I have a scene with three groups of nulls that I want Plexus to treat in three different ways. They are all rendered by triangulation, but with different settings depending on the names of the nulls. So the question is, is it more efficient for the plugin to have three renderers on one Plexus solid, or to have three Plexus solids with one rendered each?
It won't make much difference either way. But if you are using GPU HQ Depth of Field then one layer will be faster than using 3 separate layers. Hope this helps
Is it possible to create a null out of one of the points motion? So I can attach a text layer to only a specific point.
It is not currently possible to get the position of each vertex. However you can use the "sprite" option in the point renderer to add text via a sprite.
i'm loving plexus 2 and it is working great on a spot i'm doing, but i'm having one stumble: i'm trying to use the container effect with a mask shape and i just can't get it to work. the tute only covers using an obj file or one of the built-in primitives, and it seems to work fine with those. but when i try pointing it to a layer with a mask or a shape layer (with the same mask - an outline of the united states) i get no effect. i'm sure it's something simple.
Im having a problem, perhaps is not even possible but I really doubt that, here the scenario. I have a obj(earth continent) on wich i put a line renderer then a noise effector, then animate the noise from 368 to 38 and everything is smooth, but when I change the location of my obj in x,y via the plexus obj object panel, the noise animation became jerky, its like almost every vertex change every frame because of the location changing. Here the video of the obj moving: Here the obj not moving
Thank in advance!
Are you using an OBJ sequence? If the vertex count changes over sequence, there'll be jitter in the noise.
will there be an update for this soon to make the plugin better optimized for OSX 10.9 Mavericks? I feel like the plugin has gotten a bit sluggish since updating the OS. My Red Giant plugins were actually causing instant crashes when opening AE after the update, so I have to imagine there is something in the functionality of the new OS that will need to be dealt with to really optimize the plugin.
here are some of the things i've noticed after Mavericks: -the UI for thickness and opacity has a heavy lag when drawing custom curves -individual frames seem to take much longer to render and even going from blur quality 1x to 2x seems to make much more of an impact on speed than it used to -the comp I'm working on now has 6 total Plexus objects, all of which are 3D nulls that stay static while the camera makes a small dolly move. with the render settings on line distance set to every frame, I get very inconsistent line renders with several frames failing to create the lines. when I set the distance option to "one frame" it gives me an error telling me that my vertex count needs to remain constant through the whole comp even though the nulls all span the entire length of the comp and they don't move.
Yes, I am running the current, updated AE CS6. I have noticed that in the AE pref menu for Previews, my available GPU memory is much lower than it used to be for CUDA after updating to Mavericks, but the openGL memory is still listed as 1GB, which is what it always has been.
We have not test Mavericks directly yet so not sure if there are issues. It's never a good idea to upgrade to a new OS immediately after it ships as there are always issues. If we find any issues we will post a fix. Please make sure you are subscribed to receive new version notifications to be notified.
We have not test Mavericks directly yet so not sure if there are issues. It's never a good idea to upgrade to a new OS immediately after it ships as there are always issues. If we find any issues we will post a fix. Please make sure you are subscribed to receive new version notifications to be notified.
Yes, I was too anxious to try out Mavericks and didn't realize the impact it would have on my workflow. I will know this for next time though. Thanks.
Hello, I apologize if you've seen this before. I had posted it in the wrong forum.
I was wondering if there is a correct way of exporting and OBJ from C4D to plexus. I exported an OBJ of a skeleton hand to import into plexus 2 but it comes in flat. If I export a primitive from C4D it comes in correctly with depth. Anything I am doing wrong? Thank you.
I was wondering if there is a correct way of exporting and OBJ from C4D to plexus. I exported an OBJ of a skeleton hand to import into plexus 2 but it comes in flat. If I export a primitive from C4D it comes in correctly with depth. Anything I am doing wrong? Thank you.
By "skeleton" do you mean bones or IK structure? OBJ only supports polygons so you would need to have polygons in your model for them to be able to be rendered by Plexus.
No sorry. I literally mean a skeleton 3D model (model of a hand). No IK or anything like that. It comes in correctly in Element 3D but plexus 2 flattens it out. All the normals are correct as I made sure in C4D.
What do you mean by flat? We might need to take a look at the OBJ, please open a support ticket and submit the project file (just the .aep no footage) and the OBJ file
Is there a way to mask parts of a plexus creation? Basic masks created in the same layer don't seem to work. For example, I have a crazy plexus creation but want to mask it to make it seem like plexus is behind something in the foreground of the shot.
Is there a way to mask parts of a plexus creation? Basic masks created in the same layer don't seem to work. For example, I have a crazy plexus creation but want to mask it to make it seem like plexus is behind something in the foreground of the shot.
You would need to do this via normal compositing. Pre-Comp and mask that layer.
i just wanted to add my Plexus video contribution -
p.s. I find myself using the fromLayertocomp expression frequently when using plexus to parent the transform and replication origins. is there a possibility that future versions can have a built in option to tie these 2 positions to the source layer, or at the very least, is possibly even a global source position? also, it seems that one of these positions responds to relative position while the other requires absolute position in order to properly transform the points/lines. I forget which one it is, but i know i always end up using a direct parent expression for one of the positions, and the fromlayertocomp expression is needed for the other. thanks for the great plugin by the way - truly one of the best.
Is it possible to use the distance to create points on the path? To avoid unsightly effects on the letters like "p" "e" "R" "A"(paths has different length) More uniform distribution of the points on the path.
Is it possible for plexus lines to bend or wave over a period of time Similar to this plugin http://vimeo.com/34942729#t=56 If not could it be an addition to a later release?
