Upgraded to V-Ray 5.0 (8 months ? after launch) - these are my surprises.

[JezUK]

I have 3DS Max 2020 and 2021 - so excitedly I recently, finally, upgraded to V-Ray 5.0 (ie in the last week).

First install was for 3DS Max 2020 and then straight away I installed it for 2021, i.e. I did both at the same time, one after the other...... (my 1st mistake you could say).

I try to use 2021 mostly these days since this is the version I have paid for, right ? So makes sense to get some use out of it before 3DS Max 2022 comes out......

Anyways.... here are my findings with working with 5.0 and hotfix/update 2 (and 3DS Max 2021.3)...

1) VFB loses focus during rendering (not responding during "Merge Light Cache Passes"), from being foremost on my screen during rendering, to disappearing and hiding behind stuff whilst rendering, before finally reappearing sometime again, during rendering (usually as rendering is about to finish/finished).....

2) Renders are slower than NEXT (by a fair margin),

3) Installing 5.0 first for 2020, I didn't notice that the materials library was going to be installed on OneDrive ? Why would I want to put them there (by default?)? Now that those are all on there I have issues with that because (see 5) ).....

4) On installing 5.0 for 2021, I didn't make the same mistake as installing materials library on OneDrive, I installed that one for 3DS Max 2021 on my Local "Libraries" Hard Drive..... but that makes no difference, each time I choose a VRay material from the V-Ray Assets Browser, it cannot find the .tx files.....

(for 3) and 4) I have noted that under Customise, Configure Project Paths, External Files, in 3DS Max 2021 my Local "Libraries" Hard Drive Path for the V-Ray material Library is there, I even added the OneDrive one as well, no matter, the Asset Browser still cannot find the .tx files).....

So, each time, I have to find these missing files......

5) The V-Ray Asset Browser - "Add to Scene" ? I'd call this "Add to Material Editor" as this seems more correct to me.

6) "Add to Scene" (V-Ray Asset Browser) - the material added (to the Material Editor) isn't given the same name that it has in the V-Ray Asset Browser? It is given a completely new generic name, eg Material #27......

7) GPU rendering, I work using a single RTX 3090 card and RTX is slower than CUDA ? (But I think this might be the same for V-Ray NEXT also).


I'm sure once my issue 1) is fixed, then I'll be mostly happy

Looking forward to your responses / fixes (and apologies if these have already been posted - but I didn't find much/anything that helped me).

[fixeighted]

This may solve the annoying library thing for you.
https://forums.chaosgroup.com/forum/...issing-content

[JezUK]

Thanks fixeighted, but that didn't fix it for me.

[Morne]

Jez for the materials, try this one maybe: (worked great in my case).

I ran mtllib.exe again but this time through the command prompt with -targetDir="\\server\libpath" and it was okay.

so it looked like this: mtllib.exe -targetDir="\\server\libpath"

That file is here: C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\mtllib.exe

[JezUK]

Jez for the materials, try this one maybe: (worked great in my case).


That file is here: C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\V-Ray\3ds Max 2021\bin\mtllib.exe

Hi Morne,

Thanks for that - I'll give that a try later, I'm currently working on a project so no time right now.

The syntax as you've laid it out, do I need to change \\server\libpath to something meaningful for my set up or do I enter it in exactly as you've written it out ? (excuse my ignorance ).

[Morne]

Hi Morne,

Thanks for that - I'll give that a try later, I'm currently working on a project so no time right now.

The syntax as you've laid it out, do I need to change \\server\libpath to something meaningful for my set up or do I enter it in exactly as you've written it out ? (excuse my ignorance ).

server would be the pc or nas name on the network
libpath would be the share where you want it

For example if you have a share called "VRayMats" on your server and the server is called "Jez_MotherShip", then it would be:

\\Jez_MotherShip\VRayMats

In my case I had a mapped network drive so insted of UNC path as above, I just had a direct path like so:
T:\VrayMats

[nikoleta.garkova]

Hi JezUK

Thanks for the feedback, I'll try to leave some notes on everything, and keep in mind that some things are/will be forwarded to our dev team to have a further look.

1) VFB loses focus during rendering (not responding during "Merge Light Cache Passes"), from being foremost on my screen during rendering, to disappearing and hiding behind stuff whilst rendering, before finally reappearing sometime again, during rendering (usually as rendering is about to finish/finished).....

Is this happening with a specific scene or any? We tried to reproduce the same in our environment, to no avail. Can you provide a sample scene by reaching us through our contact form so we can have a better look and try to investigate further? Any steps to reproduce or even screencaps/screen recordings would be greatly appreciated.

Regarding the issues with the Material Library, do inform us if the proposed solution by Morne would help out when you've tested it.

Regarding V-Ray 5 being slower than Next when rendering, this topic has been thoroughly discussed here as I'm sure you are already familiar with it: https://forums.chaosgroup.com/forum/...than-vray-next.

Regarding the ''Add to Scene" option - it does make sense to me, I'll log this suggestion so our devs can have a look (internal ID number: VMAX-10700). Preserving the name from the Asset Browser has been already logged under VMAX-10197, I'll bump it additionally.

And lastly, regarding the differences in speed with RTX vs CUDA, have you observed if this is always the case? And would it be possible to once again forward a sample scene so we can check and compare? Thanks!

[JezUK]

Hi Nikoleta,

I've had some time to test things as I've just installed a 2nd gpu..

I also updated my NVidia drivers and can report that my point 1) regarding VFB loses focus during rendering, (not responding during the Merge Light Cache Passes stage) - has now disappeared

[JezUK]

Hi JezUK

Regarding the issues with the Material Library, do inform us if the proposed solution by Morne would help out when you've tested it.

Hi,

I just tried Morne's suggestion, and unfortunately it didn't make any difference. I still have to relink the tx files manually (using Colin Senner's wonderful Relink Bitmap script).

When I executed the text at the command prompt, I got messages saying things like "Download Started, Remote Address, target directory, Using system proxy settings, Accessing Stamp....done..... done."

So it sounds like it went through things as it's supposed to.....