Environment Fog - SP4 issues

[HenrikBC]

I just installed SP4 with great excitement for the custom gizmo feature.

• I cannot remove any gizmos from the env fog dialog window - I can only add more. I just get the "hand" icon when I move the cursor over the remove button - both gizmo and light.

• When I use an object as a Gizmo and add a modifier to the object, the shape does not update when rendering. I have somewhat solved this by using a Mesher as an intermediate pointing that to my custom mesh and pointing envfog to the mesher.

More issues/requests may follow as I make more tests...

Edit:

This is all using SP4 in 3ds max 2009 x64 SP1 on XP64.

[HenrikBC]

• If I want to make another EnvFog with different procedurals applied and add an extra effect under Atmosphere there is no alpha channel for the second effect when rendered.

The problem I mentioned earlier with the remove buttons happens periodically on my MacPro Vista Business x64 setup - haven't spotted what (if anything specific) triggers it yet.

[vlado]

Yes, I managed to reproduce the first two issues and they will be fixed in a patch (you should still be able to remove gizmos/lights from MaxScript though); do you have a scene for the alpha issue? It was reported, but I could not reproduce it.

Best regards,
Vlado

[HenrikBC]

I just sent you an email with a scene that has the alpha problem when I render it.

[HenrikBC]

Not sure if this is a bug, but I would love to have it fixed:

3 objects being used as gizmos in one EnvFog system:


Render showing sharp cutting where the objects intersect:


When I don't use a procedural texture for fog density I can blend the edges fine using the falloff radius - but when I add a texture it produces this..

[vlado]

It might be better in this case to use "World XYZ" mapping for your texture, the "Object XYZ" mapping is linked to the position of each gizmo.

Best regards,
Vlado

[HenrikBC]

I'll try that!

But that still won't solve the issue if/when I can have multiple fog systems in a scene and want to blend them together with their different procedural textures.

[vlado]

I'll try that!

But that still won't solve the issue if/when I can have multiple fog systems in a scene and want to blend them together with their different procedural textures.

No, of course; this is something that will be implemented for the next builds.

Best regards,
Vlado

[HenrikBC]

I meant specifically in terms of the edge problem - not just having multiple fog systems. My last post may have been a bit unclear on that.

[vlado]

Yes, this is what I meant also; as far as the implementation goes, blending multiple gizmos properly is more or less the same as blending different atmospherics.

Best regards,
Vlado

[HenrikBC]

Perfect - really looking forward to that update!

Not sure if this is a related issue, but is there any way to have a single mesh which is inter-penetrating/overlapping itself - due to eg. displacement - not render out with the same edge-problems?

As illustrated with my example above, I try to mess up the silhouette of the gizmo form in order to make a more organic boundary for the cloud - which is almost always what I would want when making clouds, smoke, nebula, etc.

On another related note (a feature request); Is it possible to implement a falloff for the gizmos that does not merely fade from one point in space to another, but having that fade combined with a 3d texture - so that it will still fade to zero on the outer edge but retain a shape within the gradient from the "mask" noise texture? If that makes sense.

[vlado]

Not sure if this is a related issue, but is there any way to have a single mesh which is inter-penetrating/overlapping itself - due to eg. displacement - not render out with the same edge-problems?

That might be more complicated... I have to think about it.

On another related note (a feature request); Is it possible to implement a falloff for the gizmos that does not merely fade from one point in space to another, but having that fade combined with a 3d texture - so that it will still fade to zero on the outer edge but retain a shape within the gradient from the "mask" noise texture? If that makes sense.

Have you tried changing the gizmo falloff mode to "Add"? This is exactly what it was supposed to do.

Best regards,
Vlado

[HenrikBC]

Yes I have - but I just tried it again and now it works perfectly.
Weird - I recall it making the outer edge of the object seemed clipped as if there was no falloff at all there. I'll post a scene if I can recreate it but I'm hoping I can't.

[HenrikBC]

Testing a big scene and I'm having a hard time troubleshooting some issues with it.

The problem should be evident when watching the clip:

http://helvede.net/vray/nebulosity_m...mn_02_h264.mov

I made a multiframe incremental irradiance map for the GI and use brute force for secondary bounces. Only the camera is animated.

Any bright ideas?

[HenrikBC]

It seems I can fix the issue by setting the volfog step size to a ridiculously low number - thus making each frame take around 2 hours to render...

Is there something I'm not getting about this? As I understand it, the step size defines the precision of the volume being rendered in relation to the texture used to shape it - but why is it then changing on each frame? Nothing is animated except the camera. I'd count on the volume should stay the same - regardless of how coarse the detail-level is set to be.

I would greatly appreciate some insights into this.