[RELEASED] Deckard Render - Cinematographic Renderer for Unity

I have put my hands on testing it on newest beta version of Unity, And now it works correctly. Thanks to unity, they have fixed this issue in 2022.1b. This is a pretty good news. Also, I don't see any memory leaks with Raytracing and HDRP.
So, I can confirm that a new version of Deckard can use Timeline for rendering. This is a pretty exciting feature as you can also easily render just parts of a timeline. Or multiple takes.
I have also added a feature for remapping renderings with custom maps : this can be really useful for those that are rendering for immersive screens. Now you can easily render content for immersive curved screens like those found on Piccadilly or Times Square.

If you want to test these new features, contact me on Discord.

 

btw. in 2018.3.13f1 theres few error messages:

Code (CSharp):

1. Assets\DeckardRender\Scripts\DeckardRender.cs(1243,58): error CS1501: No overload for method 'GetPixelBilinear' takes 3 arguments
2. Assets\DeckardRender\Scripts\DeckardRender.cs(2664,30): error CS0117: 'Time' does not contain a definition for 'captureDeltaTime'

 

@olix4242 This is fantastic! Thank you so much for these great new features.

 

You are probably using a newer version of Deckard. There are few versions of plugin on assetstore and you've probably already downloaded a newer version - as it uses some time functionality that wasn't available in Unity 2018, it will generate an error.

 

How does this feature work and/or how is it used?

 

It can be also used for virtual stages and projection mapping. For those effects you should create an EXR UV bitmap.
Right now a main workflow is this: You should model your screen layout in a 3D software. Then unwrap this screen model faces to a correct layout of a screen in UV map space.
-Add another UV set, and place a camera that should be a correct viewpoint for illusion to take place, and then project UV's from a camera. Then bake second UV set into a EXR UV texture.
But, I'm currently making a tool to make this process much easier directly from Unity on a provided mesh.
BTW, I'm also developing a plugin for a LED Virtual Sets that will be able to manage up to (and probably over) 4 X 4k led screen resolution with a single PC in realtime. (it's 16K horizontal resolution)

 

@olix4242 Congratulations for your new discord channel! I tried posting some questions in the new discord but I think there is a small problem with the setup. The #Welcome section is loaded with Q&A but the actual #Deckard Render section is loaded with new user that just say "hello" so our questions for the Deckard Renderer are lost in the new user crowd saying "hello". So my guest is that all new user should say hello in the Welcome part of the discord, so we can post our questions in the sub categories. Isn't it?

So here is my question. I tried Unity 2022 and the new range timeline feature but no matter what I do , it always rendered from the beginning of the timeline and I get this error:

transform.position assign attempt for 'Deckard Physical Camera' is not valid. Input position is { NaN, NaN, NaN }.
I also made sure I had the timeline playable assign in Deckard renderer.

Another quick question. I just start testing Deckard using a second monitor. If I understand well the Deckard render view window has to be open all the time even when using a second monitor? There is no preview on the second monitor is that normal? Thank for your help!

 

You must be sure to assign Deckard camera to a timeline track.
Can you confirm that you are using a timeline feature addon, and not a latest Deckard Render Beta (that you should request from me).
Unity 2022 introduced some important bug fixes for Timeline. Older deckard timeline support contained a lot of hacks to go around bugs in Timeline. For this reason, it won't work correctly in 2022, but a new version will work, and do many things that an older couldn't do (and had problems with un-consistant behaviour).

 

@olix4242

I am just using the latest Deckard render asset v3.2 from the store. Would it be possible to send me the add on?
Thank you!

 

@olix4242 So i've been trying to render a video playing on a game object. I had the same problem last time but since it was a personal project, I decided to ignore it. But this time I have a requirement from a client, so I don't know what to do in this case. Why doesn't the default Unity video player work with Deckard? How to fix this?

 

You can find solution here

 

Awesome, thank you! Tested it and it works!

 

@olix4242 Deckard and cloth simulation doesn't seem to work with Unity 2021.2.3. Runs fine in game mode, but in the render, cloth seems to be lagging behind the skinned animation and even pokes through the meshes (it doesn't do so in play mode), regardless if I choose either "animate physics" or "normal" update modes for the animator.

Cloth used to run fine in Unity 2020, so I guess I'll need to either downgrade, or upgrade to 2022 or something. What do you suggest?

