Rectangle light directionality not working as expected.

[shelshok]

I would expect the directionality slider to actually focus the light coming from a rectangle light. In fact, upon testing in the Maya plug-in it does just that, but in the Sketchup plug-in, it seeems to fade between a 0-directionality light and a 1-directionality light, causing a hard-edged center portion for around the 0.5-0.99 directionality. Is there a way to get the directionality in Sketchup to work as in Maya?

See these videos in case I'm not being clear enough...

Maya: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ptnohxe44m...0maya.mov?dl=0

Sketchup: https://www.dropbox.com/s/do8u559msm...tchup.mov?dl=0

[shelshok]

Here's Maya on the top and Sketchup on the bottom. Both around 0.833 directionality.

[Peter.Chaushev]

Hello,

This is a core issue which will be resolved in the next major version (V-Ray Next for SketchUp).
By default most V-Ray lights in SketchUp are scaled (default size is 1 inch). The issue you demonstrate stems from light scaling.
You can reproduce it in V-Ray 3 for Maya as well by scaling the light and moving the camera further back. It should look ok if you keep scale factor to 1 and use U/V size instead.

There is a workaround in V-Ray 3 for SketchUp, which I recommend only if you are out of alternatives as there is potential for causing further problems.
It involves right-clicking on the Rectangle light, resetting its scale and once it assumes its 1-inch size, going into Edit mode and scaling its face should produce better results. Keep in mind the bounding box, is actually measured, not the face, so it is best to do these modifications prior to any rotation of the light to avoid further inaccuracies.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Kind regards,
Peter

[shelshok]

Thanks, but that workaround doesn't seem to work for me, as SketchUp (on Mac) completely hangs when I attempt to render after making that edit.

I look forward to the update. Thanks.

[Peter.Chaushev]

Apologies for the late reply!
The hang may not be related solely to the light scaling. To narrow down the cause, could you please provide the following info:
1. MacOS and V-Ray for SketchUp version numbers
2. Render mode and engine used - GPU/CPU, Production/Interactive?
3. Open the SketchUp Ruby console (Window > Ruby Console) and V-Ray Progress log (button at the bottom-right corner of the VFB) prior to rendering. Are there any warnings/errors printed upon rendering?
4. Does the hang occur in a newly created scene or only in existing projects?

The directionality issue is now resolved internally. In addition to this, simplified Rectangle light size controls are being implemented straight in the light's settings panel.

Kind regards,
Peter