cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

AMD Radeon ProRender for Blender 2.80 Beta

AMD Radeon ProRender for Blender 2.80 Beta

Screen Shot 2019-02-15 at 11.32.41 AM.png

We are excited to finally talk publicly about a version of Radeon ProRender that supports Blender 2.80!  Blender 2.80 is has a great deal of interest from users due to its radical changes to the workflow, and we thought it was only appropriate to give the ProRender plugin the same attention.  We have been working hard over the last few months and this is just a preview of what the final product will be.  Expect updates weekly-ish until Blender 2.80 is released and a final plugin ready when Blender is.  Hats off to the Blender Institute for such a game-changing release!

Radeon ProRender is a GPU and CPU rendering engine.  It is built into Maxon's Cinema4D and other software (coming soon).  AMD also provides plugins for various other applications including Blender.  One nice aspect is that is hardware agnostic: any GPU that runs OpenCL should run ProRender.  On macOS in particular it takes advantage of the Metal2 api to run faster, where many renderers do not support GPU raytracing on macOS.  Particularly with Blender 2.80, the built in Cycles renderer no longer runs on GPU's on macOS so hopefully this fills a gap there.

So why have we been quiet and working hard over the last few months?  Since Blender 2.80 changed their API for plugins significantly we had to adapt the plugin to that.  Also we decided to take this opportunity to rewrite the plugin from the ground up for a few reasons.

  • Better integration into Blender and overall user experience.  One ask we heard many times was to support Blender's built in nodes more.  But also that users really appreciated RPR's Uber Node as an "expert mode".  So what we did was try to satisfy all those asks    More on this later
  • Achieve the best stability possible.  The architecture of the old plugin was frankly a bit of a mess that was limiting the stability in some cases.  We took a ground up approach to make it simpler, more stable and maintainable in the code
  • Provide a "Best of both worlds" User rendering experience.  Obviously Blender 2.80 users are excited about EEVEE.  It is a real time rendering engine similar to semi-modern (pre-hardware raytracing) game engines providing a good viewport experience.  However, because it is essentially a game engine, the results with area light shadows, subsurface scattering, GI, etc are less than what users expect with RPR or Cycles.  
    With RPR, and we are working to bridge the gap:  Provide the full path-tracing final renderer and a "fast viewport mode" without the approximations of a game engine so what you get in the viewport is closer to your final render.  The new plugin is rearchitectured to take advantage of this upcoming work.

In particular I will highlight the shader workflow.  Many users are used to and have setups using Blender's built in nodes.  What the RPR plugin does now is let you keep these (some nodes aren't supported yet) and simply hit render, no conversion required.  Particularly we convert the "Principled BSDF" directly to our Uber shader.  For users who want a more "advanced" shader they can convert Principled to Uber.  So keep your Blender Node setups and augment with advanced RPR nodes!  This in particular is an area we would like feedback on and testing.

Screen Shot 2019-02-15 at 11.48.01 AM.png

Like I said, we will be updating weekly-ish with new builds.  Please give them a try and give your feedback, it will only make the final software better for you.  Also if you have programming experience and are willing to help with the plugin code, we would love to hear from you.  

Brian + the whole AMD ProRender Team.

PS!  If you see answers from Bogdan or Mikhail here, please thank them for the hard work they have put in on the plugin!

UPDATE 5/31/2019

In anticipation of Blender 2.80 release in July 2019 we are updating our builds.  Blender has been changing their API so be sure to get a build later than 5/23/2019 (Best to just get the latest build of blender 2.80 Here . 

A bunch of changes have happened since the last beta builds so here are all the changes:

NEW FEATURES

  • The Radeon ProRender for Blender plug-in has been completely rewritten for Blender 2.80. This includes many changes to artists workflows:
    • Blender native shader nodes are supported out of the box. Including the Blender Principled Shader node. Most common nodes are supported, but a few, noted in known issues, are not translatable.
    • Additionally, RPR nodes, particularly the Uber node is provided for a more “expert level” shader setup.
    • Viewport and final rendering are more robust and optimized.
  • AI-Accelerated Denoiser (windows only for now) provides an extra denoiser based on machine learning technology.
  • Adaptive Sampling allows the renderer to focus samples on areas of the render that are higher in noise, while ending early in areas without noise. This allows the artist to raise max samples and get less noise without raising render times as much.
  • Blender hair geometry is supported as well as “Halo” (sphere) particles.
  • A tiled rendering option allows rendering images by tiles, allowing higher resolution renders without using as much VRAM. Additionally, the size and order of tiles can be adjusted.

