V-Ray for Modo default settings

[vladimir.nedev]

Thanks for these defaults Vladimir.
I also like the resize RT button, that is something that always bugged me

Hopefully this will also make the RT renders clear up faster, as previously it was very easy to start it in some huge resolution, which slows it down a lot.

By the way, I hadn't realized it until recently, but the "Min shading rate" in the "Image sampler" affects RT CPU as well.
Increasing it to something like 6 or 10, can speed-up RT CPU on scenes where a lot of the noise comes from GI/area lights.
The paths per pixel will actually decrease when "Min shading rate" is increased, but the image will clear faster, as each path does more work.
Increasing the "Min shading rate" decreases the ratio of camera to shading rays, making RT more efficient when clearing noise from GI/area lights/material glossiness but less efficient for clearing noise from DOF/motion blur.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[1funk]

The resized RT is great. Thanks for the extra tips too. I'll have to try it out

[jonmoore]

Great tips there Vladimir. Cheers.

[vladimir.nedev]

Hi,

I would like to add my contribution to this topic. Is it possible to add the "Divide shading subdivs" settings to the preferences panel of V-Ray ? Because it's annoying to have to go to the very bottom of the render item's Channel List every time I render a new scene.

And like my mates, I don't like to have to go to the channel list to tweak some advanced settings. I totally understand the decision and it's fine for beginners and new users. But for advanced users who like tweak all the settings one by one, and I think they are numerous since Grant Warwick's Mastering V-ray, it's quite annoying.

So, I discovered there is an option to display settings on 3 levels in the Form Editor, depending of the complexity of the setting, called "proficiency level". Is it possible to use this feature to make everyone happy ?

For today's nightly build ( 2015-11-17 ) I've added a "DMC Sampler" roll-out just under the "Image Sampler" roll-out.
Right now it is visible at all times, as I didn't want to delay adding these options any further.
But eventually it will use the "Proficiency level" under MODO 901 and later, and will be visible only when "Advanced" proficiency is selected.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[John_Do]

Great ! Thank you Vladimir.

[vladimir.nedev]

For tomorrow's nightly build ( the one from 2016.04.06 ), I have updated the V-Ray render settings default values to better match the defaults in V-Ray for 3ds Max and Maya 3.3.
Most of the settings now match V-Ray for 3ds Max 3.3, only a few (Photon Map, Caustics) are taken from V-Ray for Maya.

Here is the list of changes (it is in the change log as well). The format below is : "parameter: old_value -> new_value".

- Image Sampler

Sampler Type: Adaptive -> Progressive
Min shading rate: 2 -> 6
Adaptive max subdivs: 4 -> 24
Progressive noise threshold: 0.0 -> 0.005
AA filter type: Area -> Lanczos
AA filter size: 1.5 - > 2.0

- DMC Sampler

Use local subdivs: on -> off

- Global options - advanced

GI texture filtering multiplier: 1.0 -> 5.0
Enable probabilistic volumetrics: off -> on (direct samples 5->8, GI samples 5->3)

- GI

GI enabled: off -> on
Reflective caustics: off -> on
Ray distance: 100km -> 1m
AO radius: 10m -> 10cm (this much lower value makes more sense, considering the AO is supposed to be used for corner definition)

- Irradiance map

Calc. interp. samples: 15 -> 10 (preset: Custom -> High)

- Photon map

Search distance: 10m -> 10cm
Auto save: off -> on

- Caustics

Max photons: 30 -> 60
Search distance: 10m -> 0m (infinite)
Auto save: off -> on

- RT - Performance and Memory

GPU Ray bundle: 256 -> 192
GPU Rays per pixel: 16 -> 8

- RT - Stop Conditions

Max. noise: 0.0 -> 0.005

- Production - raycast acceleration

face/level coef.: 2.0 -> 1.0

The most notable are:
Sampler Type: Adaptive -> Progressive
Adaptive max subdivs: 4 -> 24
Progressive noise threshold: 0.0 -> 0.005
Use local subdivs: on -> off
GI enabled: off -> on
Reflective caustics: off -> on

Since these values will affect old scenes, where the particular channel wasn't changed (and thus was using the default value),
you might need to modify your scenes to make them render as before.

Note that the reflective caustics affect the render even if GI is disabled (they are basically glossy reflections seen in other glossy reflections).
Although they have been improved a lot for the 3.3 core, they still might introduce additional noise, so if you don't care for the added realism, you might want to disable them for faster renders/less noise.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[vandigital]

Good stuff alot of those things I do already so it will be nice to not have to worry anymore about changing them.

[kubbek]

I am not convinced with the move to progressive sampler but other than that I like this changes. Thank you!

[vladimir.nedev]

I am not convinced with the move to progressive sampler but other than that I like this changes. Thank you!

I was just thinking about that.
Currently the Progressive sampler is setup for preview (max render time is 1 minute), whereas the Adaptive sampler is pretty much setup for final rendering.
But you already have V-Ray RT for doing previews.

Eventually, the light cache will be disabled for RT though (like in Max/Maya), and then using the Progressive sampler first to preview the GI with light cache and then switching to Adaptive for the final render (or increasing the Progressive Max.render time) will be a possible workflow.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[BVA]

I am not convinced with the move to progressive sampler but other than that I like this changes. Thank you!

I have to agree. Using RT for prelims and adaptive for renders works really nice for me. Otherwise, I like the new defaults.