Ass instances in phantom does not disappear

CyrilCosta · ‎04-14-2023

Hi !

I'm current doing some Rnd / lookdev on crowds.
I was just testing some rendering presets using a simple instances setup with .ass files :
- points scatter with a random s@instancefile attribute.

This attribute just calls randomly still frames from an animated sequence that i've saved in .ass
(I've put a very simple Mixamo animation from frame 1 to 201, and I'm using random frames from this sequence to scatter poses on my points)

And I've noticed a weird behevior when I'm putting my crowd objet (which is a geometry_node with the "fast point instancing" option ON) in Phantom Mode :

some of the instances still appear in the rendering. They just don't disappear... Even if I force the visibility=2 on a set_parameter operator graph !
This behavior seams to be very random.

My question was : is there a limitation with ass sources in a single geo_node ?

In my case, I'm using 22 different ass files from my sequence.

Is there an option somewhere to avoid this problem ?
Is it an option inside the ass file ?
Just to give more details on the ass file :
It was saved with arnold Rop Archive, with these options :

Thanks !

Stephen.Blair · ‎04-14-2023

Most likely it's auto instancing

kick -info procedural | findstr auto
BOOL          auto_instancing                   true

// Stephen Blair
// Arnold Renderer Support

CyrilCosta · ‎04-14-2023

00:00:01   234MB         |       1 polymesh
00:00:01   234MB         |    1550 ginstance
00:00:01   234MB         |      22 procedural
[...]
00:00:20  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:20  1025MB         | top session self-times by category 
00:00:20  1025MB         |  node_init                                                          0:03.90 (20.65%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:11                                    0:00.16 ( 0.86%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:13                                    0:00.16 ( 0.86%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:12                                    0:00.16 ( 0.86%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:8                                     0:00.14 ( 0.78%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:1                                     0:00.14 ( 0.78%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:9                                     0:00.13 ( 0.71%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:7                                     0:00.11 ( 0.61%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:5                                     0:00.11 ( 0.61%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:14                                    0:00.11 ( 0.61%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:16                                    0:00.11 ( 0.61%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:4                                     0:00.10 ( 0.56%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:                                      0:00.10 ( 0.56%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:3                                     0:00.10 ( 0.56%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:2                                     0:00.10 ( 0.56%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:0                                     0:00.10 ( 0.56%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:15                                    0:00.09 ( 0.52%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:6                                     0:00.09 ( 0.52%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |  thread blocked                                                     0:03.55 (18.83%) 
00:00:20  1025MB         |  ImportanceMap initialize                                           0:02.22 (11.77%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   /obj/environment_hdr                                              0:02.22 (11.77%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  AiMsgDebug                                                         0:01.84 ( 9.76%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  AiTextureHandleAccess                                              0:01.70 ( 9.00%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  UpdateNodes                                                        0:00.99 ( 5.29%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  polymesh::intersect                                                0:00.85 ( 4.54%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   /obj/cynthia/polygons                                             0:00.42 ( 2.25%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   /obj/gunther/polygons                                             0:00.33 ( 1.78%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   /obj/RENDER_salle/polygons                                        0:00.09 ( 0.51%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  loadFile                                                           0:00.71 ( 3.80%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  BVH::intersect                                                     0:00.63 ( 3.37%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   root                                                              0:00.21 ( 1.12%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   /obj/cynthia/polygons                                             0:00.18 ( 0.97%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   /obj/gunther/polygons                                             0:00.16 ( 0.88%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  node_update                                                        0:00.57 ( 3.02%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:21  1025MB         | top session self-times by node 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  skydome_light:/obj/environment_hdr                                 0:02.42 (12.83%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   ImportanceMap initialize                                          0:02.22 (11.77%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  image:/mat/HDR_arena_1/hdr                                         0:01.12 ( 5.95%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   AiTextureHandleAccess                                             0:01.08 ( 5.72%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  UpdateNodes                                                        0:00.99 ( 5.29%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  polymesh:/obj/gunther/polygons                                     0:00.97 ( 5.16%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   polymesh::intersect                                               0:00.33 ( 1.78%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   thread blocked                                                    0:00.33 ( 1.76%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   BVH::intersect                                                    0:00.16 ( 0.88%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  polymesh:/obj/cynthia/polygons                                     0:00.73 ( 3.87%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   polymesh::intersect                                               0:00.42 ( 2.25%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   BVH::intersect                                                    0:00.18 ( 0.97%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  image:/mat/gunther_hair_cards/Hair_Transparency_Opacity            0:00.50 ( 2.65%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   thread blocked                                                    0:00.46 ( 2.48%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |  polymesh:/obj/RENDER_salle/polygons                                0:00.39 ( 2.08%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   thread blocked                                                    0:00.17 ( 0.92%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         |   polymesh::intersect                                               0:00.09 ( 0.51%) 
00:00:21  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[...]
00:00:22  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:22  1025MB         | geometry                         (% hit ) (instances) (  init mem,  final mem)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  lists                         1 (100.0%) (        0) (      0.01,       0.01)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  procs                        22 (100.0%) (     1550) (      0.00,       0.00)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  polymeshes                   28 ( 82.1%) (        0) (    116.99,      80.73)
00:00:22  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:22  1025MB         | geometric elements               (      min) (       avg.) (      max)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  objects (top level)        1550 (     1550) (     1550.0) (     1550)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  objects (procs)              22 (        1) (        1.0) (        1)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  polygons                1616328 (        1) (    57726.0) (   120422)
00:00:22  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:22  1025MB         | triangle tessellation            (      min) (       avg.) (      max) (/ element) (% total)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  polymeshes              3196404 (    84206) (   138974.1) (   240836) (     1.98) (100.00%)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  unique triangles        3196404 
00:00:22  1025MB         |  visible triangles     210627396 
00:00:22  1025MB         |  CPU memory use            80.73MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   vertices                 24.84MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   vertex indices           12.80MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   polygon base offsets      0.00MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   polygon IDs               0.00MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   triangulation             0.00MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   packed normals            7.80MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   normal indices            8.78MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   uv coords                 5.01MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   uv coords idxs           12.75MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   uniform indices           3.22MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   userdata                  3.97MB 
00:00:22  1025MB         |  largest polymeshes by triangle count 
00:00:22  1025MB         |     240836 tris -- /obj/RENDER_salle/polygons
00:00:22  1025MB         |     184482 tris -- /obj/gunther/polygons
00:00:22  1025MB         |     184482 tris -- /obj/gunther/polygons
00:00:22  1025MB         |     184482 tris -- /obj/gunther/polygons
00:00:22  1025MB         |     184482 tris -- /obj/gunther/polygons
00:00:22  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:22  1025MB         | acceleration structures:         (% total)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  list                         22 ( 47.83%)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  bvh                          24 ( 52.17%)
00:00:22  1025MB         |  total                        46 (100.00%)
00:00:22  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00:00:22  1025MB         | ass file cache           
00:00:22  1025MB         |   unique (loaded from disk)             22 (100.00%) 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   reused (found in cache)                0 (0.00%) 
00:00:22  1025MB         |   total referenced .ass files           22 (100.00%) 
00:00:22  1025MB         | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well currently my logs shows me that I have my 22 procedural (from my s@instancefile attribute) instanced on 1550 points (ginstances). So I think it's Ok. But that's not the reason of my problem... But I can't figure out what's going wrong in the logs.

