Render tree setup - fetching caches

[Jesper Rahlff]

Maybe a basic question, but every studio I have worked at so far have had a custom node usable in the ROP context to fetch a cache.

This way one was able to setup dependencies from your cache nodes to your Mantra ROPS.

Is there a way to do this using standard nodes?

I looked at the Fetch node, but it seems it can only target other rop nodes, like a rop in cops or similar.

 

Cheers

[toadstorm]

Most (if not all) of the SOPs related to file caching have a ROP Output Driver inside them that you can fetch via the Fetch ROP. Unless I'm misunderstanding your question?

[Jesper Rahlff]

@toadstorm ha you are totally right! I never thought about targeting that rop.. I am sure that will work exactly as intended.

Thanks man

[Jesper Rahlff]

@toadstormhere is a follow up question, maybe you know the answer. using multiple fetch nodes and piping the together ending the tree with a mantra rop, Houdini by default caches one frame from the first fetch cache, moves on to cache one frame on the second fetch node, and then render that frame with the Mantra rop, then repeat. This is highly unpractical for caches which are simulations.. is there a way to force it to cache out the full frame range of the first fetch node, and then move on to the second one?

[toadstorm]

When you render dependent chains, there should be an option in the Controls... window to render each ROP in a chain frame-by-frame or node-by-node. You could also consider using the Batch ROP, which will force its input ROP to render as a single job before any other jobs are processed without needing to use the Controls options.

[Jesper Rahlff]

2 hours ago, toadstorm said:

When you render dependent chains, there should be an option in the Controls... window to render each ROP in a chain frame-by-frame or node-by-node. You could also consider using the Batch ROP, which will force its input ROP to render as a single job before any other jobs are processed without needing to use the Controls options.

Thanks for the valuable info Henry. This is really helpful. I appreciate your time.

Random other question, using a pcfilter (either vex or in vops), is it possible to specify more than one attribute? or would I need to filter once per attribute?

[toadstorm]

Each attribute has to be filtered separately, but you can use the same point cloud handle from a pcopen() as the input for both filtering operations.

[Jesper Rahlff]

yeah I figured as much. thanks for you answers. really helpful