V-Ray extra attributes - easier multi object assignment

[leehenshall]

We already have the ability to easily assign certain attributes to multiple objects such as renderable curves.



However I'm not sure whether it's possible to assign rounded corners to many objects easily without scripting. It would be good to use outliner sets to manage this for Rounded Edges, Object ID, OpenSubdiv etc

[Morbid Angel]

I agree about round edges, but its done on the shading group level right now but I'm not a fan of modifying shading groups. Object Id can be managed through either group id, or vray obj properties. Open subdivs are managed throught vray displacement node.

[leehenshall]

Ah okay thanks I didn't think to try the shading group. At the moment I have a scene that has rounded edges applied to about 100 different shape nodes. I don't think all or any vray extra attributes show up in the attribute spreadsheet. So to edit. add or remove rounded edges in this situation is difficult with out scripting.

The way renderable curves are handled would be a perfect solution to this problem. In addition perhaps some kind of manager that can list all extra attributes that exist on an individual transform or shape could be used to find edit and flush these attributes.

The potential that a scene could have many object level attributes that can't be easily/quickly found and edited could pose an issue in certain situations.

Maybe there is a good script out there somewhere for this kind of thing but it would be great if Chaos Group could provide some handy solution in the future.

[yolov]

I do see a lot of sense for this approach, we'll just need to see how it can be done. The tricky thing would be - if you had those settings on more than one place affecting the same object - which ones should have priority over the rest? Say if you had it on a shading group, on the shape and on a set?
I'll run it through the team here and see what they think and I'll let you know.
If it's not done in a set (like the renderable curves) - would it be convenient to be able to apply rounded edges attributes to other sets like displcament, object properties and so on?

[francomanko]

Definitely would be great to have a multi object vray attribute manager/ spreadsheet, with the ability to add /remove /alter the settings etc.The key being able to alter multiple settings at the same time, like the maya spreadsheet.

[leehenshall]

Thanks for the responses. It's good to hear that other people see some value in this.

I'm not 100% sure which solution I prefer. I suppose the easiest option would be an interface that lists extra attributes like the attribute spreadsheet. That could be a script on the shelf similar to when the light lister interface. This would not require V-Ray for Maya to change any core behavior, it would just expose the extra attributes workflow in a convenient interface.

The other option would be to mimic renderable curves which I really like as it's very visual in the outliner and convenient when sharing scenes with a team. But as you rightly mentioned it would create a situation where you would need to tell V-Ray which level of extra attribute control you want it to prioritize. This could be chosen in the render globals but then other users might not know to do this and get frustrated when their extra attributes seem like they are not working because they haven't chosen the correct priority.

The fact that you are happy to investigate this at some point in the feature is really great news and I'm happy see what other users and the development team think and go with the majority

[yolov]

Not sure if we'll go down the 'attribute manager' road for the moment, but we'll definitely consider the 'set' thing (like for the renderable curves).
There's been the renderable curve attributes, apart from the set, and I think people usually use either one, not both. So, something like that for rounded edges could be done, we just need to think about it.

[oglu]

as a workaround mel does work fine.
here a mel script to multi assign subD


{

string $sel[] = `ls-sl`;
string $shapes[] ;

for($s in $sel)
{
$shapes = `listRelatives -ad -shapes -f $s`;
for ($name in $shapes)
{
vray addAttributesFromGroup $name vray_subdivision 1;
vrayAddAttr $name vraySeparator_vray_subdivision;
vrayAddAttr $name vraySubdivEnable;
vrayAddAttr $name vrayPreserveMapBorders;
vrayAddAttr $name vraySubdivUVs;
vrayAddAttr $name vrayStaticSubdiv;
vrayAddAttr $name vrayClassicalCatmark;

}
}
}