 

Is there a way to make this work? From my tests, the last known version of Unity cloth that works with Deckard is Unity 2020.2. It doesn't poke through when "safe mode" is on, but it instead jitters a lot, making it look unlike cloth

Is it possible to get it to work with newer versions? I'd rather use the 2021 and onwards version because of dynamic resolution and DLSS speed benefits

 

Hey @olix4242 I am trying to use HDRP with Unity 2021.3.3f1 but somehow there are a lot of Motion blur besides Deckard MB, I disabled motion blur in volumes and in HDRP Asset but I can't find any Motion Blur option in Camera (you suggested earlier that we need to disable it too)

 

Hi! Do you support URP? If not, any plans to?

 

I think Oliver mention somewhere that it's not suitable for URP or he doesn't plan to support it.

 

@olix4242 It turned out that this behavour was caused by the shader Hair Shader 2.0 and Deckard Render
https://assetstore.unity.com/packag...r-2-0-built-in-rp-urp-hdrp-130129#description

HDRP with Unity 2021.3.3f1

Do you know how can I fix this artifacts?

 

He answered with the following on this thread (quoting him): "Yes. It will work in URP. But most users use it in HDRP or Standard because of better graphics."

 

Another issue, fluffy grooming tool's alembic hair simulation doesn't seem to work with Deckard. Shading is fine, but the strands don't move in the final render

 

Did you find a solution to this problem? Thinking of getting the Hair Shader 2.0 myself, but if it doesn't work with Deckard, I dunno then...

 

Not yet, I am trying to figure it out, but I am not sure I can do it without Oliver's help

 

So fluffy also doesn't work with Deckard? Damn I just purchased it) If I am not mistaken, Oliver tested it with Fluffy some time ago and it worked

 

I haven't tested the fur simulation yet (should work I guess), but only tested some alembic hair strands imported from Blender. Those don't work. The shading and rendering is fine, but they're almost "static" in the render and don't move like in the game view

 

Nevermind, after tests I've discovered that the real issue was Temporal Anti-aliasing(TAA), it's a bit odd as I tested all of them (but it worked only for the 3rd time for some reason)

 

I had similar issues with Unity's cloth component, have you tried Magica Cloth? It seems to work in 2022.3.1f1 + Deckard but I still need to test it with extreme fast animation to be completely sure

 

Nice! I also tested out Fluffy's fur, and the simulation is rendering just fine with Deckard. The alembic files just don't work for some reason. I suppose the solution then is to author/create hair using Fluffy rather than Maya or Blender. Gonna have to see just how comprehensive Fluffy is to create head hair. The shading is also better on the fur compared to alembic files. Until Unity releases the tools they used in their "Enemies" cinematic (which includes hair shading and simulation), a workflow without alembic should be sufficient I guess

 

Last I checked, it looked very finicky to set up and didn't seem to deliver great results, more like video gamey results though, but even Unreal Engines game cloth looks better. Obi Cloth works with Deckard (tested it) but it's not great for clothing if you want to make cinematics, good for games tho. But Unity's cloth (despite it's poor UI and lack of controls) looks pretty nice on clothing, sometimes almost like Blenders cloth physics. But unfortunately not working with Deckard and Unity 2021.3.2

 

Update on Fluffy: So it seems to be working with Alembic as well. It just so happens that Deckards anti aliasing is too strong and very subtle hair movements aren't picked up. The same happens if you turn on TAA, although to a lesser extent. If you turn off anti aliasing altogether, it seems to pick up subtle movements. So it seems like Fluffy is sensitive to anti aliasing

 

That's good to know! I had troubles with Deckard and Unity Cloth in 2020 versions (I applied Unity Cloth component to Horse's hair and it just dissapeared I suppose due to the fast movement ) and yeah I agree Magica Cloth can look a bit "video gamey" but thanks for suggestion I will try Unity Cloth in 2022

 

Hi Oliver @olix4242
Am I able to use Deckard to output 360 videos? I have your VR Panorama which I usually use for 360. Looking to add raytracing and trying to figure out the best workflow. Thanks

 

I finally had time in my horrible life to have a look at Deckard render, which I bought ages ago.
However, I stumbled over two issues on the final render results.

1st thing, if I understood correctly? Stacking works like that:

1. Camera
2. Deckard Preprocess (Script)
3. "SSAO"
4. "Post-Process-Layer"
5."Post-Process-Volume"
6. "Beautify 2"
7. etc...
9.Deckard Render Component (Script)


------------------------------------- The Issue:

Details for the issue:

• My Deckard setup uses a timeline attached
• On the timeline I recorded a rigged character with Unity Animation IK

The Issue: However, when I render the result brings up two problems:

• The scene is darker and more matte than the game view and deckard view shows!
• The animation of the IK character inside the timeline doesn't work at all. The character levitates over the ground with streched out limbs, with no animation at all. Means, Deckard render doesn't play timeline as intended.

