...what's the status?

[kwistenbiebel1]

Hi all,
I was just wondering when we could expect an update on the vray beta.
All is getting so quiet here lately.

[Jean-Paul Paloux_cg]

...what's the status?

you've got one 5 days ago...

[kwistenbiebel1]

...what's the status?

you've got one 5 days ago...

oops, it didn't make myself clear.
I didn't mean a new beta, just some info on the things that are being dealt with by the developers.
In the mean time, we already got some info from dalomar in another thread,so this thread just is...dated

[fluke73]

...what's the status?

I agree... the thread is kinda slow. But i guess we have to try out the software more. And contribute with tips and tricks, renders and our own experience with it. Come on all sketchup/vray fans!!

[joe_b]

...what's the status?

I can give you guys a little update. We were out of the office on Friday for a corporate meeting - and it was a busy weekend so I apologize for the lack of response on the board.

I've been working very hard to redesign how our materials work in VfS as a response to a tricky reaction between refractive materials and our 2-sided material setup. So I've been pulling some things that were "behind the scenes" so they would be accesible to our users directly. So when I'm done users will be able to create 2-sided shaders directly, which will remove the necessity to choose whether to apply/create on a particular side or not. Now if you want to make a 2sided shader you just will make a 2sided shader instead of us doing it implicitly behind the scenes. Naturally this big of a change is taking my full attention and a decent amount of time. I've also taken a look at some of the other issues that have been brought up ( slowdowns, problems with linked materials, bump materials, etc )

I hope this reassures you guys that there is a great deal of progress going on, even if it has been a bit quiet

[corey]

...what's the status?

So- on top of what Joe has said. Things like materials tutorials and associated help files are kind of on hold at the moment. The frame work for our tutorials got blown out of the water because of our changes to the material application. I have now re-planned the video tutorials. If all goes well I will record the tutorials tomorrow. We also have a few users who are going to help make a few online tutorials.

We also are making a bunch of preset materials with associated textures. Hopefull our material creation changes will like these new materials...otherwise we'll have to remake those....

Anyway- we are listening here and in other forums to what you all are commenting on...UI, Materials, Lights, render presets, etc. It's just some changes are a little more time consuming than others. Although we all wish it to be as easy as making revisions to an image in photoshop, it's not.

So hopefully we do not loose your interest!

Best regards,

Corey

[kwistenbiebel1]

...what's the status?

Now that's an update!
Thanks guys.

[KELPER]

...what's the status?

Hi to all:

I've seen the potential of VRAY in MAX, and if you can duplicate and modify to work easy as sketchup (in Sketchup), you will make millions, like Google...
Please take a little more care of Sketchup, because the easy way to create 3D makes people crazy to BUY IT. I am part of Google and I develop Marketing for the company. I can give you a good advise, they are 3 companies to work now on development of VIRTUAL RENDER for Sketchup, Vray, Podium (ex Sketchup) and RAY TRACE....Podium is the little guy to lunch on December 12, Ray trace still working....I hope because of the price and the results you are the best....

We conduct a Test and ask the customers around the world what you think and need for sketchup, 98% ask for an easy way to produce a professional Render...

I think that's the easy way....

[joe_b]

...what's the status?

Please take a little more care of Sketchup...

What do you mean by that?

We appreciate any ideas / insight you may have to offer us. Thanks

[fluke73]

...what's the status?

joeb: What i think KELPER means is that there is a spirit in the guys who created Sketchup to make things simple and easy for everyone to use. I think that's what both me and KELPER wants to shine through to the VfS.

For example: if someone uses 3DS max there are tons of settings and knobs and you can do just about anything - then add vray and you got even more settings to fiddle with. This is good for "that kind of user".

For me, (and probably others) Sketchup is just enough and don't want to go and use all the powerfull 3DS Max tools, because Sketchup gives me those tools i need - so i guess the same goes for VfS: I love vray and that's what i've used when i render my modells that i create in Sketchup - but i had to do the exporting - and then if i wanted to change the modell i had to export again and not modify within 3ds max.

Sorry about my messy explanation but i think you get the picture.

To sum it up - I (we) want renders to look as sexy as Vray, but the simplicity to set it up as Sketchup and not a "monster" like 3ds max or other big 3D packages.

[joe_b]

...what's the status?

joeb: What i think KELPER means is that there is a spirit in the guys who created Sketchup to make things simple and easy for everyone to use. I think that's what both me and KELPER wants to shine through to the VfS.

I see - that makes sense. That has been something that has troubled us, and we are aware of the difference between Sketchup and Max users. That is why we changed our defaults to provide a better render right off the bat. We have been designing a simpler interface - but we're not sure if all of these changes will be available by the end of this beta session. But we are open to any suggestions that could make your experiance better.

[fluke73]

...what's the status?

Maybe what could be done... is to have ready made presets for lightsetups. Like ready made materials for architectual stuff which you already have. But also for the Light. Lets say in a beginning of a project you select from different templates. Indoor settings without windows, with windows, the amount of windows, size of the room. Outdoor settings large scale small scale. And time of day - day, night and so on. After selecting that you get a stagesetup where you can start working from On top of those - posibilities to scale the quality of the render like an overal slider - which changes several parameters.

[joe_b]

...what's the status?

Thats a good idea, its similar to some ideas that we have tossed around behind the scenes, but with some additions. Its definately something to think about.

[dalomar_cg]

...what's the status?

Fluke, allot of those things we are currently in the process of working on. The materials are now beginning to really expand with alot of people uploading. We also are working on having different setups which are made for a specific situation, such as a studio lighting setup or exterior architectural setup. These scenes would be ready for you to simply import a model and be able to render with only minor adjustments. We are also looking to add some UI changes which would make things much simpler (yes it will include sliders). Its a matter of time before these all get implimented, so we are definitely working on it and we are hearing all that everyone has to say. The only thing in that quick runoff that you gave that would be a bit more troublesome is the interior settings. With an interior rendering there are going to be a large number of factors that will determine how things are set up. Even by having different classifications (no windows, windows, sun...) there are just to many factors that would cause problems with making a standard scene for that. The best starting point would be to look at Vlado's (the guy who wrote Vray) Universal settings and use that as a base, here's the link http://www.asgvis.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=438

[fluke73]

WOW!!!

This sounds awesome! Thanks for the answers joeb and dalomar. Im looking forward to the full release. It's getting closer and closer to a buy of VfS (probably next week)

Do you know a preliminary release day? Like, a month or half a year...

Thank you for letting us in on whats going on behind the scene.