VrayTriplanarTex + VrayNormalMap crashes Max

[bobweb]

Hello,

this seems like a bug, to reproduce (tried in Slate Material Editor):

- Create a new VrayMtl
- Add TriplanarTex to Bump
- Add VrayNormalMap to Texture-slot of TriplanarTex
- Add a bitmap to Normal-map-slot of VrayNormalMap
- Instant Max crash

3ds Max 2016 SP3
Vray 3.30.05

Thanks,
Bob

[Svetlozar Draganov]

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation - I managed to reproduce the issue.
Will report it into our system and will let you know when it is fixed.

[Svetlozar Draganov]

This actually seems to be already fixed for the next release.

[bobweb]

That is good to know, thanks!

[bobweb]

I have just installed Vray 3.40.02 and it indeed does not crash anymore, this is fixed, thanks. Unfortunately it does not have any effect either. Is this generally a technical problem, that normals do not work under this circumstance?

To reproduce:
- Create a simple scene, e.g. a box and a light
- Create VrayMtl with VrayNormalMap in the Bump slot and a normal-bitmap connected accordingly
- Render, the bumps are visible
- Put a TriPlanarTex inbetween VrayNormalMap and Bump Slot
- Render, the bumps are gone
- I have tested changing the scaling within TriplanarTex, but it has no effect.
- Using a regular greyscale bump bitmap in the TriPlanarTex works again

So should normal maps work with TriPlanarTex? If so, what has to be done to make it work?

Thanks,
Bob

[vlado]

We are aware of the issue, Bob, but it was more difficult to fix and there was no time for the SP. I think one of our developers managed to find a solution and it will go into the next update.

Can you try swapping the order of the triplanar texture and the normal map? I.e. put the normal map first and then the triplanar texture? In theory it should work and the result should be the same.

Best regards,
Vlado

[bobweb]

Ah, I see, I have not thought about it that way. That actually works just fine, thanks! So to clarify for anyone coming here with the same problem, the map order has to be:

VrayMtl - VrayNormalMap in Bump slot - VrayTriplanarTex in Normal map slot - Bitmap in Texture slot



Thanks,
Bob

[Ihno]

@bobweb: Your image looks like you haven't turned on gamma override 1.0 in the Bitmap Loader. To get a proper result you should turn it on.
@Vlado: Can we get a normal map mode for proper blending and rotation for the Triplaner Tex?

[vlado]

@Vlado: Can we get a normal map mode for proper blending and the rotation in the Triplaner Tex?

Can you explain a bit more?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Ihno]

See the picture:


I put the blending masks on the cubes so you can see where the blending appears.
On right cube the blending area is much more visible than on the left with the MixNormalMaps osl.
I couldn't reproduce the same without the triplanar tex hopefully it is enough to show what I mean.

On the bottom of the image you can see what happens if one rotates a NormalMap.
Rotating the map by 180° flipped the effect, the structure seems to be pushed in.
There is a substance on share.allegorithmic.com which rotates normal maps correctly: https://share.allegorithmic.com/libraries/16
Unfortunatly it dosn't work with 3ds max but this is basically what I have in mind.

Another request:
Can you please give us access to the blend and scale Parameters in the Additional params?
I want to be able to control a bunch of them with one single float controller node.

[vlado]

On the bottom of the image you can see what happens if one rotates a NormalMap. Rotating the map by 180° flipped the effect, the structure seems to be pushed in.

Right, will fix this - thanks for the pointer.

Can you pleace give us access to the blend and scale Parameters in the Additional params? I want to be able to control a bunch of them with one single float controller node.

Yes, this one should be very easy.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Ihno]

Right, will fix this - thanks for the pointer.

Cool are you gonig to make this bakeable or solve this with some kind of under-the-hood-magic and don't touch the texture it self?
I'd prefere the first

[vlado]

We're just going to change the UV derivatives calculated by the triplanar texture and passed on to the normal map. You can bake this to a normal texture later if you want.

Best regards,
Vlado