Important V-Ray 1.5 announcement

[zerofractal]

Vlado, As always great work! Lightmaps look amazing. regarding lightmap usability they seem to be camera dependant, and as such, is it planned to have similar modes recopilation modes as an irradiance map? I mean an incremental or multiframe incrementa, and of course, from file?

Thanks again!

[heroes5]

i can see the photon dynasty willl be collapsed by the new lighting-king !!!
exciting but a little sadness (canot forget the passed days with photon)

[vlado]

Here are some answers:

Does the new Gi method "lightmapping" produce an viewindependent lightsolution like photonmapping does?

The light map is view-dependent, like the irradiance map, since it starts tracing rays from the camera. That said, it usually contains information for a large part of the scene, not just the directly visible portions.

Does it support ies lights?

Yes. The light map works correctly with any lights, including skylight and photometric lights.

I didnt realy understand the process as you described it. What are the differences to usual i-map calculation. I thougt it woud work the way as you described it in lightmapping?

They are similar, but there are differences. The irradiance map is adaptive, while the light map is not - its resolution is fixed in advance. The light map caches each and every single bounce through the scene, while the irradiance map caches only the first diffuse bounce.

Are there any restrictions of this method thinking for example of sss, translucence, ...?

Not really.

Regarding lightmap usability they seem to be camera dependant, and as such, is it planned to have similar modes recopilation modes as an irradiance map? I mean an incremental or multiframe incremental, and of course, from file?

The light map can be saved and loaded, however you can only add two maps together. Things are a little different from the irradiance map, which can be refined in one part independently of the others (the incremental mode). Since the light map is not adaptive, you can only add two maps together.

Can the light map do caustics?

Only GI caustics. The light map can't produce the sharp caustics from a point light for example, but it will produce caustics from skylight and self-illuminated objects.

Anyways, we'll see how useful the light map will be...

Best regards,
Vlado

[Dschaga]

i want to add one question:

You say ies lights are correct, but does that mean that vray is physicaly correct too? Could i use it now for accurate lightsimulation like lightscape or inspirer?
Are there reference settings to be physicaly correct lighting(1.bounce, 2.bounce, caustic multiplierer)...?

[YoyoBoy]

Vlado,

Will the VRay Material in 1.5 have an opacity-map slot?

[Nixon]

woooow....

wooow... so many nice things we shall expect soon, just feel so completely stupid for checking the site so late...

go for the news...

[cpnichols]

Vlado,

Will the VRay Material in 1.5 have an opacity-map slot?

It already has an opacity map slot. You can use the refraction slot and uncheck the do-refraction slot. That way it will act like a opacity map.

[YoyoBoy]

Using the refract map slot and setting IOR to 1 didn't work well at all the last time I tried it (looked like garbage and took forvever to render). Seems to work with the current build though -except shadows aren't effected by it. Shadows are very important.

What do you mean by "uncheck the do-refraction slot"?
If I uncheck the refraction slot in the maps rollout I don't get any transparency at all.

[GALACTUS]

When you uncheck trace refractions Vray will no longer be able to calculate refractions for the object affected. However it does use the refraction slot as an opacity channel.

[egz]

Using the refract map slot and setting IOR to 1 didn't work well at all the last time I tried it (looked like garbage and took forvever to render). Seems to work with the current build though -except shadows aren't effected by it. Shadows are very important.

That's what the affect shadows checkbox is for

[cpnichols]

Using the refract map slot and setting IOR to 1 didn't work well at all the last time I tried it (looked like garbage and took forvever to render). Seems to work with the current build though -except shadows aren't effected by it. Shadows are very important.

That's what the affect shadows checkbox is for

Better yet... it also has an "affect Alpha" which I have never seen in any rendering engine that refracts.... not even the default max.

[Da_elf]

problem with opacity mapping with vray material however is its alpha is ignored when its put over a vray matte shadow material background. This bug has already been presented to vlado however i think rather than fix the bug (or limitation) clip maps might work better.

[photonC]

Will 1.5 include light dispersion?

[vlado]

You say ies lights are correct, but does that mean that vray is physicaly correct too? Could i use it now for accurate lightsimulation like lightscape or inspirer?
Are there reference settings to be physicaly correct lighting(1.bounce, 2.bounce, caustic multiplierer)...?

VRay can produce results identical to Max's radiosity system. If you consider that to be "correct" then VRay is "correct" too. I may post some comparisons later on...

Best regards,
Vlado

[didjaja]

I want to see this comparison
I can copy a scene rendered with radiosity with vray,its no dificult
But if I have a scene with a window only is dificult know what lighting is how in real life. I can touch very much parameters to controller lighting.If i increase dark the light is major but i dont know if it is correct in comparison for real life
Sorry for my english,i hope you understand