Coming from max where I used falloff maps in every material (grant warwick style) I am finding recreating these complex materials a rather clunky and non-intuitive process.
How difficult would it be to recreate a falloff map in Maya the same as is already done for Max?
It is extremely fast and useful to have all these controls in one map, especially when creating very complex blend materials where in max I would have falloff maps on eeeeeverything.
Being able to control the falloff type, direction, control with a bezier curve and not just a simple gradient, as well as switch between RGB curves so quickly is very powerful and I think would be a great addition to Vray for Maya.
Thoughts?
-Eric
FWIW I am using the ramp + sampler info method to recreate falloff maps. Let me know if there is a better method please?
V-Ray does include a texture plugin equivalent to the Falloff map in 3ds Max, but there is no UI for it… getting a curve control in Maya is a bit complicated. For the moment, ramp+samplerInfo is the best way to do that.
hmmm so someone just needs to make a UI for it? Is there even much request for this? I can’t imagine I’m the only one that would really like this in Maya vray, is everyone really just using the ramp sampler info method? Is this even on the radar for future builds?
Ramps and samplerInfo works, but it just doesn’t have the amount of control that the curve editor does. I’ve wanted this in Maya for years and I know many others do too.
No, I don’t think so. Maya doesn’t have a Bezier curve control, and I really have no desire to code one - we don’t have any experience with custom Qt widgets, so we will probably make a mess out of it anyways.
Yes, no bézier. But most important is working. I made a curve at Maya and recreated the same curve in the Max Falloff. And worked very well. Here’s the test:
My curve was this: but I did not save the curve of the Max. The only caveat is: the end result is just next to the curves are linear. Since the Maya has no bezier. The trick is to compensate by hand.
Vlado out of curiosity: Would not it have a way to use the implementation of the VFB Curve to control the values of a ramp for example?
Unfortunately it’s not that easy - they are in very different parts of the code. I’m not saying we won’t ever do it; it could make a nice project for an intern, but it’s a bit low priority.
To be honest the curve control in Max badly need some love as well so hopefully Autodesk will share a resource on this one so materials can easily be sent back and forth between Max and Maya.
HI Vlado,
Setting up animated curve with set driven key is easy and gives Bezier curve control inside of Animation graph editor but sadly it does not work with vray when sampler info is attached Attaching a scene file for your reference. Funny enough if I just animate the color values it works just fine… FresnelCurve.zip (25.7 KB)
Hi Vlado,
the images attached works perfectly with mentalray and maya materials… set driven key method i can send you a demo file if it helps… is it possible to integrate the same in vray that would really help. all we need to do is add a reverse node and it will start working like max curves… end of the day its a curve attached to samplerinfo to get the falloff… also support with basier handles and adding weights to them could be really powerfull.
yes the OSL fresnel would help but then it wont get the finer control as the curves in max.. some times it comes down to aesthetics and not physical accuracy… with curves we can tweak and fake things a little to make it pleasing… there is a script out there which does similar thing with cuves but very hard to modify as it adds lots of control points…
Attaching a scene file for your reference. Funny enough if I just animate the color values it works just fine…