Wish: linked blocks in proxy mode

Serengeti (Rhino WIP)
1

Hi,

I could imagine to get a little flag option at the block manger to enable a proxy mode for linked blocks. In this case the bounding box or something could be shown at the viewport and the full files are loaded during rendering only. This could help render plugins like Enscape to get proxy functionality. Good for very complex scenes to render.

Could it be possible?

Ciao,
Micha

2 Likes
2

Yes, I have the same wish, I wrote about it before and others before me did it as well.

I would mention though that simple bounding boxes are not enough, because it becomes complicated to place the proxies in the right position with the right orientation. Best would be to have a simplified version with less polygons like vray has.

A lite representation of blocks in rhino will be very useful for many rendering engines that can deliver good quality but lack in assets. Vray is so popular because the assets that are available on Evermotion (for example) can be bought directly as vrayproxies.

3

Hi all - thanks, wish item added

https://mcneel.myjetbrains.com/youtrack/issue/RH-43635

-Pascal

2 Likes
4

Andy from v-cube told me a very nice trick for linked blocks:

  • create a display mode where NURBS and mesh are invisible
  • use _SetObjectDisplayMode and the “hide” mode
  • add curves to the block file as representation of the objects

So, your linked blocks keep the display light.

Disadvantages - files are still load to the memory and it’s not easy to show the block content, since the _SetObjectDisplayMode must be set in the block file.

5

Another disadvantage is that all the work is done “manually” …

6

@pascal Often I’m working with complex assemblies based on detailed production models - for example a train with a lot of linked blocks. It could be a great function to enable “load render mesh only” for linked blocks.

The idea behind this wish is, that during rendering the scene is 3 times in memory - NURBS+RenderMesh at Rhino and RenderMesh at render engine. This option would help to let it be 2 times anymore. Since linked blocks can’t be direct edited the NURBS data isn’t needed often.

7

An example of my current project - double first class seat. Rhino file size 240MB. Seat is needed several dozen times at a train interior. My typical workflow is to create a mesh version and to use this as linked block. The last requested option could help to direct use the NURBS file.