Material Render mode viewport not updating with changes in image texture node #49706

New Issue

Dolphin Dream · 2016-10-14T21:28:36+02:00

Dolphin Dream commented

2016-10-14 21:28:36 +02:00

System Information
OS: Ubuntu 14.04 (64 bit)
RAM : 7.8 GiB
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz × 4
GFX: GeForce GT 520/PCIe/SSE2

Blender Version
2.78 (hash: 4bb1e22 )

Short description of error
The viewport does not update the image (on an image plane) when the Material Render mode is ON as the Image Texture node loads images from an image sequence on disk (pre-rendered image sequence). Such viewport update failure occurs when either scrubbing the timeline, or when advancing through frames via left/right keys etc or when the animation is on (alt+A). On the other hand the Rendered mode (cycles) shows the updated pre-rendered images just fine, but it's much slower than the Material Render mode thus is impractical for testing out animation.

Also a Hue/Saturation node interjected after the image texture node and keyframed to change the HUE does NOT update the image/color in the viewport not even when the Image Texture node is selected. However the color (HSV node effect) takes effect if toggling/mute ImageTexture node on/off.

It seems to me that there could be some sort of notification failure issue here.

Exact steps for others to reproduce the error
See attached blend file (including the pre-rendered images).
Scrub through the timeline and see if the viewport with Material Render mode ON updates the pre-rendered image on the image plane. Then select the ImageTexture node in the material node editor and scrub the timeline again. This time the viewport updates the image correctly. Start the animation (ALT+A) and note that the image does NOT update anymore. With the animation stopped and Image Texture unselected move to a different frame and notice how the texture does not update, then select and unselect the ImageTexture node and see that the viewport DOES update the image. Also, after starting & stopping the animation (ALT+A) the viewport does not update even if the ImageTexture node is selected.. but if it is selected and toggle/mute the node on/off the image updates in the viewport.

Unmute the HSV node to test that the hue color is not updated during scrub or animation but updates when muting the imageTExture on/off.

Note: not relevant, but the images were pre-rendered using the spinning cube on the 10th layer. The first layer contains the image plane that loads the pre-rendered images from disc via the image texture node.

Other Comments
This feature is important to me to work correctly since I often time pre-render an animation to use as an animated background for other animations and I want to quickly check in the viewport how the animated background looks like combined with other overlayed animation, which makes the Material Render node the best option to use since it is fast and hi-res (non pixelated). While the Rendered mode (cycles) renders correctly is not only way to slow (not real time) but it is also pixelated so it is impractical to use to test out animations. The only option at this point seems to be to do a lo-res, lo sample rendering of the composite scene in order to see the effect of the two animations together which is highly inefficient (non real time).

materialRenderBug.tar.gz

**System Information** OS: Ubuntu 14.04 (64 bit) RAM : 7.8 GiB CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz × 4 GFX: GeForce GT 520/PCIe/SSE2 **Blender Version** 2.78 (hash: 4bb1e22 ) **Short description of error** The viewport does not update the image (on an image plane) when the Material Render mode is ON as the Image Texture node loads images from an image sequence on disk (pre-rendered image sequence). Such viewport update failure occurs when either scrubbing the timeline, or when advancing through frames via left/right keys etc or when the animation is on (alt+A). On the other hand the Rendered mode (cycles) shows the updated pre-rendered images just fine, but it's much slower than the Material Render mode thus is impractical for testing out animation. Also a Hue/Saturation node interjected after the image texture node and keyframed to change the HUE does NOT update the image/color in the viewport not even when the Image Texture node is selected. However the color (HSV node effect) takes effect if toggling/mute ImageTexture node on/off. It seems to me that there could be some sort of notification failure issue here. **Exact steps for others to reproduce the error** See attached blend file (including the pre-rendered images). Scrub through the timeline and see if the viewport with Material Render mode ON updates the pre-rendered image on the image plane. Then select the ImageTexture node in the material node editor and scrub the timeline again. This time the viewport updates the image correctly. Start the animation (ALT+A) and note that the image does NOT update anymore. With the animation stopped and Image Texture unselected move to a different frame and notice how the texture does not update, then select and unselect the ImageTexture node and see that the viewport DOES update the image. Also, after starting & stopping the animation (ALT+A) the viewport does not update even if the ImageTexture node is selected.. but if it is selected and toggle/mute the node on/off the image updates in the viewport. Unmute the HSV node to test that the hue color is not updated during scrub or animation but updates when muting the imageTExture on/off. Note: not relevant, but the images were pre-rendered using the spinning cube on the 10th layer. The first layer contains the image plane that loads the pre-rendered images from disc via the image texture node. **Other Comments** This feature is important to me to work correctly since I often time pre-render an animation to use as an animated background for other animations and I want to quickly check in the viewport how the animated background looks like combined with other overlayed animation, which makes the Material Render node the best option to use since it is fast and hi-res (non pixelated). While the Rendered mode (cycles) renders correctly is not only way to slow (not real time) but it is also pixelated so it is impractical to use to test out animations. The only option at this point seems to be to do a lo-res, lo sample rendering of the composite scene in order to see the effect of the two animations together which is highly inefficient (non real time). [materialRenderBug.tar.gz](https://archive.blender.org/developer/F378454/materialRenderBug.tar.gz)

