Grains test

[rod_sott]

Hello Tyson!

First of all, congratulations for such amazing achievement you've got with the tyFlow, and for opening it to the community! It is definitely the most amazing plugin I've ever seen for 3dsMax. (sadly not for 2016)

Here is the first test I did with the grain solver scene. It's faster than Houdini to simulate the same complexity of grains, 130.000 particles:

https://streamable.com/vcv6e

I had a few times this message regarding to the OpenCL, at the listener when debugging the scene:

"OpenCL bind solve failed: [CL_OUT_OF_RESOURCES]. Reverting to CPU solve. Re-initialize OpenCL to try again."

I'm with a GTX1080, with at least 5Gb of its RAM free, and this scene had a total cache of 1.2Gb. Could the simulation be even faster using the GTX?

I'm aware of the Request features area, but just for complementing this post, I'll put here my thoughts about tyFlow so far:

1- Infos: We could have, like Pflow, the particle count on top of each flow. I couldn't find this info anywhere other than debug info at the listener.

2- Cache to disk: I saw a post asking for this, and I already had tested the "export particles" operator, trying to export and render on 2016, which is my production version, but it wouldn't work with the Vray Instances, just like regular mesh object (or PRT files), making the scene heavier to render. TyFlow could have the same pflow "cache disk" operator so we could turn it on or off, without loosing the simulation, or even saving multiple different simulations in separate folders, and reload them into tyFlow when needed. But the Export Particles, as far as I tested it, creates that "tyCache Object" that works separately from the tyFlow simulation.

I'll keep testing, and sharing here.

My best,

Rod

[tyFlow]

Thanks for the feedback Rod, the GPU error is a bit troubling....your card should have enough RAM on it for that scene. I'll try to look into that.

Regarding your other points, let me get back to you about them...have a good chunk of other things down the pipe to address first

[ragnakim]

Nice test!

[Hichamnebo]

Nice test, will you share with me that scene ?

[Boris268]

How did you render grains?

[tyFlow]

Hey Rod, I wanted to check back into this thread and ask you about your point #2:

You mentioned the tyCache wasn't working with VRay instances...could you clarify what you meant?

There are some situations where instancing isn't possible...like if you fracture your geometry, because each mesh becomes unique (and therefore cannot be an instance). Were you running into situations where identical particles were not exporting as instances?

[rod_sott]

Hello guys!

@Hichamnebo, sure, why not.. If Tyson is sharing this beauty with us, is my obligation to share my R&D too.

https://www73.zippyshare.com/v/NqbuKT6S/file.html

@Boris268 , to render the particles you need to add a MESH operator at the end of the flow, and select "Vray Instances" (and of course have VRay 3.6 installed). The Triangle mesh took ages to begin the render, and the memory usage skyrocket.. This option might be for another purpose. Oh, and for the different colors of the grains, you will need the MultiTexture plugin.

@tyFlow , Hi Tyson... Yes, i thought so about the GPU error. At all the simulations my GPU usage is like 1%.. I really want to see it using the GPU, it will be even more amazing!

Regarding to the tyCache issue, when I do a Global Export of the particles, or even create a cache for each emitter separately, at the tyCache object, the VRay render Status of all caches that I tried have the same message: "tyFlow_2017 is only compatible with VRay 3.6. Instancing is disabled". So, my thoughts so far are:

1- The message tells "tyFlow_2017" but I'm using 2018.
2- I am using VRay 3.6.
3- This happens with the Global export AND with an object with the same particle shape, like the built-in "Stones" shape I used on the Torus emitter. So answering to your question, yes.. its a situation where identical particles were not exported as instances.

My main need for the cache is that my official license of 3dsMax is the 2016, so I'm falling apart that it will not be working on it. So a workaround would be to have just one newer 3dsMax license to work with tyFlow, then export to 2016, in a way I could make a network render flawlessly. For that, I could create different PRT caches, then load it into Pflow, then use the vray instancer.. Or if you could port a version of just the tyCache to 2016 and back.. so we could at least be able to read a tyCache.. Because I believe that even being able to export an alembic file, it would still be heavier than a file that uses Vray Instances.

Another thing for you to help solve, is that I customized the falling spheres using a 3 different objects Group called "Rocks".. you will see it in the scene. I realized that this group is the culprit for that I can't reset or exit normally from 3dsMax.. it is stuck with those objects.. I can delete everything from the scene, all but this group. I tried to change the Spheres emitter shape to another built-in, but that Rocks group is still being used by tyFlow somehow, even deleting the tyFlow object. Maybe a forced memory flush or something, that could like "disconnect" the group from tyFlow?

