Aton
Aton is Arnold Interface-compatible display driver and Nuke plugin for direct rendering into the Nuke interface.
1.3.7 Release notes
Added Nuke v12.1 support.
Added Arnold v6.0 core support.
Houdini specific notes
-
- Fixed issues with HtoA 4.3+
- Disabled undo stack during overrides
1.3.6 Release notes
New Operator Aton: operator_aton is designed to replace all output drivers with aton driver at render time. In DCC apps like Houdini or Katana where the driver selection is not exposed in the UI, this can come handy to use Aton without extra scripts.
Added metadata support: All the information that Aton has on its framebuffers is now stored in the node as a metadata.
Render region improvements.
-
- Added Fit button in render region to fit the Nuke window.
- Clipboard data is now normalised to better work with multiple resolutions.
Added Nuke v12.0 support.
Houdini specific notes
-
- Added Open and Select actions in the output context
- Added progressive toggle checkbox.
- Disables adaptive sampling if Camera AA is overridden
- Fixed pixel aspect ratio override.
Stability improvements and bug fixes:
-
- Fixes copy render region issue if Aton node existed in the Nuke script before.
1.3.5 Release notes
Simultaneous render sessions: Multiple render sessions can now simultaneously be launched using the same port number.
Distributive rendering on the farm: The frame can be split into smaller tiles and distributed on the local render farm via region arguments. It's fully farm manager agnostic, meaning you have to sub-class and implement supplied virtual methods in the python script in order to get it to work for the given farm requirements. At this moment this feature is only available for Houdini, but similar scripts should work fine for the other DCC apps too.
Houdini specific notes
-
- General UI improvements.
- Added sequence rendering support.
- Stores override settings per selected output rop.
- Added filter box for output rops to use with wildcards.
Stability improvements and bug fixes:
-
- Sets correct frame range in Multiple Frame mode.
1.3.1 Release notes
Nuke GUI improvements:
-
- Added Reset Region button.
- Remove multiple selection of snapshots.
Houdini GUI improvements
Added Nuke v11.3 support
Stability improvements and bug fixes:
1.3.0 Release notes
Houdini support: Initial support for SideFX Houdini includes the following.
-
- MultiFrame IPR with ROPs as Render Layers
- Camera, Resolution, Sampling and Bucket Scanning Overrides
- Render Region with Overscan options
- Ignore Features for Diagnostics
- Live Camera
HtoA implementation is based on the research article from Ryan Heniser, but the workflow is similar to Maya and Cinema 4D. See how to install at the bottom of this page.
Added Nuke v11.2 and Arnold v5.2 Core support:
Auto Snapshots: Each IPR session is now automatically being kept in memory with options to take, rename, reorder and remove the snapshots. Use write to disk options to permanently store them, as it was done before with capturing.
Render Layers: Render Layer names will show up as a prefix for snapshot's name on the stack. There is an arbitrary output entry in the Arnold driver which can be set by a script.
Render Region: Region handles have been added in the node, which accelerates the workflow. It's still possible to use a crop nodes too.
Status Bar Improvments:
- Added Render Layer Name and Sampling Settings.
- Status bar is now active at render time and grey when it's idle.
Stability improvements and bug fixes:
-
- Fixed an issue with colour picker not always showing up at render time.
- Incoming Pixel Aspect Ratio is now respected by the Format.
- Fixed the progress for Render Region not showing up correctly.
- Fixed a various threading issues causing to random crashes.
- Fixed a crash with driver when the specified port is being used.
1.2.2 Release notes
Adden Nuke v11.1 and Maya 2018 support
Maya UI improvments and bug fixes
1.2.1 Release notes
Arnold 5 core support
Added support for ID AOVs
Stability improvements and bug fixes
1.2.0 Release notes
Cinema 4D support: Initial support for C4DtoA includes the following
-
- Multi frame IPR with AOVs
- Render Region with Overscan
- Ignore Features for Diagnostics
- Live Camera
- Sequence Rendering
Please note that it requires C4DtoA v1.6.0 or higher.
Added Nuke v10.5 support
Dockable UI in Maya: By default Aton UI in Maya is now docked at right corner.
Stability improvements and bug fixes
1.1.5 Release notes
Live Camera support: By Enabling Live Camera checkbox, Aton will create an interactive camera node in Nuke, which will update during IPR and frame change.
Extra Host improvements: It's now possible to stream the rendering to Extra Host, without necessarily having a local Nuke session opened.
1.1.4 Release notes
Overscan support: Setup the overscan during IPR, and then automatically Set current values in the Scene Render Settings.
Sequence Rendering: New rendering mode has been added from Dan Bradham, allowing to batch render a multiple frames at one go.
Extra Host support: Simultaneously stream the rendering process to an extra machine in the same network.
Stability improvements and bug fixes: Fixed a crash when frequently changing the resolution during IPR.
1.1.3 Release notes
Full IPR Support within Aton UI in Maya: No longer need to refresh every time you switch the camera or set an overrides.
Shader override support: Quickly override all or selected object's shaders to Checker, Grey, Mirror which are useful for look development and lighting, as well as to Normal, Occlusion and UV, for debugging.
