as much as I could on different OSes, but unfortunately this sort of thing usually entails a lot of incompatibilities on different systems. Can you check your console and see if there are any error messages there? What OS and blender version are you using?

  • This is fantastic! I don’t why this add-on is not getting more attention than it is. Keep up the great work. I have not had any issues with 3delight but can I use it to render with aqsis?

    • Matt says:

      Hi, it currently makes a few assumptions about the renderer, so most likely it won’t work with Aqsis. Having said that, it may not be that much work for an interested person to make it optional. I just haven’t spent any of my time on it, since I’m not so interested in Aqsis myself at this point, and would rather work on getting 3Delight supported really well first. But clean patches to make it more renderer-agnostic would be seriously considered!

  • Amir Zinatulin says:

    Is it possible to use Display Subsets with your exporter? I wanted to do external compositing and render few masks for that.
    Thank you for your great work.

    • Matt says:

      Hi, it’s not possible at the moment, I’m afraid. I haven’t spent much time on the topic of AOVs yet, it’s on the list.

  • Patrik says:

    Hi, Matt!
    Great work! For a couple a months ago, I implemented AreaLightSource in you export script, the diff for version 0.7.0 can be found http://www.pasteall.org/31337/diff. There are some code which might be unnecessary as some transpose command which was necessary to correct the matrix form. I think you solved this in your latest release. The code may be customized so it can handle arbitrary geometry instead of a single disc.

    Then I thought about a structural change of you code, inspired by how Maya does it. Maya uses ObjectInstance to call their geometry into an AttributeNode which declare different shader options. It would be a great advantage e.g. when working with group instances in Blender, and also it would enable features as attaching geometry to e.g. AreaLightSource, well then the ObjectInstance has to be declared first in the Rib.

    Well, I’ve got some more things on my wishlist, as more attributes, render passes etc. But I think this is enough for this time. Btw do you have your todolist online or in your head? Keep up developing 🙂

  • Hi Matt,

    Thanks for this wonderful tool 🙂

    I’ve used prman with Maya for years, and being able to write shaders at home for my own projects is great.

    One question; can I assign a attributes to tell 3delight to render a blender curve as an riCurve, or do I have to hack ribs ?

    Cheers,

    Brian Samuels

    • Matt says:

      Hi Brian, as far as I can remember (can’t test right now), blender curves should be exported automatically as riCurves. Though perhaps if the curve has modifiers, or some of the ‘bevel’ options on, it may have to be exported as a poly mesh to get those extra features. The exported curve should also respect the width (set using alt-s in blender).

      cheers

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