Major issue with Volume Lights with 1.5

[dcullipher]

We just started working on a project where we use basic volume light effects. We worked on previz with rc3 and 4 fine. Now we are doing the project and volume lights cause a major problem. They stop all lights form working until you restart max!

To test this its very simple. Create a basic scene with whatever you want in it. Add any type of light. Render to verify the light is on.

Now add a spotlight or whatever else you wish and add a volume light effect. Now render. You may already notice your other light is not working. Now to really see delete the light that had the volume effect and delete the volume light from the effects tab. Now try and render. Do you get only a black scene?

I have tried it on several machines. We are running 3ds Max 9 64bit latest release.

Can someone please help to verify this. I know volume lights are kinda cheese but we have to use them sometimes


Thank you all for your help.

[dcullipher]

can someone try this real quick to see if I am crazy?

[LarsSonparsson]

Same here. Just tested with basic scene, box, teapot and two spots.
When I add second spotlight and add volume light to it, first light
stops working. Weird thing is, that the colour and volume of second
light have turned purple.

Tested in Max 9 32bit - Vray 1.500 32bit

-LarsSon

[dcullipher]

Thank you for the confirmation!

I am not crazy, well not with this problem anyway.

Mine turned bluish.

[vlado]

It works fine with 3ds Max R8 on my laptop at home. I will check R9 when I get to work.

Best regards,
Vlado

[rajdarge]

Volume Lights

I noticed this effect as well, in max 9 only, not in max 8. In the viewport the light seem fully functional, but when it comes to render, vray lights do not render, the only way to fix that was to end max and re-start.

[dcullipher]

Yes I think it is a Max 9 issue. Have not tried max 8.

[dcullipher]

We are switching to Mental Ray for now.

But would like to use VRAY.

[Shimakaze]

Tested it here on R9. Same result.

[vlado]

Thanks for the pointers; I've made a note to look into this.

Best regards,
Vlado

[vlado]

Try as I might, I could not reproduce this error under any version of 3ds Max , 32- or 64-bit. If someone can set up a scene that does not work and email it to me at vlado@chaosgroup.com, it will be very helpful.

Best regards,
Vlado

[LarsSonparsson]

Max scene sent.

But as I told to Vlado in my mail, any sample scene will render
just fine. Error only happends when you first time ably volume to any light.
Those scenes will render fine, if you save and open them again.

I'm using Max 9 Vray 1.500 both 32bit


-LarsSon

[Da_elf]

maybe thats what dcullipher needs to do rather than goto mental ray

[dcullipher]

I will tets that out and let you know. Thanks for the help all!

Still it is wierd that it does it at all. I will try close and reopen and let you know.

[vlado]

I actually got this just now, but unfortunately I could not reproduce it again; what I can tell you though is that it is not related to volume lights specifically, but to atmospherics effects in general. I'll try to find the cause for it.

Best regards,
Vlado