Rendering From Maya

Note that before trying to render, EntityTypes need to be assigned a Rendering Type (see Quickstart / Assign Rendering Type for more details).

Also make sure that your source character shaders has been imported in your scene and that they are active (see Quickstart / Import Shaders for more details)
 

Handling Visual Diversity with Procedural Shaders

Golaem Crowd includes procedurals shading for each renderer. See the texture / material diversity and color variation tutorials

Troubleshooting

If your Entities are not correctly rendered you can check the Rendering FAQ or the Shading FAQ

Renderer Specific Features

Arnold

All Arnold procedural nodes are created in a predefined Arnold namespace: golaem. This allows using shaders from an Arnold standIn in mtoa 2 and mtoa 3, instead of having to import the shaders lookdev scene in Maya, as long as the standin uses the same namespace:

For more details about how Golaem interacts with Arnold specific features (AOVs, Displacement), see the Reference Guide Arnold section

V-Ray

For more details about how Golaem interacts with V-Ray specific features (Render Elements, Displacement...), see the Reference Guide V-Ray section

Renderman

For more details about how Golaem interacts with Renderman specific features (How to hide particles, Multiple shaders groups, Motion Blur...), see the Reference Guide Renderman section

RendermanStudio and Shaders

Here are some important remarks about Renderman Studio and the way it translates its shaders to the RIB file format:
 
When translating a Maya scene into the RIB file format, Maya shader names are postfixed with _rfm (e.g. lambert1 becomes lambert1_rfm). Thus, if a crowd character uses a Maya shader, it is needed to edit its Character File (.gcha) and postfix the name of the Maya shader the same way.
 
When translating a Maya scene into the RIB file format, Renderman shaders are not translated at all and will not exist anymore in the resulting RIB file. Instead of it, it is its related Slim shader which will be linked to the corresponding Maya geometry. Thus, if a crowd character uses a Renderman Surface shader, it is needed to edit its Assets Manager file (.cam) and replace it by its corresponding Slim shader (without any postfix).
 
Example of a RenderMan shader linking a slim shader

3Delight

Default Render Pass

Before rendering, do not forget to create a default render pass.
Go to the render settings and create a default render pass
3Delight Settings before creating a default render pass by clicking on the checker button

3Delight and Shaders

Here are some important remarks about 3Delight and the way it translates its shaders to the RIB file format:
 
When translating a Maya scene into the RIB file format, shaders are embedded in an RiArchive tag with the values of its parameters and instead of calling directly the shader for a surface it calls this archive tag. Thus, this is this archive name which should be referenced in the Assets Manager.
 
If the shader is a Maya shader, it does not make any difference. On the other hand, if the shader is a RSL shader and has been applied with the 3delight relationship editor, it is needed to edit its Character file (.gcha) and replace it by its corresponding RSL.
Example of a RSL shader applied to a mesh and its correspondance in the Assets Manager

Mental Ray

For more details about how Golaem interacts with Mental Ray specific features (Render Passes, Transparency, High-res textures), see the Reference Guide Mental Ray section

Rendering through FBX/Alembic export

It is important to note that exporting / importing a whole FBX scene can be very time and memory consuming.
The FBX export should only be used for small examples or quick scene prototyping, or involving a small number of characters (less than 200).
 
To render crowds using FBX files, simply:
  • export your simulation to FBX files using the Simulation Tool
  • import the FBX files back into your Maya scene (or any other software supporting FBX)
  • once imported, you can render the scene as you would do with any othe classic geometry.