'This irradiance map cannot be used in animation mode'

[IronLogic]

So I was trying out the demo version of V-ray with the Blender plugin and doing some experiments with the irradiance map to see how practical it would be for animations, and I was going to do a comparison between using a high quality irradiance map with single frame, and a lower quality map using the animation prepass feature, but whenever I try to load in the irradiance maps and do the final render the Blender console comes up with the error 'This irradiance map cannot be used in animation mode'.

After some searching I found this thread: http://forums.chaosgroup.com/showthr...animation+mode where the cause of the error was to do with the engine adding another prefix to the existing filename (so ir0037.vrmap would become ir00000037.vrmap) which is what it seems to be doing in this case according to the Blender console, as it seems to be trying to load versions of the file with four 0's before the actual frame number.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this issue? Could it just be to do with the fact I'm using a demo version of V-ray that hasn't been fixed yet despite the fact that it is the latest demo version?


P.S: Here's the .blend file I was using: Vray IR Prepass Test.zip
It doesn't include the irradiance map files because I have a terrible upload speed, but it should all be set up and they are very quick to generate

[andybot_cg]

Try using incremental add to current frame instead. I've never had luck with animation prepass myself. You'll need to start over with your settings though. I found that once I selected prepass, there's something that gets changed that causes a bad irrmap file, even after you change the map mode. Start with the file that you used with the high quality still image. Hope that helps.

Andy

[IronLogic]

Thanks for the reply . I didn't want to use incremental add to current map because this scene has moving lights (including the sun), which I believe would cause 'light streaks' in the irradiance map. However as you experience the same problem with the prepass then it must be a bug, and if anyone else can confirm this issue then we might be able to get it investigated by the relevant devs.

[Neilg]

I've had issues with files names like this before and there are a number batch file rename tools around. they can re-name files by date created or current order, so you type in the prefix and have it re-number them however you want.
I don't currently have one installed so cant tell you what i use but there are hundreds out there.

[IronLogic]

Aha! I've found the solution. Instead of selecting the first map in the file when selecting the directory of the maps, type in the name of the map without the number. So instead of 'im0000.vrmap' you would just type 'im.vrmap', and it works. However I'm getting these horrible black splotches in the render, which I don't get when not using the prepass:



I'm using the 'High Animation' preset with 'Interpolation Frames' set to 2, but it looks more like I'm using a very low preset with no interpolation. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any help

[Neilg]

it looks like your irradiance map has very little information. open it in the irradiance map viewer and have a look at it, see if it's the same. if so then the issue was with rendering the first pass.

[andybot_cg]

That black splotches is what i get too with the "prepass" That's why I gave up on it and just use the incremental add. Sorry, don't know about moving objects tho, I just use it for flythrough.

[IronLogic]

In the irradiance map viewer it looks correct, it displays far more samples than are showing in the render:

[Inwermitodion]

" Could it just be to do with the fact I'm using a demo version of V-ray that hasn't been fixed yet despite the fact that it is the latest demo version?"

Re: There is no question of the demo version, the full version is the same as in the demo. That black splotches is what i get too in both versions.

[Inwermitodion]

So I was trying out the demo version of V-ray with the Blender plugin and doing some experiments with the irradiance map to see how practical it would be for animations, and I was going to do a comparison between using a high quality irradiance map with single frame, and a lower quality map using the animation prepass feature, but whenever I try to load in the irradiance maps and do the final render the Blender console comes up with the error 'This irradiance map cannot be used in animation mode'.

After some searching I found this thread: http://forums.chaosgroup.com/showthr...animation+mode where the cause of the error was to do with the engine adding another prefix to the existing filename (so ir0037.vrmap would become ir00000037.vrmap) which is what it seems to be doing in this case according to the Blender console, as it seems to be trying to load versions of the file with four 0's before the actual frame number.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this issue? Could it just be to do with the fact I'm using a demo version of V-ray that hasn't been fixed yet despite the fact that it is the latest demo version?


P.S: Here's the .blend file I was using: [ATTACH]18640[/ATTACH]
It doesn't include the irradiance map files because I have a terrible upload speed, but it should all be set up and they are very quick to generate

" Could it just be to do with the fact I'm using a demo version of V-ray that hasn't been fixed yet despite the fact that it is the latest demo version?"

Re: There is no question of the demo version, the full version is the same as in the demo. That black splotches is what i get too in both versions.

[IronLogic]

"There is no question of the demo version, the full version is the same as in the demo. That black splotches is what i get too in both versions.

Thanks, it must be a bug with the plugin then.

[Inwermitodion]

But if I changed Animation Render-Mod - Full Range! It worked perfectly. The file IM.vrim increased from about 700kb to about 2 MB in a folder lightmaps. And that was the solution

[IronLogic]

But if I changed Animation Render-Mod - Full Range! It worked perfectly. The file IM.vrim increased from about 700kb to about 2 MB in a folder lightmaps. And that was the solution

I just tried it and I'm still getting the same problem, also I thought the 'Full Range' mode was supposed to export the entire animation range and then render, but mine still seems to be doing it frame-by-frame. In addition to this, the 'lighting' of the irradiance map files were all the same, as if it was only using the last frame to generate the maps. I will try reinstalling V-ray and Blender for V-ray and try again.

[Inwermitodion]

I uninstalled the full version and then installed the demo version of V-Ray to check and rule out this issue. With settings that work for me to function well in both versions, demo and full. This is a link to a simple file which I used: "http://95213.file4u.pl/download/5190496/Multiframe_incremental.7z" ...click "Zwykły Użytkownik" (Regular Member), type the contents of the picture and "Pobież plik" (download file). Maybe comparing the settings you could work out your file. Files open and render in order.

[andybot_cg]

I just tried it and I'm still getting the same problem, also I thought the 'Full Range' mode was supposed to export the entire animation range and then render, but mine still seems to be doing it frame-by-frame. In addition to this, the 'lighting' of the irradiance map files were all the same, as if it was only using the last frame to generate the maps. I will try reinstalling V-ray and Blender for V-ray and try again.

for me, the issue was that after I selected the animation prepass option, I was not able to get a proper irrmap out of it. If I start with a clean file and import my scene and DON'T use prepass, I had no trouble with irrmap. Somehow, something got switched in the original file, and nothing could change it. I'll see if I can get an example scene for Andrei that shows this problem, it's been some time since I encountered it. I just don't use prepass mode any more.