Feedback after testing Indigo (requests+bugs)
Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 10:35 am
Hi,
I've heard about Indigo for a long time now, I saw some friends doing some incredible renders with it and that makes me want to try it out myself.
The engine itself is very good and very promising. It's fast (CPU version, not RT), DoF are cleaning very well (not common, quite a good point) and I love the technical achievements that are possible with Indigo (MTL is lovely).
I Only did a test, I didn't started a project with it, here's my feedback, hoping to help the team and getting Indigo improved in the future (Indigo for C4D) :
Material/Camera/Lights
• No Node Graph.
• No uber material ! If some people don't know what it is : it's basically one material that can support all channels : diffuse, specular (or glossy or reflection, same thing) transmission (glass), SSS, emission (probably a few more like a secondary reflection called "coat", it depends).
Exemple : car paint = diffuse color (base color) - specular (hi light color) with roughness + coat for glossy reflection.
Currently possible with blending materials. better with an uber material (all in one, also like Arnold for exemple).
• material scene preview can be better. EDIT : I replaced the default one by a custom made scene.
• Not possible to unselect "diffuse". Current solution : Brightness at 0%
• Bokeh Aspect Ratio (faking anamorphic bokeh)
• Rework of current light system. Replacing native c4d lights + indigo tag with dedicated
indigo lights and feature rich options (fall off, softness, ambient light etc)
BUG found : spot and area lights quite correctly but not the rest.
Tonemapping : What are the universal values ? Seems like sometimes there is an auto-exposure which is disturbing.
Tonemapping workflow/settings can be improved I think. A simple Linear 1.0 to 2.2 would be appreciated (sRGB or something else, OCIO / ACES could improve that a lot). Camera mode should be in the camera settings in my opinion.
• Indigo tag preset missing. Exemple :
icon for light = native light + indigo tag applied
icon for camera with native camera + tag applied.
and more preset for HDRI, Physical Sky etc.
Realtime Preview: Very good and fast render (impressive with a single CPU!)
• no render region (shift shortcut + mouse selection)
• no overall tonemapping (bypassing all camera's tonemap settings).
• No color management (OCIO)
• No fixed resolution options : ie. XXXX | XXXX (possible by hand with the mouse thought).
• GPU mode result to a crash when selected. (might be something I missed and not explained).
• Right click options : save as (png, jpg, exr), select object, camera pick focus etc.
• Numerical zooming option (Realtime Preview)
• Improved update (real time preview) : geometry update, lights ON/OFF etc
• Snapshot option (with A|B comparison)
Settings :
• Classic channel settings like diffuse, specular, etc for optimization (also some biased settings would be appreciated, like include/exclude).
• A faster way to switch from physical sky (procedural) to HDRI without replacing and changing settings in the render settings. It takes quite some time to, for exemple, try different light setups (for look dev).
A simple way would be : shortcut icon of HDRI (sky + pre made emissive material preset with empty texture) and having Indigo automatically detecting it and doing the changes (like other renderer)
• missing a live Log/Console window
This is the notes I took while testing Indigo. It's a very impressive renderer with a great future and promising. I think the C4D version is too young with some important features missing, lack of options and stuff to be improved. Feel free to contact me for more explanations, I would be very pleased to help.
I wish all the best to the team behind Indigo! I had the pleasure to use it despite everything I said and I'm looking forward to see new versions and follow Indigo's improvements
I've heard about Indigo for a long time now, I saw some friends doing some incredible renders with it and that makes me want to try it out myself.
The engine itself is very good and very promising. It's fast (CPU version, not RT), DoF are cleaning very well (not common, quite a good point) and I love the technical achievements that are possible with Indigo (MTL is lovely).
I Only did a test, I didn't started a project with it, here's my feedback, hoping to help the team and getting Indigo improved in the future (Indigo for C4D) :
Material/Camera/Lights
• No Node Graph.
• No uber material ! If some people don't know what it is : it's basically one material that can support all channels : diffuse, specular (or glossy or reflection, same thing) transmission (glass), SSS, emission (probably a few more like a secondary reflection called "coat", it depends).
Exemple : car paint = diffuse color (base color) - specular (hi light color) with roughness + coat for glossy reflection.
Currently possible with blending materials. better with an uber material (all in one, also like Arnold for exemple).
• material scene preview can be better. EDIT : I replaced the default one by a custom made scene.
• Not possible to unselect "diffuse". Current solution : Brightness at 0%
• Bokeh Aspect Ratio (faking anamorphic bokeh)
• Rework of current light system. Replacing native c4d lights + indigo tag with dedicated
indigo lights and feature rich options (fall off, softness, ambient light etc)
BUG found : spot and area lights quite correctly but not the rest.
Tonemapping : What are the universal values ? Seems like sometimes there is an auto-exposure which is disturbing.
Tonemapping workflow/settings can be improved I think. A simple Linear 1.0 to 2.2 would be appreciated (sRGB or something else, OCIO / ACES could improve that a lot). Camera mode should be in the camera settings in my opinion.
• Indigo tag preset missing. Exemple :
icon for light = native light + indigo tag applied
icon for camera with native camera + tag applied.
and more preset for HDRI, Physical Sky etc.
Realtime Preview: Very good and fast render (impressive with a single CPU!)
• no render region (shift shortcut + mouse selection)
• no overall tonemapping (bypassing all camera's tonemap settings).
• No color management (OCIO)
• No fixed resolution options : ie. XXXX | XXXX (possible by hand with the mouse thought).
• GPU mode result to a crash when selected. (might be something I missed and not explained).
• Right click options : save as (png, jpg, exr), select object, camera pick focus etc.
• Numerical zooming option (Realtime Preview)
• Improved update (real time preview) : geometry update, lights ON/OFF etc
• Snapshot option (with A|B comparison)
Settings :
• Classic channel settings like diffuse, specular, etc for optimization (also some biased settings would be appreciated, like include/exclude).
• A faster way to switch from physical sky (procedural) to HDRI without replacing and changing settings in the render settings. It takes quite some time to, for exemple, try different light setups (for look dev).
A simple way would be : shortcut icon of HDRI (sky + pre made emissive material preset with empty texture) and having Indigo automatically detecting it and doing the changes (like other renderer)
• missing a live Log/Console window
This is the notes I took while testing Indigo. It's a very impressive renderer with a great future and promising. I think the C4D version is too young with some important features missing, lack of options and stuff to be improved. Feel free to contact me for more explanations, I would be very pleased to help.
I wish all the best to the team behind Indigo! I had the pleasure to use it despite everything I said and I'm looking forward to see new versions and follow Indigo's improvements