GPU preview

[magilla]

It would be beneficial to be able to have the preview locked to a view and active even when the grid is not selected.

Also being able to show multiple sims in the preview is really helpful.

Not sure if this applies as a wishlist but I can't seem to add or remove lights from the exclude/include dialogue so it's not apparent at first glance which ones are included or excluded.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

There is a new GPU preview in the nightly builds that is rendered in the actual viewport along other objects, you could try it out It works only under max 2015, as the older viewports don't support the rendering options we needed for this. It is still beta and misses the fire color, but can be viewed in all viewports regadless of which one is selected, depending on the "only in active viewport" option. It also obeys the "only if selected" option, so you will be able to see multiple sims as well. There are some issues with blending with the other objects though, so it's best to use the Shaded viewport, as the Realistic will show artifacts around the edges of the smoke, but with max 2015 that is the best that can be done currently.

The exclude list should be reworked, thanks for pointing that out. Currently the active lights are those selected, and you can deselect using ctrl+click, but maybe it will be better to split it into two lists and transfer lights between them.

[magilla]

that is awesome, but we're still using 2014

On a side note, with the nightlies we had to install it on all the servers to get them to render, which makes keeping up to date with nightlies rather complicated. Is that always the case with getting an updated nightly?

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Oh yes, but you could use a bat script and automate the installation, check here: http://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/P...+and+Uninstall
There was actually a discussion here in the forum several months ago where there's a complete script attached.

[möbius]

Oh boy, just tested the latest nightly with max 2015. The GPU preview in the viewport is AWESOME!
There are some alpha blending issues against the viewport but since this is still Beta i assume it will be fixed in the future.

Great job guys.

[Ivaylo Katev]

it's not sure that the blending issues are bugs, because the viewport representation is actually not volumetric. but of course you may hit real bugs, would be good to share image to see issues that you mentioned

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

The blending issues will be like that at least with max 2015 - it's an issue with max's viewport unfortunately. We're hoping that the autodesk guys will figure it out for the coming versions.

The issues have a lesser chance to appear in the Shaded viewport, and a bigger chance for the Realistic.