Vray 5 - New Frame Buffer Maxscript Access?

[KramSurfer]

Is there a way to load/save effect layers from the new VFB via MaxScript?

I don't see any scripted access to the new Vray Frame Buffers functions listing in the documentation.

Primarily I'm interested in the load/save effect layers interface as this is needed for integration with our existing render pipeline.

Thanks

[yavor.rubenov]

Hello,

Unfortunately it is not available in the official builds but it is ready in our internal ones. It will soon be available.

Best regards,
Yavor

[KramSurfer]

Thanks, good to know.

"soon" is that a week or a few months?
Is it possible to get a beta build with the access?

We've been waiting awhile to transition our pipeline from 3.6 and this is a major stumbling block workflow wise. I've been looking at this the past few months but did not get the go ahead from management until this week. I really need to have this worked out in several of our tools before we transition and any extra lead time would be useful.

Thanks

[matanov]

Hi Keith,

We are planning to merge most of the new features for Update 1 into the nightly stable builds so users can test them before the official release. I guess it will happen sometime next week, so you'll be able to check it then.

https://nightlies.chaosgroup.com/mai...ble/stable_5.0

[KramSurfer]

Just had a look at today's build, I still don't "see" anything to access it.

Will the documentation be in the a vfbControl #help command?

Could you please update this tread when you know it's there?

Thanks !

[matanov]

Yeah, sorry. Things didn't go as planned and maybe this won't happen anytime soon. So there are two options - either you wait for the official release (around the end of next month) or I can send you a custom build which I can't guarantee is stable for production. I guess it will be good enough for testing your pipeline integration and getting things ready for the official release.

[^Lele^]

Specifically, what parts of the VFB2 do you need access to the most, for what general kind of tasks?
As the amount of stuff now available is enormous (the compositing and LM parts alone make sure of that), i'd prioritise trying out the parts you need the most, to ensure it's usable for your specific predicament.

[KramSurfer]

We have a "vbfcc" workflow, and tools, that allow us to render to a vray image file, make our final color/exposure tweeks at lower setting, and save that .vbfcc to be applied to final image or animation. ( or used for similar shots/animations in the same environment ) Often our lead / finisher doesn't even touch the max file to get the final look they want.

We're hoping to use the layers in the new VFB the same way, in the same process, just swapping the .vfbcc with the new .vfbl

I believe just the ability to load and save the .vfbl will be the most useful function to expose. All the other possible adjustments can be achieved through multiple saved .vfbl files.

Opening the whole stack up will be awesome, but I think the number of people that would have the technical ability and a real world use for that is pretty limited.

Thanks!

[^Lele^]

Oh, access is wholesome allright!
Will look closer at the parts you need (history, saving/loading CC to LUTs/presets and so on), then.
We're mostly suffering from QoL issues at this point, and we'd rather avoid having users write their scripts and then have to update them because of a method or name change.
Thanks for the patience, it's much appreciated.

[KramSurfer]

Yeah I get that. I've made many a change since Vray 1.5

My real need is just applying a "layer tree preset" ( multi-scene submission to farm ) and saving a "layer tree preset" after the user makes adjustments. I just don't trust users to type filenames.

There are two buttons on the interface that do this, I guess could automate through the .net form, but that's sooo ugly.

Thanks for all ya do, it makes our business possible!

[^Lele^]

There are two buttons on the interface that do this, I guess could automate through the .net form, but that's sooo ugly.

Ahahah, yeah, NO.

[KramSurfer]

I don't see it... :- (

[KramSurfer]

I'm really confused.
I see a whole bunch of new individual controls for the VFB Color Corrector, but I can not find a UI for it anymore. Even 'vfbcontrol #showcc' fails to display anything. I'm I missing something?

I do not see a way to load/save a .vfbl programmatically.

I've added it to the wish list.

[KramSurfer]

I found out i can load the .vfbl into the old interface still documented for the .vccglb

[^Lele^]

Keith, hey!
Given how the new VFB works, a different approach is needed.

the vfb now has a proper manager interface (much like, f.e., the renderelementsmanager)
take a look at this sample:

mgr = (vfbcontrol #getlayermgr)[1]  --gets the manager, which is returned in a single-element array. i take the first element immediately, so to access the manager directly

showinterface mgr  --this will show the sub-interfaces and methods available.

mgr.getCreatableLayerClasses() --for example, the method returns the class of all creatable classes

cclayer = mgr.createLayer 1 "chaos.cc.colorBalance" --create a color balance layer as child of the root

showinterface cclayer --show the properties and methods for the kind of layer in question

mgr.saveAllLayers @"d:\mytest.vfbl" --saves the layerset out

mgr.loadLayersFromFile @"d:\mytest.vfbl" --loads it, and returns "OK"

I'm here if you need any more clarifications.

EDIT: we're admittedly late on documenting it properly.
So please inquire with anything that isn't immediately clear via simple maxscript inspection of methods and properties, i'll do my best to try and pass the info on to you.