New Finite dome mode for improved ground projections

[matanov]

There is a new mode in the V-Ray Dome light - Finite dome. Once enabled, you'll be able to fine tune your ground projection by 3 new parameters - Radius, Projection height and Ground blend. Mind that this is a new mode and it should not be used together with the Ground projection in VRayBitmap.

Some quick tests:

[anders]

Amazing!!!

[bardo]

Could you post some comparison with the v5 system?

[matanov]

Could you post some comparison with the v5 system?

I wouldn't even try to do this with this HDR and the old method

[kosso_olli]

As discussed before, I am so glad this is finally coming to V-Ray! It is a huge thing for us.

The old system had massive distortion in the transition at the horizon line. Here is 5 compared to 6 with finite dome:






While to projection is not entirely correct (because a cubical-shaped HDRI is mapped onto a dome), it is miles better than what we had before. Also, observe the size of the reflections in the car's rear window and trunk lid. It is much more believable because it is to real-world scale in such tight scenarios.

[bardo]

I think these images speak by themself.
The overall quality is greatly improved.

[kosso_olli]

In the latest build, finite dome is so unresponsive it is unusable for IPR sessions. Moving the domelight, changing any value regarding the finite dome creates a delay of around 30 seconds.

[matanov]

In the latest build, finite dome is so unresponsive it is unusable for IPR sessions. Moving the domelight, changing any value regarding the finite dome creates a delay of around 30 seconds.

Works fine here, is this with any scene?

[kosso_olli]

It's with the scene I sent to you regarding the other issue. You can investigate on that one.

[kosso_olli]

Edit: It also happens with extremely simple scenes, ie a teapot and a 4k HDRI.
The delay is much to long

Also, can you please explain what the Ground Blend parameter does? No matter what value is set, the all look the same.
What is the range? Is it supposed to go from 0-1? Why the default is 5 then? 0-100?

[matanov]

There is no delay here, every change seems real-time.

Ground Blend should be from 0 to 1, where 0 = "sharp" edge between the ground and the hemisphere and 1 = sphere.

[kosso_olli]

Ground Blend should be from 0 to 1, where 0 = "sharp" edge between the ground and the hemisphere and 1 = sphere.

In that case, the default values are not a good choice. Also, it would be best if the values are clamped to 1, so the user can not enter anything beyond that value.
I am still trying to get a reproducible behavior regarding the slowdown.