openEXR

[srproductions]

Hello everyone!

I have a quick question.

I am considering starting to render out sequences as openEXR. (multile pass, of course) I was wondering, how does Combustion 3 handle openEXR. Do you have the ability to adjust each pass? (shading, shadow, reflection, etc) Thanks!

[Diogo Girondi]

No multi-layered OpenEXR support in C* for now. For what I know it will only read the RGBA channels.

[srproductions]

SNAP! How about After Effects? Or Shake?

[Diogo Girondi]

Same problem in AE. Shake you can extract the extra channels and branch them. The only one that I know is able to read up to 64 channels straigh from a OpenEXR without bother about anything else is Nuke. Fusion is also able to read them but with certain limitations in terms of workflow. FFI systems can't even read them (except Sabre from ILM).

Check www.openexr.com for plugins or more info.

I hope it helps.


Cheers,

[srproductions]

So, is there a script for Combustion anywhere?

But Shake will work OK right? Or should I get Fusion?

I would like to be able to do this in combustion.

[Diogo Girondi]

In shake you can reorder OpenEXR channels in severall passes for what I recall. In fusion I think you can keep up to 15 OpenEXR channels per loader.

Better ask someone that is sitll using them. It's been quite a while that I don't touch Shake and I've just tested Fusion 5, the old version of Fusion I don't even remenber how the OpenEXR support was since I didn't use it at that time.

No capsules for C* that I'm aware of.

[SalaTar]

15 is right

[mboden]

SPR you dont think I said in a previous post OpenEXR isn't right for you. But whatever, you seem intent on hearing the right answer from a different thread.

[mboden]

http://www.openexr.com/documentation.html
Here's everthing you ever wanted to know about OpenEXR, you should probably read it . Then if you still feel like you really want use this format and you have WIP, I'll try to help you use it for whatever, otherwise use something easier man, you're making to hard on yourself, trying to use such a compilcated file format. I know that about any comp program can use TGA, TIFF and countless other lossless FF's. You bring in your seperate passes and control them each in your comp. Hope that made sense. Good Luck.

[srproductions]

So, would PSD work as well? Good quality?

Good integration with combustion 3?

[mboden]

PSD is an Adobe format so it not for sure that every program out there can support it, I think you should go with TGA or TIFF. If any anyone else out there a better opinion on lossless file formats I would love to hear about it.

[srproductions]

Well, I am in LW, so the best files for multi-pass rendering are PSD and openEXR. With that said...

I know combustion 3 can import it, just not sure about how it handles the different channels. Anybody done this before?

I don't really see why you don't think openEXR is a good format for me to use with HDV. Everyone else seems to think it's a good format. I am not going to export the final output as openEXR, just using it to get my data from LW to combustion for compositing, color correcting, etc.

[stevecullum]

I've used the oEXR format alot for my compositions and found the quality to be great over 8bit formats like TGA. Working in higher bit depth colour space gives you better control and better quality results, especially with things like depth passes. Combustion as far as I'm aware does not handle the embeded channels, however I'm using Fusion 5 and it supports all available channels. If you using LW then I would recommend the exrTrader plugin (www.exrtrader.com) as you can export all the passes you need in one shot, which can be a real time saver in some cases!

[mboden]

I know the quality of oExr is better than a standard 8 bit TGA, it juts one of those things that I believe when you starting in VFX you can't tell the difference between 8, 16, and float. The it also introduces more advanced comp issues such as log/lin conversion. If anyone is just starting off I think I better to start simple then move on once you master a skill so that good habits are learned. That my opinion. Spr just use what ever is going to get you working at this point. Sorry cant help with LW/Combustion, I'm a maya/shake user.

[srproductions]

OK.

I had decided to go with TGA and/or TIFF format. BUT...

I decided to do a test to see how the channels woold work in C3, because you never know about Lightwave's multipass stuff. AND...

It didn't read the channels AT ALL!!!

HINT: DON'T BUY LIGHTWAVE IF YOU PLAN ON DOING MULTIPASS RENDERING IN A FORMAT OTHER THAN PSD OR EXR!!!

With that said...

Should I go with either PSD or openEXR? Is PSD really that bad? Does openEXR even support an 8 bit image?


THANKS!