Volumetric Normals Render Elements

[iksenburg]

I am rendering a Smoke Sim with "PhoenixFDPartShader" - i can't get the Volumetric ZDepth Element to work even with Render as Geometry disabled , Particle Age Element works fine when Render as Geometry is enabled.
I would also be interested in the Volumetric Normals Render Element from "PhoenixFDSim", which is supposed to be generated when Volumetric - Render Mode is enabled.

What am i missing, working in Maya 2018.2 with Phoenix Version 3.11.00 and Vray 3.60.04.

Thanks!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey,

If you enable Render as Geometry, do you get zdepth and normals in V-Ray's render elements?

There were some changes in 3.11 that affected these render elements, but in Geometry mode you should be able to have all of them working - the Particle Age Phoenix element, as well as the depth and normals in V-Ray's elements.

Cheers!

[iksenburg]

Hi Svetlin,

thanks for the quick response.

The picture show my setup, i figured the things i need to change are the ones with the * - with "Render as Geometry" ticked i only get the Particle Age and nothing else, without render as geometry i get nothing.
Do i have to activate any "standard" Render Elements in Maya Render Settings?

The element most important for our compositing would be Volumetric Normals, i could ditch the others if necessary.

Cheers!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Yup - you need to activate the Standard and not the Phoenix channels for normals and zdepth.

Cheers!

[iksenburg]

But but, Volumetric Normals doesn't even have a Standard channel and, normals channel renders empty.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey,

In Volumetric Geometry mode you don't need to use the Volumetric Normals/Volumetric ZDepth of Phoenix at all - just add the V-Ray normals and zdepth render elements I'm testing with 3.11, 3.60.04, Maya 2018.3 and a Large-scale smoke Phoenix shelf preset.

Out of all the Phoenix custom render elements, with V-Ray 3 you just need the Particle Age element set to 'Phoenix channel'.

Cheers!

[iksenburg]

Alright.

Thanks again, if its not too much to ask, can you test it with Cigarette Smoke Preset?

Cheers!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Ah, so this might be the reason you are getting different results - the cigarette smoke preset consists of drag particles rendered by the particle shader - the simulator itself does not play a role in the rendering.

[iksenburg]

I figured. So no normals?

Cheers Mate!

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Sorry, no way to have normals for points - you gotta render grids through the Simulator in order the have normals.

Cheers!

[iksenburg]

Hi,

i'm making this my personal idiotic question thread:

Render Cutter from "PhoenixFDFoam" won't work on points either i guess?

Cheersy

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, it should, but I think only when Render as Geometry is disabled. Unfortunately in this mode the cutter is not yet implemented, except for Mesh and Isosurface mode of the Simulator...