few question before buying

 
 
 
Posted by:SciMunk
Data created:26 December 2017

Hello Ephere,

I was looking for a replacement for the current fur engine I was using on maya and I stumbled on Ornatrix today, I could try it for a bit and I really like how clean and effective the different tool work (brush is really confortable).

there is just a catch that I don't really understand about Ornatrix,

For exemple, why is the Operators Stack a linear workflow ? I played a bit with the node editor of maya and ornatrix, and I found out that, with the right node, could manage to handle a non linear workflow (like Yeti or Houdini engine do) + a 2d graph based UI instead of a node stack.

I also digged a bit in the provided SDK, could compile and try the provided sample with success, and I wanted to try to make an ornatrix Node capable of accepting 2 Input Guides to merge them together, this is a node I really need in my workflow (to separate different part of the groom independantly, and to also import a groom from one ornatrix HairSystem to another proceduraly), but I couldn't find the maya Plug data .header that would accept a GuidesData or HairData, would it be possible to have access to a simple ornatrix node source code that would echo an input to the output ? 

having the ability to make my own node for an hair system is what I really liked about ornatrix, as it give virtually no limit to what is possible, and I would not wait a single second to buy Ornatrix if my '2 input groom merge' node work !

 

Thanks for anwser !

Hi Jacques,

Thank you for your interest and your explanation. We have a node just like what you described in our road map, it's and interesting idea. I will have a code savvy person talking to you asap.

Jeordanis Figuereo (Product Designer. EPHERE Inc.)

Hi Jacques,

Thank you for giving Ornatrix a try. The operator stack is merely one view of the underlying node structure of Ornatrix, a simplified one. The idea is to give artists who are familiar with stack-based editing systems (layers, modifiers, effects, etc.) a workflow which they are used to. There is nothing to stop Ornatrix nodes from branching using the Node Editor. We don't provide our own node editor and rely on using Maya's for now.

Merge strands node is actually something I'm currently working on and will be available in V2. You can write your own, of course, using our SDK but the data needs to be properly merged between multiple hairs and we're also in the process of improving our SDK so maybe it's worth to wait a week or two for this. Our updated SDK will also be up soon. In general, you need to create a node with has "inputHair" and "ourpurHair" attributed of HairData (or GuidesData) type. Input hair then is copied into output hair while being modified somehow in between. If you want the node to be visible in our operator stack an "inputStack" and "outputStack" attributes are also required. I will include an example of a node in the SDK, as you requested, I think it'd be much easier to learn it that way. If you want feel free to email to at marsel.khadiyev (at) ephere.com and I can send some source code your way sooner.

Marsel Khadiyev (Software Developer, EPHERE Inc.)

Hello,

This is awesome to get such a positive answer so fast! I will send you a mail in a moment!

Thanks again!