Pierre's stuff ( Modo / V-Ray )

[John_Do]

Hey guys,

Here is a topic where I'll share stuff I've created to improve my workflow in V-Ray and Modo.

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MODO Development window

The first thing is a modified version of the command history window, which imho lacks of some functions when dealing with UI and scripting.

[boyan]

Pierre, I like it.

[John_Do]

Thanks Boyan ! I hope it will be useful to you.

[John_Do]

I finally managed to finish my own version of a toolbar for the VFB.

More work than expected but this one will save you few clicks at least.

- Render buttons

I have reordered the render buttons in a way that I find more logical : GPU is apart since it's a different render engine, and CPU/RT are side-by-side since it's the same engine, delivering same results. Alternative command gives access to RT settings and other render options like Standalone or Cloud.




- RT options

RT buttons are here but hidden when render is not running. There is also Enhance Regions, Render Selected and Texture Isolate buttons. This last one has 2 functions : click to preview the active texture layer, Alt-click to preview the effect related to the active texture layer.



- Camera Settings

There is a shortcut to camera related settings, like image resolution, camera resolution, and few settings extracted from the V-Ray Physical Camera package. Also a shortcut to access to the standard properties palette.




- Render Settings

In the same way, there is a palette with few useful settings from the render engine.


- Render Elements

Last functions are : a unified DR button, if like me you're using DR both for RT and Production and are tired to go to Prefs everytime you want to enable it, you'll love it ( and it's not showed here but Alt-click open a pop-up to fine tune the DR settings ) and a Render Elements menu, to batch-add/delete some specific categories of RE. Also a button to render without time consuming effects and get your ID / Matte faster.

[John_Do]

I've just updated my Gumroad with the kit, I suggest you to download it from there if you want to be notified about the updates ( and there will be some ).

https://gumroad.com/l/vraytoolbar

But if you're really too scary that I could spam you, I drop the archive here too.

[DUB]_V-Ray_Toolbar_1.0.5.zip


SETUP

Here is how to show it in Modo. I suggest you to put it in place of the VFB like the setup below, but you are free to plug it in any viewport in the same way.

[1funk]

Looks good Pierre. It has a few similarities to my own The only issue is, I dont see any obvious way to open the window

EDIT: OK I manually created a window then selected your DUB Vray frame buffer viewport preset, but your customview doesnt show the VFB. The toolbar is OK though.

[John_Do]

Thank you funk. Yep, there is no icon by purpose, I didn't want to waste space in the already very congested top bar.

You can open the VFB and replace the layout by this one [DUB] - V-Ray Frame Buffer ( so it replaces the VFB and takes it cookie ) or in your case you can just create an empty palette and choose [DUB] V-Ray Toolbar to test it.

I don't have tested it extensively, so I would be grateful if you report any bug you may encounter.

[Robert]

That look nice. I will check it out.

[wireframeX]

Merci beaucoup Pierre

[John_Do]

I've just updated the files both on the forum and on Gumroad.

I fixed the VFB referencing ( thanks to 1funk ), so now when you choose my Frame Buffer in the viewport list, it will show the V-Ray VFB regardless of it's previous or current location in the Modo window.

I have also added a button to load in one click some Render Elements that I use in every scene. You can't change what RE for now but I'll work on this.

[John_Do]

If like me you have to use an other 3d package from time to time, you maybe miss the realtime material preview aka the material sphere.

I've shamelessly did a remake of the Corona one used in C4D. I love the simplicity of the setup.








You can use a HDRI as the light source, even if I don't provide one for legal reasons.


coronac4d_mat_scene.zip

[1funk]

Thanks for sharing Pierre

[John_Do]

Two Modo .lxp presets I use a lot these days.

Fresnel Generator



This preset allow you to control precisely the value of a Fresnel Curve. Set the IOR in the V-Ray Falloff texture or play with front / side values ( = color 1 / color 2 ) in V-Ray Mix. The cool feature is the ability to control the width of the grazing angle value, by playing with Transition Lower and Transition Upper. Useful to fake sheen on cloth, or an angle based glossiness, or else a complex IOR look.

Fake/Artistic Complex IOR

This one is a simple gradient predefined as a vmtl Reflection Color with a Screen blend mode. So you just have to load on top of the V-Ray Material or the Reflection Color layers, without forgetting to disable Fresnel Reflections, and you get a nice mirror like reflections at grazing angle, easily tweakable to your taste through the gradient values. Not as accurate as an OSL layer but way more flexible.




modo_fresnel_presets.zip

[wireframeX]

Thanks a lot Pierre for sharing this

[John_Do]

A quick form experiment, trying to boost a little bit material creation. I love the shader tree but these damn lists... material creation workflow is really too slow.




Alt-A : Add V-Ray Material
Alt-S : Add Texture ( the ones I use the most )

The shortcuts works only in Shader Tree, they don't interfer with other contexts.

I have packed the form and shortcuts in one config file, but haven't tested it, please tell me if it works for you.


vray.st.context_add.zip



INSTALLATION

- Just drop the .cfg file in the User Script folder