Curves as tubes

V-Ray V-Ray for 3ds Max General
1

Does Vray have a comparable feature that allows it to render curve or hairs as tubes? I’ve done this using mantra in houdini and see arnold has a nice implementation. Can’t find anything in Vray but I’d love to see it. https://area.autodesk.com/learning/rendering\_an\_abstract\_head\_using\_render\_curves+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

2

if by curves you mean splines then you can apply a renderable spline modifier to all splince as instance and it has capability to create geometry at render time for the splines its assigned to. There is no dynamic vray specific curve tesselator like in maya though.

3

No, I’m after a method in which the geometry isn’t built--the curve is rendered with a normal trick that renders as a tube.

4

If you export splines from max as alembic, and then import them with vrayproxy, it will recognize them as hair

5

I’ve found that an ornatrix guide from shape modifier does the trick. I wish something like this was a native Vray modifier.

6

Yes, it’s been on the “to do” list for a while; we’ll get to it. Until then, as you have found, you can use Ornatrix to turn splines into curves that are renderable by V-Ray.

Best regards,
Vlado

7

That’s good to hear. The thing that Arnold does that Mantra and Ornatrix doesn’t--and I hope Vray will-- is that it caps the endpoints nicely.

renderingCurves_mode_thick.png
renderingCurves_mode_thick.png300×300 67.6 KB

8

I think V-Ray does this for the tip end point, but maybe not for the root one.

Best regards,
Vlado

9

Confirmed. It’d be a nice option to cap the root.

10

Is this feature not yet implemented in V-Ray 5.2 for 3ds Max? (Five years have passed since 2017)

V-Ray 5.2 C4D was implemented first. Moreover, the width can be controlled with spline curves.

https://docs.chaos.com/display/VC4D/…nderableSpline

11

I guess it depends on what your source is. But for a few splines in Max you can just enable rendering in the Rendering tab of the spline itself. There is an option to cap. (This is the same as the Renderable spline, but doesn’t require another modifier.)

If you want the rounded ends then (watch your initial resolution) apply a TurboSmooth to the resulting spline with the cap. Set the cap mode (In the Rendering rollout of the spline) to Quad for a smoother end.

For many splines at high res it would be nice to be able to tessellate them at render time.

12

We are talking about how to make Spline a V-Ray Curve [Hair/Fur] primitive.