script: IMap Tool Beta

[plastic_]

i wrote a small script to speed up my workflow.
it has two main purposes.

-) exclude layers from irradiance map calculation.
i always hide glass parts from my architectual scenes before calculating the irradiance map. this makes it faster to calculate and more light gets into the building. indoor and outdoor scenes benefit from that.

-) calculating the irradiance map locally before netrendering with render stripes. this only works with UNC paths. (like \SERVER\imap.vrmap)






http://plugins.angstraum.at/beta/imaptoolbeta.ms


to avoid a speed hit because of double calculation of glossy interpolations, reflect/refract is disabled for the irradiance map prepass. i think this has no impact on the final output. i'm not sure though.

this script is beta because it's very stripped down in its current version.
i plan to include the following things later (when i get vray 1.5):

support for object level radiosity-exclude (not only layers).

better 1-step workflow with netrendering. right now the netrender dialog pops up after the irradiance map prepass.

support for animations & incremental add stuff.


additional suggestions are always welcome. have fun.

[Da_elf]

what nth frame is it using to calculate the irradiance map? i take it its for flythrough anims? and you should add a nth frame slider i guess.

[Dynedain]

to avoid a speed hit because of double calculation of glossy interpolations, reflect/refract is disabled for the irradiance map prepass. i think this has no impact on the final output. i'm not sure though.

If your only light is coming in through a window and you dont have a vray light in there...you will need refraction turned on in order to get irr map properly

[plastic_]

If your only light is coming in through a window and you dont have a vray light in there...you will need refraction turned on in order to get irr map properly

well the main purpose of the script is to automatically hide windows for the IMap calculation

i take it its for flythrough anims

right now it's for stills only. using renderstripes every box has to calculate the IMap, unless bucket mode is used. with the script the IMap is calculated locally before the scene gets submitted.

[Geddart]

Hey plastic_ that's really nice!

I'll try it tomorrow. Keep it on!

[Dynedain]

well the main purpose of the script is to automatically hide windows for the IMap calculation icon_wink.gif

One problem with that, if you use the AEC window tool so that you can quickly and easily generate mullions, frames, etc....hiding the window would give you incorrect shadows