next Vray for Maya official release

[jpwestmas]

So I presume that the Directional feature for the rectangle lights are for the nightly builds only? I installed the latest 2.3 today and I lost that feature in the attribute editor.

Thanks for any info on this.

[vlado]

So I presume that the Directional feature for the rectangle lights are for the nightly builds only?

There are many many many features that are in the nightly builds, but not in the official ones, mostly for stability or usability reasons.

I installed the latest 2.3 today and I lost that feature in the attribute editor. Thanks for any info on this.

If you have a nightly build, I don't think there's any particular point in installing the official one. The official builds are stable, but behind the nightlies in terms of features.

Best regards,
Vlado

[jpwestmas]

Ah ok, Thanks for confirming Vlado. I hope the Directional feature escapes the cut next release. It's a cool feature.

[FSGFX]

has someone tested 2.3 with the maya extension... its now in the subscription center...

[jpwestmas]

has someone tested 2.3 with the maya extension... its now in the subscription center...

It is? It says here that the extension won't be released till 9/16.

Hmm, I see some downloads despite that date. I'll see what they do.

[MrDream]

Hi,
Has anybody have any problem with the Vray frame buffer..... When I use the vray frame buffer I can't get rid of be maya standard one. Any help???

[Jimmi]

Hi Vlado and Vray people

Great that we finally have new official releases.!

All these versions being mentioned (and labeled in the builds) is making it a bit hard to keep track of what is what, so I take the easy route and I figured that I might as well just ask some questions.
So, here goes.

2.3 Stable Release seems to be tagged as version 2.3002.
Is there a specific version from the nightlies that the stable build corresponds to (in terms of features at least). The current nightly "version" I believe is 2.3594

There seem to be rumours (in this thread, I missed its brief appearance) of a 2.4 stable release, just around the door?
I gather that the nightlies builds corresponds to that upcoming release?

The reason for 2.3 is to get a quick version out for Maya 2014? How far along is 2.4 since skipping 2.3 wasn't an option.

With the official releases, it would be lovely with some kind of "release description" (both in the official news post, and with the install files).
Normally I would not run shows on "nightly builds", unless there is an essential bugfix that halts production.
But with vray it seems that it is almost necessary. Unless you want to wait 19 months for a servicepack,(although one with many lovely features, so calling it a service pack a bit rough, but you do use that terminology yourself I have noticed ).
Therefore its rather important to know the exact state and contents of the releases.

I don't think there's any particular point in installing the official one. The official builds are stable, but behind the nightlies in terms of features.

Well.. sometimes stable is more important than features(or in my view..more often than not)
So, advice on when to use nightly, when to use 2.3 and when to wait(or upgrade) for 2.4 would be great.
It would be easier to plan what build to use for what production in that case.

Again, thanks for the builds, cant wait to check them properly out.

P.s
I should probably log a proper ticket for this, but the forum might give me a verification that its not just me being bothersome.
It would be nice that the "release notes" for the nightlies had the tickets sorted in a consistent way. In that way it would be much easier to a diff on the release dates and see what has been change. Unfortunately some entries seem to be moving up and down the list.

P.P.s
Also, having the 3.0 Beta changes in the "nightly 2.x release notes" are haunting me a bit. All the fun info.. and no way to play.

[jpwestmas]

Hi Jimmi, I haven't run into too many problems with the nightlys ime. I've been using them for a while and I tend to get more interesting results in a good way with them. But yeah if you can't take any risks, obviously the official builds are the way to go.

[Jimmi]

Hi Jimmi, I haven't run into too many problems with the nightlys ime. I've been using them for a while and I tend to get more interesting results in a good way with them. But yeah if you can't take any risks, obviously the official builds are the way to go.

Well we are currently running with a nightly build on one of our productions and its seemingly running fine (except for a random vrayplugin not loading, which doesnt seem to "break anything"), and with the speed increases in comparison to the "official build"(which we used on a previous production) its well worth the risk.
Its more a question of "risk calculations"
The more info, the better the calculation. Updating to a new nightly could mean new features and speed increases, but it could also mean new bugs introduced and changes that would result in changed pixel results.
(again, we try not to change during a production, so that takes care of most of the "risks").

Now, I have no idea how the code branch for the nightly builds are handled. If there is a very strict code reviews and a bit of testing between each change before they go into the nightly build "branch", then the risk factors are lowered.