Any experiences with such behavior?

 

What Unity version are you using? And what operating system? (I have to know this to be able to pinpoint any issue)

 

Hi Olli!
I am using Unity 2020.3.33f1 and Windows 10

 

Sorry to bother you, but it's very important for me to know, because this step decides how I have to go on with my project. Any infos on my two issues?

 

I made some certain tests on a minimal setup, Deckard's timeline simply doesn't support unity's animation rigging package. The matte render problem comes also from interference together with unity's post processing stack color grading component. Writing the developer my whole heart in discord made him just even more quite and not reacting with at least a "this must be... or..anything"... It's simple, you can't rely any serious work on a platform that suffers on so many corners.

 

Does anyone have problems with deckard, timeline and skinned mesh characters? I have no double root problem, like mentioned in the documentation. All the skinned mesh characters are clean and fine.

 

Also Deckard didn't recieved any update since a year! Same as Cscape - the update that will never come! Read the release log. Just "compatibility" so others shall buy it! Also, I am not allowed to enter the discord anymore. Left because being disappointed by the ignorance of the "all mighty" developer, that seem to have the talent to bring things to life, but doesn't care about them - and now I am not allowed to enter the discord again, like being blocked.

If that's the way you do business and push your own inventions that way, I don't wonder if they got stuck.

Your plugins are unmature and dead!

 

Such a bullsh!t, the bug lies in Deckard! There is no bug in unity. I mean Unity IS a bug - that's true! But this explanation is based pure on the ignorant attitude: "users who have no knowledge about programming, I can tell them this way!"

It's deckard that just can't do skinned meshes because you don't know how to address it!

Going back into the forum entries tells everything!

Cashing and not delivering! Love that!
Adios you moron, you'll never get any money from me again!

 

Did you ever got your problem with Deckard & skinned meshes fixed?

 

Is this discord still active? the invite seems to have expired, I was hoping to get a fix for timeline and 2022.
Is it available anywhere else?

 

https://discord.gg/uhJJjFDU

 

I want to buy it does it work on unity 2021.3.7f1 ?

 

Don't buy it! It's not supported for a long time now.

I can confirm that Deckard misses a lot of things Mr. Supersmart wasn't thinking of. And as soon as you start working with it you will notice, because you also didn't thought of "that!"

Skinned meshes aren't supported! That's all I still remember - however this was the biggest neck breaker, next to the other missing or not supported standard features!

Olli has prices on his addons, but not the understanding of a business man how to take care of his own products. You realize you wait for years for small updates and even those aren't arriving.

His stuff is always revolutionary in the 1st moment until you see he doesn't take care of it.
And if you look at the way how messy for example Cscape from Olli is, you'll realize you wouldn't be able to update it too, if you would create such a spagetthi code... His work has great ideas, which are all based on salad code, managed by a butcher, who can't clean up his own desk! (if you look at the videos)

What you buy is the same mess as his desktop

 

Yes, it works.

 

Sorry, but you are saying false thing here. Skinned meshes work if they are driven by Timeline. Especially in a new versions of Unity, where Unity fixed some issues with skinned meshes. And as those problems were based deep under a Unity code, call it bugs, or missing features. And those issues plagued also a Unity Recorder itself. From that time I was also working closely with Unity stuff to pinpoint issues, and versions of Unity from 2021.2 brings a lot of fixes and ability to use deterministic animations / simulations.

 

Animation rigging package breaks also with Unity Recorder Video Export. It will work in preview, but won't in play mode. As stated in many other threads unrelated to Deckard, you should bake animations by using Unity Recorder.

 

This reply is so salty. I've used Deckard for many visual productions and it's the best physical camera sim available. The depth of field alone is worth the price of admission. Deckard is beautiful and you have beclowned yourself with your negativity.

 

Can you export multiple passes now so you can use it in professional film production now?

That was my big issue. It's great for personal use but due lacking that and other things. It limits you from being able to use it on a professional film shoot. Im assuming it doesn't support it still seeing how every time I've asked about it, I have gotten no response

 

I've just started using Deckard for a client work, and as a photographer, its rendering is spectacular. I'm so glad to see real photographic references and even film simulation. Bravo!
I too hope for multipass in exr to access depth maps, for example, in Davinci Resolve Fusion. Just having EXR and prores export at all is fantastic.
Unity Recorder didn't play my Game Creator animations during recording, but, Deckard does.