viewport lights.

[houourin]

2 things.

1) More and More I use the Max viewport to preview stuff, it happens that VrayLIghts intensity on the viewport won't match the render intensity most of the time, so If I set something in viewport then at render time will be too bright and viceversa.
So could we have a viewport multiplier intensity?
So far I can overcome that tweaking the "affect diffuse" and similar parameters... so I can push a lot more a light in viewport and it matches the render but it feels a bit risky workaround.

2) Vray Enviroment affects viewport, yes, but it behaves like spotlight....not like an enviroment. Can it affect like an enviroment like it is suposed to? same as when we charge a bitmap in the "enviroment Map" in 3dsmax Enfiroment and Effects pannel?

Thank you.

[suzanne_doherty]

How are you using the Max viewport to preview lighting? I've never heard of this, unless I'm not understanding correctly.

I've only seen people light scenes with either normal rendering, Interactive Rendering, or more recently, Vantage.

[vladimir_krastev]

Hi, thanks for posting. Are you talking about viewport IPR? If you are, could you tell us a bit more about your issue. Could you share an example? I am not reproducing it in a simple scene.

[houourin]

Ah sorry for the confusion,

Not actually a preview, not IPR.
Its just that I want to have as close representation in the viewport of the lights in render... of course is not gonna be a perfect match or anything just I wish I could have it closer.
why? well when animating or just checking some objects, somewhat will change a lot the impression so having the viewport represent a bit closer to the actual render is a time saver.

Some time before, Max viewport was slow and ugly, but lately has improved and I'm actually using it a bit more, but usually Vray Enviroment general lighting, or just simple lights intensity is way off.

Thank you.

[suzanne_doherty]

Move your workflow to Vantage, it's been a game changer for me when lighting, especially with animations. Real-time rendering is perfect for what you need.

[houourin]

well, still early,
There are many things that still won't work there, so not a real option for me sadly, I can't use VrayGPU even most of the time due its limitation, and Vantage is even more limited.
Also it is fast, but not as fast as to play an animation in realtime, although exporting a preview should be fast using vantage.
Just using Vantage as a preview tool is overkill.

[suzanne_doherty]

I'd have to disagree with you on that point

Yes Vantage doesn't have all the features of Vray, but being able to light and composite in real time is a game changer for me. And once you have your lighting setup, you can render in CPU or GPU as you would normally.

I agree the initial cost of a decent GPU and Vantage subscription can appear a bit high, but in terms of how much time it saves, it's like having another pair of hands!

[matanov]

1. As far as I remember the problem here was the exposure match between the viewport and the camera (Autodesk changed something and it was not possible to do it for V-Ray controlled exposures in Viewport anymore). You can still easily match them by using Physical Camera Exposure Control + PhysicalCamera.

2. What do you mean by V-Ray Environment? Dome Light? GI env override? Either way you can just instance the env map to the Max panel as you pointed out.

[houourin]

I'd have to disagree with you on that point

Yes Vantage doesn't have all the features of Vray, but being able to light and composite in real time is a game changer for me. And once you have your lighting setup, you can render in CPU or GPU as you would normally.

I agree the initial cost of a decent GPU and Vantage subscription can appear a bit high, but in terms of how much time it saves, it's like having another pair of hands!

1. Well yes that is another way of handle that, but Max Exposure control is scary as it gets activated just by clicking PhysicalCamera ( not even placing it ) and also is hidden in a menu.
I guess I could use also VrayPhiysical camera exposure to match the looks.... Does using exposure have any performance cost? or is for the most part the same if the "visual intensity" of the light at the end, what we see, is the same?

2. Yes sorry, DomeLight. I can copy the map there but then effectively I have 2 enviroment maps emitting light when rendering? VrayDome would win as I guess it would block the light from the other? does it have any performance / stability cost?
But what if activating VrayDome light emits directly on the viewport enviroment?...and If turn it off then it is off. I guess the problem would be what happens when you have 2 VrayDome Lights on the scene... but that I guess there are different answers.

[matanov]

1. Ideally, exposure should not affect performance.

2. Yes, the Environment map is "behind" the Dome light and it should not affect performance. We had it somewhere in the to-do list to make the Dome light to lit the Viewport directly, but it wasn't that trivial.

[houourin]

gotit thank you! I'll give a try to exposure and see how it goes.
And I hope you guys can figureout the enviroment thing on viewport too at some point!

[matanov]

And I hope you guys can figureout the enviroment thing on viewport too at some point!

I'm afraid our hands are tied without some changes on Max itself

[houourin]

What is that you guys need from Max exactly?
I think Max viewport still has long way to improve in many things... and looking at the Max RoadMap seems they are working on it ATM so... maybe is a good timming to rise the voice to Autodesk.

Is it how Max handles the enviroment map from viewport? it forces you to utilize the enviroment texture yes or yes because maybe, Arnold works differently in that regard?
I think VrayDome is way more practical solution so... as Max should be render agnostic it should provide better support for it.... hummmm

[matanov]

What is that you guys need from Max exactly?

We had more control over how viewport stuff was handled in previous Max versions. I'm hoping things will get better.

[houourin]

I see, thank you.

I had to come back to this topic because I just discovered that the "skylight" dome light does exactly what I was expecting from the Vray Dome it actually lits the scene like "enviroment map" does.
But it is object controlled.

Is that hard coded in a way that you guys can not use it for VrayDome?