Scripted Rendering

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On 29/02/2004 at 05:41, xxxxxxxx wrote:

User Information:
Cinema 4D Version:   8.100 
Platform:      Mac OSX  ; 
Language(s) :   C.O.F.F.E.E  ;  C++  ;

---------
I create a series of cameras programtically. Is there anyway to render the same frames of the scene from the various cameras through coffee or the sdk?

I am hoping for something like this:
render with cam1, frames 46-72, save to folder cam1
render with cam2, frames 46-72, save to folder cam2
render with cam3, frames 46-72, save to folder cam3
...
render with camN, frames 46-72, save to folder camN

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On 29/02/2004 at 18:04, xxxxxxxx wrote:

In C.O.F.F.E.E. no, in C++ yes. If you can live with a crude interface (read: recompile to change the settings, and no way to abort without forcing a quit) it's just a matter of a few lines:

    
    
    struct MyPrivateData  
    {  
      String* cam;  
      BaseBitmap* bmp;  
    };
    
    
    
    
    void MyProgressHook(Real p, void* private_data)  
    {  
      MyPrivateData* pd = static_cast<MyPrivateData*>(private_data);  
      StatusSetBar(p);  
      StatusSetText("Rendering \"" + *pd->cam + "\"...");  
      ShowBitmap(pd->bmp);  
    }
    
    
    
    
    Bool MenuTest::Execute(BaseDocument *doc)  
    {  
      RenderData* rd = doc->GetActiveRenderData();   
      BaseContainer rdata = rd->GetData();  
      rdata.SetTime(RDATA_FRAMEFROM, BaseTime(46, doc->GetFps()));  
      rdata.SetTime(RDATA_FRAMETO, BaseTime(46, doc->GetFps()));
    
    
    
    
      const LONG N = 2;  
      for (LONG i = 1; i <= N; ++i)  
      {  
        AutoAlloc<BaseBitmap> bmp;  
        if (!bmp) break;  
        bmp->Init(rdata.GetLong(RDATA_XRES), rdata.GetLong(RDATA_YRES));
    
    
    
    
        String cam = "cam" + LongToString(i);  
        BaseObject* cobj = doc->SearchObject(cam);  
        if (!cobj) break;  
        doc->GetRenderBaseDraw()->SetSceneCamera(cobj);
    
    
    
    
        rdata.SetFilename(RDATA_PATH,   
          doc->GetDocumentPath() + Filename(cam) + doc->GetDocumentName());
    
    
    
    
        MyPrivateData pd;  
        pd.cam = &cam;  
        pd.bmp = bmp;
    
    
    
    
        if (RenderDocument(doc, rdata, MyProgressHook, &pd, bmp, RENDERFLAG_EXTERNAL, 0) != RAY_OK) break;  
      }  
      StatusClear();
    
    
    
    
      return TRUE;  
    }

You could also search the forum for RenderDocument, which will show you some more sofisticated solutions (like http://www.plugincafe.com/forum_browse.asp?messageID=2884).

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On 01/03/2004 at 14:00, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Mikael,
There has been changes to the RenderDocument function in version 8.5 that doesn't allow your example of a more sophisticated solution to work. Is there a work around?
 
Nate

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On 01/03/2004 at 15:17, xxxxxxxx wrote:

What do you refer to?

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On 01/03/2004 at 17:19, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Mikael,
To be more specific the Modal Render function in the link http://www.plugincafe.com/forum_browse.asp?messageID=2884.  There is a RenderThread class that is of the type Thread, and when you call RenderDocument you use the variant of the function that was removed in 8.5.  I was just wondering how you to get that function to work with the other variant of the RenderDocument function.  The major difference is that the function uses a BaseThread instead of a Thread.   I couldn't get the code to work with a BaseThread.  Thanks for your quick response!
Nate

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On 01/03/2004 at 18:38, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thread::Get() will return the BaseThread of this thread.