Other than making the 3dsMax stuck, not being able to open a new scene, and having to exit it by killing the task, the scene is quite ok.. Just need to figure how to revert this thing, that I can't change a thing in this Rocks group..

Please let me know if I could help with any other information, really glad to help in this stage of the development.

My best,

Rod

[tyFlow]

Hey Rod, I actually spoke too soon with my last request for information. While fixing another unrelated bug, I discovered that a recent typo in the tyCache object was causing VRay instancing to not work properly, essentially render both instances AND a generated mesh of all the instances. That's fixed now and the build going up shortly will have that fix. Also the "instancing is disabled" messagebox was bugged too, and not updated even if 3.6 is the one installed. Both problems are now fixed!

The scene freezing bug is something I'm working on at the moment, hopefully it will make it into the upcoming build as well.

[rod_sott]

Hey Rod, I actually spoke too soon with my last request for information. While fixing another unrelated bug, I discovered that a recent typo in the tyCache object was causing VRay instancing to not work properly, essentially render both instances AND a generated mesh of all the instances. That's fixed now and the build going up shortly will have that fix. Also the "instancing is disabled" messagebox was bugged too, and not updated even if 3.6 is the one installed. Both problems are now fixed!

The scene freezing bug is something I'm working on at the moment, hopefully it will make it into the upcoming build as well.

Alright, Tyson! Great that it's fixed! I'll try exporting it again as soon as you post the new build.

And about you to port a version of tyCache for 2016 and olders, is it possible? This could help all the people that still uses older version, to at least import tyFlow simulations and render.

About the scene freezing I've found a workaround, just to have 3dsMax free to reset and open new file again:

1- deleted the tyFlow object;
2- deleted everything in the scene, but the Rocks group;
3- ran a garbage collector at the listener ->   gc()

4- then the group Rocks can be deleted, and Max reseted.

But once I added a custom grouped particles to tyFlow, I can't remove its addressing.. maybe needs the same "gc()" into tyFlow, to release the Reference Node inside the Shape operator, even after adding another one?

[tyFlow]

Quick update...the freeze-on-scene-reset bug is fixed in v0.16007 which will be posted soon.

[rod_sott]

Quick update...the freeze-on-scene-reset bug is fixed in v0.16007 which will be posted soon.

Awesome!!! Very quick indeed.. lol

I'm here refreshing the download page, waiting for it.. )

Thanks again!

[rod_sott]

Cool, the tyCache is working good now, with Vray Instances just fine!! And the freeze problem with the grouped particles fixed too! Good job Tyson!!

And about you to port a version of tyCache for 2016 and olders, is it possible? This could help all the people that still uses older versions, to at least import tyFlow simulations and render.

My best

[tyFlow]

Unfortunately as it stands at the moment, porting to 2016 isn't possible.

[Jokermax]

Rod thanks for sharing the scene

[rod_sott]

Unfortunately as it stands at the moment, porting to 2016 isn't possible.

Even just the tyCache object? Just a way for us to load a tyFlow cache files, so we could just render with the VRay there?

If not, where is at your roadmap's timeframe the Alembic export? Other than PRT files being loaded through PFlow, and rendered using the Vray Instancer, could we have an alternative to load tyFlow cache files into 2016 or older?

Thanks!

---

Rod thanks for sharing the scene

You're welcome, Jokermax.. enjoy. Please let me know if there's any doubt about the process.

[dv2000]

can we also get octane instances and octane support?

[robob3ar]

can we also get octane instances and octane support?

more octaners here, +1 .. I also mentioned it in the octane forum, devs said great, they gonna look into i (I hope)

[Tarelkin]

+1 for Octane instances. Please.

[NIC_HAMILTON]

octane support not needed IMO
you should be using vray or redshift.

[navalguijo]

octane support not needed IMO
you should be using vray or redshift.

Octane displacement is the best... +1 to octane instances!

This is a scene I made using the octane displacement, just 8 vertex boxes with hand made displacement map...6.000 instances...barely seconds render with my actual machine...
https://twitter.com/navalguijo/status/10...8184315904

I would looooove to play with this VHS tapes in Tyflow...

[tyFlow]

Nice render!