Stability improvements and bug fixes.
1.1.2 Release notes
Faster playback with multiple frames.
Memory optimization for float channels.
Fixed Nuke freezing when changing the port explicitly.
Stability improvements and bug fixes.
1.1.1 Release notes
Minor changes and bug fixes.
1.1.0 Release notes
Multiple frames support: By default it is enabled, meaning Aton is now taking into account the frame attribute supplied by MtoA and syncing Nuke's timeline accordingly, so you can have a sequence of rendered different frames cached in a single Aton node.
Enable AOVs toggle: If you Disable AOVs, Aton will start to ignore and not cache them for you. This can come useful if you want to render multiple frames, at the same time keeping the memory usage low.
Multiple nodes support: It's now possible to create a multiple Aton nodes either in the same Nuke script or in the separate instance, as well as run renders from a different instances of Maya simultaneously. In order to get this to work, make sure that your Aton node's Port number is matching with the one which has been added to the Aton for Maya GUI.
Frame Stamp enhancements: Arnold version and Frame numbers have been added to the Status bar, and the Time is now resetting after every IPR iteration.
Capture All Frames: It's possible to capture all the rendered frames at once, as a sequence. In this mode the frame number will be inserted in the file names instead of the current date.
Increased Performance, Memory optimizations and bug fixes: White scan-lines are no longer visible during rendering, meaning the buffer is now reading by a single thread, which gives a better performance at IPR. All the cached buffers have only 3 channels instead of 4 while the Alpha is a special case for the RGBA channel only.
How to install
Added Nuke v12.1 support.
Added Arnold v6.0 core support.
Houdini specific notes
- Fixed issues with HtoA 4.3+
- Disabled undo stack during overrides
New Operator Aton: operator_aton is designed to replace all output drivers with aton driver at render time. In DCC apps like Houdini or Katana where the driver selection is not exposed in the UI, this can come handy to use Aton without extra scripts.
Added metadata support: All the information that Aton has on its framebuffers is now stored in the node as a metadata.
Render region improvements.
- Added Fit button in render region to fit the Nuke window.
- Clipboard data is now normalised to better work with multiple resolutions.
Added Nuke v12.0 support.
Houdini specific notes
- Added Open and Select actions in the output context
- Added progressive toggle checkbox.
- Disables adaptive sampling if Camera AA is overridden
- Fixed pixel aspect ratio override.
Stability improvements and bug fixes:
- Fixes copy render region issue if Aton node existed in the Nuke script before.
Simultaneous render sessions: Multiple render sessions can now simultaneously be launched using the same port number.
Distributive rendering on the farm: The frame can be split into smaller tiles and distributed on the local render farm via region arguments. It's fully farm manager agnostic, meaning you have to sub-class and implement supplied virtual methods in the python script in order to get it to work for the given farm requirements. At this moment this feature is only available for Houdini, but similar scripts should work fine for the other DCC apps too.
Houdini specific notes
- General UI improvements.
- Added sequence rendering support.
- Stores override settings per selected output rop.
- Added filter box for output rops to use with wildcards.
Stability improvements and bug fixes:
- Sets correct frame range in Multiple Frame mode.
Nuke GUI improvements:
- Added Reset Region button.
- Remove multiple selection of snapshots.
Houdini GUI improvements
Added Nuke v11.3 support
Stability improvements and bug fixes:
Houdini support: Initial support for SideFX Houdini includes the following.
- MultiFrame IPR with ROPs as Render Layers
- Camera, Resolution, Sampling and Bucket Scanning Overrides
- Render Region with Overscan options
- Ignore Features for Diagnostics
- Live Camera
HtoA implementation is based on the research article from Ryan Heniser, but the workflow is similar to Maya and Cinema 4D. See how to install at the bottom of this page.
Added Nuke v11.2 and Arnold v5.2 Core support:
Auto Snapshots: Each IPR session is now automatically being kept in memory with options to take, rename, reorder and remove the snapshots. Use write to disk options to permanently store them, as it was done before with capturing.
Render Layers: Render Layer names will show up as a prefix for snapshot's name on the stack. There is an arbitrary output entry in the Arnold driver which can be set by a script.
Render Region: Region handles have been added in the node, which accelerates the workflow. It's still possible to use a crop nodes too.
Status Bar Improvments:
- Added Render Layer Name and Sampling Settings.
- Status bar is now active at render time and grey when it's idle.
Stability improvements and bug fixes:
- Fixed an issue with colour picker not always showing up at render time.
- Incoming Pixel Aspect Ratio is now respected by the Format.
- Fixed the progress for Render Region not showing up correctly.
- Fixed a various threading issues causing to random crashes.
- Fixed a crash with driver when the specified port is being used.
Adden Nuke v11.1 and Maya 2018 support
Maya UI improvments and bug fixes
Arnold 5 core support
Added support for ID AOVs
Stability improvements and bug fixes
Cinema 4D support: Initial support for C4DtoA includes the following
- Multi frame IPR with AOVs
- Render Region with Overscan
- Ignore Features for Diagnostics
- Live Camera
- Sequence Rendering
Added Nuke v10.5 support
Dockable UI in Maya: By default Aton UI in Maya is now docked at right corner.
