What happen when you create Xgen
Export Xgen
Xgen won’t do regular export / import process. Currently it also doesn’t export any materials attached to it. So when the Xgen is ready, export the following items:
Import Xgen
How to reference the same asset multiple times in the same scene with Xgen
Preparing Xgen for batch render
Troubleshooting
Namespace problem
In Maya the xgen name look like this nameSpace:collectionName, but the folder name is actually look like this nameSpace__ns__collectionName because you can't have colon in the folder name. So in Maya, the Xgen file path should be automatically corrected to look for the later name. Well, sometimes it doesn't do that and give you an error. You have to correct the file path. Go to xgen window, collection -> edit file path.
Save incremental issue
Sometimes when you do the “Increment & Save” for your scene, Xgen “freaks out”. It is saver if you “Save Scene As” and increment the scene manually.
Error on map painting and ptex baking:
Most likely caused by your shader. Try change the geometry shader to default / lambert.
Renderfarm settings
When submitting to Royal Render please confirm that “Allow Local Scene Copy” is disabled. When this option is enabled, Royal Render will copy your scene file to the local directory of the render machine but not the xgen files. Thus, Xgen won’t show up on your render.
- It will create external xgen files specific to your scene file name and each collection in the scene. Every time you increment the scene, new xgen files will also be created.
- It will create folders and files inside the “[project name] -> xgen -> collections” folder where it stores descriptions, maps, and other data.
Export Xgen
Xgen won’t do regular export / import process. Currently it also doesn’t export any materials attached to it. So when the Xgen is ready, export the following items:
- Export the Xgen Collection
- Export any shading network that are assigned to the description
Import Xgen
- Import or reference the asset
- Import Collection. It will ask if you want to increment the collection name or override existing one. In most cases, you can choose override.
- Import the shading network
- Assign the shader to xgen.
How to reference the same asset multiple times in the same scene with Xgen
- Reference the asset using namespace
- Select the grow geometry and import xgen colllection using the same namespace with your reference.
- Currently, this error show up every time I import “Error: XGen: Could not return bound geometry” but it seems to work fine, so just ignore it for now.
- It will automatically create a new collection folder inside the xgen folder with the namespace.
Preparing Xgen for batch render
- Before submitting to render farm, do the “Export patches for batch render”. It will create an alembic file for the grow geometry.
Troubleshooting
Namespace problem
In Maya the xgen name look like this nameSpace:collectionName, but the folder name is actually look like this nameSpace__ns__collectionName because you can't have colon in the folder name. So in Maya, the Xgen file path should be automatically corrected to look for the later name. Well, sometimes it doesn't do that and give you an error. You have to correct the file path. Go to xgen window, collection -> edit file path.
Save incremental issue
Sometimes when you do the “Increment & Save” for your scene, Xgen “freaks out”. It is saver if you “Save Scene As” and increment the scene manually.
Error on map painting and ptex baking:
Most likely caused by your shader. Try change the geometry shader to default / lambert.
Renderfarm settings
When submitting to Royal Render please confirm that “Allow Local Scene Copy” is disabled. When this option is enabled, Royal Render will copy your scene file to the local directory of the render machine but not the xgen files. Thus, Xgen won’t show up on your render.