VRay map paths in bitmap/photometric path editor

[Dynedain]

My newest wish is for map paths for things like the VRay HDRI map type to show up in the bitmaps/photometric paths editor.

[sv]

exactly.

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forum/phpB...ometric+bitmap

[studioDIM]

Unfortunately, i lost that script.
Or, more precisely, i incorporated it in a toolset with a few proxy tools (thanks to Joconnel, also including a spline "planter", ie. a tool that can plant trees - or proxies- on a terrain given a boundary spline) that aid in dealing with orphaned proxies, empty pathname ones, and so on and so forth.
Issue is, it needs authorisation.
Do pm me, and i'll send it over.

Lele

[Dynedain]

Just reiterating it then

I use this tool several times daily in managing our network renders (and network project server)... when adding new assets, importing from files, etc... it's frustrating to miss VRay-specific maps and have to dig through the file to replace all the map paths in materials, render setting slots, displacement, etc, etc....

[studioDIM]

if it's also paths for bitmaps that you need, the "vray stuff collector" works a charm. just point it to collect in an UNC path and tell it to change paths in your scene.
That's in my script pack in the OT thread.

Lele

[vlado]

Re: VRay map paths in bitmap/photometric path editor

My newest wish is for map paths for things like the VRay HDRI map type to show up in the bitmaps/photometric paths editor.

V-Ray will search for HDRI maps in the other 3dsmax bitmap paths automatically, so no need for a separate path for this.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Dynedain]

Re: VRay map paths in bitmap/photometric path editor

My newest wish is for map paths for things like the VRay HDRI map type to show up in the bitmaps/photometric paths editor.

V-Ray will search for HDRI maps in the other 3dsmax bitmap paths automatically, so no need for a separate path for this.

Best regards,
Vlado

The problem isn't a matter of whether VRay will search the paths or not.

Here's an example. I received a scene file that I wanted to add to our library. So I saved the files to our library. Then I went back to try to use the scene, play with options, etc. When I rendered, I got a bunch of errors from missing maps. So, I used bitmap/photometric path editor to change the location of all the scene maps.

Guess what? There were sill errors in the VRay log regarding missing maps, particularily ones in VRay HDRI maps. So, It took me another 30 minutes to go through the scene's environment settings, various material settings, blended maps, etc. to find all the instances of VRay maps and correct the paths. This would have been much simpler if they had just shown up in the bitmap/photometric paths editor.

I would hate to think how long it would have taken me if it was one of our VRay proxy-heavy scenes.


So it's not so much a matter of making sure vray can find what it needs to find, as it is a matter of scene and network resource management.

[SnipeyX]

Vlado's post echoes what Bobo was saying in this thread at cgtalk. The whole idea behind the user map paths just seems poorly designed to me, or at least a bad way of handling your file management. It seems the basic idea is, if the file is wrong, just put every possible location it could be in in the map paths dialog so it can be searched for. Personally, I much prefer to explicitly state where each bitmap file should be and have it saved in the file, instead of having max search for something every time I open the file.

I believe Vlado is saying, if Max can't find an HDR file, Max will search for it in the user map paths, just like it will for any other file, so you don't need a specific map path to search just for HDRs. Unfortunately, that's not what is being asked for. When I believe what we want is for the bitmap to be listed in the bitmap paths utility, so we can control where it is pointed.

All that being said, the majority of stuff already shows up in what amounts to the new version of the bitmap paths utility, the Asset Tracking dialog (Shift+T). What type of files are you guys looking for that don't show up there? (I only tried maps in the environment rollout for GI and a normal hdr file in the vrmap used in the diffuse of a vray mtl, both fo which worked, it did not however pickup a saved irradiance map...)

[studioDIM]

Indeed.
Try and run a collection before you get the scene (the script, not max's own), and that will move every vray hdri and proxy (along with standard maps if you want it to) in a specified folder, changing the paths accordingly if you want it to.
It will also save a "collected_*.max" file in the same folder.
Zip, send over, and pronto, upon opening all the files are found as the scene and proxy/bitmaps are all in the same place.

If that's not cutting it, the only option you have is through the asset tracker, as said above.

Lele

[vlado]

When I believe what we want is for the bitmap to be listed in the bitmap paths utility, so we can control where it is pointed.

Ok, I see now. Unfortunately, this cannot be fixed on our side for the following reason: the 3dsmax API only has methods for listing files required by plugins, not for modifying them. That means that in order to work, the utility in question must be hard-coded to support only known objects like bitmaps, since there is no general API for doing this with any 3dsmax object.

Otherwise, both the VRayHDRI map and VRayProxy correctly list the files required by them through the API provided by 3dsmax - so that the missing files checks, for example, can work fine.

The only solution would be a custom resource collector that properly recognizes the V-Ray objects.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Dynedain]

The only solution would be a custom resource collector that properly recognizes the V-Ray objects.

Well that's a bummer

I'll look into the asset tracking, though it seemed a bit bloated to me last time. Sounds like a wishlist item for Autodesk from developers.... an API for registering files used by plugins.