Call for Ideas - New LuxCoreRender Features post-v2.10

[epilectrolytics]

- Upgrade the Luxcore fbm texture node to match the current cycles noise node with three color channels, lacunarity, distortion etc.

[Dez!]

For me the main obstacle has always been the slow viewport when pre-rendering. The inability to move objects when pre-rendering is in progress makes it inconvenient to customize the scene.

I also really miss Bevel-shader and Cryptomate.

[CodeHD]

The inability to move objects when pre-rendering is in progress makes it inconvenient to customize the scene.

I want to ask for clarification, what exactly do you mean by "pre-rendering"? The phase when it says "starting viewport render"? Maybe also the CUDA/OCL kernel compilation step?

I also suspect this is somehow related to large scenes? At least for setups like the Canelle et Fromage or Hall_Bench test scenes, I don't have issues to move objects once the render started.
(And I personally don't work so much with complex scenes.)

[Egert_Kanep]

Replace Embree3 by Embree4

Perhaps this would also give motivation to look into deformation motionblur.

But if we really are thinking into long term development of LuxCore, I think one fundamental thing need attention.
Supported geometry formats. In reality I think we should look into native USD support.
MaterialX is also popular, but honestly I dont think that is such important one. But proper goemetry support is crucial, much more so than rendering speed.
Ply just is not cut out for modern pipeline, skeletons, instances, particles, time samples, custom attributes.
Blender is also working on USD support, not just import export, but actual USD support. This will be really important and could save a lot of conversion required.

Perhaps some smart people can share their knowledge, but I feel like this could be pretty important looking forward.

[epilectrolytics]

I also really miss Bevel-shader

Yes, seconded.
There is already a GitHub branch and also some discussion.
Another feature that was included (maybe not finished) but never exposed.

[lighting_freak]

Hello,

I wonder whether it might be possible to turn luxcore into something that can be used for engineering purposes. I mean usage of lighting units, spectral rendering and materials with more physics based definitions (more complex scattering, absorption, etc. on surfaces and volumes)

Target could be to become an alternative to ANSYS Speos, that is a quite an industry standard for technical, lit up visualisations.

What do you think?

Regards
Martin

[CodeHD]

I wonder whether it might be possible to turn luxcore into something that can be used for engineering purposes.

Generally speaking, I also see engineering applications, which I am planning to work towards, however I would not use the phrase "turn luxcore into" because I don't see the need to sacrifice any general artistic applications for it.

I mean usage of lighting units, spectral rendering and materials with more physics based definitions (more complex scattering, absorption, etc. on surfaces and volumes)

Note that LuxCore already offers an irradiance AOV. Might be useful for illumination work already.

Spectral rendering is already on this list.

About materials with physics based definitions, this would require to explicitly name algorithms, techniques etc. for implementation.
I do have tabulated reflectance data, or likewise AR coatings for glass in mind already.