mitsuba-visualize: Automates High-Quality Mitsuba Renders

Visualizes meshes, pointclouds and video flythroughs in publication quality

• Collection of scripts automating path-traced rendering with mitsuba (0.6.0), directly using their python API.
• Can also render flythroughs from predefined camera poses using bezier curves and catmull-rom splines

This implementation was used for the visualizations in Dai, Angela, Christian Diller, and Matthias Nießner. "SG-NN: Sparse Generative Neural Networks for Self-Supervised Scene Completion of RGB-D Scans." (CVPR'20)

You can find more samples, including flythroughs, in our SG-NN video.

Installation

1. Install mitsuba 0.6.0, following the tutorial here: 10 Steps to Install Mitsuba Renderer on Ubuntu
2. Clone this repository and install python dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/chrdiller/mitsuba-visualize
cd mitsuba-visualize
poetry install

3. After building mitsuba, adjust path in set_python_path.py to point to the folder you cloned mitsuba to (has to contain subdirectory dist/python)

MITSUBA_BASE = Path('/path/to/mitsuba/clone')

Usage

Enter environment: poetry shell

Single images

• Meshes: python mesh.py ...

usage: mesh.py [-h] -o OUTPUT [--scenes_list SCENES_LIST] [--scene SCENE]
               [--cameras CAMERAS] [--width WIDTH] [--height HEIGHT]
               [--samples SAMPLES] [--workers WORKERS]
               [input_paths [input_paths ...]]

Render directory

positional arguments:
  input_paths           Path(s) to directory containing all files to render

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Path to write renderings to
  --scenes_list SCENES_LIST
                        Path to file containing filenames to render in base
                        path
  --scene SCENE         One scene. Overrides scenes_list
  --cameras CAMERAS     XML file containing meshlab cameras
  --width WIDTH         Width of the resulting image
  --height HEIGHT       Height of the resulting image
  --samples SAMPLES     Number of integrator samples per pixel
  --workers WORKERS     How many concurrent workers to use

• Point Clouds: python pointcloud.py ...

usage: Render pointcloud with mitsuba by placing little spheres at the points' positions
       [-h] -o OUTPUT [--radius RADIUS] [--width WIDTH] [--height HEIGHT]
       [--samples SAMPLES] [--workers WORKERS]
       input [input ...]

positional arguments:
  input                 Path(s) to the ply file(s) containing a pointcloud(s)
                        to render

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Path to write renderings to
  --radius RADIUS       Radius of a single point
  --width WIDTH         Width of the resulting image
  --height HEIGHT       Height of the resulting image
  --samples SAMPLES     Number of integrator samples per pixel
  --workers WORKERS     How many concurrent workers to use

Flythroughs

As in the SG-NN video

• (Optional) Export cameras from meshlab
  • Open the mesh in meshlab and press Cmd/Ctrl + C to copy the current camera view
  • Paste into a text editor (will be a few lines of XML)
  • Save as xml file
  • Repeat for every camera keypoint
• (Alternatively) Do not specify cameras; this will render a slightly tilted top-down turntable view
• Usage: python flythough.py ...

usage: Render a flythrough video of a scene [-h] -o OUTPUT
                                            [--remote [REMOTE [REMOTE ...]]]
                                            [--novideo] [--norender] [--keep]
                                            [--scenes_list SCENES_LIST]
                                            [--frames FRAMES]
                                            [--cameras CAMERAS]
                                            [--shutter_time SHUTTER_TIME]
                                            [--width WIDTH] [--height HEIGHT]
                                            [--fov FOV] [--samples SAMPLES]
                                            [--interpolation {catmullrom,bezier}]
                                            [--workers WORKERS]
                                            input [input ...]

positional arguments:
  input                 Path to the ply file to render

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Path to write output video to
  --remote [REMOTE [REMOTE ...]]
                        Urls of the remote render servers
  --novideo             Only render frames, do not produce video
  --norender            Only render video from existing frames, no rendering
  --keep                Whether to keep the frame images
  --scenes_list SCENES_LIST
                        Path to file containing filenames to render in base
                        path
  --frames FRAMES       Number of frames to render (The video file will have
                        30fps)
  --cameras CAMERAS     XML file containing meshlab cameras (or path to
                        directory only containing such files). If set, this is
                        used for spline interpolation. Otherwise, a rotating
                        flyover is generated
  --shutter_time SHUTTER_TIME
                        Shutter time of the moving sensor
  --width WIDTH         Width of the resulting image
  --height HEIGHT       Height of the resulting image
  --fov FOV             Field of view of the sensor in degrees (meshlab
                        default is 60)
  --samples SAMPLES     Number of integrator samples per pixel
  --interpolation {catmullrom,bezier}
                        Which method to use for interpolation between control
                        points
  --workers WORKERS     How many local concurrent workers to use