(Fixed, Fixed) [HOU-3128] [HOU-3130] VFB gripes

[Dubbie99]

I'm finding a couple of things quite annoying with the VFB.

#1 Viewing the R G or B channel shows the channels tinted R G or B. This is useless to look at. I know there is a button to switch it to monochrome, but I am finding it very slow. For a 4K render, it takes several seconds to switch and render the channel. And then once you go back to RGB color, you have to find the menu option and turn it off again. It should work like Nuke. I can't think of any reason why you might want to see the red channel tinted red.

#2 When you have a BG image loaded, pressing the foreground button causes the image to vanish instead of becoming FG. This makes it impossible to toggle the render on and off over a plate for comparison purposes.

It would be great if you guys could consider fixing these.

Thanks!

Rhys.

[Dubbie99]

Wondering if the VFB is something controlled by someone else? Should I post in a different forum?

[bdancer]

VFB is the same in all V-Rays.
1. We'll log this as request.
2. Sounds like a bug.

[Dubbie99]

Thanks bdancer

[Gosho.Genchev]

Hey Dubbie99 ,

The "As Foreground" button not behaving as expected was isolated to EXRs specifically - it will be fixed starting with tomorrow's nightly builds.

We're discussing interally how to approach the R,G,B buttons behavior - I'll keep you posted on that one.

Best regards!

[Dubbie99]

Excellent news. Thanks for the update!

Am I the only one who can't think of any use whatsoever for tinted R G B channels? I don't think I am an outlier...

[ronald_a]

+1 for showing R G B untinted.

[Dubbie99]

I notice in the latest VRay build, the RGB tint is now gone if you have a single channel isolated. Excellent! Thanks for changing that.

However, the BG fix seems to have introduced a couple more bugs.
If you have a BG exr loaded the FG button now works correctly, however pressing render turns off the background image and deletes the path to the exr.

[Dubbie99]

Just bumping this in case it hasn’t been seen. The bug fix has introduced a worse bug than the original.

[Gosho.Genchev]

Hello, Dubbie99 ,

Are you setting the image file path on the Background Layer inside the Frame Buffer itself, or are you using the Renderer ROP -> Images tab -> "Use VFB Background Image" option?

The behavior you've described in your message is how things are intended to work - we added a separate option on the ROP to support image sequences for the background layer. I'm unable to reproduce the issue using the toggle on the Renderer ROP - could you please give it a go and get back to me?

Best regards!

[Dubbie99]

Setting it in the frame buffer itself.
workflow is:
select background layer
pick an exr - it shows up in the vfb
press render.
bg layer is disabled and clicking on it reveals that the path to the exr has vanished.

[Gosho.Genchev]

Hey Dubbie99 ,

Yup, I had a feeling this is the case. Please use the parameter on the Renderer -> Images tab to set the VFB Background Image. The behavior you are experiencing is expected, and we plan to keep things this way.

All the best!

[Dubbie99]

This seems very strange! Why would anyone want this to happen?

[david.anastacio]

This seems very strange! Why would anyone want this to happen?

Hi,

Via the ROP you can use expressions, link it to other nodes, use $F to update the frame, etc. I also had the same reaction the first time, and I also bumped into that same issue of it disabling itself at render start, but It's actually pretty usefull because it's better integrated into houdini than the VFB options.

Best,
David.

[Dubbie99]

I can understand the ROP part fine. It’s just the disabling on render that is a bit baffling to me.