How to add Irrmap to saved Irrmap?

[Jeroen Prins]

Hi, i'm running into a problem.

I made an irradience map for an animation using "Multiframe incremental" every 50th frame.
The calculated irr map is missing some spots, which are turning out black & ugly. So i wanted to add some Irrmaps to the saved map.

What is the good workflow? Because it seems i cannot select the Irrmap to add the new irrmap (Add to current map)
And it just saves the new map.

[tashko.zashev]

Hi,

You could use our Irradiance map viewer (Start > Program files > V-Ray for... > Tools) to add your new map to the current one.

[Jeroen Prins]

Ah oke, i thought it would be possible with the add function.
It will be a lot bigger this way, but that doesn't matter. Thanks!

I also wondered if i can use the Lightcache "store with irradience map" for future GI precalculations. I now followed the old tutorial which makes two files for GI 1 for LC and 1 for IRRmap.
Have anything changed since the ( http://help.chaosgroup.com/vray/help...ials_imap2.htm) to get to better / faster results?

[tashko.zashev]

I also wondered if i can use the Lightcache "store with irradience map" for future GI precalculations.

Hi,

The option "store with irradiance map" is for V-Ray lights, probably you mean "store direct light" Light cache or ?

I now followed the old tutorial which makes two files for GI 1 for LC and 1 for IRRmap.
Have anything changed since the ( http://help.chaosgroup.com/vray/help...ials_imap2.htm) to get to better / faster results?

Actually there is one option "use camera path" implemented for both GI engines - Irradiance map and Light cache. It is very useful for fly-trough animations where the camera doesn't move so much. Basically the entire workflow for the precalculation process is:

*) set Irr. map as primary engine > set "Use camera path" option On > save the primary GI map to a file (single frame mode)
*) set LC as secondary engine > set "Use camera path" option On > no need to save this map, because it will be saved to the Irr. map anyway.
*) render ("Don't render final image" must be On) the first frame

[vlado]

What is the good workflow? Because it seems i cannot select the Irrmap to add the new irrmap (Add to current map)
And it just saves the new map.

You could do a dummy render with "Load from file" so that the map is loaded (you don't need to wait for the render to complete); then you can switch to incremental add and render a few of the bad views and then save the final map.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Jeroen Prins]

Tnx!
i just combined the two using irr map viewer. Which btw looks interesting and i should use more often to get an idea of what the irr map looks like.
But good to know a work around which is faster.

@ tashko.zashev i meant "Store direct light" indeed. It was off with my calculation..

The workflow you mentioned isn't for a static scene where only the camera moves right?
"It is very useful for fly-trough animations where the camera doesn't move so much" can you speak of a flythrough if the camera isn't moving much?
Not quite sure i understand correctly.

[tashko.zashev]

@ tashko.zashev i meant "Store direct light" indeed. It was off with my calculation..

The workflow you mentioned isn't for a static scene where only the camera moves right?
"It is very useful for fly-trough animations where the camera doesn't move so much" can you speak of a flythrough if the camera isn't moving much?
Not quite sure i understand correctly.

Hi,

This option is useful for cases where the camera path is not too long. For example, turntable animations or interior flytroughs. You could however create multiple GI files (from different parts of the interior for an example) and merge them together using our tool.
Many combinations could be made using the available GI modes to get flicker free animation. You can experiment and see which is the most suitable for your work and projects.

There is one video tutorial (our ChaosGroupTV YouTube channel) that demonstrates the "use camera path" usage in real production:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1zdSJHwnws

[Jeroen Prins]

Tnx for the link.

Unfortunately both methods didn't work for me in this case. After i combined the two irradience maps with the tool and start to render, there are darker splotches everywhere.




The method Vlado described didn't work either. I loaded the dummy, hit render, cancel render, set incremental add, render.
With the autosave the new irradiencemap is smaller than the old one (which means no add?)
If i just hit 'save', the irradiencemap is 1kb..

So for now i think i just render a whole new irrandience map.

[tashko.zashev]

Hi,

I did a quick test and both methods work fine. It's on a simple scene.
Maybe we are missing something in your workflow or render setup.

Could you check the Irradiance map samples right after the first "dummy" render and after the second calculation "incremental add to current map"?


By the way which V-Ray version you are using ?

[Jeroen Prins]

The darker splotches which appears after combining two irr maps; does it make sense this is happening because i turned off secondary bounces when calculating the second map?

I use vray 3.0

[vlado]

does it make sense this is happening because i turned off secondary bounces when calculating the second map?

Yes, this could be a good reason for it. Generally the maps should be computed with the same settings.

Best regards,
Vlado