[new build] Build 3.00.06

[vladimir.nedev]

Hi,

We have uploaded a new open beta build (3.00.06) on the website; you can get it at
http://www.chaosgroup.com/en/2/downl...l?s=v-ray-modo

Note that, because of the improvements to the texture locator support, old scenes may not render the same as in the previous build.


Here is the change log from the build :

Build 3.00.06 (06.04.2015)
=================================================

New features:
===========
(*) V-Ray Textures: Added a V-Ray Bercon Tile texture. Can be found in Add Layer -> V-Ray Textures Bercon;
(*) V-Ray Textures: Added a V-Ray Ray Switch texture. Can be found in Add Layer -> V-Ray Textures; Use the Schematic to connect the input textures;
(*) V-Ray Textures: Added a V-Ray Softbox texture. Can be found in Add Layer -> V-Ray Textures;
(*) V-Ray Materials: Added a V-Ray Blend material. The base and coat materials are connected using the Schematic;

Modified features:
===========
(*) Lights: New options and changes

• the mini-shader trees for Light textures are now exported correctly (previously only Image maps were exported for them and no layer blending was done);
• the Rectangular, Ellipse and Dome lights now apply the "Light color" texture effect correctly (on the light itself, and not on the lit surfaces);
• for the Rectangular and Ellipse lights, the texture locator's "Projection type" is ignored for their textures;
• for the Dome light, if the texture locator's "Projection type" is not Spherical or Probe, V-Ray will use Spherical instead;
• added "Use texture", "Texture resolution" and "Adaptive texture sampling" channels for the Rectangle and Dome lights under "Light type specific parameters" in the "V-Ray Light" tab;
• added "Directional" channel for the Rectangle light under "Light type specific parameters" in the "V-Ray Light" tab;
• added "Dome spherical" channel for the Dome light under "Light type specific parameters" in the "V-Ray Light" tab;
• added "Make spherical light" channel for the Point light that turns the Point light into a Spherical light with the Radius from the "Point Light" tab;
• added "Use texture", "Cache texture" and "Texture resolution" channels for the Ellipse light under "Light type specific parameters" in the "V-Ray Light" tab;

(*) Nodal Shading: Added export for Schematic connections to the "Bump Value", "Displacement Value" and "Stencil Value" channels of MODO's material;
(*) Nodal Shading: Added "Bump Value" and "Normal Map" channels to all V-Ray materials. These can be used to connect bump and/or normal maps to V-Ray materials in the Schematic;

(*) RT Updates: Changes to the V-Ray PTex texture will now be detected during RT rendering;
(*) RT Updates: Assigning material/part/selection tags will now be detected during RT rendering (RT CPU with NO DR only);
(*) RT Updates: Changes to "group mask" items in the shader tree will now be detected during RT rendering (RT CPU with NO DR only);
(*) RT Updates: Changes to the "File name" of V-Ray Proxy items will now be detected during RT rendering (RT CPU with NO DR only);
(*) RT Updates: Changes to the "RT - Performance and Memory" and "RT - Stop Conditions" values are now detected during RT rendering.
The GPU texture options cannot be changed while RT is running and will print a warning in the event log.
Changing any of the stop conditions does not restart RT, but only resumes rendering, if the new value of the stop condition is not satisfied;
(*) RT Updates: Changes to V-Ray Car Paint and V-Ray Flakes channels that affect the generated flakes map will cause the flakes map to be recalculated;
(*) RT Updates: Lights

• changes to light textures will now be detected during RT rendering;
• changing the shape of area lights between ellipse and rectangle will now be detected during RT rendering;
• turning "Make spherical light" on/off for the Point light will now be detected during RT rendering;

(*) RT Updates: Setting/Removing the target of lights/cameras, as well as moving an existing target will now be detected during RT rendering;
(*) RT Updates: Changing the RT resolution scale in the V-Ray Preferences will now be detected during RT rendering;

(*) RT: RT statistics are printed in the top right corner of the rendered image in the VFB. Can be enabled/disabled from the V-Ray Preferences;

(*) Shader tree: When a material has both a bump map and a normal map specified, V-Ray will now use both. Previously only the normal map was used;
(*) Shader tree: V-Ray now uses the alpha channel of scalar texture effects (displacement, luminous intensity, etc...) when blending them in the shader tree.

