nRenderPassInfo
Render Spreadsheet Management for XSI 4.2-5.1

Have you ever had to render several passes at once only to find out the next day that some of the settings were wrong just because you forgot to check them prior to submitting them to the renderfarm? This is something that has plagued me as a Lighter so I finally decided to put my thinking hat on and do a little bit of coding.

nRenderPassInfo is a self installable plug-in that works like a spreadsheet to handle virtually every parameter in SoftImage|XSI's Render Options panel.

Location:
The plug-in can be found under the the Render menu of the Render toolbar.

Interface:
The plug-in interface consists of two tabs: Main and Preferences. All the Render Pass operations are performed under the Main tab and functionality is split into three groups - Presets, Pass Information and Pass Functions.

Presets tab:
Presets
Use the Presets pull-down menu to filter out columns in the Pass Information table according to their grouping in the Render Options panel.

For your convenience, 19 pre-definied presets have already been added to the pull-down menu. There is also the option of creating a new preset based on current visibility of columns, to save and existing column layout, to rename a preset and to finally delete a preset.

Pass Information
This is where all the action takes place. Simply double click on a cell to change its value or select one or more column headers to change a whole row in one go. The Pass Name column will always remain visible no matter what preset you set.

On the left side of the Pass Name are two mini columns. The row header, marked with a + sign, is used with buttons under the Multi Row Functions [ + ] group. The check box row next to the header works like a click button and performs single task operations based on the current Pick Mode selection in the Pass Functions group.

The Pick Mode pull-down menu is used to speed up generic tasks found within the XSI interface. Simply select an option from the pull-down menu and click a checkbox row next to the + row header in the Pass Information table to execute the command. There is also a create New Empty Pass function (subject to change in future releases). There are currently 13 pre-definied presets:

Set Current Pass: Sets the current pass

Render Options: Opens the Render Options panel for the selected pass

Render Current Pass: Renders the selected pass

Preview All Layers: Previews All Layers for the selected pass

Preview Visible Layers: Previews visible layers for the selected pass

Preview Current Layer: Previews the current layer for the selected pass

Preview Selection: Previews selected objects for the selected pass

Duplicate Pass: Duplicates the selected pass

Delete Pass: Deletes the selected pass

Flipbook: Opens a Flipbook and loads the rendered image sequence for the selected pass

View Render Folder: Opens the render folder in the Windows Explorer for the selected pass

Set Pass To Filename: Copies the passname to the output image filename for the selected pass

Set Frame Range: Copies the frame range from the XSI timeline to the Render Options start/end frame parameter

Copy Render Options to Clipboard : Copies the selected render option parameters to the clipboard

Paste Render Options from Clipboard : Pastes the selected render option parameters from the clipboard

Multi Row Functions [ + ]
For added convenience, the most commonly used Pick Mode functions exist in multi edit mode as well. To save screen space, names have been slightly shortened. To execute a command, select one or more + row headers and click on the desired multi execution button.

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There is a Refresh button to update the Pass Information table with Render Option changes performed outside nRenderPassInfo.
A Remove Column is button is added for a quick removal of columns from the Pass Information table. Simply select a column header(s) and click the Remove Column button. An Auto Refresh checkbox is used to redraw the Pass Information immediately after any commited changes. This is handy when you for example rename a Pass Name with illegal characters. Forcing it to refresh immediately will update the name according to XSI standards.

Preferences tab:
Presets
Same functionality as the Main tab.

Column Preferences
Use the Column Preferences table to set visibility and to change the name of columns in the Pass Information table. If you intend to save changes for future use, it is recommended that you create a new preset or changes will be lost the next time you change to a different preset.

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Use Reset Visibility and Reset Label buttons to revert columns to factory default values.