I've Got 10 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

[mjm223]

I, like many others, was counting the days until the new version of VRay came out. As soon as that timer expired, I downloaded the new version and was thrilled to try out the new features. But, to my disappointment, I've been met with numerous problems that have made it virtually impossible for me to get any decent renderings out. Listed below are a bunch of things that I've noticed and would like some help solving. At this point, I cannot render anything for clients until I get these issues solved.

If you know the solution to any of these problems below, I'd be more than grateful to hear them. (And, no, there aren't 99 problems listed, but there still are quite a few.)

1. Everytime I open SketchUp, a prompt appears saying the following:

"Error Loading File VRayForSketchup.rb
127: The specified procedure could not be found. - C:/Program Files/Google/Google SketchUp 7/Plugins/VRayForSketchUp/VRayForSketchUp.so"

Does anyone know what this means, and, if necessary, what must be done to fix it?

2. Everytime I open the new DR Spawner I get the following message:

"'import site' failed; use -v for traceback
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\ ASGVIS\Python26\Lib\site-packages\Ft\Lib\__init__-py:47: DepreciationWarning: functions overriding warnings. showwarning<> must support the 'line' argument
self.message = messages[errorCode] % msgargs"

...and then a whole bunch of other stuff that looks the same until the very end when it says:
"Successfully initialized spawner. Waiting for jobs..."

Is this normal?

3. The light cache calcualtion time has greatly increased. I usually keep the default settings for the light cache, but calculation times have been much longer on this newer veriosn. On the old version, if the light cache calculation took about 30 seconds, it would take about 2 minutes on the newer version. And if the light cache calculation took 20 minutes on the old version, it would take over 2 hours on the new version. Are there any settings from the default settings that I must change to speed this up?

4. There's no longer an option to set "Low Thread Priority" in the Global Settengs tab. Has this been changed?

5. When using DR, if I open a new program (such as Word or Internet Explorer) while rendering, the cores from my computer disappear (the cores from the slave computers stay, though). As soon as I close the program I just opened, the cores return to the frame buffer.

What's the deal with that? Does this mean I can no longer run multiple programs while rendering?

6. When I save a scene as a jpeg, it won't save. I mean, I'll save it as a jpeg, but when I open the folder where I saved it, the jpeg is not there. It's almost like it disappears right after I save it. Only the png files stay after I save them. How can I save as other image formats? Specifically jpeg, tiff, and pdf.

7. In the DR Settings in the System tab, there's no longer an option to A) Send to each Node or B) Send to a Shared Folder. Whenever I use DR, I typically like to send all the data to a shared folder for the slave computers to access. Can I still do this on the new version?

8. The Material Preview is very slow. So far, I've only been able to preview one material (a flat green material with no added layers). Everytime I try to preview another material, the computer stalls and in the end I still get the red "X" in my preview box. I've even gotten a few Bug Splats while trying to view the preview. No matter how simple the material is, I can't preview it (except for that first time).

9. Whenever I try to apply any material to the VRay Infinite Plane and render, the render comes out completely black. Does anyone know why?

10. I cry in my sleep. Is that normal? :P

[andeciuala]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

At least you can render with drspwner on a network renderm when i tri the slave get an error and close the drspawner, maby becouse i am using the trial version..., i cant test the others things befor purchasing it, becouse i'm stocked there¢

[andeciuala]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

Almost forgot, the first error you are geting, becouse you did not unistalled the other version, try to unistall both and than install only the new one

[rmsnmz_cg]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

I am getting most of the problems listed here. And, I have been also counting the days for this new version to come out. Now I already uninstalled the new version and went back to the older one. I know the people at the ASGVIS working hard for the new Vray but at the moment it really feels like a Beta version not even a RC...

Here are the three main problems that specifically keep me away from the new version;

1- INCREASED rendering time and INCREASED parsing time. A file could take 7 minutes to render with older version and the very same file takes 45 minutes in the new one. Also, parsing time two or three times longer than the previous version. (Not to mention that a lot of times it just doesn't start rendering at all) -Is there anything I do wrong here?-

2- DR Spawner... I was able get it worked at least half of the time I tried but there is a bigger problem in our office. We have couple of people with SketchUp and a number of people with Rhino who are using the SAME DrSpawner in our Rendering Servers all the time. This was just a breeze before as Rhino and Sketchup actually use the same DRSpawner. But the new version doesn't work with the current Rhino Vray at the moment and it crashes all the time. If there was a way to run old DrSpawner and the new one at the same time, it probably would have solved it, but at the moment we couldn't find anyway to get around. (Is there any solutions for this?)