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On 01/03/2004 at 20:36, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks Samir that did compile but now I get an application error when I use the code on 8.5 but not on 8.2.  I am not sure why though.
Nate

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On 02/03/2004 at 03:17, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Can you show the RenderDocument line you are now using?
Samir

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On 02/03/2004 at 10:54, xxxxxxxx wrote:

I don't have the code infront of me but believe the line looks as follows.   If its not I will post an update.
        RenderDocument(m_dlg->m_doc,  m_dlg->m_rdata,                        
                       ProgressFunction, m_dlg,         
                       m_dlg->m_bmp, 
                       uni_showerrors, this->Get());    
this is a Thread class
Nate

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On 02/03/2004 at 11:30, xxxxxxxx wrote:

you need to use the other RenderDocument function (seems you use the old one). It should look something like this:
RenderDocument(doc,rdata,RenderProgress,NULL,bm,FALSE,Get())

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On 02/03/2004 at 12:28, xxxxxxxx wrote:

What is the main difference between the way you use it and the way I use it?  This may be a stupid question but I don't see how they are different.
RenderDocument(doc,rdata,RenderProgress,NULL,bm,FALSE,Get())
RenderDocument(m_dlg->m_doc,  m_dlg->m_rdata,                        
                       ProgressFunction, m_dlg,         
                       m_dlg->m_bmp, 
                       uni_showerrors, this->Get());    
m_dlg->m_doc = doc,  m_dlg->m_rdata = rdata, ProgressFunction = RenderProgress, NULL is m_dlg, m_dlg->m_bmp = bm, uni_showerrors = FALSE, this->Get = Get()

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On 02/03/2004 at 15:01, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Well I just realized what is going on, I have a problem rendering when I use a different plugin I created and that is making the C4D crash for some reason.  The suggestion you gave me above does work.  Now I just have to figure out why the other object plugin crashes C4D when I render either the way above or to the picture viewer.  It also only happens when I place objects into the plugin object.  I may need to relook at the SDK for information about how to create an object plugin, maybe there is something in there about rendering plugin objects.  Thanks again for all your help you were very helpful!
Nate

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On 02/03/2004 at 18:13, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Sorry, I haven´t seen your m_dlg parameter you passed. My fault. It´s the same function of course then.
Hope you find the problem.

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On 02/03/2004 at 20:59, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks Mikael - this gives me a bit to chew on.

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On 03/03/2004 at 16:11, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Ok - I have given Mikael's example a try. I did get the basic rendering to work but with two problems.

The first is that the changes I make to rdata seem to be ignored and it just goes ahead and uses the render settings from the scene such as framefrom, frametwo, filename, etc.

The second is that c4d crashes unless I comment out the line
     ShowBitmap(pd->bmp);
in the progress function.

  
  
#include "c4d.h"  
#include "c4d_symbols.h"  
  
  
  
struct MyPrivateData  
{  
     String* cam;  
     BaseBitmap* bmp;  
};  
  
void MyProgressHook(Real p, void* private_data)  
{  
       
     StatusSetBar(p);  
     MyPrivateData* pd = static_cast<MyPrivateData*>(private_data);  
     StatusSetText("Rendering \"" + *pd->cam + "\"...");  
     //ShowBitmap(pd->bmp);  
}  
  
class RenderMenuTest : public CommandData  
{  
     public:  
          virtual Bool Execute(BaseDocument *doc);  
};  
  
Bool RenderMenuTest::Execute(BaseDocument *doc)  
{  
  
  
     RenderData* rd = doc->GetActiveRenderData();   
     BaseContainer rdata = rd->GetData();  
     rdata.SetTime(RDATA_FRAMEFROM,     BaseTime(12, doc->GetFps()));  
     rdata.SetTime(RDATA_FRAMETO,     BaseTime(15, doc->GetFps()));  
  
       
     GePrint("Start frame: " + LongToString( rdata.GetTime( RDATA_FRAMEFROM ).GetFrame(30) ) );  
     GePrint("End frame: " + LongToString( rdata.GetTime( RDATA_FRAMETO ).GetFrame(30) ) );  
  
  
     const LONG N = 1;  
     for (LONG i = 1; i <= N; ++i)  
     {  
          AutoAlloc<BaseBitmap> bmp;  
          if (!bmp) break;  
          bmp->Init(rdata.GetLong(RDATA_XRES), rdata.GetLong(RDATA_YRES));  
  
