Vray 7 for 3dsmax - features not supported by irradiance map

[Pixel_Domain]

Hi, i'm considering upgrade my perpetual 3dsmax Vray 6 to Vray 7, but there are some questions i can't find answers to. My main GI engine is Irradiance Map since it's been much faster than Bruteforce, and to be honest, gives really great quality results. I wasn't able to find in official docs which features are not supported when using Irradiance map. Can anyone please point me a place where i can find the list of them? I don't want to waste money and upgrade Vray to be not able to use crucial to me features because of incompatibility with Irradiance map.

Thank you in advance
With kind regards
Bartek

[Vizioen]

Irradiance map is deprecated since 7 and will be removed soon. I can see it's still there though, but don't know if it still works 100% and which things are not supported. I haven't used IM since Vray Next though, always had problems with the splotches and the fiddling with parameters, which was a huge time waste imo. Documentation doesn't specify which features aren't supported either.

[Pixel_Domain]

I know lightmix doesn't support Irradiance map, also bucket splitting doesn't work with Irradiance map. I can live with that, but if there are some new groundbraking features added in Vray 7 and would be impossible to use them because of Irradiance map limitation - that would have been very sad and unnecessary purchase. My whole workflow is based on Irradiance map and the main reason why is that is rendering speed and noise level on output. Time is money and bruteforce rendering takes MUCH MUCH longer so it does matter to me. I don't use Vray denoiser to decrease rendering time, i prefer do this in compositing stage ( again - more of control over it and time savings ). I've been working with Vray since version 1.xx when GI calculating wasn't even bucket mode but scanline mode. I'm a Vray dinosaur user

[Vizioen]

Also kind of a dinosaur since 1.5. Now would be a good time to maybe start changing your workflow, the longer you wait the longer you will not be able to benefit from the great features that aren't supported with it. I stopped using it and never looked back, no more head scratching to get rid of splotches. My exterior renders with lots of displacement, scatterers etc, don't take longer than 30-60 minutes on 4K with LC + BF, I don't denoise either, I don't like the look of it and a bit of noise is more appealing in my opinion.

[Pixel_Domain]

Well, my hardware rig allows me to render 4K with high end effects Vray has in it's sleeve in range under 15 minutes. Fortunately getting rid of splotches in vray isn't difficult to me, still i prefer IM over BF. I tried to switch to BF + LC but somehow it didn't work out for me. Splitting bucket in distributed rendering made me this setup totally unusable. So i'm still on IM Maybe one day i shall switch, but not yet...not yet. Maybe if bucket splitting worked in network rendering...

[ChuckRT]

I know lightmix doesn't support Irradiance map, also bucket splitting doesn't work with Irradiance map. I can live with that, but if there are some new groundbraking features added in Vray 7 and would be impossible to use them because of Irradiance map limitation - that would have been very sad and unnecessary purchase. My whole workflow is based on Irradiance map and the main reason why is that is rendering speed and noise level on output. Time is money and bruteforce rendering takes MUCH MUCH longer so it does matter to me. I don't use Vray denoiser to decrease rendering time, i prefer do this in compositing stage ( again - more of control over it and time savings ). I've been working with Vray since version 1.xx when GI calculating wasn't even bucket mode but scanline mode. I'm a Vray dinosaur user

Have you really tried Brute Force in the latest versions?
Its really fast compared to old versions, also in the last updates of Vray 6, it becomes really fast thanks to "Path guiding in Light Cache" and "Adaptivity clamp", the new "Firefly removal" in Vray 7 its a very interesting feature.
You could give it a 30 day trial for Vray 7, compare and test if this option is avaible for Irradiance map too.

[Pixel_Domain]

Have you really tried Brute Force in the latest versions?
Its really fast compared to old versions, also in the last updates of Vray 6, it becomes really fast thanks to "Path guiding in Light Cache" and "Adaptivity clamp", the new "Firefly removal" in Vray 7 its a very interesting feature.
You could give it a 30 day trial for Vray 7, compare and test if this option is avaible for Irradiance map too.

I haven’t tried Vray 7 for a simple reason. I have no time to uninstall my production ready Vray and test Vray 7 trial instead. I must admit, i’ve always trusted in Chaos products but recently this trust has been seriously limited by many factors you can observe in this forum. So it is much safer to ask on forum ( and calculate potential pros and cons ) than risk problem with installing back my Vray 6. I need my rig working without any hickups, because waiting for any help from Chaos support could make me bancrupt. I can’t affort to not he able deliver the output to my Clients because of unresolved issues. This still holds me back from testing Vray 7 trial. I love Vray, but i’m also a person who needs reliable solutions and wants minimize to near zero risk of being unable to work. Sorry to say.

[ChuckRT]

Pixel_Domain You can install another 3ds max version and install the proper version for it for testing purposes, but what I meant was if you have tried Brute Force in latests versions, not saying Vray 7, since Vray Next its very fast compared to very old versions, "I'm a Vray dinosaur user" you said, I know a lot of people that keeps using Irradiance Map, some of them for animation, but mostly all of them have never tried Brute Force because of time consuming and havent even tried the latest versions improves on it.
Hope you could give it a try with another 3ds max instance

[Pixel_Domain]

Pixel_Domain You can install another 3ds max version and install the proper version for it for testing purposes, but what I meant was if you have tried Brute Force in latests versions, not saying Vray 7, since Vray Next its very fast compared to very old versions, "I'm a Vray dinosaur user" you said, I know a lot of people that keeps using Irradiance Map, some of them for animation, but mostly all of them have never tried Brute Force because of time consuming and havent even tried the latest versions improves on it.
Hope you could give it a try with another 3ds max instance

As i mentioned earlier - i did try bruteforce before, many times. I’m not saying BF is bad. I’m just saying IM works much better in my workflow. Usually i work in very complex and big urban projects. Detailed geometry, hundreds/thousands of lights, serious amount of greenery and shaders that seriously slow down rendering. Adding DOF and/or mblur on top of that increases significantly time needed to render that out. And finally - i always prefer to have at least two options to choose, not be limited to one and only solution that not necessarily is perfect for me. But you’re definitely right - i feel i need to try Vray 7 since it may be the only way to get answers i need. Sadly i was hoping to get some answers on forum.

[ChuckRT]

You will, maibe someone of the amins will response, it takes a little time, if you know someone you could invoque him.
But I might say that You will need to test it for yourself, only you know if it will be fine for your workflow.

[^Lele^]

Both the issues and the incompatibilities of the IRMap have been debated exhaustively a number of times: forum search and you shall find (Lightmix, LPEs, detail, etc...).
TL;DR: You'll know when a feature you'll need won't be available as the Log will let you know right as the render starts.