Vray-Proxy / Instancing- flexible adding/removing multiple objects

[nakama]

I always miss Instance-Features in 3dsmax like in Softimage - where a master-model is instanced and the resulting instance is just a dummy/proxy of the master model.
a real advanced feature is, that you can alter the master-model/master-parent with adding or removing objects inside and all the instances are simultaniously changed.

i kinda wish vray proxy would add a feature, where i can also add and remove objects via an "parameter list" instead of just chosing an external saved mesh-file ---- maybe like in Vray-instance.

So i could get the flexibility to add and remove or completely change the content of an proxy without each time creating/exporting a new vray-mesh file.

see example

it kind of drives me crazy in 3dsmax that if i create instances of "groups of object" that all objects got duplicated and creating a mess of objects within layer-manager. i'd rather have a dummy/container/proxy node that is duplicated and can be transformed and rotatet within the scene.

Maybe there is already a good way to do exactly that - but all the xrefs and max-container workflow create also a mess of duplicated objects (like if you got a table and chair within a container/group - you will end up with not only container001 and container 002 ... you also get table001 and table002 and chair 001, chair 002)

For now i could only see a vray-proxy workflow with advanced features which would support adding and removing geometry

[nakama]

prove me wrong and its a limitation of 3dsmax code, that its only managable by exporting mesh-files.

but it would really improve workflow if you could easily change the "master-model" within scene.

[nakama]

Here an Example for a certain usage in XSI - this kind of workflow is possible with Max-Container ... but its far from comfortable

[vlado]

There are visibility lists in the proxy that allow you to render only some of the objects. If you are using Alembic, you can also render just a portion of the Alembic hierarchy. Is that similar to what you need?

Best regards,
Vlado

[nakama]

Well i kinda found a Way with IToo Forrest-Pro "custom edit" to work around and get the flexibility i always wanted.
But maybe its a consideration to add more functionality to the vray Proxy-Object within Max itself.

[vlado]

But maybe its a consideration to add more functionality to the vray Proxy-Object within Max itself.

I'm trying to understand exactly what you need to be added XSI is a bit foggy for me, I never really got into it so I'm not sure what you wanted to describe above.

Best regards,
Vlado

[nakama]

Yeah i figures it might be a bit difficulty to explain...

In XSI you have models (parents with various objects as children) you can create an instance of that model ... so you get a "Instance-Model" which is just a dummy/Null you can place somewhere - just like a Vray-Proxy. But instead of referencing to an external file (like vray-proxy and vray-mesh-file - it is a reference to a Parent/group of objects within the max-scene.
Maybe its not that easy to explain or to create... as you need some kind of object-grouping. Well the advances would be you could easily replace objects in the "master-model/group" and all proxy-instances will be updated immediately.
Coming from XSI it was a neat feature .... 3dsmax container might be similiar to that, but with a lot of limmitations and quirky workflows of its own - also its quite a pain you need to create an external container-file.

Simple said:
would be great to have a vray-proxy without referencing to an external saved mesh file, but instead to Master/Container/Group within the scene - so you can replace objects within this "Master" and all the proxies are updated immediately. (so you can also work with various objects and not be forced to attach all elements to a single object (with multimaterials etc.))

[3LP]

I kind of see what you mean.
I tend to use forest pack indeed as this is the fastest and easier way to distribute and change objects on the fly.

Another solution we tend to use sometimes is just cloning as instances or references, and if the whole object needs to be changes, use a script like "replace instance".
Using this script, you can actually also just place dummy where you'd like your objects to be and run the script.
It's just a step more, but a agree that a container inside the file could be a solution.= to avoid that step.

Stan

[Dave_Wortley]

Some kind of callback-update script on the object when it changes to overwrite the vrmesh file would be possible, but how often should it update?