scripted modifier causes vray proxy issues

[filip]

Hello,

I have problem with vray proxies, its since vray 3.0, have not experienced this issue before.
I have vrayproxy car, body and wheels, have script - select car, run the script, pick path - it places the car along the path with scripted modifier speed controller and wheel rotation - only position and rotation updates to vray proxy.
attached is the image (+ the script) of the issue - vray proxy renders like it was collapsed to the mesh...

any clue?

many thanks,
Filip

[tashko.zashev]

Hi Filip,

Once the object has been converted to a proxy it can't be modified. The render you have attached shows the (viewport) preview mesh of the original mesh.
The best approach for this is to bake the animation into the proxy object.

[filip]

Hello Tashko,

the proxy object is not modified here, the modeifier is just sort of control panel for scripted transform controlers for speed (position on a path) and wheel rotation. I use this approach manytimes in past with proxies without any problems, but now in version 3.0 it makes this issue...

[filip]

here is the scene screenshot with the controller, some of its values are controlled by the scripted modifier - modifier that modifies the positions and rotations only,
sending the scene with the script as well, one car has the script applied already, the second not, just select the second car, run the script, pick the path - it moves the car to the path and add the modifier with speed control panel...

[tashko.zashev]

Actually it has always worked like that. Adding a modifier to the top of the stack of the proxy objects will force V-Ray to use the mesh used for the viewport preview instead of the original one. Perhaps you have used this approach to a poly/proxy object with less polygons and it has appeared in the viewport the same way as it is in the .vrmesh.
For the next service pack we have added an option "Show whole mesh" to the Proxy settings. It will help in this case, but at the price of more memory consumption and slower viewport.

Can you try to export your object to a proxy file after the script? The animation of the car must be baked in the proxy file.

[RotemS]

Why not put the modifier on a dummy object and parent the VrayProxy to it?

[filip]

tashko: I wrote that script in 2008 and used it in about 5 animations, with no problems (could be max 2009 and vray 1.5?), always proxied car (original non - proxy mesh had usually around 300-400k poly) but have not used it say after 2010 until now. I know modifiers worked that way - this modifier actually does not do anything to the geometry, it only tells the speed information (% on path) to the path controller, but this approach just worked, I can show you some animation samples... I cannot make baked animation proxies - the wheels are separated and script makes them rotating according to the speed along the path...

Rotems: only way at the moment, but as I said, there are wheels separated rotating, so its a bit slow down make one car notrendering with wheels and then link another one chasis wheels etc to it to render, when you have to animate lets say 30 cars its pain in the...

F

[svetlozar.draganov]

I've just run a few additional tests with version 3.10.03 / 2.40.04 and 1.5SP6 - they all produced the same broken result.
By the way what is the role of CarCTRL modifier applied to the car-body-proxy? The proxy renders fine if this modifier is disabled but I couldn't find what is the difference in the animation when the status of the modifier is switched.

[filip]

only thing it does, it sets the speed along path - (affects the % value of the path constrain) just try to change the default 10km/h to 60km/h for instance and run animation (this helps me to stop the car at the traffic lights and use real speed values etc), the rest values are not important, are just used for another script that turns the wheels according to the curve rotation as steering wheel... I am using this modifier only for purposes to store and animate these values, so it should not affect the geometry anyhow.
look to the car main body object constrains - there is scripted constrains, cooperating with the modifier values)...

[vlado]

Svetlozar: probably best to create an issue report and attach the scenes, we'll look into it.

Best regards,
Vlado