FIXED ISSUES

  • As this is a complete rewrite of the plug-in, many stability bugs are fixed, and changes made.
  • Various fixes to Uber shaders to improve physical correctness. Note geometry using Uber shader may look different but will be more physically correct.
  • Fixed issue with camera inside a refractive/sss/volume object.
  • Fixed issue with anisotropy in Uber producing a checker pattern.
  • Fix for textures with .jpeg extension (.jpg worked fine).
  • Fixed an issue of adaptive subdivision with displacement map spinning the CPU at 100% before render starts.
  • Fix light motion blur on CPU.
  • Mesh export time is improved.
  • Fix refraction + volume on CPU.
  • Fix CPU crash for using "Opacity" AOV with volume objects.

KNOWN ISSUES

  • These Blender Nodes are not yet supported:
    • UV Map (selecting which map)
    • Attribute Node
    • Node Groups
    • Hue Saturation Node
    • Various Noise nodes
  • AI-Accelerated Denoiser is Windows only.
  • Files made in the Blender 2.79 version of the plug-in are not yet automatically converted.
  • Windows installers prompts for Blender location twice.  This is due to Blender 2.80 being in Beta.
  • GLTF and RPR export are not yet supported (Blender 2.80 has its own GLTF exporter)
  • LWR denoise filter does not work on macOS.
  • A nightly beta build of Blender after 3/27/2019 is required

CHANGES FOR 2.0.85:

  • Object space lookup enabled in shader
  • Fixed a crash when removing emissive shader while interactive rendering
  • Fixed a crash with adaptive subdivision
  • Fixed artifacts on NVidia cards with curve objects
  • Double sided emission in Uber should work
  • "Hide Emitter" on particle or hair system is respected
  • Fix geometry corruption in isometric view
  • Normal map strength more closely matches Cycles now
  • Mesh export time is faster in many cases
  • Fix corruption in interactive view with adaptive sampling enabled
  • Object visibility options are expanded to include reflection/refraction/shadow/ etc visibility.  Furthermore toggling with interactive rendering works
  • Objects can be enabled to act as portal lights
  • Blender Curve/Text/Meta objects are rendered
  • New Nodes supported:
    • Layer Weight
    • Texture Gradient
    • Normal
    • Node Reroute
    • Hue Saturation (only fixed values for now)
    • Combine HSV
    • Separate HSV
  • An "RPR" menu is added to the viewport to enable different render modes like Ambient Occlusion
  • Fixed shadowcatcher
  • Nested node groups in shaders are supported
  • Fix out of place hairs in particle system hair
  • Made material preview swatch renders more iterative
  • Border rendering in viewport works now
  • Volumes are rendered as well as principled volume shader.  Note, volume should be cached.  Volumes might look blocky for now, as a temporary workaround increase volume resolution.
  • Shader menu in "Add Nodes" now has RPR Uber, and Principled, Emission, and a few others.  We want to discourage users from using legacy shaders such as glass and diffuse, etc.
  • RPR render device is saved in preferences, not per scene.
  • Environment light world settings include sun & sky option.  
  • Environment light can be over-ridden for background, reflection, refraction etc.
  • .rpr export format is available
  • RPR AOVs show up in compositor nodes
  • Some denoiser features may be unstable.  Please test ML denoiser and report issues.

CHANGES FOR 2.0.94:

  • Render statistics collection.  We are removing the activation key from installers very shortly.  As part of that, instead we are making an optional render statistics collection.  This is easily disabled in the render settings.  However, we encourage users to contribute to the Radeon ProRender ecosystem by leaving this on.  We collect no personal information, simply information about how long a render takes, what hardware was used, how many polygons were in the scene, etc.  With this information we will continue to focus our development of ProRender.  Thank you!
  • Removed Intensity parameter from sun and sky
  • Image textures which are "packed" in .blend file export faster by caching to disk
  • An issue with animated cameras not exporting correctly is fixed.
  • "C" component of RGB Curve nodes is handled correctly now
  • Add RPR Procedural UV Node (CPU only on macOS)
  • Better handling of internal math in complex shader nodes
  • Fix subsurface radius of Principled node
  • Added Conversion of EEVEE specular node
  • Volumes should update in viewport renders
  • IES lights should update in viewport renders

Download from https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/radeon-prorender-downloads

Comments

Thank the people in that other thread. I was at a total loss. Why it installs to that location is baffling. LOL

Thanks for all the reports on installer issues!  We're looking into it.  It appears blender 2.80 api is still changing (!?) and if you have a newer build of Blender 2.80 it might be an issue.  We'll fix it!  Hold on.

