D5 newbie Questions

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1

Greetings Everyone,

I’m new to D5 and have been exploring the program for the past couple of days and have a few questions, if someone would be kind enough to give some advice.

Don’t know if this matters or not but my two primary pieces of software are Rhino3D and Blender and I typically render with the Octane plugin.

First of all, D5 is amazing and I’m loving it. 3D visualization is a large part of my job and the animation requests are killing me time wise so D5 I believe is going to make me be able to sleep again cutting out the long animation render hours with the current software.

  1. The import .abc feature is one of the main reasons I chose D5 over other options. However, I am having issues with the imports. They do not import to scale or in the correct location (I’m exporting the .abc files from Blender. I’ve imported the same .abc file into Octane Standalone (my primary render engine) and they import correctly. This could be a units issue but I’m not sure what units to export as to D5 if that is the case. Anyone else have this issue or am I doing something wrong?

  2. Secondly, the materials do not come over with the .abc files and there doesn’t seem to be a way to assign materials within D5 to .abc imports – is there? When I click on the imported .abc object there is no material option with the D5 inspector.

  3. HDRI’s are mirrored when a custom HDRI is used. For example, text on streets signs are backwards. Is there a setting to fix this?

  4. I’m evaluating on the free version but am planning on upgrading to the Pro Version to unlock more assets. Will upgrading to Pro also allow me to use the scattering tools within D5 on custom objects? For example, I’d like to be able to import my own plants, grasses, etc and scatter them within D5. I use Rhino Nature within Rhino for scattering but in order to get the scattered objects over to D5 I have to bake them which results in MASSIVE file sizes.

Thank you in advance for any help/advice. I hope everyone has a terrific weekend.

Cheers,
Ryan

2

Hi Ryan, thank you for posting~

  1. Before baking and exporting the .abc file in Blender, please move the model to the original point (0,0,0) of World coordinate, because D5 Render uses it to define the center of the model.

  2. No, although the materials do not come over with the .abc files, we can manually assign materials by using material picker (Shortcut key: i), or you can lock the model, then click on it directly to select materials. (we may change this logic in the next version)

  3. I think it is because the HDRi becomes semi-sphere after getting imported into D5. But I think it should appear the same in D5 and other renderers like Octane, Twinmotion, etc. If I am not correct, please let me know.

  4. We do not support scattering custom models yet, but it is on the roadmap. Also, we will find a better way to handle the plants in Rhino, with the D5 Converter-Rhino.

Have a nice day~

Regards,
Oliver

3

Hello Oliver,

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

  1. The material picker/model lock worked perfectly on the .abc files, that is great to know. Often I put curtains gently blowing in the wind or doors opening in animations so being able to get the right materials on them is crucial.

  2. I’m still having some scale issues with .abc files but I think it might be on blender’s end with only .abc files. Exporting from blender as a .fbx imports to the correct scale in D5 but exporting the same file as a .abc does not import at the correct scale, which is why I’m thinking this is on blender’s end. I will figure this out.

  3. Thank you for letting me know about the scattering – I’m glad to hear that scattering custom models is on the roadmap, I believe this is a very important feature to have. Some clients get really specific with the types of plants they want, especially in interior green walls and such. I don’t know if it helps you and your team or not, but the developer of Rhino Scatter is very responsive and seems open with working with other software packages – it could potentially cut out a bit of work for you if the scattering done in Rhino Nature is converted over to D5. I’m biased since I use Rhino Scatter, but it’s a terrific scattering tool. It would also allow renders done with one program to match any animations converted over the D5 and completed. Just a thought.

  4. Regarding the HDRI’s – they are indeed mirrored within D5. Please see the image below comparing Octane render and D5. The numbers and text are mirrored in D5. I don’t see any controls (other than rotation) for HDRI’s in D5 so I’m assuming this is a bug?

Comp
Comp1767×1860 363 KB

Thank you again for your help! I’m loving using D5 thus far.
Ryan

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4

Hello Ryan,
When exporting abc in Blender, notice this option:
image
try setting the scale to 100.

Second, regarding the hdri problem, could you send me this sample hdri file for testing? My email is ziyin.zhu@d5techs.com

5

Hi Oliver,

Setting the scale to 100 fixed the .abc problem! Thank you!!!

I just sent the HDRI file to your email via WeTransfer, as it was too big to email. However, please note that this is happening with every HDRI I have tried.

Thanks!
Ryan

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6

Ok, regarding the hdri, we will “fix” it soon. In different renderers, there are different choices, for now, ours is different from Octane’s.

7

Thank you Oliver. Yeh, having the text backwards, or street signs backwards in a HDRI forces me to mirror the HDRI to get a correct result, so we appreciate the upcoming fix. Thank you!

Ryan

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