MoonRay for Modo 0.5.3.2

0.5.3.2 is a pre-production release of fire, fluids and faster volumes: VDB fire from temperature grids and in its blackbody colours, VDB sequences, Alembic fluids that blur, Scene Proxies with their own materials, and a MoonLightIPR that clears its noise sooner. It comes with a new runtime: install the kit and the runtime, then Compile XPU2 Shaders once more (System > Preferences > MoonRay > XPU2 > Device Management).

Fire and fluids

• VDB fire from temperature or flames grids: a VDB whose emission grid holds single values, as EmberGen, Houdini and Blender write fire, now glows in MoonRay, XPU2 and MoonLightIPR. MoonRay refused such a grid and left the whole VDB out (a MoonRay Source Override, on by default).
• VDB fire in its blackbody colours: turn on a VDB shape's blackbody colour and pick its temperature grid as the emission grid: deep red where it is cool, orange, then yellow-white where it is hottest, with kelvin at 1 to make it hotter or cooler (a Source Override, on by default).
• VDB sequences: untick a VDB shape's static, now beside its file, and the numbered files beside the one you chose (fire_1.vdb, fire_2.vdb...) play with the timeline, with a frame offset, the volume hidden or held outside its frames (a Source Override, on by default).
• Alembic fluids: a fluid mesher's mesh, whose points and faces change every frame, renders from the .abc itself and blurs along the file's velocities, whether brought in with File > Import (as Modo meshes or as Alembic Streaming Meshes) or set as an object's Geometry file. A mesh that changes during the shutter no longer stops a render with "Motion blur requires stable topology" (a Source Override, on by default).
• MoonLightIPR keeps a VDB fire's colour: an orange incandescence no longer glows white in the preview.

Scenes and the preview

• Scene Proxies render with their own materials: each proxy's geometry once, where it stands, shaded by the scene file it loads, as Modo renders it.
• MoonLightIPR clears its noise sooner: its samples come from OpenQMC, the Academy Software Foundation's sampling library: about half the samples for the same noise where the light comes from lamps, an environment or fog.
• Edits that change nothing leave realtime alone: a value entered as it already is, and Schematic work, no longer restart MoonLightIPR or XPU2's realtime.
• One resolution for every realtime preview, down to 1/8 and 1/16 of the render's, MoonRay LS included.
• EV, gamma and the MoonShine graph's numbers by dragging: drag right or up for more, Ctrl for fine steps, Shift for coarse; one drag is one undo, and a graph number is written to the material when you let go.
• Select Material Here: right-click a surface in the preview window to select the material it wears.
• RT goes off after a MoonLightIPR Playblast, done or stopped, where it stayed On with nothing updating.
• Toon lines in a colour, with their own alpha (issue 134), and toon lines smoothed along their direction (Source Overrides, on by default).

MoonRay XPU2

• Glowing fog from maps on the graphics card: a volume whose glow or colour comes from procedural maps renders on the card instead of the processor.
• Volumes render faster: VDB clouds and glowing fog in about two thirds of the time on the graphics card, with the same picture.
• A smaller shader compile, with a memory meter: Compile XPU2 Shaders takes 8 to 15 minutes and well under 12 GB, where it could climb past 40 GB. Preferences shows the free memory beside the button; the compile needs about 8 GB free to begin and stops itself before memory runs out.

XPU2: Asynchronous Monte Carlo Path Tracer designed by Raphael Tobar. Not affiliated with or endorsed by DreamWorks Animation.

Known issues

• Modo may crash as it quits with a Scene Proxy scene still open: Modo's own; your work and settings are kept.
• A light with a cookie filter renders in MoonRay's slower scalar mode outside XPU2.
• Several graphics cards and NUMA nodes are tested in simulation only.

The full list is in What's new in 0.5 and the issue tracker.

Install

Download the kit and the Windows runtime (and, for MoonRay's ten example scenes, the content ZIP), unpack them into one folder, and follow INSTALLATION.md. Windows and Modo 16.1v9; XPU and MoonLightIPR need an NVIDIA graphics card, and so does XPU2 unless set to the processor only. SHA256SUMS.txt lists each file's checksum.

Or drop MoonRayForModo-0.5.3.2.lpk onto a Modo viewport: the kit and the runtime in one file. Restart Modo when it asks, then Compile XPU2 Shaders. It leaves out the example scenes, which are in the content ZIP.