Reflection Glossiness Amount Setup

[varx3d]

Hello all,

I have a question which I cannot answer and I would like your precious help.

At the attached image I illustrate the situation I'm trying to emulate 1:1 from 3dsmax to Maya.

In 3dsmax, the Ref.Gloss amount is adjusted on the top and below at the maps section you can influence the effect of the texture (or Ref.Gloss amount?) on the shader.
On the contrary in Maya,since you map a slot with another node it "locks" the amount slider position which the Refl.Gloss map doesn't have an individual slider as Diffuse/Reflection/Refraction/Bump do to adjust it seperately.

I've used a clamp node initially and then a luminance node to convert the texture data to monochromatic,since Reflection Glossiness doesn't accept RGB colors input.
How I can transfer the setup from the left to right since there is no amount slider to adjust?



Thanks

[t.petrov]

I suppose you can use a multiply-divide node to emulate the amount.
Create the node, switch it to multiply node, plug the texture in input1 and use input2 as amount.

[varx3d]

Clearly the results are different in both cases but still I don't now which is the correct one.
Strangely, now it seems that the first method with the clamp node is more correct.

Let's assume that the initial question is answered,now how do I adjust the Refl.Glossiness to the value I want,as it happens in the top part of the 3dsmax shader, since I cannot still adjust the locked slider?

[vlado]

You can also use the Alpha Offset and Alpha Gain of the glossiness texture to further adjust its effect.

Best regards,
Vlado

[varx3d]

Now I'm more confused than before because it is not that I want to improve the look of the Refl.Gloss but I want to understand fully how I can do a 1:1 transfer of the shader from max to maya with the proper connections and nodes.
Technically what the amount slider does in the maps section in 3dsmax,it effects the texture contribution or its opacity like the layers in PS do?

As it is in the 3dsmax image, I want to have 0.99 Refl.Gloss and then lower the contribution of this effect at 15%.What's the setup in maya nodes to have exactly the same?
In 3dsmax it has 2x sliders that can be constantly and separately adjusted and in Maya only one which gets locked once I map a texture!

Please explain because I cannot understand and render tests confuse me even further :/

Can I request a feature of adding an amount slider in the Refl.Glossiness in maya as well?

[vlado]

In 3ds Max, the final glossiness value is simply a blend between the glossiness number and the intensity of the texture, based on the texture amount. In Maya you can duplicate it 1:1 using a Blend node.

Best regards,
Vlado

[varx3d]

If I understood well, I can do the same by having this setup:



Where the Blender amount (15%) is the slider in the map slot at the bottom part of 3dsmax shader,Color 1 has plugged-in the texture and Color 2 controls the Refl.Glossiness value (0.99 white) as it happens at the top part in 3dsmax.For texture controlling I suppose that a clamp node is needed...

[varx3d]

Vlado, is correct the setup above or I'm still missing something??

I can't make it work as predictable as it should be,please help me

[Metzger]

I would consider using the remapValue node in Maya. Take the Red channel, link that into Value input, then take the Red output and throw it into reflection glossiness. You have a lot of control to adjust the glossiness. Curves, and histogram functions. Under Input and Output Ranges the Input Min will b push the blacks for contrast, input max will crush the highlights, output min will work as a lift for the blacks with Output max bringing down the highlights of the image. remapValue is the ultimate tweak control for using texture maps into the gloss of a V-Ray shader.

[varx3d]

Thank you Scott for the tip,really useful tool for tweaking.

Also thank you Vlado for your patience and time,really appreciated your effort all three of you.

Cheers guys

[bazuka]

amigo if u have probl, let me know, i can rebuild shaders from max

most of them u can find in my vray collection shaders

cheers

[varx3d]

Thanks for the concern.

The first thing to ask is how to call with mel for creation a BRDFVrayMtl or any of these compatibility nodes instead of using the menu.
Also I would appreciate any advice/tip from your experience that you find important to know regarding 1:1 of 3dsmax's materials to maya that could be useful like the guys recommended above

[t.petrov]

The first thing to ask is how to call with mel for creation a BRDFVrayMtl or any of these compatibility nodes instead of using the menu.

You can call this from mel:

vrayCreateNodeFromDll("test_mtl", "brdf", "BRDFVRayMtl", 0);

But keep in mind that this is an internal function and it is not part of any public API. This means that we can change or remove it in the future, without much hesitation.
Also I don't think this is the correct approach in this case. This feature is meant to be used by people writing custom textures, brdfs and so on.

[varx3d]

Also I don't think this is the correct approach in this case. This feature is meant to be used by people writing custom textures, brdfs and so on.

Thanks you very much for that.
The only reason I'm using it because it has auto-resize for the swatch size without the need to change it manually,I just zoom in & out freely and re-renders its automatically. Also it is better due to the fact that its minimalistic design which saves up & down mouse scrolling.

Is it possible to add a feature of auto-resizing toggle in the normal VRayMtls of the API, as it happens with the 3dsmax's swatches?
Lastly, how I can connect the BRDFVRayMtl to the BRDFBump in order to get a simulation of the most features of the VRayMtl?

[t.petrov]

... it has auto-resize for the swatch size without the need to change it manually,I just zoom in & out freely and re-renders its automatically.

I'm not sure what are you talking about, can you try to explain it better?

Also it is better due to the fact that its minimalistic design which saves up & down mouse scrolling.

As far as I can see there is no much difference in the vertical height in the Attribute editor between the two. VRayMtl has more stuff in it (like bump).
Also it has collapsible panels, so it can be more efficient in the end.