few questions on converting an old 3ds Max scene to be Vantage compatible

[deepblue812]

Doing some tests updating an older 3ds Max scene to something that's more fully compatible with Vantage (I've been using https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/LAV/3ds+Max for reference, very helpful) but still had a few questions.

1) I think VrayBlendMtl only uses the base material, but I've been able to get good results converting it to a regular VrayMtl and just using a mix map. This is working very well for the Diffuse channel, but doesn't seem to work on the other channels like Bump? (just uses the fist map of the mix and ignores the mix amount).

2) The scene has geometry that uses VertexPaint shading and a VertexColor map to blend 2 materials which doesn't work. Again, good results using a mix map with the Vertex shading converted to a regular bitmap mix amount map, but am trying to use two UVW's on the geometry: map channel 1 for the mix map, map channel 2 for the geometry's texture. This doesn't seem to work? I guessing is just reading UVW map channel 1 and ignoring the other UVW set to channel 2.

3) More of a general question, but when using Live Link it works great as long as I have a VrayPhysicalCamera view active with the exposure set for the scene, but sometimes I want to jump over to a perspective view to pan around the model which defaults to Vantage's no exposure set and blows out the view with Vray sun and sky. Is there a way to set Vantage to a default exposure setting that it uses when no other camera views are active? My workflow almost always starts with dropping a VraySun & VraySky into the scene to get a basic lighting established, but makes Live Link kind of hard to use with no cameras in the scene since I'm constantly readjusting the exposure.

Thanks!

SJ

[Alexander.Atanasov]

Hi SJ,

1) I think VrayBlendMtl only uses the base material, but I've been able to get good results converting it to a regular VrayMtl and just using a mix map.

You are correct, when using VRayBlendMtl only the Base material is imported and all other inputs are ignored. We will try to add support for it in the future.

This is working very well for the Diffuse channel, but doesn't seem to work on the other channels like Bump? (just uses the fist map of the mix and ignores the mix amount).

Bump is a special case because it requires additional calculations (developers can elaborate here more if needed). We are planning to implement those calculations in the future and with that other features for example VRayTriplanar, UVWRandomizer, will benefit and work with bump.

The scene has geometry that uses VertexPaint shading and a VertexColor map to blend 2 materials which doesn't work. Again, good results using a mix map with the Vertex shading converted to a regular bitmap mix amount map, but am trying to use two UVW's on the geometry: map channel 1 for the mix map, map channel 2 for the geometry's texture. This doesn't seem to work? I guessing is just reading UVW map channel 1 and ignoring the other UVW set to channel 2.

Vertex painting as well as multiple channels(Uv channel >1) are not yet supported. We are considering them for implementation as well.

More of a general question, but when using Live Link it works great as long as I have a VrayPhysicalCamera view active with the exposure set for the scene, but sometimes I want to jump over to a perspective view to pan around the model which defaults to Vantage's no exposure set and blows out the view with Vray sun and sky.

This is expected behavior and this is also what happens when using V-Ray in IPR and switching between cameras. We are considering an option to enable camera syncing on/off from Max but cannot give ETA on that. Would such a feature be beneficial for you?

Is there a way to set Vantage to a default exposure setting that it uses when no other camera views are active? My workflow almost always starts with dropping a VraySun & VraySky into the scene to get a basic lighting established, but makes Live Link kind of hard to use with no cameras in the scene since I'm constantly readjusting the exposure.

There isn't currently a ways to set a default exposure setting that is used when no other camera views are active. You could use the Exposure slider in the top toolbar to compensate for that and when you switch to a camera view to reset it to 0 with a right-click.

Best regards,
Alexander