3-Occasional tiling when you open a file created with previous version of Vray. This is particularly annoying as I really don't want to spent my time at work re-tiling the materials in SketchUp's tedious material mapping procedures.

[thomthom]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

regarding the rendering time. I've only seen shorter parsing and rendering time. With one exception, when the lights have not been converted properly from an old scene and I've ended up with an overexposed scene - then the render time has increased.
Do you see any indication that your scene might have ended up overexposed?

[dkendig]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

INCREASED rendering time and INCREASED parsing time. A file could take 7 minutes to render with older version and the very same file takes 45 minutes in the new one. Also, parsing time two or three times longer than the previous version. (Not to mention that a lot of times it just doesn't start rendering at all) -Is there anything I do wrong here?-

Parsing time is the time between clicking the render button, and the VFB popping up. This should not be confused with render time, which happens AFTER the VFB pops up. Increased render time could be due to some bad default render options (we're still trying to hunt this down), or by the current issue with transparency. The parsing time should not be longer than the previous version though. Keep in mind that now we take advantage of components and groups, so you no longer have to do the workaround where you apply materials directly to the face of the geometry. In fact, doing this workaround will most likely increase the parsing time, rather than decrease it.

[mjm223]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

3-Occasional tiling when you open a file created with previous version of Vray. This is particularly annoying as I really don't want to spent my time at work re-tiling the materials in SketchUp's tedious material mapping procedures.

This was an issue that I had forgotten to add to my list, but due to past work experiences I've developed a workaround for this. It takes a lot of patience and storage space, though.

The last version of Vray (v1.05.30) had this same issue, but only with models I've imported from Google's 3D Warehouse. But it annoyed me enough that I created a library with all of the materials from SU's material list (except for stuff I'd never use, like solid colors and sketchy materials). Everytime I'd edit the scale or color of a SU material, I'd save a new copy of it in my library. That way, if ever Vray changed the scale or color of my material, I'd just change the diffuse layer to the image that I have already saved in my library.

While in SketchUp, go to your materials window and select a material that's already in your model. Now click on the Edit tab. In the Texture section, click on a little folder icon and it'll open a window where the jpegs and pngs of all of your SU materials are stored.

I simply copied and pasted all of these materials into my library, which can be accessed by all of my slave computers as well. Now, whenever Vray distorts one of my materials, I can just go to the Vray Material Editor and change the diffuse layer to that same image that's saved in my library.

I hope this helps a little

[mjm223]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

By the way, I still haven't found any solutions for Problems 4-9. Can anyone help me out?

[dkendig]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

4. There's no longer an option to set "Low Thread Priority" in the Global Settengs tab. Has this been changed?

Confirmed, this is missing.

5. When using DR, if I open a new program (such as Word or Internet Explorer) while rendering, the cores from my computer disappear (the cores from the slave computers stay, though). As soon as I close the program I just opened, the cores return to the frame buffer.

What's the deal with that? Does this mean I can no longer run multiple programs while rendering?

Well right now there's a bug with DR obtaining a valid license, so... DR doesn't work at all unless you have a local license on the machine that's running DR... So I'm confused about how you got this to work at all... Are you running the DR spawner on your workstation that is also running V-Ray for SketchUp? Or are you running the DR spawner on separate computers being used as render nodes?... I'm very confused.

6. When I save a scene as a jpeg, it won't save. I mean, I'll save it as a jpeg, but when I open the folder where I saved it, the jpeg is not there. It's almost like it disappears right after I save it. Only the png files stay after I save them. How can I save as other image formats? Specifically jpeg, tiff, and pdf.

Oddly enough, it seems you need to type the file extension when saving from the VFB... but not if you choose png... very strange...

7. In the DR Settings in the System tab, there's no longer an option to A) Send to each Node or B) Send to a Shared Folder. Whenever I use DR, I typically like to send all the data to a shared folder for the slave computers to access. Can I still do this on the new version?

