Some features

[BVA]

Hi Vladimir

1. Will deferred meshes be supported soon by vray?
2. Is there a way you can add the option to save the light cash and irradiance map after a render is completed or cancelled? (similar to max)

[vladimir.nedev]

1. Will deferred meshes be supported soon by vray?

I can try using the new Render Cache API to get them, but I hear it doesn't work with them. In any case using Deferred meshes will be less efficient
compared to using V-Ray Proxies. This will be most apparent when using DR, as the .vrmesh files can be cached on the render slaves, whereas
the Deferred meshes will be exported/sent across the network each time you start a render.

Is there a reason (beside using the same scene for MODO renderer/V-Ray) that makes you prefer the Deferred mesh over the V-Ray Proxy ?

2. Is there a way you can add the option to save the light cash and irradiance map after a render is completed or cancelled? (similar to max)

Yes, it is possible, and not that hard, but I haven't had the time to look at it. Hopefully soon.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[BVA]

No, I tested a scene that had deferred meshes, so I thought it might be good to keep. But I think you are right, proxies will work better. I don't think you need to worry to support deferred meshes (on my behalf at least)
The option to save the pre-passes is something I used a lot. Often under very tight deadlines, if I realize I will not have enough time to render the full res image I will save the pre-passes created with the draft and just use them.

[vladimir.nedev]

2. Is there a way you can add the option to save the light cash and irradiance map after a render is completed or cancelled? (similar to max)

I've added this for tomorrow's nightly build (the one from 2015-08-11).
By the way, isn't it possible to just set the "Autosave filename" before starting the render, this will make V-Ray save the map always.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[BVA]

THANKS Vladimir!

I know this is probably not the most important feature for most people but for me it did save me a LOT of times. Always under huge pressure to deliver a deadline .... for instance if the render get stuck on one bucket that takes for ever I will cancel the gi pass and just save the passes and start the render again, or often after a draft I will reload the low res gi and render full res if I see it is taking too long and I will not make the deadline. It is not something I use everyday on all jobs but it is a lifesaver under pressure if things go wrong!

[nboyan]

Hi Vladi,

One more feature : should be very nice to have a shutdown + save scene when the render finish.

1. button or option check box, ->
2. Save scene -> Start Rendering -> Shutdown system when the render finish (for ex. 300 s.)
Some option can be add also as like sync with working days/weeks/hours and ect.
I believe that many people will be glad to have it .

[vladimir.nedev]

Hi Vladi,

One more feature : should be very nice to have a shutdown + save scene when the render finish.

1. button or option check box, ->
2. Save scene -> Start Rendering -> Shutdown system when the render finish (for ex. 300 s.)
Some option can be add also as like sync with working days/weeks/hours and ect.
I believe that many people will be glad to have it .

I think something like this will be better suited for user python scripting.
There are a lot of things you might want to do.
If we try to account for all of them to suit all users, it will become very complex.

For example, this simple Python script will save the scene, render with V-Ray and then shutdown MODO,
of course you need to have your Output file specified in the "Final color output" of the scene, so the rendered image is saved somewhere :

import lx;

lx.eval("scene.save all");
lx.eval("vray.render");
lx.eval("app.quit");

If you want the render to take exactly 300s, you can switch to the "Progressive" sampler and set the "max render time" to 5minutes.
This can be added to the script as well.

You can probably trigger a shutdown of the whole PC after MODO quits. I don't know how to do that though.
Including something like that in our code seems dangerous, as it can lead to lost work.
I really hate it when Windows decides to restart itself on its own after an update.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[vladimir.nedev]

1. Will deferred meshes be supported soon by vray?

It turns out that support for the "Deferred Mesh" has been added to the Render Cache in MODO 901 SP2.
So, in tomorrow's nightly build (2015-10-10), V-Ray for MODO will support deferred meshes, as long as "Use Render Cache" is enabled in the global V-Ray preferences.
If "Use Render Cache" is OFF or the MODO version is not 901 SP2 or later, V-Ray for MODO will show whatever the deferred mesh's OpenGL preview is showing.

