I just want a shiny white floor that reflects my objects but doesn't reflect the HDRI

[JD3D_CGI]

I've never know why this is such a ball-ache.

What is the solution for this without compositing?

The client did some product renders in Sketchup and wants me to do pretty much the same thing - shiny white floor that reflects the products, but I don't want my HDRI reflected in it.

Is there a way to do this in render?

[Garryclarke]

I would put the HDRI in a dome light and then set the light to exclude the floor.

If your HDRI is lighting the scene as well I would have 2 domelights, one set to diffuse light and the other set to reflections only.

[Morbid Angel]

JD3D_CGI, so what you are asking for is physically incorrect so it requires some trickery. What you need to do is unlink the dome light from illuminating the floor entirely, and have soft / sharp area lights to do the floor lighting (link the lights to the floor only so they don't illuminate the product). Then use the dome light for the product and link the dome light (or whatever lights you have to it).

If you want a less complex setup you can use raytrace set and exclude dome light from reflecting in the floor, but you would still get colored shadows and illumination from the hdr (something you might not want)

I also attached a max 2017 scene with the setup.

[JD3D_CGI]

Thanks guys,

I guess I was just hoping that the VRAY guys would recognise this as a pretty universal requirement and act accordingly.

[Vizioen]

I think the proposed solutions here, pretty much cover what you want. CG can't just make a custom button for every setup, most of the options are there so...

[JD3D_CGI]

I think the proposed solutions here, pretty much cover what you want. CG can't just make a custom button for every setup, most of the options are there so...

No, but having a object on a white floor for marketing has to be up there along the most popular uses for CGI. And if they can make skin, and dirt maps, and, and special setups for architecture, product development etc, I don't see why they can't have that.

Basically, Chaos' job is to make our jobs easier - that's a fact.

Don't confuse the fact you might not need something, with it being unnecessary. That is an arrogant mistake many CG artists make.

[kosso_olli]

Don't confuse the fact you might not need something, with it being unnecessary. That is an arrogant mistake many CG artists make.

Well, as Vizioen said, there are ways to do exactly what you need. You just want a button that makes an operation one click, that might take five or six clicks...

[Raven]

I seem to remember there was a script somewhere on the forum that excluded just a dome lights reflection from the floor.
If I find it I'll post a link here.

Found it, is this what you need?
https://forums.chaosgroup.com/forum/...-the-vrayplane

[3dwolf]

What happens if you smash a black or bright-white vray-color-map into the environment-slot of the floor-material and or maybe play around with the Dim distance in Reflect?
(didn't read the comments)

[JD3D_CGI]

Bit of a delay.

Got that working in VRay CPU, but it looks liek it aint gonna work in Vrau GPU or RT.

So we're back to square one - really, does that mean rendering product shots with GPU is going to be a ball ache?

[tiw]

I got this working here in VRay + RT.

Please follow the following steps.

1) White floor material is a VRayMtl with a white VrayColor in the environment slot.
2) 3DS Max scene environment is set to white
3) HDR is put in the VRay 'Render Setup->Environment->GI Environment' map slot
4) HDR is put in the VRay 'Render Setup->Environment->Reflection/Refraction Environment' map slot
5) VRay Properties on the floor object has the following properties:

• Matte properties -> Matte object : Checked
• Matte properties -> Matte for refl/refr : Checked
• Matte properties -> Alpha contribution : -1.0
• Direct Light -> Shadows : Checked
• Direct Light -> Affect Alpha : Checked

Without sounding provocative, your approach is a little on the old fashioned side. You are forcing a physically based renderer to do something you would not get in real life if you shot this with a camera. I understand that different industries have different needs though and maybe I am jumping to conclusions.

[JD3D_CGI]

Thanks for the help, but I don;t understand this at all:

"Without sounding provocative, your approach is a little on the old fashioned side. You are forcing a physically based renderer to do something you would not get in real life if you shot this with a camera. I understand that different industries have different needs though and maybe I am jumping to conclusions."

At what point did anyone say Vray was a physically based renderer only capable of rendering things in one shot?

It has a toon shader for crying out loud - and has render elements so we can adjust outputs.

[tiw]

I've never know why this is such a ball-ache.

What is the solution for this without compositing?

At what point did anyone say Vray was a physically based renderer only capable of rendering things in one shot?.

It has a toon shader for crying out loud - and has render elements so we can adjust outputs.

Your original question was asking how to do this without compositing and presumably with one shot. Everything is going to be little 'hacky' because of that restriction.

My impression with VRay and most other modern renders is that they are focusing on physically based values across the board. Including materials/light/cameras etc. At our studio we tend to approach every problem with the question "What would a photographer do in this situation". We find using physical values fixes significantly more problems and helps people focus on the art and not render settings or cheats.

You can obviously use VRay in any way you like that gets the jobs done for you and gets you paid. No offense was meant by my comment and I apologise for ruffling any feathers.

[jskt]

I recall dealing with this problem 6 or 8 years ago, and the solution having to do with the "Environment Priority" number in The VRayMaterial Options rollout. I don't remember the details, but basically using those numbers you can get different reflect/refract environments in different materials independent of any per-material environment overrides. The docs are a little thin on the subject, so maybe someone who know how it works can chime in.