I successfully install it with the installer, launch Blender, go to User Preferences and then try to enable the add-on. Boom, crash.

Installed successfully on iMac pro - but had weird artifacts on very simple scene: cube + cone.
Installation on MacBook Pro has failed: after choosing the directory installer quits unexpectedly, add-on appears in blender, but when try to activate - blender crash. 

Hi. Thanks for this.

I'm testing the Principled BSDF. I'm going to test all the latest builds that you publish here. 

I can't seem to embed the movies but I'll link them in the meantime. 

Joe

Simple displacement test

2 emission planes

Very different results between the renders.

Testing Principled BSDF shader straight out the box with Pro Render. 

Environment IBL 

Emission 

Area Light

Displacement

Bump Map

Principled BSDF Shader properties. 

@bsavery Thank you very much for the update. Looks like there are loads of fixes.

Still some issues between Spec and Metalness with BSDF shader. 

Seems like more noise in the preview render than before.

best,

Joe

lights are buggy

Hey Joe.  Can you post a scene in a different thread for this?  I'm interested in looking at this.

Seems to me that the subsurface scattering is working backwards. 

Screenshot 2019-04-12 at 18.18.10.png

My bad. Procedural textures are working. 

Screenshot 2019-04-12 at 18.24.01.png

Just installed Blender 2.8 and radeon pro render. After placing "Enable" checkbox in addons menu on "Render: Radeon ProRender" i see

bug.jpg

Is there any logical or sensible reason why

macOS:  RadeonProRenderBlender_2.0.85.dmg 

Windows:  RadeonProRenderBlender_2.0.85.msi 
are not downloadable from here:
pastedImage_1.png

The existing Windows plugins available from that webpage for Blender 2.8 Beta do not work with latest versions of Blender 2.8 Beta for me.
See: https://community.amd.com/thread/239567 

Thanks.

Hope it will be added soon and the object shading in Viewport. If rendered or texture option is used it still does not display any object in viewport. 

There's a dropbox link in the above blog post, use that one not the download in the screenshot

Yes sure but most people will go to the main ProRender Page and the download there should work.
I and others are wasting time having to come on this forum and search and ask why the link on the main page doesn't work.

It is wasting peoples time.

The ProRender Plugins available at the links here are still broken and they fail to install on blender-2.80-aa003c73245f-win64.zip this morning. 
Since no one here seems to care that AMD provides broken ProRender plugins on their Official Prorender download site below, wasting peoples time and giving them a bad impression of PreRender I did the following: 

(1). I sent Customer Feedback to AMD.com website about the broken ProRender Software links on the page below. 

(2). I sent feedback to AMD, ProRender, and Blender users on Twitter about the broken links.

Maybe someone will listen and fix it.

I'm done.

Bye.

pastedImage_1.png

Hi, I'm trying to use RPR 2.0.85 in my blender 2.80 and I install it on my MacBook pro and blender recognize it and show me it as render engine. But when I go to Render -> render image the output is the same in the figure. Can Anyone has a suggestion for me, I do not understand why my blender do this.Screenshot 2019-06-22 at 18.15.18.png

Hit camera view and position your camera over the object.

The camera see the object but the result is the same.

Show me your camera view from the viewport (hit 0 key) and also show the render settings just like I have ti.

The Camera view is this:

Screenshot 2019-06-24 at 08.37.07.png

on the right, you can see the render engine that is Radeon ProRender. 

This is strange that it does not work. How about if you try Eevee engine?

If I try Eevee engine the result is this:

Screenshot 2019-06-24 at 08.44.14.png

But I think the problem is this: https://community.amd.com/thread/240531 

Ok lets do the following:

Using eevee go to rendered viewport and adjust your light so it lights the object properly. This should fix your dark object when rendered.

When using Radeon Render check the following:

Go to Scene and make surety correct camera is selected!

Under View (when you press N the side windows will pop) make sure also the use local camera is selected and select your camera.

Hope this will help

Also radeon renderer uses World’s light options so make sure you adjust that

I'm doing what you suggest but the results not changes.

Screenshot 2019-06-24 at 09.51.37.png

And for eevee I have the same result I change the light but the render is all black, I think this is for the material because I use the material of RPR. 

Screenshot 2019-06-24 at 09.52.41.png

Screenshot 2019-06-24 at 09.52.44.png

Getting the following error on macOS Mojave 10.14.5 with a new install of Blender 2.8 beta and the latest available AMD ProRender plugin for it:

pastedImage_1.png

Any idea what the issue could be?