CyrilCosta · ‎04-14-2023

tried to save to full scene .ass file, and run it through the kick.exe

Same result some instances don't take care about the visibility 254

That's strange because the scene .ass file seams to have correct value :

ginstance
{
 name /obj/RENDER_crowd/instances:1548
 visibility 254
 matrix
 0 0 1 0
 0 1 0 0
 -1 0 0 0
 64.3496857 20.6938171 14.4957676 1
 motion_end 0
 node "file:<....>/ASS/lcs_a002_0010_layout_main_cynthia_anim_sit_A_v002.1161.ass"
 inherit_xform off
 declare _obj_path constant STRING
 _obj_path "/obj/RENDER_crowd"
 declare _ipr_loffset constant ARRAY MATRIX
 _ipr_loffset
 0 0 1 0
 0 1 0 0
 -1 0 0 0
 64.3496857 20.6938171 14.4957676 1
 declare Cd constant RGB
 Cd 0.75 0.75 0.75
 declare orient constant RGBA
 orient 0 -0.707106769 -0 0.707106769
}

And all the instances have the same value :

shirakura5XSBJ · ‎12-06-2023

I'm also running into the same issue.
Was there any solution?

shirakura5XSBJ · ‎12-06-2023

I found a workaround.

Turn off Visible To CameraRay wasn't enough.

From the obj node's edit parameter interface, select node properties and look for visibility override.
When you select it, various items will be selected , but add them as is.
Another VisibilityTab will be created in the obj node tab.
The leftmost unnamed checkbox is visibility Override, so turn it on.

It is necessary to copy object node for phantom rendering.

tom_minor-arnold · ‎12-08-2023

Hey everyone,

I've logged this as HTOA-2169 and will reach out when it's fixed

Cheers

// Tom Minor
// Arnold Developer, HtoA