It took almost a decade for CPU and GPU to work almost seemly. The same thing has to happen to Vantage. To many things break between the two. I mean, opening up a perfectly exposed and lite scene from MAX/Vray to Vantage and not have to reinvent the lighting is priority #1. Right now, it is almost not worth work working between the two. You have to know which one you end up in and build it knowing that this was the same thought process from GPU to CPU a decade ago.
Hi Bobby,
Yes, I agree that there are some missing features, and the rendering workflow requires some time to adapt to the new engine or tool. In some cases, you also have to rely on workarounds to get things done.
But keep in mind that it is expected to take some time for development to catch up with the V-Ray CPU implementations.
We are making significant efforts to speed up the process and prioritize the implementation of the most commonly used features.
Here the feedback is very useful for us, where we can address the most important things first. And yes, the same process was true for the CPU > GPU but the things gets faster now the Vantage feature support gets quickly bigger with each new update. Hope you can agree here.
Right now I work a scene so far, usually using CPU, and then decide where I want to take it. Currently, I open my cpu scene in Vantage, and it isn’t useable without a lot of work.
Are you going to tell us what this work is exactly ?
Interiors. I will share screengrabs when I can.
You can share screenshots or the scene file (in a ticket), so we can find the differences and add the missing/unsupported features to the development list.
I am working through things. I turned off all the lights and used a V-Ray SUN/SKY to control the lighting in Vantage. Then I turned on the internal lights as needed. They turned out pretty good. So, it might be more of a leaning curve.
That said, controlling the sun in Vantage is beautiful! The problem is, you get it set for one view, and it doesn’t stick when you change it for the next. Unless that is what states are for. When I get things where I want them, nothing sticks when you close Vantage and open it again, unless I am working with a VRSCENE. Is this correct?
Vantage still seems to be unstable. I can work in it for hours without issue, and then it freezes. I can launch Vantage ten times without issue, and then it’ll freeze on launch (PC hard boot freeze).
Hey Bobby,
The renders look really nice! Great work!
On the other topic - since you are working with live link, the edits that you are doing inside Vantage only live inside the current session unless you save a .vantage file which you can Open as config only… during your next live link session. Note that in the vantage file changes are referencing scene objects by name, for example transformXYZ → Table01. Upon reload if Vantage cannot find such an object the change is not applied and it is written in the debug log.
I will list what actions can be done inside Chaos Vantage during Live Link:
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create cameras;
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create camera animation in the animation editor;
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edit environment and fog;
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add color correction effects;
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Render:
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snapshots;
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HQ still image;
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HQ sequence;
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save .vantage file with the changes from above.
The following actions cannot be done inside Chaos Vantage during Live Link:
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transform objects;
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hide/unhide objects;
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reassign materials;
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edit lights;
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import external(including cosmos assets) files;
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animation playback.
The following requires a restart of the Live Link session in order to be updated properly.
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Updating of:
- animated V-Ray Proxy files (.vrmesh)
During Live Link session the UI in Chaos Vantage adapts to the limitations mentioned in the Known limitations section. The following is hidden from the Top Toolbar and Side panels:
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Select, Move, Rotate, Scale, Move Pivot tools;
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Chaos Cosmos Browser;
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Create Scatter, Fur, Decal, Lights, Camera and Scene State tools;
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Lights and Object tabs;
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Material lister in Material tab;
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Sun properties in the Environment tab if there is a Sun light already existing in the Host application.
In fairness, when using Live link we advise to threat Vantage as a VFB and do scene changes, be it cameras, lights, environment, etc in the host app.
I mean, opening up a perfectly exposed and lite scene from MAX/Vray to Vantage and not have to reinvent the lighting is priority #1
This is absolutely true and that is our goal. Unfortunately without a sample scene from your side we cannot pinpoint what could be causing this discrepancy. One thing that comes to mind is - do you use Max’s native Physical camera or are you using VRayPhysical camera? I am asking because Vantage doesn’t support the exposure from the Max’s Physical camera. If you are however using VRayPhysical camera then maybe some color conversion or vfb layers change the overall mood that don’t transfer to Vantage. In either way - sending somеthing that replicates it, even a small scene with 2 cubes will be highly appreciated.
Best regards,
Alexander
Thank you and good to know. I believe my real issue us GPU related. When I try to render with the GPU, without Vantage, I have a 50/50 chance my PC is lock up and I’ll have to force a reboot. Other than that, I am enjoying Vantage again.