You will be able to after we roll out this next patch.

8. The Material Preview is very slow. So far, I've only been able to preview one material (a flat green material with no added layers). Everytime I try to preview another material, the computer stalls and in the end I still get the red "X" in my preview box. I've even gotten a few Bug Splats while trying to view the preview. No matter how simple the material is, I can't preview it (except for that first time).

I have never heard of that one... Has anyone else had extremely long material previews? You said there's a red "X"? I've never seen a red X. There's the default image that should be shown that has a gray X and a default material preview that's also grayed out. Very strange indeed. By the way, are you using a non-English installation of windows? (I'm assuming you're running windows, based on the error messages you've posted)

9. Whenever I try to apply any material to the VRay Infinite Plane and render, the render comes out completely black. Does anyone know why?

What about if you leave the infinite plane with the default material applied to it, does the scene still render black?

[mjm223]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

Confirmed, this is missing.

Hmm, that might explain why my computer gets so bogged down when i render. Or better yet, it might explain why the rendering cores disappear when I open a new program.

Well right now there's a bug with DR obtaining a valid license, so... DR doesn't work at all unless you have a local license on the machine that's running DR... So I'm confused about how you got this to work at all... Are you running the DR spawner on your workstation that is also running V-Ray for SketchUp? Or are you running the DR spawner on separate computers being used as render nodes?... I'm very confused.

I have a local license. When I use DR, I run the DR Spawner on two other computers that I have in the office. Once the frame buffer appears, the cores from all the computers (both slaves and master) start rendering the prepass phases, which is normal so far. But if I open a new program (such as Word, Excel, or Internet Explorer) on any of the computers, the cores from that computer disappear from the frame buffer. But as soon as close the program, the cores reappear on the frame buffer.

Oddly enough, it seems you need to type the file extension when saving from the VFB... but not if you choose png... very strange...

Yep, that's it. That is very strange, but it's good to know there's a workaround for it.

I have never heard of that one... Has anyone else had extremely long material previews? You said there's a red "X"? I've never seen a red X. There's the default image that should be shown that has a gray X and a default material preview that's also grayed out. Very strange indeed. By the way, are you using a non-English installation of windows? (I'm assuming you're running windows, based on the error messages you've posted)

It probably is a grey 'X'. It looks kinda reddish on my screen, but that could be because of the screen quality. In any case, whenever I click to view a preview, it changes from that 'X' into a white box, then "renders" back into that 'X' image again. I'm using an English installation of Windows XP.

What about if you leave the infinite plane with the default material applied to it, does the scene still render black?

If I leave it with the default material then it's fine. It looks like the cause for the blackness is because I had applied a displacement layer to the material that was applied to the infinite plane. Are we not allowed to do that?

[thomthom]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

Infinite planes doesn't have UV co-ordinates. So maps doesn't really work well. Best to keep materials for infinite panes in a solid colour.

In any case, displacing an infinite plane is asking for trouble. If you displace a large single face, then you eat up memory eventually. Large faces being displaced should be divided into smaller ones to prevent it eating up your RAM.

[dkendig]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

UVWGenPlanarWorld should be used for any materials using textures that will be applied to the Infinite Plane object in the scene. Then in the settings for the UVWGenPlanarWorld, change the repeat value to something a bit smaller (remember, a smaller repeat value means that the texture will be repeated less times over the infinite surface, so it will appear larger), something like .1 for a repeat value should do it. Remember you need to change that repeat value for x, y, and z, not just one or the other.

[Constable lord Falklaroy]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

10. I cry in my sleep. Is that normal?

Sir, I would say that if you cry, it should be because you are so very pleased with the jolly good job you did the day before.

[mjm223]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

10. I cry in my sleep. Is that normal?

Sir, I would say that if you cry, it should be because you are so very pleased with the jolly good job you did the day before.

That's what my therapist tells me ;D

[stevebo]

Re: I've Got 99 Problems...(New VRay v1.48.66)

Hey guys.

I realise that this is quite an old topic but the problem regarding the light cache being much slower hasn't been addressed and I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this? I'm starting to experience this problem also now.

Thanks