Dolphin Dream commented

2016-10-14 21:28:36 +02:00

Changed status to: 'Open'

Dolphin Dream commented

2016-10-14 21:28:36 +02:00

Added subscriber: @MariusGiurgi

Sergey Sharybin commented

2016-10-21 10:24:27 +02:00

Added subscriber: @Sergey

Sergey Sharybin commented

2016-10-21 10:24:27 +02:00

Changed status from 'Open' to: 'Archived'

Sergey Sharybin closed this issue

2016-10-21 10:24:27 +02:00

Sergey Sharybin self-assigned this 2016-10-21 10:24:27 +02:00

Sergey Sharybin commented

2016-10-21 10:24:27 +02:00

Thanks for the report, but you're hitting two known limitations here.

First one is related on a fact that Cycles does not have tface support. In this context it means that outside of actual rendering Cycles has no access to an image users, so can't calculate proper image name which corresponds to a scene frame and can only use currently loaded image buffer. Now, when you have image node selected in nodes editor you have it's information shown in N-panel. Gathering this information requires loading image for the current scene frame with an image user from image editor. This refreshes loaded image buffer, so viewport uses it. If you hide that panel viewport will stop updating.

Second issue is related on the fact that with current shaders design it'll be required to re-compile shaders on every update. This isn't cheap and when you have lots of objects doing this will slow down playback a lot. To keep things more realtime we currently sacrify quality. Hopefully with a new shader system in blender2.8 such updates will be easier to be done.

This issues are listed in Blender's and Cycles TODOs list, so closing.

Thanks for the report, but you're hitting two known limitations here. First one is related on a fact that Cycles does not have tface support. In this context it means that outside of actual rendering Cycles has no access to an image users, so can't calculate proper image name which corresponds to a scene frame and can only use currently loaded image buffer. Now, when you have image node selected in nodes editor you have it's information shown in N-panel. Gathering this information requires loading image for the current scene frame with an image user from image editor. This refreshes loaded image buffer, so viewport uses it. If you hide that panel viewport will stop updating. Second issue is related on the fact that with current shaders design it'll be required to re-compile shaders on every update. This isn't cheap and when you have lots of objects doing this will slow down playback a lot. To keep things more realtime we currently sacrify quality. Hopefully with a new shader system in blender2.8 such updates will be easier to be done. This issues are listed in Blender's and Cycles TODOs list, so closing.

Dolphin Dream commented

2016-10-24 15:26:19 +02:00

That is unfortunate, since this would help tremendously with testing out animation in the viewport in realtime. Besides, why does the image update properly in the viewport when scrubbing the timeline (assuming the image node is selected in the node editor) but it does not work when turning on animation (ALT+A) ?

Sergey Sharybin commented

2016-10-25 09:52:02 +02:00

Playback (Alt-A) is different from setting current frame manually. For example, it might skip all areas from update which do not want that or which are excluded in Playback menu options.

Playback (`Alt-A`) is different from setting current frame manually. For example, it might skip all areas from update which do not want that or which are excluded in Playback menu options.

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Material Render mode viewport not updating with changes in image texture node #49706