Lower noise/raise samples on material swatches?

[dlparisi]

Is there a setting somewhere to lower the noise or increase the samples on the material swatch previews for vray 6? I understand why it's set where it is for speed but occasionally I'd like to get a more accurate preview of the material (especially on the specular highlight).

[vladimir_krastev]

Hi, this is not available in the UI and also not advisable. The material previews are carefully developed to get the best results with the most optimal performance.
Could you give us an example of you think can be upgraded?

[dlparisi]

It's mostly the specular highlight of the area light. It's noticably noisy around the edges and sometimes it's difficult to determine whether the noise is from a high frequency bump map or just overall blurriness of the reflection.

[vladimir_krastev]

HI, could you send us a screen grab of a material that you find has a problem with highlights preview? Also please send us this material or a scene that has it if you can. You can do that here or using the support contact form.

[dlparisi]

It's really just about the amount of noise that's present. If you look at the images below the preview from Cosmos looks really nice: the highlight is smooth, the ball is evenly shaded, and you can tell there's no bump on it but that it has a blurry reflection. The enlarger shader ball from max though is full of noise in both the specular area and the overall surface. That could easily be confused with a very small bump everywhere. I realize it's not the same lighting environment as the cosmos ball and the cosmos balls are prerendered though. This is not the end of the world, I was just hoping for a switch or option somewhere to enable a better preview, perhaps something similar to the old "Antialiasing" option in the Material Editor that I could switch on when necessary.

[vladimir_krastev]

Hi, thanks for the feedback.

and the cosmos balls are prerendered though

This is an important difference. Also a material editor usually has tens of materials that can be previewed at once. The optimisations there are really important.
We will consider your suggestions, thanks.

[dlparisi]

I've added this to the idea portal, https://chaosvray.ideas.aha.io/ideas/VRAYMAX-I-88. Hopefully we can get some a higher quality option if needed.