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[Arnold] Minimum CPU requirements
The latest Arnold 4.2.13.0 raises the minimum CPU requirements from SSE3 to SSE4.2: CPUs need to support the SSE4.2 instruction set From the Arnold Release Notes: SSE4.2 optimizations: We have raised...
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[Arnold] Do the right thing: use tx
Use tx textures. Don’t use png, jpg, tif, psd, or any other format. Convert them to tx. Why not use those other formats? Slow to load Memory hungry if not tiled and mipmapped Slow to render if textures...
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[MtoA] Exporting XGen archives
Finally, I have XGen > Generate > Export Selection as Archive working with Maya 2016 Extension 1 + SP5 on Windows 7. I recently updated to SP5 from SP4, but I don’t know if that’s part of why the...
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[MtoA] Adding user data to standin instances
The standard way to add user data to an Arnold node is to add an mtoa_constant attribute to the shape node in Maya. MtoA translates the mtoa_constant attributes to user data, so you can use shaders...
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[Arnold] Getting component links to node parameters with the Python API
Let’s say you have something like this: alRemapFloat { name alRemapFloat1 input alCombineColor1.r } where the R component of the alCombineColor node is linked to the alRemapFloat.input parameter. To...
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[Arnold] Setting core affinity aka pinning threads
Instead of setting the core affinity yourself, you should let Arnold do it. By default, Arnold pins threads (sets the affinity) if you use more than half the cores on the machine. If you really must...
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[MtoA] Use any mesh for a standin
MtoA 1.2.7.0 includes an enhancement (“standin as attribute group”) that allows you to use any mesh as a standin. So instead of the aiStandin node, you can have a proxy geometry to represent your...
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[C4DtoA] Understanding shaders and AOVs
Arnold takes care of writing the built-in AOVs like N, P, Pref, A, and the all-important beauty. But it’s shaders that write to AOVs like direct_diffuse. That’s why something like this is not going to...
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[MtoA] Running a silent install on Windows
On Windows, if MtoA isn’t already installed, then the /S flag will do a silent install: MtoA-1.2.7.3-2016.exe /S You can also specify an install location with the /D flag: MtoA-1.2.7.1-2016.exe /S...
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[MtoA] The case of the missing mtoa.mll
I woke up this morning and my MtoA was gone😉 It turned out that mtoa.mll, ai.dll, and all the other DLLs were gone from the MtoA installation directory. How’d that happen? Probably when my computer had...
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Setting the procedural’s load_at_init parameter to true would also fix this.
There’s an Arnold error that recommends setting the load_at_init parameter, but people don’t always know where to find that in their favorite Arnold plugin. ERROR| [proc] c4d|Arnold_Procedural: bounds...
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[Arnold] Setting up the Standard shader to be energy conserving
For energy conservation with Diffuse and SSS, you must have Diffuse + SSS <= 1 With Specular, it depends on whether or not Fresnel is enabled: If Fresnel is off, then you must have SSS + specular +...
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[MtoA] Unable to dynamically load mtoa.mll …The specified procedure could not...
If the MtoA plug-in does not load and you get a “The specified procedure could not be found” error like this: // Error: line 1: Unable to dynamically load :...
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[Arnold] Overriding parameters of nodes created by a standin
A common question is “how can I override the subdivision/displacement of the nodes in a standin?” The standard answer is: “you can’t”. A standin is an Arnold procedural node, and you can override only...
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[MtoA] Switching between multiple versions of MtoA
If, like me, you need to switch between different versions of MtoA, here’s a recipe for setting that up. First, you have to install multiple versions. As you probably already know, the MtoA installer...
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[Arnold] Understanding the texture cache
Arnold uses the OpenImageIO texture cache. From the OIIO Programmer Documentation: In short, if you have an application that will need to read pixels from many large image files, you can rely on...
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Updating MtoA 1.2.7.3 with Arnold 4.2.14.0
MtoA 1.2.7.3 ships with Arnold 4.2.13. If you want to take advantage of the improvements in Arnold 4.2.14.0 (like the increase in the maximum number of threads from 128 to 256), here’s what you need...
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[MtoA] Renderman performance warning
If you have both Renderman and MtoA installed, you may see a warning that says “Arnold for Maya degrades Renderman performance.” Unless you are running a version of MtoA from 20 months ago, this...
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Exporting ASS files to specific locations
For the render -rt 1 command, you can specify the output ASS name in the defaultArnoldRenderOptions.output_ass_filename attribute. For example: set PRE_RENDER_MEL="setAttr -type \"string\"...
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Force Translate Shading Engines?
You may have noticed the Force Translate Shading Engine option in the export dialog (or in the Feature Overrides section of the Render Settings). Force Translate Shading Engines forces MtoA to export...
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