  
  
          String cam = "cam" + LongToString(i);  
          BaseObject* cobj = doc->SearchObject(cam);  
          if (!cobj) break;  
          doc->GetRenderBaseDraw()->SetSceneCamera(cobj);  
  
  
  
          rdata.SetFilename(RDATA_PATH, doc->GetDocumentPath() + Filename(cam) + doc->GetDocumentName());  
  
     GePrint("Filename: " + rdata.GetFilename(RDATA_PATH).GetFileString());  
  
  
          MyPrivateData pd;  
          pd.cam = &cam;  
          pd.bmp = bmp;  
  
  
            
          if (RenderDocument(doc, rdata, MyProgressHook, &pd;, bmp, TRUE, NULL) != RAY_OK) {  
               MessageDialog("Unable to write file...");  
               break;  
          }  
            
            
     }  
     StatusClear();  
  
  
       
       
       
     MessageDialog("RENDER FINISHED!");  
       
     return TRUE;  
}  
  
Bool RegisterRenderMenuTest(void)  
{  
     // decide by name if the plugin shall be registered - just for user convenience  
     String name=GeLoadString(IDS_RENDERMENUTEST);   
     if (!name.Content()) return TRUE;  
     // be sure to use a unique ID obtained from www.plugincafe.com  
     return RegisterCommandPlugin(1888956,name,0,"icon.tif","C++ SDK Rnder Menu Test Plugin",gNew RenderMenuTest);  
}  

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On 06/03/2004 at 05:51, xxxxxxxx wrote:

The ShowBitmap line in the code above crashes c4d on a dual processor G5 but not on a single processor G4.

On the dual machine, it displays the rendering with one processor until the other processor would join in (with the second scan line) then it crashes.

Is there something that needs to be done to use ShowBitmap on a dual processor machine?

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On 09/03/2004 at 05:04, xxxxxxxx wrote:

OK - I slogged my through it (is there any other way!)

Of the two problems I encountered, the first was that the camera FROMFRAME and TOFRAME attributes of the rdata BaseContainer seemed to have no effect. I went into the scene and changed Frame option in the "Output" section of the render dialog from "All Frames" to "Manual" and that seemed to do it. I guess that can also be set programatically with the RDATA_FRAMESEQUENCE container id.

The next problem of the crashing with the dual processor when it hit ShowBitmap was resolved as I went for the more sophisticated GeModalDialog subclass example that Mikael pointed to. Perhaps a separate thread was the necessary addition?

In any case it is all working now with the help of Mikael's ModalRenderer. Thanks Mikael!

There were a couple of things that had to be modified with the recent SDK. The original code is here:
http://www.plugincafe.com/forum_browse.asp?messageID=2884

and the modifications are:
The GeUserArea can now only be gotten by:

  
gadgetarea = AddUserArea(PREVIEW_AREA_ID, 0, m_bmp->GetBw(), m_bmp->GetBh());  
if (gadgetarea) AttachUserArea(ua,gadgetarea);  

and AttachImage(PREVIEW_AREA_ID, m_bmp, 0);
no longer works so you have to sublass GeUserArea and define the draw command to draw the bitmap:

  
void RenderPreviewUserArea::Draw(LONG x1,LONG y1,LONG x2,LONG y2)  
{  
       
     LONG w = bmp->GetBw();  
     LONG h = bmp->GetBh();  
  
     DrawBitmap(bmp,0,0,w,h,0,0,w,h,0);  
}  

Where bmp is a member variable of the RenderPreviewUserArea subclass.

Finally, in the GeModalDialog subclass, GetUserArea is no longer valid but the user area is now a member of the dialog subclass (was set by AttachUserArea in the dialog layout). So the UpdatePreview becomes:

  
          // Tell the preview to redraw itself  
          void UpdatePreview() {  
               // GeUserArea* ua = GetUserArea(PREVIEW_AREA_ID);  
               ua.Redraw(TRUE);  
          }  

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On 09/03/2004 at 18:40, xxxxxxxx wrote:

Thanks for reporting back. I'm sure your results will be useful to future forum readers!