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animating (deforming) mesh light

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  • animating (deforming) mesh light

    Hi

    I am unable to animate a twist modifier on a mesh light. The twist works fine on the mesh light when I manually change the parameters of the twist (screenshot), but when animated, the mesh won't deform. It just stays in place. Is it impossible to animate the deforming of a mesh light? I need to deform the mesh light relative to other objects in the scene, so I instanced the keyframes on its modifier. It should behave like the other meshes, but it won't, at least not when animated by keyframes.


    If I put the Twist modifier over the VrayLight, the entire mesh will move irregularly, but also won't deform.
    Is there a solution to this?

    Using Vray 5 (5.20.23) on 3d Studio Max 2022


    *edit* my guess is that a VrayLight can take the shape of a mesh, but doesn't know anything about subdivisions. Subdivisions are needed for the twist deformer to work, so the two tubes won't deform.
    The reason the tubes do deform in my screenshot is because the modifier hierarchy dictates the deforming happens before the tubes become a mesh light. If the twist is applied over the VrayLight, the deformation can't happen because the tube has now become a mesh light and is unable to deform.

    Maybe If I arrange multiple short tubes of which everyone is a mesh light, they could just follow the deformation as a group without the need to deform.
    Attached Files
    Last edited by AEBI_VINCENT; 07-06-2023, 08:04 AM.

  • #2
    Have you considered VrayLightMtl instead?

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Joelaff View Post
      Have you considered VrayLightMtl instead?
      That is an excellent idea, thank you!

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      • #4
        Save often with VrayLightMtl. I have gotten a number of non-repeatable crashes with it, especially when adjusting maps used as inputs to it in Slate. I would be sure to save before you mess with any maps you might use with VRayLightMtl.. the most egregious was the basic Gradient Ramp. It seemed to cause crashes when used with the VRayLightMtl, though I was never able to get something that would always crash which I could send to support.

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        • #5
          Thank you for the advice. So far I'm not using any maps on it, the light it emits in default state is just what I need.
          I will show the result in the gallery when it's finished.

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          • #6
            animating deformers on mesh lights works fine in Maya, with or without mesh subdivisions
            www.DanielBuck.net - www.My46Willys.com - www.33Chevy.net - www.DNSFail.com

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