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Users regularly need to stop and to restart the live preview VFB hundreds of times every day, in order to reliably preview V-Ray changes made. However, every time the VFB is restarted, the VFB window needlessly loses its window position, its window size, and its zoom level.
To bring these back, in addition to having to stop the the live preview VFB (first action) and to restart the VFB (second action), the user also has to locate the new repositioned VFB window (third action), and often maximize it (fourth action), and rezoom its contents (fifth action) to match the previous VFB window state.
Multiply this by hundreds of VFB restarts every day, and it quickly amounts to a task that is, shall we say, less than glamourous.
● Could you please make the V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB) always remember and keep its window state, such as size, position, zoom level etc,when restarted? This should work on several monitors.
● Also, it would be a good idea to add a restart button on the VFB, right next to the start and stop buttons. That way, the user will only have to click once in order to restart. If the VFB can be forced to synchronize with current V-Ray settings in some other way, a full VFB restart may not be technically necessary. In any case, the idea is to be able to make sure that the VFB correctly reflects the current V-Ray settings in one single user action. Maybe this is already somehow possible?
● There currently are several V-Ray settings that do not reliably propagate to the live preview VFB. These include changing the custom gamma value of dome light HDR bitmaps, enabling material displacement textures, making certain normal map changes, and other settings as well. Moreover, it is not clear which V-Ray changes are propagated, and which are not. To be sure that the VFB correctly reflects the current V-Ray state, the user will have to restart the VFB. Which in its turn introduces the problems described above. So fixing the partially broken live preview bridge would mitigate a lot of problems. This possibly is more work for Chaos Group, so the first two suggestions above would be a good start, and should be relatively quicker to implement.
Seasoned users typically use multiple monitors, with the native 3D modeler viewport on one screen, and the VFB on another. So the suggested VFB window state retention should work on multiple monitors, as long as these monitors are present. It should also be kept across sessions, i.e. after a 3D modeler restart.
To sum up:
1) Please make the VFB always remember its window state (size, position, zoom level, everything) when restarted, across multiple monitors, across multiple 3D modeler sessions
2) Please add a restart or force sync button to the live preview VFB, next to the start and stop buttons at the upper right corner
3) Please fix the underlying problem and make all V-Ray setting changes reliably propagate to the live preview VFB
We are using Windows 10 v1903; Sketchup 2019.2; and the latest public V-Ray Next for Sketchup build, being vray_edu_40002_sketchup_win.exe, on multiple monitors.
How about it?
To bring these back, in addition to having to stop the the live preview VFB (first action) and to restart the VFB (second action), the user also has to locate the new repositioned VFB window (third action), and often maximize it (fourth action), and rezoom its contents (fifth action) to match the previous VFB window state.
Multiply this by hundreds of VFB restarts every day, and it quickly amounts to a task that is, shall we say, less than glamourous.
● Could you please make the V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB) always remember and keep its window state, such as size, position, zoom level etc,when restarted? This should work on several monitors.
● Also, it would be a good idea to add a restart button on the VFB, right next to the start and stop buttons. That way, the user will only have to click once in order to restart. If the VFB can be forced to synchronize with current V-Ray settings in some other way, a full VFB restart may not be technically necessary. In any case, the idea is to be able to make sure that the VFB correctly reflects the current V-Ray settings in one single user action. Maybe this is already somehow possible?
● There currently are several V-Ray settings that do not reliably propagate to the live preview VFB. These include changing the custom gamma value of dome light HDR bitmaps, enabling material displacement textures, making certain normal map changes, and other settings as well. Moreover, it is not clear which V-Ray changes are propagated, and which are not. To be sure that the VFB correctly reflects the current V-Ray state, the user will have to restart the VFB. Which in its turn introduces the problems described above. So fixing the partially broken live preview bridge would mitigate a lot of problems. This possibly is more work for Chaos Group, so the first two suggestions above would be a good start, and should be relatively quicker to implement.
Seasoned users typically use multiple monitors, with the native 3D modeler viewport on one screen, and the VFB on another. So the suggested VFB window state retention should work on multiple monitors, as long as these monitors are present. It should also be kept across sessions, i.e. after a 3D modeler restart.
To sum up:
1) Please make the VFB always remember its window state (size, position, zoom level, everything) when restarted, across multiple monitors, across multiple 3D modeler sessions
2) Please add a restart or force sync button to the live preview VFB, next to the start and stop buttons at the upper right corner
3) Please fix the underlying problem and make all V-Ray setting changes reliably propagate to the live preview VFB
We are using Windows 10 v1903; Sketchup 2019.2; and the latest public V-Ray Next for Sketchup build, being vray_edu_40002_sketchup_win.exe, on multiple monitors.
How about it?
