Slow Previews in the Material Editor

[fDim Patrick]

Hallo,
we are testing V-Ray 5 (Build 5.10.24 on Cinema 4D R.23.119) at the moment coming from 3.6.

We experience very slow updating of the material previews in the material editor - editor map size is set to default. No Node-materials, mostly very simple shader-setups, mostly below 4k resolution. Any change of a parameter (even changing the materials name) results in a lag. Just creating a new V-ray material takes about 3 seconds in which Cinema is not responding untill the preview is rendered. To me it seems like the previews are getting even slower over time the longer I am working on a scene, no matter the complexity - just restarting Cinema makes things a bit faster again. But still, way too slow to be usable in production.

I know that the issue of slow material previews was discussed several times here and I tried to read through all of that but after some hours I still could not fix my problem. Am I missing some general setting or semething else? (besides deactivating the previews completely)

Thanks in advance!

[aleksandar.kasabov]

Hello fDim Patrick,

Does this issue only happens on a specific scene or it is observed on a fresh scene as well?

This was a known issue but our developers made improvements to it. Can you download and install the latest stable build from here and let me know if that helps?

Also, could you please try to borrow your V-Ray license to see if that has an effect? You can check how to do that here.

Thanks.

[fDim Patrick]

Thanks for your reply Aleksandar!

I tried the latest build and also to borrow the license but it doesn't seem to change much. To me it seems in general independent from the scene, but gets worse with complexity/ amount of materials in the scene and over time working on a scene without adding more assets. Normally, we load textures from a network-drive but it also doesn't help when I have them locally. I've sent you a PM with a link to my test-scene - would be nice, if you could take a look at it.

Thank you.

[aleksandar.kasabov]

Hello fDim Patrick,

Upon checking your scene I didn't experience any slowdowns or lags when editing the scene or the materials.

Could you please provide a list of the specifications of your machine (CPU, GPU, RAM, OS version)? Also, if possible, please send us a video recording of your screen, demonstrating this issue. Thanks.

[fDim Patrick]

Thanks for checking the scene,

here is my dxdiag.txt and a screen-recording http://cloud.freedimensions.at/index...DXfRHYKMCNJmwB

I had to do the recording right after a fresh restart of Cinema, so the material-preview is not as slow as it becomes after a few hours in a scene - but still slow. Would be nice if you could take a look at it and tell me, whether this responsiveness is normal cosidering my system-specs.

Cheers.

[aleksandar.kasabov]

Hello fDim Patrick,

We just released V-Ray 5, Update 2, which includes many new features and improvements. Could you please download and install the latest build from here and let me know if you still experience this issue with it? Thanks.

[fDim Patrick]

Hi Aleksandar, sorry for the delay.

As much as we appreciate the new 5.2 version in general, unfortunately, it doesn't help with our material-preview performance issue.
The materials still react slow to changes, getting worse over time, no matter the scene-complexety. Only restarting of Cinema 4d helps.

The only idea I have at the moment: Could it be a problem that I have another Cinema 4d version (R 19) with Vray 3.6 installed on the same machine?

For the performance of Vray 5.2 in Cinema R 23 it doesn't seem to matter whether Cinema 4d R 19 with Vray 3.6 is running at the same time or not - but could only the installation of another Cinema/Vray-combination be a problem?

Thanks and Cheers.

[aleksandar.kasabov]

Hello fDim Patrick,

I regret to hear that you still experience those issues.

Would you mind executing the following script, which will toggle an option for extended log output with more information about the material previews?

import c4d
from c4d import gui

# Main function
def main():
# Get V-Ray preferences
vrayPreferences=c4d.plugins.GetWorldPluginData(105 3273)
if (vrayPreferences):
currentPreviewLog = vrayPreferences.GetBool(1004)
# Toggle the preview
newPreviewLog = not currentPreviewLog
# Set the value in preferences
vrayPreferences.SetBool(1004, newPreviewLog)
print("Material preview log set to {}".format(newPreviewLog))

# Execute main()
if __name__=='__main__':
main()

Then, please reproduce the issue with the slowdowns and send us the V-Ray log so we can have a look at it. You can save the log by opening the Console> Advanced> Logger Settings and enabling "Write To File".

[fDim Patrick]

Hi and thanks for the script,

I executed it, reproduced the slowdowns in the material preview and saved the V-Ray log.
As you see, it states some warnings concerning the bitmap loader after opening the scene and then when selecting and changing materials mipmap resolution and color space warnings. It goes on like that, also when I force a rerender of all the material previews.

Is that information of any use for you?

I was wondering that the mipmap resolution warnings still appear after I lowered the Max Mipmap Resolution in the Settings below 2048.

Cheers.

[aleksandar.kasabov]

Hello fDim Patrick,

Thank you for providing the log. I have forwarded it to our developers to have a look at it and I will get back to you as soon as I have any updates. Thank you for your patience and cooperation!

[Doger]

I wonder if the two Material Previews are rendered differently.
In the Material Editor, the preview of the material is always rendered very quickly. In the Material List, however, it sometimes takes minutes until the material is updated. If I update several materials at the same time, some materials get stuck and don't update at all.

[aleksandar.kasabov]

Hello Doger,

Do you experience this issue with any material or some specific materials only? Could you record a short video of your screen, demonstrating the differences? Also, could you try to remake the material using the V-Ray Node material and let me know if you still experience the issue?

Also, please go to Edit> Preferences> V-Ray> Log Output and set the Verbosity to "Output All". Then, please execute the same script that I shared above and send us the V-Ray log. Thank you.

[akos_kiss]

I just wanted to confirm that we are having the same issues mostly with high rez textures (10k and over). Sometimes we have to wait for 3-5 minutes until c4d becomes responsive again. The issue is the same with vray layered materials (or maybe a bit worse).
We are using the latest release as of feb 15. Vray 5.20.02. ( with c4d R25, same issue with c4d R23).
Haven't checked with node materials.

[nunomatos]

Hui there
i want to report here to the same issue ... also with tiny resolutions.... If we have IPR turn on all goes smoth but we can see the preview of the material. If we have IPR turn off it's a pain to make small opperations like copy from a slot to other ....
I'm working with the last version
thanks
best regards
nuno

[aleksandar.kasabov]

Hello akos_kiss and nunomatos,

May I ask you to test this by remaking the materials with V-Ray Node material and let me know if you still experience this issue? Also, I would also ask you to run the script above and send us the V-Ray log (please follow the steps, described in my previous posts above).

Also, please share more details about your systems (processors, OS, RAM) and the exact versions of V-Ray and Cinema4D that you have installed. Thank you.