Fusion9 - EXR 2.x - Tools

Nice to have EXR 2.x on board, but to use it , for example , with multichannel EXRs out of maya, we need some channel switcher tools. Of course, i can put each channel in the format tab, to the RGB Channel, but with 20 AOV channels, it would be nice, to only have one loader, and then split the channels out of.

But your image doesn't have the channels to hold that information. There isn't anything to spit out. That's why you need more Loaders.

i think u didnt get my point?
If we render from vray multichannel exr, i have one file, with all AOVs.
In Fusion, in the Format Tab of the Loader, i can switch f.E. R G B to diffuse.R diffuse.G diffuse.B, or reflect, .....
I wish to have a tool, which can switch any channel in the exr to RGB . So i have 1 Loader and 20 switch tools.
I know, that fusion cant handle all channels from the loader trough the whole comp.
But for pupose reasons just a switcher would be very helpful.

Stefan, you're driving at a node like the Shuffle node from Nuke, correct? I don't think the Channel Boolean is similar, it's been a while since I've jumped into Fusion. I was hoping that the EXR workflow was improved with this release.

I was also hoping this would get some attention from Black Magic. Requests for better EXR support has been posted many times on this forum and as far as I can remember has not been directly responded to by Black Magic. Please correct me if I am wrong.

There are scripts that exist to help break the EXR into several loaders with various render elements set to the channels to make using EXR easier, but none exists to easily pull all from 1 loader.

My guess is that this is due to the type of company Black Magic is. They deal mainly in shooting, production, editing, etc... Anything falling more in VFX production will likely take a backseat.

Your best bet for the time being is to use this script combined with preset starter files as tempaltes.
http://www.svenneve.com/?p=239

it has nothing to do with blackmagic, its more in the core of fusion. it was the same in the eyeon days. i guess it would need a deeper rewrite of the whole software to support more channels internally.

it has nothing to do with blackmagic, its more in the core of fusion. it was the same in the eyeon days. i guess it would need a deeper rewrite of the whole software to support more channels internally.

Well something like shuffle, connected to a loader, should not be such a big deal, no? I dont think that it is viable (even though it would be awesome) to pipe all exr channels through the entire flowgraph like in Nuke and be able to pull out channels at any point in the graph. But to have a node that easily extracts exr channels without having to go into the funny and slightly clunky remap area of the reader would not be too much to ask, no?

I think for me this is one of the biggest reasons to stay in nuke for some time longer and not make the switch to fusion.
This seems like it would be a fairly easy task to give it the simple solution (shuffle'esk loader node) and really make a lot of people with complex multilayer exr renderings happy.

Cheers,
Jonathan

If it were a clean way (without ugly hacks) to get extra channels from loader to shuffle, it would be as easy to get them to any other node. But probably there are too many hardcoded things at play both in channel management and node op codes that ripping it all out and replacing with a more flexible one is herculean job with lots of potential trips and traps.

If it were a clean way (without ugly hacks) to get extra channels from loader to shuffle, it would be as easy to get them to any other node. But probably there are too many hardcoded things at play both in channel management and node op codes that ripping it all out and replacing with a more flexible one is herculean job with lots of potential trips and traps.

Hi Hendrik,

I think you are not right here - the whole Nuke Channel paradigm is about piping the information through the entire flow. So you can choose with every node if it should effect only RGB(A) or also the aux channels. So you could blur an AO channel somewhere earlier in the flow and then accces it later as the BLURRED AO from the same flow.
I think this is architectural unique to nuke, and really brilliant - BUT in 95% of cases you need the raw mask channel, you want to shuffle the AO into RBG so that you can multiply it etc. Usually you dont need to pipe through the modified channels - so here a simple shuffle node, maybe one that is restricted to connecting to loaders and transform nodes directly connected to loaders, would really be a godsent and make the exr workflow much much easier.
Basically the EXR Channel remapping in the loader already does it, but the UI is really a pain and the restriction to pre-defined channels is really something that you would expect from after effects and not a high end node based compositor.

When I render my images, I usually have 5-15 mask, and several other Aux channels like a vray light select etc.

So to sum it up, going full nuke at some point would be awesome - but i think not so important at this point. But a better EXR UI/Interface is desperately needed in order for people to do high end, exr based, work without having to jump through a lot of hoops.

Cheers,
Jonathan

A solution that does this kind of piping between two nodes exclusively is a rather ugly hack. But if it works, it is fine. I know how Nuke handles channels, I use Nuke for almost everything I do. But to switch from a set of hardcoded channels to a system similar to Nuke (where channel limit is 1023 if I remember correctly) is not an easy task.

What I wanted to say was that any kind of logical system to get extra channels from loader to shuffle would already make way for the same connection between any other node. To get the AO or custom mask or ID pass or whatnot out of shuffle node in rgba channels, all these arbitrary channels must still first be piped to shuffle node to shuffle anything out.