Anyway, Im sure that Vlad and the guys have been super busy the last few days sorting out these new builds. But at some point it would be lovely with some kind of change log(maybe one that is elaborating on certain features a bit more than the "nightly release notes". It seems like a fair amount of new features have been added, and I would hate to miss out on any of them
As far as Ive noticed there are also some changes to default values, and attributes on the maya nodes themselves. For people jumping strait from the last official build.. it would be a bit of a "surprise".

Jimmi

[t.petrov]

2.3 Stable Release seems to be tagged as version 2.3002.
Is there a specific version from the nightlies that the stable build corresponds to (in terms of features at least). The current nightly "version" I believe is 2.3594

No, 2.3 is based on the 2.2 branch with some modifications. It doesn't correspond to any recent nightly.

There seem to be rumours (in this thread, I missed its brief appearance) of a 2.4 stable release, just around the door?
I gather that the nightlies builds corresponds to that upcoming release?

Same here. The code for 2.4 will be based on 2.3 with some of the changes in the night builds added on top of it.

With the official releases, it would be lovely with some kind of "release description" (both in the official news post, and with the install files).

There is a change log in the installation that lists all changes for a release.

Normally I would not run shows on "nightly builds", unless there is an essential bugfix that halts production.
But with vray it seems that it is almost necessary. Unless you want to wait 19 months for a servicepack,(although one with many lovely features, so calling it a service pack a bit rough, but you do use that terminology yourself I have noticed ).
Therefore its rather important to know the exact state and contents of the releases.

We will try to not repeat the 2.3/2.4 delays in the future.

It would be nice that the "release notes" for the nightlies had the tickets sorted in a consistent way. In that way it would be much easier to a diff on the release dates and see what has been change. Unfortunately some entries seem to be moving up and down the list.

Unfortunately this can't be fixed with the system we are using at the moment.

[Undersky]

Hi,
Has anybody have any problem with the Vray frame buffer..... When I use the vray frame buffer I can't get rid of be maya standard one. Any help???

I have it here aswell. I drag the window into the lower right corner and don't let it bother me. It's a crappy workaround, but it works.

[vlado]

This is fixed for the 3.x builds, but for the 2.x ones, we had to disable it to prevent crashes.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Jimmi]

Thanks in general for you reply t.petrov. I have a couple of further questions.

The code for 2.4 will be based on 2.3 with some of the changes in the night builds added on top of it.

Would it be possible to get some notes (when its released) that specifies which features are missing in comparison to the nightlies?

There is a change log in the installation that lists all changes for a release.

Ive downloaded the vray_adv_23002_maya2011_x64 (we currently run most of our productions in 2011) installer from the downloads section.
At a glance I cant see any changelog in there at all. The Zip install doesnt contain anything either.
Is it part of the actual windows installer?

Unfortunately this can't be fixed with the system we are using at the moment.

Fair enough
I will script myself out of it, was just wondering.

Btw, as a sidenote. Would it be possible to get the nightly builds also just as a simple zip(instead of a windows installer).
We tend to not install vray strait on the machine and instead use environment variables to control the installation location (on the server or whatever).
The official releases have a nice little zip file with all the files needed and that one is much easier to deploy for us (instead of making a local install and then stripping out the needed files).

[alainfx]

Would it be possible to get the nightly builds also just as a simple zip(instead of a windows installer).
We tend to not install vray strait on the machine and instead use environment variables to control the installation location (on the server or whatever).
The official releases have a nice little zip file with all the files needed and that one is much easier to deploy for us (instead of making a local install and then stripping out the needed files).

The installation modifies a few mel script files from maya's directory, it wouldn't work as easily with a zip.
You would only get a kind of "diff" file, and would have to fix the mel files yourself (it's not difficult, but can lead to errors).

[Jimmi]

The installation modifies a few mel script files from maya's directory, it wouldn't work as easily with a zip.
You would only get a kind of "diff" file, and would have to fix the mel files yourself (it's not difficult, but can lead to errors).

Well thats the thing. Generating the modified mel files is relatively easy.

I would rather do that than having to hunt down all the needed libs and files from a "installed" version.
(though, I did use the "uninstall log" to figure out what files were needed).
At least comparing the official (old build) to the nightlies there are a few changes in the needed library files.

So, install, copy files, uninstall is a tiny bit more hassle than "copy zip content, modifiy mel" and I am indeed lazy(and it will help me deploy a version knowing that I have all the files needed).