DR Rendering Blotches

[3ddesign]

I've been trying to solve this DR problem for days and am stumped. The attached image is a crop of an image from a fairly complex scene (400,000 faces). I have all textures and IES light data loaded on each of the 10 machines, and all materials and light web data point to the right path. I am rendering the 3300 x 2500 image with IR Primary and QMC Secondary. IR Preset is Low, Single Frame set to Auto Save and Switch To Saved checked. Everything else is standard settings. After the first render, the image is covered with these dark squares. I then copy the 45 MB Vrmap to each of the 10 machines and change the From File location to point to the correct path and re-render. Some of the dark buckets go away but not all. Some of the dark buckets, as seen in the image, are soft, leading me to think that they are embedded in the Vrmap. I've successfully rendered on just one machine (20 hours!!) but can't live with that. I've searched the forum and think I've tried everything suggested. What am I overlooking? Anyone have the same problem? What was the solution.

Thanks, Craig

[DaForce]

hmmm that is odd.

It could be the comma , instead of a dot , for your decimal place.
You should check that on all the machines.

Also do you have any hdri maps contributing to the lighting at all?

[3ddesign]

Thanks, DaForce.

Where, exactly, should I be looking for the comma?

No HDRI maps.

Craig

[jujubee]

It looks like you are using Bucket mode under Irradiance Map settings. This will cause similar artifacts. Use single frame instead.

Also, there are known problems with IES lights and DR - perhaps dumping the IES lights will resolve this. The other thing which can cause darker shades is not having a plugin like colorcorrect installed on your slaves.

[DaForce]

Ok, goto control panel and then Regional and language options and click on the customize button and make sure the decimal symbol is a dot . not a comma ,
Need to do on all machines.

[thablanch]

Interpolated materials, I do not know if you have theses in your scene.. If yes, they do not seem to work well with DR.

[3ddesign]

Thanks for all the responses. I was able to mostly fix the problem, at least enough to get the project out the door. Here's my response to all the suggestions.

I checked for commas and found they were all decimals.

I was not using bucket mode.

I found one rogue IES light, just one out of 44, that seemed to be the cause of most of the problems. Funny thing was that they were all instanced. But I deleted that one and the blotches mostly went away.

I don't have colorcorrect loaded. I don't know anything about it and will search the forum for info. If anyone has links handy, please let me know.

I do have lots of interpolated glossy reflections and will do a test later to see if that has any impact.

Thanks again for the help. This is without a doubt the best forum I've ever seen.

[mike.edel]

T
I don't have colorcorrect loaded. I don't know anything about it and will search the forum for info. If anyone has links handy, please let me know.

http://www.cuneytozdas.com/software/.../#ColorCorrect

[natty]

i have this problem a lot ... Rescourse collect all maps into one folder then configure paths, restart max and it should be fine.

[ngrava]

Also, make sure you are running the same version of Vray on all your machines. That one get's me sometimes.

[cmejia]

I have run into this problem in almost all of my projects. I have checked to make sure all the maps are mapped correctly. i have also made sure all the ies files are in the same location. I have found the problem when I use QMC + LC. I have swithched to IRMap + LC and have found the problem doesn't occur. I always use IES files in ine scenes, and once I delete the ies filese issue is resolved. Does any one have a definite aswer as to why this happens? Yes, I use DR over 6 computers. I have checked to make sure that all the computer have the same version of vray and that they all have the same version of max. I have lost many hours and endless nights trying to figure this out. i have come to the conclusion that it is related to the ies files and DR.

Is this a bug?

Vlado could you shed some light on this topic. I am using Vray1.47.06

Any help would be greatly appreciated.