lightcache flythrough mode..

[super gnu]

ok, so ive made my opinion known about the odd decision to remove the useful flythrough mode (but keep it in the menus?!) before.. im not going to try to change minds again.

as expected i have a job where it would be useful.

short simple flythrough animation, frames have to be done as quick as possible- ive only got one workstation.

currently rendering takes 6 minutes a frame, of which 1 minute+ of that is the flythrough calculation. (seems to have slowed down since i added ies lights) that is before increasing the retrace to ensure no glitches, which i am sure will make things at least a touch slower. (bf/bf was estimating 30-40 mins for the same frame.)



since neither vray next or vray 3.6 (i have both on different versions of max) will actually calculate a flythrough lightcache, even if you set it in the lightcache settings, id like to know what the last version of vray was where this worked as it should?

id then like to download this version and put it on one of my copies of max so i can calculate a lightcache for use in next GPU. this will save me 17-20% of my rendertime.


a ridiculous workaround, but if i have to...

[vlado]

As far as I remember, the fly-through mode has never worked for V-Ray GPU. It really needs to be removed from the UI.

With that said, the latest nightly builds have optimizations for the light cache calculation phase with many light sources.

Best regards,
Vlado

[super gnu]

Yeah i know it never worked in the gpu rendering interface ( not sure why, as its calculated on cpu first, presumably in a very similar way to when cpu rendering). However, thankfully, “from file“ still works with gpu lightcache (are you going to take that away too?)

so, given the scenes render almost identical between cpu and gpu, i can calculate the flythrough light cache on cpu (on an older version of vray unfortunately) then use it on gpu for rendering. I have to jump through these hoops to get the best rendertime for a flythrough it seems.

[vlado]

The goal is to calculate the light cache on the GPU eventually. The fly-through mode is a hack that is causing me a lot of headaches to support and I would prefer to focus on decent render times without it

Best regards,
Vlado

[super gnu]

Of course. Im not asking for it to be put back. Ive made my peace with losing it. But is it 3.5 where it still worked? (on cpu) Can i still download that version?

[super gnu]

yes i see i can still download the older versions.. ill give it a go.

[super gnu]

ok so that worked. i saved a decent amount of rendertime.

can i make a modest request from a (very) longtime vray user?

when you remove the flythrough mode from the interface, can you please leave the option to load a saved lightcache..? even as a maxscript command if you are ruthlessly tidying interface?

many thanks.....!

[M.Max]

ok so that worked. i saved a decent amount of rendertime.

can i make a modest request from a (very) longtime vray user?

when you remove the flythrough mode from the interface, can you please leave the option to load a saved lightcache..? even as a maxscript command if you are ruthlessly tidying interface?

many thanks.....!

+1

( .. enter a message with at least 10 characters )

[anthonyh]

I thought 3.6 nightlies could pre-render LC now as per this thread ?
https://forums.chaosgroup.com/forum/...-is-3-6-broken
or am I getting that wrong ?

[super gnu]

nope. as far as i know, setting lightcache to flythrough mode only generates a lightcache solution for the last frame. the whole lightcache flythrough mode is being discontinued going forward., . (hmph)

[anthonyh]

I remember trying it before the supposed update(from the thread I mentioned) and it looked exactly how you describe, but after the update it seemed a lot more like normal, a smoosh. I`ll have to try it again to see.
Here, I attached 3.4 vs 3.6. Render single frame with LC 3000 flythrough on. Looks the same to me.
Sorry about the wonky photos, 1st one is 3.4 I think, 2nd 3.6.
Nightlies only though.

[super gnu]

hm, maybe i need to recheck. however I am pretty 100% sure i tried it in 3.6 cpu last week before downgrading to 3.5 to generate LC..

[super gnu]

ok i think im going mad. i just tried it on NEXT cpu and it worked. i definitely tried that last week and it didnt. or maybe ive made a series of improbable errors one after the other.

it DEFINITELY doesnt work on NEXT gpu.



so, given that it stopped working on cpu before, and i was told its being discontinued... now it appears to actual;ly have been fixed.. could i clarify..

is lightcache flythrough being discontinued for ALL versions of vray or just GPU?