PSD manager 3.0 released!

[dans]

Daniel,
Is there a trial version of PSD manager around?

Currently not, I plan to have it out alongside the 3.1 release though.

[jacksc02]

Thanks for the reply Daniel.
How far away is the 3.1 release?

[dans]

How far away is the 3.1 release?

Let me quote myself:

The V-Ray Framebuffer support is working great in the internal 3.1 Beta. There will also be some small additions like not having to enable the "Save File" option anymore. We are aiming for a release at the end of this month. We are still doing some additional testing with the new V-Ray 2.20 right now.

In the mean time you can win a psd-manager license or discount coupons if you post your postwork created in 2011 at Ronen Bekermans Architectural Visualization Forums.

[3ddesign]

I've been using PSD Manager for years and can't live without it. 3.0 looks great and I'm anxious to upgrade. I do have one small gripe however and I know it would be a total pain to implement but here goes. Mirrors. My projects always contain lots of large mirrors. Is there any chance in the world PSD Manager could mask objects and materials seen in reflections? Pretty please? Also, glass. My projects always contain glass guardrails. We always have to render a pass with the glass hidden to get the materials beyond. Any chance PSD Manager could see through transparent objects? Yeah, yeah, I know, almost impossible to do this, right? But thought it was worth a try. Oh, and by the way. I've hounded Autodesk for years to give me more than a measly 15 material IDs. Maybe if somebody like Cebas complained...

[themaxxer]

Oh, and by the way. I've hounded Autodesk for years to give me more than a measly 15 material IDs.

you can do that with the "EffectID" found in the "option" menu of VrayMtl...

best regards
themaxxer

[themaxxer]

I have made some tests and almost all you want is possible. you can use the new "affect channels" feature in reflection setup of VrayMTL. you have to set a MatID and choose affect "all channels". you then get the alpha for all reflections...
you could also play with VrayDirtMap in reflection slot to mask reflections.

best regards
themaxxer

[dans]

I've been using PSD Manager for years and can't live without it. 3.0 looks great and I'm anxious to upgrade. I do have one small gripe however and I know it would be a total pain to implement but here goes. Mirrors. My projects always contain lots of large mirrors. Is there any chance in the world PSD Manager could mask objects and materials seen in reflections? Pretty please? Also, glass. My projects always contain glass guardrails. We always have to render a pass with the glass hidden to get the materials beyond. Any chance PSD Manager could see through transparent objects? Yeah, yeah, I know, almost impossible to do this, right? But thought it was worth a try. Oh, and by the way. I've hounded Autodesk for years to give me more than a measly 15 material IDs. Maybe if somebody like Cebas complained...

psd-manager is using what is stored in the G-Buffer to create selections. Selections for reflections(mirrors) and refractions (behind glas) depend on how the renderer stores information in the G-Buffer. For VRay I recommend the workflow that themaxxer mentioned using MultiMatte render elements and the AffectChannels option set to All for the mirror/glas material.

Material-IDs over 15 can be used with Vray (actually already documented in the psd-manager 3.0 manual - VRay section).

In the upcoming psd-manager 3.1 update I have also implemented special handling for VRay MultiMatte elements. They can be automatically split into multiple layer/channels and named according to the ID assigned. Making them more convenient to work with in Photoshop.

Thanks for the kind words,
Daniel

[3ddesign]

Sheesh, I should have asked these questions a long time ago. Can't wait to try them out. Thanks.

[simmsimaging]

You can also look at the free effect id script from Track: http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/sc...ectschannelset

This, combined with PSDM3 gives you basically 2-click masks for every object and/or every Mat ID in your scene, or on a selection of objects. I use these hand-in-hand all the time and masks/layers have become effortless.

/b

[3ddesign]

I have made some tests and almost all you want is possible. you can use the new "affect channels" feature in reflection setup of VrayMTL. you have to set a MatID and choose affect "all channels". you then get the alpha for all reflections...
you could also play with VrayDirtMap in reflection slot to mask reflections.

best regards
themaxxer

Thanks for the response. I can't find the new "affect channels" feature. Could you explain?

[3ddesign]

Daniel

Sorry to post this here but I couldn't get the buy support ticket page to work over at Cebas.

I'm trying to install PSD Manager 3.0 and I know I'm stupid with computers but for the life of me can't figure out how to "choose the folder where 3Ds Max or Design is installed" as directed by the psd-manager 3 Setup.

[dans]

I'm trying to install PSD Manager 3.0 and I know I'm stupid with computers but for the life of me can't figure out how to "choose the folder where 3Ds Max or Design is installed" as directed by the psd-manager 3 Setup.

You don't need to buy a support ticket (not sure for which cases that is there ectually). What is exactly the problem with the installation? Just choose the folder where your 3dsmax.exe is located. (You can also contact support@cebas.com or the cebas psd-manager forum.)

The "AffectChannels" option is in the material VRayMtl (maybe only in V-Ray 2, not sure).

Daniel

[glorybound]

I too, am having an issue with PSD-Manager, and the ticket system isn't working. We changed our DHCP server, I have a new IP address, so my license manager isn't working.

[dans]

I too, am having an issue with PSD-Manager, and the ticket system isn't working. We changed our DHCP server, I have a new IP address, so my license manager isn't working.

The problem description is a bit short/ confusing. What do you mean exactly with "We changed our DHCP server"?

If you installed the license server on a different PC or switched the network card on the license server then your licenses are not working now (because licenses are bound to the network card, when you installed your license). So the network card acts as a dongle. If that is the case then you will need to activate the licenses again on the new server (then please contact register@cebas.com for details and explain what you switched exactly and what the license manager shows on the License Tab).

If only the IP-address of the license server changed then here is more information. :

There are 2 locations where information is stored for plugins to know where the license server is.

In the Windows Registry under:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\cebas\FloLiMa
(used only by 64-bit plugins)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\cebas\FloL iMa
(used only by 32-bit plugins)

And also in a file ipclamp.ini for each plugin (optional):
This file is located where the cebas plugin is installed. So this configuration file is per plugin and usually created by the installer (see defaults below for local licsense server). The entry IP1 specifies the server name or a server IP.

[IPClamp]
IP1=127.0.0.1
PORT1=3140
PASS1=cebas

A plugin will first use the options set in the ipclamp.ini file. If this doesn't exist it uses the options specified in the registry.

If you have a plugin that doesn't find the license server then it may pop up a little window that lets you specify Sever IP/Port/Password. It has a little checkbox "Persistent". If you check it the plugin tries to save the updated information in the ipclamp.ini file. However, if you are not an Administrator the plugin may not have the required rights to save the changes in the folder of the plugin. In this case you will get the same message the next time you use the plugin.

Best Regards,
Daniel Schmidt - psd-manager Developer

[glorybound]

I didn't do anything locally, the change was done on the server. Our I.T. Manager installed a new DCHP server so when I rebooted I was assign a new IP address. When I add psd-manager as an effect the License Server Error box pops up. The server IP/Name: is the old IP address. When I put the new IP address in, the box just pops back up.