Stability improvements and bug fixes
Live Camera support: By Enabling Live Camera checkbox, Aton will create an interactive camera node in Nuke, which will update during IPR and frame change.
Extra Host improvements: It's now possible to stream the rendering to Extra Host, without necessarily having a local Nuke session opened.
Overscan support: Setup the overscan during IPR, and then automatically Set current values in the Scene Render Settings.
Sequence Rendering: New rendering mode has been added from Dan Bradham, allowing to batch render a multiple frames at one go.
Extra Host support: Simultaneously stream the rendering process to an extra machine in the same network.
Stability improvements and bug fixes: Fixed a crash when frequently changing the resolution during IPR.
Full IPR Support within Aton UI in Maya: No longer need to refresh every time you switch the camera or set an overrides.
Shader override support: Quickly override all or selected object's shaders to Checker, Grey, Mirror which are useful for look development and lighting, as well as to Normal, Occlusion and UV, for debugging.
Stability improvements and bug fixes.
Faster playback with multiple frames.
Memory optimization for float channels.
Fixed Nuke freezing when changing the port explicitly.
Stability improvements and bug fixes.
Minor changes and bug fixes.
Multiple frames support: By default it is enabled, meaning Aton is now taking into account the frame attribute supplied by MtoA and syncing Nuke's timeline accordingly, so you can have a sequence of rendered different frames cached in a single Aton node.
Enable AOVs toggle: If you Disable AOVs, Aton will start to ignore and not cache them for you. This can come useful if you want to render multiple frames, at the same time keeping the memory usage low.
Multiple nodes support: It's now possible to create a multiple Aton nodes either in the same Nuke script or in the separate instance, as well as run renders from a different instances of Maya simultaneously. In order to get this to work, make sure that your Aton node's Port number is matching with the one which has been added to the Aton for Maya GUI.
Frame Stamp enhancements: Arnold version and Frame numbers have been added to the Status bar, and the Time is now resetting after every IPR iteration.
Capture All Frames: It's possible to capture all the rendered frames at once, as a sequence. In this mode the frame number will be inserted in the file names instead of the current date.
Increased Performance, Memory optimizations and bug fixes: White scan-lines are no longer visible during rendering, meaning the buffer is now reading by a single thread, which gives a better performance at IPR. All the cached buffers have only 3 channels instead of 4 while the Alpha is a special case for the RGBA channel only.
Install for Nuke
- Copy aton.dll(.dylib, .so) from Bin folder to $NUKE_PATH
for example C:\Users\YourName\.nuke In your init.py add the following
nuke.load("aton")In your menu.py add the following
import nuke mainToolBar = nuke.toolbar("Nodes") m = mainToolBar.addMenu("Menu") m.addCommand("Aton", "nuke.createNode(\"Aton\")")
Install for Arnold
- Copy driver_aton.dll(.dylib, .so) to $ARNOLD_PLUGIN_PATH
For example C:\solidangle\mtoadeploy\2017\shaders
Install for Maya
Copy aton_maya.py to Maya's scripts folder.
For example C:\Users\YourName\Documents\maya\scripts
Install for Cinema 4D
Copy aton_c4d.pyp and aton_icon.png to C4D's plugins folder.
For example C:\Program Files\MAXON\CINEMA 4D R18\plugins
Install for Houdini
Copy aton_houdini.py to HtoA's scripts folder.
$HTOA_PATH/scripts/python/htoa/aton_houdini.py
It's necessary to inject an extra code into HtoA to be able to add a custom driver. Therefor insert the following python patch after the line 5 of the file $HTOA_PATH/soho/arnold.py
try:
from htoa.aton_houdini import atonPatch
atonPatch()
except StandardError:
pass
Open Aton UI by running the following python snippet in Houdini
from htoa import aton_houdini
aton_houdini.Aton().show()
Binaries are compiled against Nuke 10.5 / 11.2 and Arnold 4.2 / 5.0 / 5.2
How to Use
- Open Nuke and create Aton node
- Open Maya, make sure Arnold is set as default renderer
-
Run this Python code bellow in script editor to open Aton UI or put it on the shelf
import aton_maya aton_maya.Aton().show() To use Crop node for the Render Region, first copy it to clipboard, click Get.
In order to change the default capture path, make an environment variable $ATON_CAPTURE_PATH and point it to your favourite directory.
How to Build
To build it yourself you will need to have
- Nuke 9.0v7+ SDK
- Arnold 4.2.0.8+ SDK
- Boost 1.54+
Licensing
New BSD License - for more info see COPYING in the repository
Contributers
- An Nguyen
- Bjoern Siegert
- Brian Scherbinski
- Cameron Smither
- Dan Bradham
- Peter Horvath
- Ryan Heniser
It's based on:
Dan Bethelli's Rmanconnect which is freely available at. http://github.com/danbethell/rmanconnect
Chad Dombrova's driver for arnold, freely available at. https://github.com/chadrik/renderconnect.
Arnold® is a registered trademark of Solid Angle.
Nuke® is a registered trademark of The Foundry.