Maya FLUIDS

V-Ray V-Ray for Maya Issues
1

I try to test fluids in V-Ray 2.30.01 in Maya 2013 SP2 and V-Ray output looks like flat lighting.
Is there something what i am doing wrong, or special setup needed ?

It’s a simple scene: Visor > Fluid Examples > CloudsAndFog > AfternoonClouds.ma

AfternoonClouds.jpg
AfternoonClouds.jpg1000×187 27.6 KB

2

Make sure you have real lights on the scene with turned on shadows. The fake lighting inside the “Lighting” rollout is not supported.

3

There are no lights in the example scene. Also, you might need to add the V-Ray fluid shading attribues and increase the diffuse multipler to get a closer look to the Maya software renderer.

Best regards,
Vlado

maya_fluids.jpg
maya_fluids.jpg640×480 35.1 KB

4

looks nice btw vlado.

5

Hehe, it’s not too bad; renders a lot faster through Phoenix FD though.

Best regards,
Vlado

6

Hi,

Just curious if it is still in the plan to replace the envrionmentfog shader with Phoenix FD’s shader so one can render Maya Fluids faster? I did some comparisons recently where rendering Fluids in Vray is noticeably slower than mental ray or renderman (not have Phoenix FD for Maya installed).

7

For the moment you need to have Phoenix FD installed for this to happen. Then you can choose if Maya fluids should be rendered with the environment fog or with the Phoenix shader. You don’t need a Phoenix license for the rendering (it is only needed for simulating with Phoenix).

Best regards,
Vlado

8

Hi Vlado,

any plan to implement the code from Phoenix in Vray, so that we can use render the maya fluid without the need to install phoenix?
Thanks,
Yannick

9

How do you choose which shader to use?

10

If you add the V-Ray specific attributes to the fluid shape, you will be able to choose which shader to use.

Best regards,
Vlado

11

I’m looking at the Vray specific attributes for the fluid shape the only thing I can see that that might change the shader is “Use light cache ( pheonix FD )” check box. Is that what you are talking about? It doesn’t seem to speed up renders at all with this checkbox on.

fluid_extra_attrbutes.jpg
fluid_extra_attrbutes.jpg434×412 41.7 KB

12

Which V-Ray version is this?

Best regards,
Vlado

13

I am wondering about the same thing. Running vray 2.30.01 on Maya 2013 SP2. Not even see the “(Phoenix FD)” after the light cache option. Is it only for the latest nightly? (have the Phoenix FD demo installed)

14

I think in this version, the Phoenix FD shader is picked automatically if it can be found. In the nightlies you can manually choose the shader. We are constantly trying to improve the fluid rendering and there are a lot of changes in the nightlies.

15

Hm, if you export a .vrscene and look at it - do you see VRayEnvironmentFog being used, or the Phoenix shader?

Best regards,
Vlado

16

I installed the phoenixFD demo and with the newest nightly build I´m able to switch to phoenix FD shaders in the added fluid properties. Is there any documentation how to optimize the settings?
Rendertimes are still huge compared to Maya Software or MentalRay :confused:
I´d love to render the fluids with vray without being dependent on shitty MR.

17

vray for maya 2.1

18

If I save out a vrscene with a fluid I searched for environmentfog AND Pheonix shader. I found this line “EnvironmentFog fluidShape3@volume” but nothing about pheonix shader. I’m guessing it using the environementfog shader still.

I’m also using vray for maya 2.1 with maya 2012. I might have access to vray 2.2

19

2.1 is too old.

20

Both shaders do not support natively maya fluids, so there is some penalty with this. Otherwise the only quality setting is the step size and using light cache. The samper settings may play a big role if you have emission. The emissive part of the fire can become overbright and the sampler will produce it’s maximum amount of samples at that places. If you have a problem getting reasonable rendering time, we can take a look of the particular scene.