Thanks

Hi, I start a new project and now the RPR work, but when I use jewels materials it does not work because the result is a white, not transparent object as you can see in the image:

renderJewels.png

Can you help me with this? I think it is a material problem.

Try first updating to the latest beta of Blender, then uninstall/remove Radeon Render, then download the new update .94 from above and install it.

Trying to activate RadeonProRenderBlender_2.0.94 on latest versions (2.80.73 and 2.80.74)

73.jpg

74.jpg

Try lowering reflectiveness and shyness somehow in the material. Try working it out first with the built-in materials and renderer (eevee or Cycles). Radeon is still a beta. Plus eevee is astonishingly fast.

No idea mine works perfectly fine with the beta that I got today.

Are you sure you installed the ProRender plugin from this page and not the one from the official AMD Prorender page? Because that error you get is what I got when I tried to install the ProRender Plugin from here: https://www.amd.com/en/technologies/radeon-prorender-downloads

Hi

I was able to reproduce this on my side. It seems to be happening when the plug-in is disabled. If the plug-in is enabled when opening Blender 2.8, it works with no errors.

I went ahead and sent this information to developers.

Lol, I even didn't try to check enabling rpr in Scene tab. I straight go to preferences after instaling rpr and if there rpr can't be enabling, I nothing do.

Thank for you observation.

Hi! Why do I get the vertical lines without volumetrics?

The_Cosmonaut_54_b.jpg

Is there any chance to get a Linux build for version 2.0.94 of ProRender, as offered above for Windows and Mac? I'm asking, because I have the same problem as described in this thread, i.e. I simply can't activate the plugin in more recent builds of Blender 2.80.

Pretty please?

Thank you for your email. I may be working into the evening to compete existing projects/edits, though my access to email is limited after 4pm ET. Emails received after 4pm may be responded to ASAP the next business morning. If your filing deadline is within the next 24 hours, I may still respond this evening. Pending new/amended remaining deliveries for today should go out as scheduled unless we've already corresponded. Emails received over the weekend will be read and followed up on Monday. If this is an emergency, call me at 678-925-1345.

Thank you and have great evening!

Respectful Regards,

Tom Dean

Inspiromedia.com

LOL, it's great when you see someone else make something that you also made through the same tutorial. Makes me feel like I'm not alone.

I downloaded Blender RC-3 today and tried to install the RadeonProRenderBlender_2.0.94 add-on from the link on this page (which is the only one that worked for me previously) but I again get an error when trying to enable the add-on. macOS Mojave 10.14.5 see error below. According to the installation readme, it appears the add-on files were placed into the correct file path. Is the _2.0.94 still the latest version of the add-on?

Screen Shot 2019-07-25 at 3.33.06 PM.png

Thank you for your email. I may be working into the evening to complete existing projects/edits, though my access to email is limited after 4pm ET. Emails received after 4pm may be responded to ASAP the next business morning. If your filing deadline is within the next 24 hours (M-F), I may still respond this evening. Pending new/amended remaining deliveries for today should go out as scheduled unless we've already corresponded. Emails received over the weekend will be read and followed up on Monday. If this is an emergency, call me at 678-925-1345.

Typical Office *Hours: 5am-5pm ET, M-F

Email responses: 10am-4pm ET, M-F

*Note: Hours may extend into evening as needed, though, email access limited after 4pm ET

Prioritization

Edit requests for projects underway and production of drawings with shorter filing timeframes receive priority over the production of pending non-urgent services. Clients should anticipate the return delivery of edits within 1-3 business days.

Thank you and have great evening!

Respectful Regards,

Tom Dean

Inspiromedia.com

Hi there,

For anyone having the same problem and is desperate to get ProRender to work until a release version comes up following Blender's 2.80 release:

Note: You'll need ~3.5GB and familiarity with the terminal

> brew install llvm

For zsh:

> echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/llvm/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc

For bash:

> echo 'export PATH="/usr/local/opt/llvm/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

Tried to install ProRender on Blender 2.80 several times... Not showing in render engines. In preference folder, in "extensions" when I click on it I get an error:

Screen Shot 2019-12-28 at 8.05.11 PM.png

I tried the latest version with blender 2.82 with Radeon Firepro W5000. Then the GPU rendering doesn't work. It just whiten every thing. Anyone can help me ,please.

Version history
Revision #:
1 of 1
Last update:
‎02-15-2019 03:48 PM
Updated by:
 
Contributors