Bump mapping makes objects look faceted

[Alex_M]

Still not fixed with 3.30.05? I'm experiencing the exact same problem as the rest here with the newest update (3.30.05). Is the fix on the map for the next update and any estimates as to when it will be implemented? Some of the bump maps look just terrible now (see attached image) Can someone explain how to do that environment trick that Vlado mentioned? I tried to add the variable and it didn't seem to work. Maybe I'm not doing it right so step by step guide would be really helpful for noobs like me. We had to reverted back to 3.30.03 until this is fixed.

[tashko.zashev]

In order to set that environment variable please follow the steps:
Right click on My PC/Computer then Properties > Advanced system settings
I have a screenshot for the next steps:

[Alex_M]

Thanks. I did exactly that but it didn't work. Did I have to restart my PC for the changes to take effect? I didn't so maybe there was the problem. :/ We're in the middle of a long animation at the moment so I'll try it out as soon as it is finished.

[tashko.zashev]

Thanks. I did exactly that but it didn't work. Did I have to restart my PC for the changes to take effect? I didn't so maybe there was the problem. :/ We're in the middle of a long animation at the moment so I'll try it out as soon as it is finished.

Restart the 3d platform only.

[mrhalaby]

you'll probably need to do that for the whole farm tho

[vlado]

This should be better in the latest nightly builds and for the 3.40 SP in a few days.

Best regards,
Vlado

[mohammadreza_mohseni]

This should be better in the latest nightly builds and for the 3.40 SP in a few days.

Best regards,
Vlado

hi vlado,
when can we expect 3.40 sp ? in this month? or more?

[vlado]

when can we expect 3.40 sp ? in this month? or more?

The plan seems to be for the beginning of June as we have some official holidays coming up at the end of May. But if you need this fix sooner, we can get you a build.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Morne]

looking forward to it

[mohammadreza_mohseni]

The plan seems to be for the beginning of June as we have some official holidays coming up at the end of May. But if you need this fix sooner, we can get you a build.

Best regards,
Vlado

thanks for quick anwser. I can wait, just asking.

[Art48]

Can I seomewhere see confirmed features/improvements listed for the new SP?

[vlado]

A small partial list off the nightly builds looks something like this, but it doesn't show everything:

*) VRayDenoiser render element that allows to calculate a denoised version of the image, optionally the denoiser can run on GPU;
*) Somewhat faster rendering with brute force+light cache combination;
*) Faster rendering of 2D displacement on flat geometry; removed the "precision" parameter;
*) Further optimizations for rendering of proxies;
*) Better sampling for GGX/GTR BRDF type;
*) Changing the VFB region during interactive V-Ray RT render does not restart the whole image;
*) Show GPU usage statistics (GPU load and memory) for V-Ray RT GPU;
*) Reworked VRayLight user interface;
*) Support for procedural Noise and Mix textures for bump mapping in V-Ray RT GPU;
*) VRayStereoscopic helper supports vertical placement of the views in addition to side-by-side;
*) Lower tessellation rate for out-of-view hair and displaced/subdivided geometry to save RAM in heavy scenes; "static geometry" is enabled by default for displacement;
*) Stochastic flakes improvements, added colored flakes texture;
*) VRaySun and VRaySky - vertical offset setting for the skydome, control of the ground blending;
*) Enable high DPI support for the V-Ray frame buffer;
*) Enable GI by default;
*) The V-Ray scene converter converts rectangle/sphere/disc photometric lights without web profiles to the corresponding VRayLight's;
*) Moved VRayHDRI's Tiled textures options from the material editor's interface to the global switches rollout;
*) Support for MultiTile in V-Ray RT (3ds Max 2017);
*) Support for ColorMap in V-Ray RT (3ds Max 2017);
*) Add "layers" type to override material exclude list;
*) Show progress bar instead of "not responding" during export to .vrscene;
*) Added a refraction filter bake element;
*) Added another deep fragment merge mode, "None", where fragments are not merged at all;
*) When auto-saving images to the VFB only auto-save if the render completed normally (i.e. is not aborted);
*) Add an option to keep the VFB history folder relative to the current project path;
*) Improved slow rendering of objects visible behind multiple panes of glass;
*) V-Ray scene converter should convert the 3ds Max Normal Bump map to VRayNormalMap;
*) Warn the user if all the GPUs they have are used for RT GPU;
*) Enable support for processor groups by default (more than 64 cores);
*) Bring back the V-Ray exposure control;
*) Make the DR settings window with persistent size (keep size between 3ds Max sessions);
*) Add information about the current noise threshold to the VFB statistics for V-Ray RT;

Best regards,
Vlado

[Vizioen]

Looks promising

[Art48]

Wow, looking forward to it, really nice improvements!

[benb32]

Superb as always! Vlado, just a quick question in case to have the information to hand - know the GPU team have been working really hard on the bump and procedural side. Have there been any improvements in matching the beauty pass between Adv and RT GPU (cuda) for bump/normals for Max? And is Stochastic implemented on GPU on the update?

Many thanks as always Ben