V-Ray 3.30.01 BETA! available for download

[cheerioboy]

Here's what I've got, https://www.dropbox.com/s/s2yi36k5p8...mpare.pdf?dl=0
helps to download the pdf and flip through it with another app, dropbox's pdf integration isn't the greatest.

Each initial rendering is with 3.2, the second image is the 3.3 beta

I noticed in one view that where the camera clipped it's seeing the unit next door in one and not the other - so I thought I might have messed something up in my comparison
but I've since turned that unit to be visible and the lighting changes you see between images seems to stay in tact.

Render times, for example with the first interior view (page 3?), it took 1.5 hours before. With the update it now takes 18 minutes. Shows how well I optimize my scenes

[vlado]

Hm, are you using a sharpening AA filter?

Best regards,
Vlado

[^Lele^]

The bathroom shots, in particular, showcase the new sampler, and the new caustic solver.
You can tell how fireflies are pretty much gone, while the sampler spent more time on the shadows, now better resolved.

You may want to check out your AA Filter settings: it looks like you're using one with a negative component, which produces ringing around bright pixels (look at the lightbulbs in your renders, particularly in the kitchen), and also increaes noise, as to all intents and purposes it's a sharpen operation.
So that's something the new defaults will help with, as well: the VRayLanczos filter which comes with them is very sharp, but without the negative component, so it's a great choice when one wants to keep the image sharp without increasing noise levels as a result.

The bedroom shots, instead, show just how good the new sampling method is with very low lighting situations: the duvet on the bet is a lot less noisy than it used to be.
This is also a type of shot where rendertimes, for an already well optimised render, may go UP instead of down, purely because V-Ray will "see" more things in the dark, and will want to go sample them.

[Jiri.Matys]

Vlado, how is it going with the light intensity settings only for environmental fog? You planned it to SP2 and now its SP3 and its not there

[vlado]

There is a whole month until the final release...

Best regards,
Vlado

[cheerioboy]

Hm, are you using a sharpening AA filter?

Best regards,
Vlado

Using VRaySincFilter, size 3

edit: I'll switch to VRayLanczos

[Morne]

1) Has the past Probabilistic lights issues been resolved yet where it was actually increasing noise and render times? On that subject, should we always leave this on or can we switch it off in cases where we only have an exterior and a sun/hdri and interiors with for example only 5 lights?

For defaults:
2) GI has always been off by default, shoulnd't it be ON? (I'm geussing more people use it on, than off, but I may be wrong)
3) Will anybody object to have "Low thread priority" ON by default?
4) I've read the help, but I never really understood what "Optimized atmos. evaluation" does. In which cases should we switch this on, and should it possibly be ON by default?

[super gnu]

i believe "optimised atmospheric evaluation" can slightly speed up rendering when atmospheric effects are used, but can break compatibility with certain old scanline compatible plugins.. in that respect its similar to disabling "shadecontext in camera space".. i might be wrong though..

[vlado]

1) Has the past Probabilistic lights issues been resolved yet where it was actually increasing noise and render times? On that subject, should we always leave this on or can we switch it off in cases where we only have an exterior and a sun/hdri and interiors with for example only 5 lights?

The default is 16 lights for PL; if you have less than that, the algorithm is automatically disabled. I already know how to fix the algorithm in the case of more lights, but sadly what with the other stuff, I didn't have time to implement it yet in 3ds Max. I'll see if I can sequeeze that into the official builds.

2) GI has always been off by default, shoulnd't it be ON? (I'm geussing more people use it on, than off, but I may be wrong)

I've been wondering about that, but I wasn't sure. It may be good to experiment, I guess.

3) Will anybody object to have "Low thread priority" ON by default?

What would be the reason for it?

4) I've read the help, but I never really understood what "Optimized atmos. evaluation" does. In which cases should we switch this on, and should it possibly be ON by default?

It's there for some atmospheric plugins like the now-extinct Shag:Hair, and others like Afterburn that are still used occasionally. Not sure about FumeFX. However I guess it would make way more sense for V-Ray to enumerate all atmospheric effects in the scene and decide for itself if this needs to be on or off. Will make a note to look into it and remove the option from the UI.

Best regards,
Vlado

[WilleViz]

Looks absolutely fantastic, just one - maybe stupid! - question before I download and install it:

Does the Beta works like the Demo with limitations such as watermarked images, or is it a full ADV (beta)version?

I just want to make sure that there is no limitations on it.

PS: It is the first time I try a Vray beta version, so sorry for the question.

[Morne]

...and I think each item in the changelog should have links to help files that explain the new features. Where significant change, it should be accompanied by a short tutorial.

Low thread priority on by default, because I often need to use the pc while rendering. Not sure if this has ANY effect on slaves though...

[Morne]

Saving out LUT from VFB

We load a monitor ICC into VFB because max doesnt use color profiles. If we then also adjust exposure, white balance etc, and we save all this out as a LUT, would it take into account the ICC that we loaded and what effect would this saved LUT have when we use it in for example Fusion? Does Fusion read the monitor profile from windows or does it also need to be specifically told about it like Max with the VFB? If it DOES read the icc from windows, what effect would the LUT we saved from the VFB have then? Will the ICC be "double" loaded....if there is such a thing?

[vlado]

Does the Beta works like the Demo with limitations such as watermarked images, or is it a full ADV (beta)version?

It's a full version; there are no limitations.

PS: It is the first time I try a Vray beta version, so sorry for the question.

Well, it's the first time we are doing it this way, so questions are normal We've not had such major changes in a SP, so it would be good to get some preliminary feedback before the final release.

Best regards,
Vlado

[WilleViz]

Thanks Vlado.

[vlado]

We load a monitor ICC into VFB because max doesnt use color profiles. If we then also adjust exposure, white balance etc, and we save all this out as a LUT, would it take into account the ICC that we loaded and what effect would this saved LUT have when we use it in for example Fusion?

No, we do not bake display color corrections (sRGB, ICC, OCIO, LUT) into the LUT. I suppose that we can add an option for this, if needed.

Does Fusion read the monitor profile from windows or does it also need to be specifically told about it like Max with the VFB? If it DOES read the icc from windows, what effect would the LUT we saved from the VFB have then? Will the ICC be "double" loaded....if there is such a thing?

I've not used Fusion, so unfortunately I don't know. But, like I said, we don't bake the ICC profile into the LUT coming out of the VFB.

Best regards,
Vlado