Is it possible for plexus lines to bend or wave over a period of time
Yes, Plexus can draw curved lines and of course there is no limit to how many points or lines are drawn. Please check out the 3D Splines and 3D Beams tutorials under the VIDEOS tab.
Hi I am having very much the same issues as Jeroen Schellekens above. The plugin has great features, but AE seems to run out of memory while adjusting values in Plexus, or other keyframes, until AE eventually crashes. Restarting AE is the only way I have found to keep using Plexus after doing one RAM preview. Purging memory without restarting AE does not seem to help. I have submitted a support ticket, but I wonder if this is a known issue? Like Jeroen, I am running OS X 10.6.8
I just saw the movie Ender's game then realized the use of either this plugin or a method creating the same effect. I also saw them create an electric sprite between several objects. Would it be possible to use sprites/layers for rendering lines/beams in the future?
I just saw the movie Ender's game then realized the use of either this plugin or a method creating the same effect. I also saw them create an electric sprite between several objects. Would it be possible to use sprites/layers for rendering lines/beams in the future?
Is this effect available online somewhere so that we can see what you are referring to? Using sprites/layers for rendering lines is definitely a top priority for the next version.
I really like this plugin and I'm looking forward to digging into it further! At the moment I've run into an issue, I'm wondering if there is a "best practices" for what the geometry should look like for best results when imported? How does Plexus determine how the lines are rendered? In my current project, the lines are only being rendered on the bottom (horizontal) faces of the geo not facing (vertical) faces. Notice the bottom of this building. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
How does Plexus determine how the lines are rendered?
Is it determined based on distance. Have you tried increasing the distance? You also need to increase the max number of search points if you have a lot of nearby points. My guess is this is your issue. I would try simplifying the model as much as possible.
What is the process for transferring a license from one computer to a new one?
If you click on the "Activate" button without anything in the license code field it will remove the license from that computer. You can then enter the license code in the new machine to license it. If you have any more questions please feel free to open a support ticket.
I have downloaded the demo of this remarkable plugin. I'm using AE CS5 on a MacPro and I have made several attempts to install it with no success at all. Appreciate any comments or thoughts on why this is happening.
have downloaded the demo of this remarkable plugin. I'm using AE CS5 on a MacPro and I have made several attempts to install it with no success at all. Appreciate any comments or thoughts on why this is happening.
If you moved your AE installation from the default location then the installer will not be able to find it. If this is the case please open a support ticket and we can give you instructions on how to install it manually.
Is there a way so that the plexus nodes interact with a 3d layer in the comp? I am trying to have the nodes rotate around a 3d layer and have the nodes disappear when they are behind the 3d layer. I can put my layer above the Plexus layer but then it covers all the nodes even though in 3d space the nodes should be in front of the 3d layer Much thanks in advance!
Is there a way so that the plexus nodes interact with a 3d layer in the comp? I am trying to have the nodes rotate around a 3d layer and have the nodes disappear when they are behind the 3d layer. I can put my layer above the Plexus layer but then it covers all the nodes even though in 3d space the nodes should be in front of the 3d layer Much thanks in advance!
Not in the current version. We are planning on adding a depth culling feature in a future version.
Just bought Plexus 2, and already I love the visual quality, but I've hit an issue with the noise effector. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, or my expectation is incorrect, but setting the noise evolution doesn't change anything over time, unless I actually keyframe the value itself.
As I understand evolution settings (in other plugins like Particular) you can set an evolution amount and a rate, and then the noise will simply change over time. More evolution amount - more change, more evolution rate = greater rate of change. Is this how Plexus works?
Just bought Plexus 2, and already I love the visual quality, but I've hit an issue with the noise effector. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, or my expectation is incorrect, but setting the noise evolution doesn't change anything over time, unless I actually keyframe the value itself.
As I understand evolution settings (in other plugins like Particular) you can set an evolution amount and a rate, and then the noise will simply change over time. More evolution amount - more change, more evolution rate = greater rate of change. Is this how Plexus works?
No, evolution in Plexus works like evolution in Fractal Noise where it needs to be keyframed. You can apply a simple expression to get the functionality you are looking for: time * 10 //<- change the 10 to a bigger or smaller value to change the "rate" of change
here are some of the things i've noticed after Mavericks:
-the UI for thickness and opacity has a heavy lag when drawing custom curves
-individual frames seem to take much longer to render and even going from blur quality 1x to 2x seems to make much more of an impact on speed than it used to
-the comp I'm working on now has 6 total Plexus objects, all of which are 3D nulls that stay static while the camera makes a small dolly move. with the render settings on line distance set to every frame, I get very inconsistent line renders with several frames failing to create the lines. when I set the distance option to "one frame" it gives me an error telling me that my vertex count needs to remain constant through the whole comp even though the nulls all span the entire length of the comp and they don't move.
Just made this promo using Plexus and a Kinect using OBJ sequences.
http://vimeo.com/79314275
Is there's any way in plexus to cut off points/lines at certain distance from the camera?
To avoid unsightly effects on the letters like "p" "e" "R" "A"(paths has different length)
More uniform distribution of the points on the path.
Is it possible for plexus lines to bend or wave over a period of time
Similar to this plugin
http://vimeo.com/34942729#t=56
If not could it be an addition to a later release?
No, evolution in Plexus works like evolution in Fractal Noise where it needs to be keyframed. You can apply a simple expression to get the functionality you are looking for: time * 10 //<- change the 10 to a bigger or smaller value to change the "rate" of change