(*) Texture Locator: Improved support

• "Horizontal/Vertical Wrap" and "UV rotation" are now applied as in the MODO renderer;
• the "Reset" and "Edge" options of "Horizontal/Vertical Repeat" now work in V-Ray;
• the "Texture Offset" shader tree effect and "Texture Offset Amplitude" now work in V-Ray;
• "U/V Tile Offset" now works in V-Ray;
• the hidden "Matrix 0 0"..."Matrix 2 2" channels now work in V-Ray;
• the hidden "legacyUVRotation" channel now works in V-Ray;
• "World Transforms" checkbox now works in V-Ray (previous behaviour was as if it was always checked);
• "World Coordinates" checkbox now works in V-Ray (previous behaviour was as if it was always unchecked);
• Spherical/Cylindrical projections with Z as the Projection Axis are now applied as in the MODO renderer;
• if "Solid" projection is applied to an "Image map" V-Ray switches to "Cubic" projection like the MODO renderer;

(*) V-Ray Menu: Added commands to remove all V-Ray packages from selected items or from all items under the "Remove package" sub-menu;

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[John_Do]

\o/

Thank you Vladimir, already downloaded and installed !

[Pionier]

Awesome update! Right about time, thank you

[Robert]

These fixes most of my problems.

[1funk]

Thanks Vladimir. There's some nice stuff in this release

[gaia]

thank you Vladimir !

[vladimir.nedev]

Hm, just noticed that I forgot to paste the "Bug fixes" part of the 3.00.06 change-log, so here it is, just for completeness :

Bug fixes:
===========
(*) Crash: Fixed a crash when closing a MODO scene from the "Scene" item context menu, and the newly selected scene has a different VFB state saved in it;
(*) RT CPU: Fixed crashes when modifying some material/shader properties (happened mostly on Mac OS X);
(*) RT GPU: Fixed crashes when modifying any material/shader properties;
(*) UI: Fixed inability to open .lxo files from Finder under Mac OS X because of our VFB window;
(*) UI: Fixed MODO's button-menus not opening when holding the left-mouse button on them under Mac OS X because of our VFB window;
(*) V-Ray Proxy: Fixed the "Convert to V-Ray Proxy" command not outputing preview and material tag information in the vrmesh file;
(*) V-Ray Proxy: Fixed the V-Ray Proxy geometry not being highlighted in the 3D viewport when hovering over it
or when it is selected. Because the MODO API doesn't provide an efficient way to draw the mesh wireframe for selection/hover,
there is a new option called "Selection Outline", which lets you choose what to draw for the selection/hover outline.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[vmodo]

I noticed that at the top of the V-Ray Material there is a Button called "select output material(s)"
What does it do - and how to use it?

regards.

[Margarita.Stoeva]

Hi vmodo

This button is used to direct you to materials that are linked in the schematic Setup. For instance if you have V-Ray Blend Material and a V-Ray Material linked to its Base material node then when you use the "Select output material(s)" button in the V-Ray Material parameters you'll have the V-Ray Blend Material selected and its parameters will be previewed. To complete the cycle, in the V-Ray Blend Material there are similar buttons called "Select input material(s)" that will direct you back. This is just for making it easy finding materials that are not following the Shader tree standard order.

Regards!

[vladimir.nedev]

Yes, like Margarita said, these are for following Schematic material connections.
I added them to try to emulate the similar navigation buttons in Maya/3ds Max which are missing from MODO.
The idea is to be able to quickly go to the sub-material of a blend/2-sided material, edit it and then go back to the blend/2-sided material.
All of this without opening a schematic viewport.
The "(s)" at the end is there, because you might have one material be a sub-material to many blend/2-sided materials, in which case
all of them will be selected.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[vmodo]

Thank you for the clarification and I see the benefits of this button
but for me as a user the label "select output material(s)" is confusing because in MODO outputs in the shader tree are something different.
The second thing that makes it confusing it the fact that the button is always there with out without sub-materials.

It it possible 1. to give it the sub-material feature a Headline that explains what it does.
2. And if he material has no sub-materials instead of the "select output material(s)" button you see something like “empty” or “No Sub-Materials available”

here is a UI Graphic to show what I mean.


regards.

[vladimir.nedev]

I can even hide the button, if the material is not used as a sub-material. Maybe that would be better ?
And add a tool-tip, instead of the roll-out in your screen-shot, explaining what the purpose of the button is.

By the way, when you modify attribute sheets, like in your screen-shot, any modifications that I make to them,
you won't see. So you may have to remove your own modifications from the main MODO .cfg file, or reset it
completely.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[vmodo]

the tool-tip is actually a better idea than the roll-out.

BTW: the example UI Graphic was done in photoshop

regards.

[vladimir.nedev]

the tool-tip is actually a better idea than the roll-out.

BTW: the example UI Graphic was done in photoshop

regards.

I've made the "Select input material(s)" and "Select output material(s)" buttons hide when they won't do anything (i.e. there are no relevant Schematic connections).
I've also added tool-tips for both of them.
These changes will be in the 2015-05-16 nightly build, as well as in the 3.00.07 open beta build.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[rasskass]

Is it possible to use texture maps (images) with the beacon tile texture? For instance having a group of photos that then is randomly used within the tiling to create realstic brick wall from photos?

A small guide would be awsome. And a shaderball would be an extremely nice feature in the future