First time loading Activeshade for 3DMax 2013/Vray 2.30.01 and nothing happens! :(

[jonm4y]

Really hope someone can help me out here.

I’d never really taken advantage of the Activeshade software with Vray and now that I have purchased the latest Forest Pack Pro, I felt it would be a good time to get involved so I can actively see the foliage I am placing in my scenes.
However, upon opening the Activeshade option I get a loading screen that does nothing more.
I began by setting up a very simple scene so I could start getting used to how the Activeshade works.

Please find attached a screenshot of what I am looking at.
Notice that in the top left of my image my Activeshade seems to be stuck on a loading screen.
To the right I have highlighted that the correct renderers are assigned and also which driver I am using.
At the bottom right you will see my basic setup in the viewport and to the left of it a render of the scene using the Frame Buffer to show that everything renders out fine manually.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Kind Regards,
jonm4y

(For the record I only ever use official paid-for versions of software)

[joconnell]

There's also a little license window that comes up as a separate process window - bring that up and it'll give you some info about what's going on. Could be something silly like your firewall not allowing the server through.

[vlado]

In addition to what joconnell said, do you get the V-Ray RT render server window coming up in the task bar?

Best regards,
Vlado

[joconnell]

Sorry, meant to say the server window!

[Björn Radler]

I had a similar problem, i always had to register vray rt as a service every time i restarted my workstation. I figured that i had to set this service to automatic start. Maybe that helps.

Best regards

Björn

[jonm4y]

Hi Björn. Thanks for your response. How do I go about setting up the service?

The message I get in the viewport window that I'm trying to load the Activeshade in says 'Auto-start on file load not supported by V-Ray RT'. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards, jonm4y

[jonm4y]

OK!!! PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!! I SENT AN EMAIL TO THE CHAOSGROUP SUPPORT AND HERES THERE BREAKDOWN OF WHAT TO DO. (oops..caps on!)

(Thank you if you messaged me and if this is what some of the people who replied were talking about)

At first please make sure that Vray RT spawner is not run as a service.
Please use the following shortcut in order to stop it:
Start Menu\Programs\Chaos Group\V-Ray RT Adv for 3ds Max 2013 for x64\Remove V-Ray RT render server as a service.

Next open your scene and do the tests again. It would be better to use simple scene with a few basic primitives and light.
*Note* Make sure 'Perspective' or 'Camera' view is selected before assigning it as the Activeshade!

Everything now runs perfectly!

Thanks everyone!!