Thread for the addition of Maxwell Render 3.1 Extra sampling support in DL7.x
Current process and method for this to work with 7.0.2.3 R Public - Note: This works for single render and co-operative rendering:-
Commandline options are passed to Maxwell using the Additional Arguments box in the Maxwell Submit job dialogue. This example uses a premade image to drive the extra sampling areas.
-extrasamplingenabled:yes -extrasamplingsl:25 -extrasamplingmask:2 -extrasamplinguserbitmap:\\SERVER\Render\Maxwell\EMP3d\MX3\Scenes\Website_BGs\Extra_Sampling_Tester_alpha.png So how does this work?
You set a global sample level for the whole image and then using a black and white mask, tell Maxwell to carry on rendering a specific section of the image to a higher sample level.
You can use a preset Custom Alpha channel created during rendering, the output Alpha channel created during rendering or a user image(bitmap) created before submitting the job.
Specific command line options:-
-extrasamplingenabled:yes|no|on|off Specify whether the render extra-sampling is enabled
-extrasamplingsl:sl Specify Final Sample Level for the extra-sampling
-extrasamplingmask:0|1|2 Specify the extra-sampling mask. 0: custom alpha, 1: alpha, 2: bitmap
-extrasamplingcustomalpha:name Specify what custom alpha will be used for the extra-sampling mask 0 (custom alpha)
-extrasamplinguserbitmap:path Specify the path of the bitmap used as a mask for extra-sampling mask 2 (bitmap)
-extrasamplinginvert:yes|no|on|off Specify whether extra-sampling alpha mask must be invertedNow here’s where we need to add support to Deadline.
Currently the job/render progress hits the global sample level at 100% but the extra sampling is not accounted for, so I have 3252% render progress in the slave progress window by the time the render finishes and the Monitor task window progress bar is at 100% when the global sample level is reached.
The job render times are correct however for the whole job.
The Submit job dialogue needs to have the extra sampling options available.
The ‘Adjust for cooperative rendering’ needs to account for the Extra Sampling level as well as the Global sample level, although the current method using Arguments works. (See points below the image.)
Here is the Maxwell Render GUI Options panel for extra sampling, with the type drop down revealed:-
Currently I need to set the Extra Sampling level to the co-operatively adjusted sample level given to the number of nodes I have. So for instance I have 40 nodes. I know that Maxwell needs a sample level of 10.93 for each node to combine upto the global sample level of 20.
So to get this to work correctly, my Extra Sampling SL argument should be 10.93 NOT 20 as you would expect. This way co-operative rendering is accounted for during the Global SL and the Extra SL.
-noimage -extrasamplingenabled:yes -extrasamplingsl:10.93 -extrasamplingmask:2 -extrasamplinguserbitmap:\\SERVER\Render\Maxwell\EMP3d\MX3\Scenes\Website_BGs\Extra_Sampling_Tester_alpha.png
And full tested and working render argument as sent from Deadline for correct final Global SL of 4 and Extra Sampling Level of 20 using a pre-made black and white image:-
Argument for one node in a co-operative render using 40 nodes:-
-mxs:"\\server\Maxwell\Extra_Sampling_Tester.mxs"
-nowait
-hide
-threads:0
-time:10000.0
-sampling:0.24 *********************************CO-OP ADJUSTED SL****************************************
-node
-verbose:4
-idcpu:4
-output:"C:\Users\Tim.EMP3D\AppData\Local\Thinkbox\Deadline7\slave\R09\jobsData\54d4bdd43d27c91b0c36f8cb\maxwellOutput_tempGzOv70\Output\Extra_Sampling_Tester_s0004.png"
-copyimage:"\\server\Render\Maxwell\EMP3d\MX3\Scenes\Website_BGs\Extra_Sampling_Tester_s0004.png"
-mxi:"C:\Users\Tim.EMP3D\AppData\Local\Thinkbox\Deadline7\slave\R09\jobsData\54d4bdd43d27c91b0c36f8cb\maxwellOutput_tempGzOv70\MXI\Extra_Sampling_Tester_s0004.mxi"
-copymxi:"\\server\Render\Maxwell\EMP3d\MX3\Scenes\Website_BGs\Extra_Sampling_Tester_s0004.mxi"
-removeaftercopy:yes
-noimage
-extrasamplingenabled:yes
-extrasamplingsl:10.93 *********************************CO-OP ADJUSTED SL****************************************
-extrasamplingmask:2
-extrasamplinguserbitmap:\\SERVER\Render\Maxwell\EMP3d\MX3\Scenes\Website_BGs\Extra_Sampling_Tester_alpha.png
Cheers,
Tim.
