Vray proxy

[provise]

Hello

I cant seem to figure out how to create a single mesh proxy, say like a tree and and then place different materials on it (leaf, bark etc) can anybody tell me how to do it?

Thnx

Robert

[beestee]

You will need your first piece(leaf, bark, trunk, doesn't really matter which) to be either an editable mesh or editable poly. I personally just take the first piece and convert it to an editable poly myself as I prefer the efficiency of the edit poly.

Now use the "attach" tool within the edit mesh/poly to attach all the other pieces to that piece. You can run out of RAM here and crash max if you are dealing with a very complex object, so make sure you save often in this process. A dialog should pop up regarding material IDs. Use the options "Match Material IDs to Material" and Condense Material and IDS."

Once everything is attached, make sure you move the pivot to where you will want to place the object from once it is a proxy, and center the object on the scene origin(0,0,0).

Next, simply right click the object and in the transform quad-menu there should be an option for VRay mesh export. Use the option to "Export each selected object" and check the box to "Automatically create proxies." Select a file path and name for your referenced mesh file, and remember that this file will follow the same network accessibility rules as if you were using a bitmap in a material. Once you are certain you have everything set up here, click OK.

At this point you should have your proxy with a muti-sub material applied, and it should render correctly. As a general rule I will save this proxy object with the material applied as it's own *.max file to a library for easy re-usability.

EDIT: On a side note, remember that there is a RAM allocation feature for VRay proxy objects and displacement in the system tab of the render settings. This is labeled as "Dynamic memory limit" and is set to 400 MB by default. depending on how much RAM you have, this will hinder your rendering performance with high-poly and high-volume proxies. My general rule for this setting ranges from 33%-50% of your total system RAM.