Again, there are two main issues with the deferred mesh which are not present with the V-Ray proxy:
- its geometry needs to be exported each time a rendering (or RT) is started, which can be slow for large meshes
- its geometry becomes part of the vrscene transferred to render slaves, which needs to be done each time rendering is started, whereas the .vrmesh files can be cached on the render slaves in-between renders

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[7enith]

Hello Vladimir,

- the Filter Settings inside the Shader Tree don´t seem to be taking Vray Materials into account. Can they be added?
- a small customizable Shaderball Scene inside the vfb would be neat. It would help very much for creating and editing materials on the fly.
- Volumetrics under the light tab don´t seem to work


thank you again for your hard work!

all the best
christian

[vladimir.nedev]

- the Filter Settings inside the Shader Tree don´t seem to be taking Vray Materials into account. Can they be added?

I don't think I can fix this. The filter on materials doesn't work for MODO's own custom materials (the ones from Add Layer -> Custom Materials, like Halftone material for example).
You need to report this as a bug to The Foundry.

- a small customizable Shaderball Scene inside the vfb would be neat. It would help very much for creating and editing materials on the fly.

Yes, I am considering doing something like this, but not as part of the VFB. It will be only for MODO 901 and a separate "view-port" that you can dock where you want.
I am thinking it can have options to preview:
- the currently selected texture only
- the texture effect of the currently selected texture (for example diffuse color or glossiness)
- the material within the currently selected material mask

- Volumetrics under the light tab don´t seem to work

We won't be adding these for now. You can specify a list of lights in the V-Ray Environment Fog, if you want only certain lights to affect the fog.
This has the benefit of working with area lights. The MODO volumetric options are not available for area lights.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[jonmoore]

Yes, I am considering doing something like this, but not as part of the VFB. It will be only for MODO 901 and a separate "view-port" that you can dock where you want.
I am thinking it can have options to preview:
- the currently selected texture only
- the texture effect of the currently selected texture (for example diffuse color or glossiness)
- the material within the currently selected material mask

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

This sounds very useful but you may find it useful to adapt the Richard Yot 'Uberball' scene that ships with 901 in the library. I can ask Richard if he's cool with this.

The Uberball scene is nicely rigged so you can alter preview geometry and lighting set-ups on the fly through viewport HUD's. It will probably be a fairly simple process to get it to function properly with V-Ray.

[janko22]

I am thinking it can have options to preview:
- the currently selected texture only
- the texture effect of the currently selected texture (for example diffuse color or glossiness)
- the material within the currently selected material mask

It would be really useful if you could implement these features also in a regular scene preview.

[vladimir.nedev]

This sounds very useful but you may find it useful to adapt the Richard Yot 'Uberball' scene that ships with 901 in the library. I can ask Richard if he's cool with this.

The Uberball scene is nicely rigged so you can alter preview geometry and lighting set-ups on the fly through viewport HUD's. It will probably be a fairly simple process to get it to function properly with V-Ray.

The Uberball scene already works with V-Ray for MODO, for the most part.
The preview I am talking about will probably load a vrscene though, and won't allow modifying anything within the loaded scene.
Might add options to choose between different preset scenes.
It will be similar to a Max/Maya swatch.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[vladimir.nedev]

It would be really useful if you could implement these features also in a regular scene preview.

What do you mean by "regular scene preview" ? Do you mean RT rendering ?
What happens to the objects that don't have the particular texture/material ?
They don't get rendered at all ? Like a render mask ?

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[janko22]

Yes RT rendering.
Modo's preview has this functuon that if you modify certain material it doesn't update the whole scene, just the selected material. It may not be correct with GI / reflections but it's great for tweaking something and later doing full preview.
Maybe you can make it that it begins rendering the whole scene and after a certains pass you can concentrate only on selected material. Something like update under mouse but per selected material.