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Extracting EXR Channels after Loader?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 3:21 pm
by Travis Schmiesing
Hi All,

I have a multi channel EXR. It is easy enough to extract the channels but selecting them from the format tab of the loader but I am wondering if there is a way that I can set the channels to use in a separate node after the loader?

To explain further... I am setting a still workflow that will have several cameras and options. I want to be able to simply link a new loader into the front of my comp and have it populate the downstream nodes with the proper channels. This will allow me to quickly study different views and options without needing to update several loaders.

Thanks for any help or advice.

Re: Extracting EXR Channels after Loader?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 4:59 pm
by Chad Capeland
You can reorder the channels after the Loader, but only if you have them written in the Loader first.

Re: Extracting EXR Channels after Loader?

PostPosted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:08 am
by Travis Schmiesing
Thanks for the quick response, I was delayed a bit before getting back to this. I did a bit of research and there is nothing natively that does what I want. A couple of forum posts sounded as though they had promising script solutions but the links were dead.

Essentially I want to load my multi channel EXR into one loader and then link that loader to another loader to isolate the different channels. Doing so will tremendously increase my speed.

Do you know if this is something a skilled Python scripter can solve?

Re: Extracting EXR Channels after Loader?

PostPosted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 10:56 pm
by Abdelrahman Magdy
Hi Travis. There is a script that actually works for this. It is called "hos_splitEXR" made thanks to a guy named Sven (I don't know his second name). You can download it through this link: http://www.svenneve.com/?p=889

It is currently working in Fusion 7 only; at least this is the case for me, since I cannot get scripts to run in Fusion 8 Beta.

After installing the script, what you do is you just load the EXR, then right click it and from the script menu, choose 'hos_splitexr'.

03.png
Right click the EXR Loader and go to Script
03.png (161.8 KiB) Viewed 2992 times


From there it is pretty simple. You just select from simple preferences, which does not affect the actual splitting process, and then it is done.

Here are two images of an example EXR that I split using the script.

04.png
Shadow Pass
04.png (148.58 KiB) Viewed 2992 times


05.png
AO Pass
05.png (183.46 KiB) Viewed 2992 times

Re: Extracting EXR Channels after Loader?

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:48 pm
by Travis Schmiesing
That script speed the workflow but it doesn't full do what I need. I am building a stills workflow for quick design and concept iterations. I need to be able to link to a new EXR quickly and have it read all of the channels through. Using "hos_splitEXR" I still have to re-link each node individually rather than updating the location 1 time and having it read though to all of the channel nodes.

You can do this in Nuke, I am hoping it can be replicated in Fusion.

Re: Extracting EXR Channels after Loader?

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:16 pm
by Chad Capeland
Just change all the clips with a script. The general idea is the same, you just want to automate the part where you choose the new EXR file?

Re: Extracting EXR Channels after Loader?

PostPosted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:45 pm
by Travis Schmiesing
Chad Capeland wrote:Just change all the clips with a script. The general idea is the same, you just want to automate the part where you choose the new EXR file?



Yep. I would rather it be native but if a script will get the job done then that is the way we will go. Do you have any recommendations for a skilled Python scripter for Fusion? I will likely need to have this and a few additional scripts written.