Proxy Materials

[glorybound]

I am away from my PC, but I have a question in regards to a project I am working in. If I proxy elements, can I still change the materials in the proxy? I want to turn off reflections and GI from view to view.

[3DMK]

Yes you can Bobby!

[glorybound]

Okay, thanks. I have a huge project to render and I am planning on turning reflection off of everything, minus the glass. If I have close ups, I'll turn on reflections. Also, I might turn off GI from everything, minus the HDRI. This is doable, correct?3

[Zdravko.Keremidchiev]

Yes, since you apply materials similarly for proxies and regular geometry you have the same control over both. Therefore you can enable/disable Reflection per frame.
As for the GI control, what you can try is to set an VRayOverrideMtl on the desired Proxy object. Set identical material (as in the base material) in the GI material slot. Then you can control whether the proxy will participate in the GI calculation by setting the GI material slots (diffuse, reflection, refraction) to black. Another approach will be to have two proxy files, one which affects the GI and one which doesn't, and control their visibility accordingly.

[glorybound]

Great! I think I'll try your material override suggestion first.

Yes, since you apply materials similarly for proxies and regular geometry you have the same control over both. Therefore you can enable/disable Reflection per frame.
As for the GI control, what you can try is to set an VRayOverrideMtl on the desired Proxy object. Set identical material (as in the base material) in the GI material slot. Then you can control whether the proxy will participate in the GI calculation by setting the GI material slots (diffuse, reflection, refraction) to black. Another approach will be to have two proxy files, one which affects the GI and one which doesn't, and control their visibility accordingly.