vDenoise Command Line tool Helper (Maxscript UI)

[thn]

No, I've got the noise level RE, got an error message on that one also. That one I was able to add from the list with Vray RE:


The worldPosition and worldNormals are not there. I can see those in the Vray VFB. Maybe there's some basic stuff i'm not aware of?

/Thomas

[^Lele^]

yes, you need nothing but the denoise RE.
all the others will be added for you.
Try that first.

[thn]

But they are not added. In the Vray frame buffer yes, but not in the multilayer EXR.

[^Lele^]

save from the vray raw file output (VFB section in the render settings.).
Just choose exr as extension, and off you go.

p.s.: you know you're in the right place if the usual EXR options dialog doesn't pop up. Then you're bypassing max, and using V-Ray to write your Exr.

[thn]

That makes it work, at least no un-denoised patches, but gone are the other Vray RE I normally use (VrayZDepth fx.), and if your workflow includes Backburner or Deadline, Vray VFB and the raw vray image output doesn't work. You need to use Max's Save File option as far as I'm concerned. Otherwise you get empty renders, RE's missing and stuff.

Just tested both through Deadline and backburner. No success with Vray VFB.
I need to get those worldPositions and worldNormals in somehow, to cure the partial denoising problem.

[^Lele^]

No, the vray VFB has worked for a number of people for a number of years, that i can guarantee you, as user.
It will require adjusting some parts of your pipeline, surely, but it's not as dramatic, or broken, as you make it out to be (I am not sure what you're doing wrong, but since you ask no questions, but rather state truths, i can't really help, can I?).
And there is a reason why V-Ray developed its own file output.
You can complain with Autodesk for any shortcomings in their EXR file writer: we can only help making one better, not rewriting someone else's.

[thn]

Sorry for sounding so certain (writing stuff in short often make you sound like that), I'm not at all, using the vray raw output instead of the one Max provides is completely foreign land to me, and my testing this afternoon left me quite confused.
I just don't know what the pipeline should be then, with the VFB and raw image output with just the render elements I need; where do I choose these if not in the Max RE tab?. There must be some guides or something I never read. And my colleagues all use the RE setup from Max and the "safe file" option in Max, I've so far not encounted any other way.
If you can point to good reference for this vray raw pipeline, I sure would like to check it out.

[^Lele^]

If you leave the denoiser aside for a moment, the workflow is dead simple: you add REs normally to your render, set the file output in the V-Ray VFB (for sequences, writing basename.exr will produce basename.0000.exr and so on automatically), and render away.
The max system complains of sequences rendered without saving files, you can ignore it.

What you'll get will be a layered EXR.

If that's not what you like, and would rather split the REs out, there's a corresponding box just below the Raw file.
They can be used concurrently.

It all works mighty fine with Deadline, and Backburner.
At most, depending on version, you may not get direct output access from the farm monitors, but that's somewhat minor.

Notice that saving from the raw file format also allows you to save deep exrs, and the VRayOptionRE will further allow you to set very fine options for your saved images (lossy compression, sample merging, and so on.)

I'm sorry if i snapped back at you, but the max file output's limitations have been a veritable bane of my working life, and the V-Ray file output saved my life a million times, conversely.
So it felt like you kicked in the teeth a very good friend of mine, right there... :P

[thn]

Hi!
I spent some time with it this morning. I see that the Vray file output works identically with Deadline and Backburner. Great!
Although I haven't had serious trouble with the MAX output, I'll use the Vray output option instead for a period, taking your word for it that it is the better solution.

I need to go with "Separate Render Channels" option as it seems (I could be wrong though, to be investigated!) Vray Raw Image File multilayer EXR won't accept more than one VrayZDepth element. Max can handle that.

For later postproc. in Nuke, I always have two identical Zdepth RE, one is unfiltered which is best for camera defocusing in Nuke, one is aliased which is best for ordinary merging of fog etc. based on depth.

/Thomas

[^Lele^]

you can add as many samplerInfo elements as you wish, and set those to point, camera mode.
The B channel, inverted or else, is unfiltered camera distance in camera space.

[thn]

Gosh, there's so many possibilities within RE I never heard of. Much to be investigated 😅 Thanks for the tip.

One downside I experience with the vray raw output: the exr is 10x bigger than the exr I normally output, although those are only with 3-4 RE inside. It's scanline zipped (zips) I think. Is it Deep data?
The about 12-14 RE you get by default with raw output aren't that heavy to explain the huge increase in file size compared to a "normal" multilayer exr.

/Thomas

[TheRazorsEdge]

Thank you very much for sharing! Very useful script.

Cheers!

[^Lele^]

Gosh, there's so many possibilities within RE I never heard of. Much to be investigated  Thanks for the tip.

One downside I experience with the vray raw output: the exr is 10x bigger than the exr I normally output, although those are only with 3-4 RE inside. It's scanline zipped (zips) I think. Is it Deep data?
The about 12-14 RE you get by default with raw output aren't that heavy to explain the huge increase in file size compared to a "normal" multilayer exr.

/Thomas

Try the vrayOptionRE, see if it helps setting some more in-depth behaviour.
Unless you ticked 32bit FP or Deep Data in the saving checkbox, the sizes ought to be around about the same, between zip and zips, for noisy-ish CG.
Ofc, feel free to send over two files (my chaosgroup email) for inspection, and maybe we'll figure it out.

[thn]

Hi Lele
My mistake, yes I had the 32bit option on. When off they are saved like I'm used to, in16bit half float. Now I'll spend some time digging in to the VraySamplerInfo element.
Thanks a lot for your help, I've learned vital stuff the last few days!

Thomas

[thn]

you can add as many samplerInfo elements as you wish, and set those to point, camera mode.
The B channel, inverted or else, is unfiltered camera distance in camera space.

I need a bit of help on that afterall. I can't get a grayscale unfiltered depth output out of the samplerinfo RE. I've set type to "point" and coord sys to "camera". It just gives me a 4-color output.


Am I missing something? You write B channel, is that like in RGB? It's just a blue outline of the object in the output.

/Thomas