I am fairly new to V-Ray adn had one quick question concerning vray proxies in regards to Onyx Trees. Correct me if I am wrong but is the process to create say 5 different tree types to be scattered about a scene as follows
create the 3ds files from Onyx
import the trees into Max
convert each to a vrmesh
create a proxy of each
create a material for each using a multi-subobject material
assign material to each proxy as required
scatter the proxies using instances until I ge the number of trees I need
I hope that is correct. I am going to have to work on the rendering this evening and need about 100 trees total to make it look presentable and want to make sure I have the process down. I can do the materials today at lunch so they are ready for when I get home. Unfortunately I do not have V-Ray at work or I could do it all here.
It will be a lot easier if you get your multi-sub material setup before you convert to proxy. Basically, you want your mesh like it’s going to render before you proxy it. If you need to change an object’s material ID after you have it proxied, you’ll have to go back to your original mesh file.
To go along with that, if you do consistent material ID’s across meshes (ex. trunk=1, leaves=2, etc), you can create multiple multi-sub materials and assign to various trees at random to create some variety.
Now with that said, since I do not have vray at work, can I set up the materials using standard max materials and then convert them to vray materials when I get home? Also, should I create a separate max file for these trees to make it easier to work with them? I thought I might make a max file for each type of tree, so that once I create multiple sizes of trees of each type I can have a different file for each species. Sound OK?
Yes. If you use max’s standard materials (not architectural), you can use the vray scene converter to automatically switch them over. If you can’t find it, just right-click in your viewport and it should be at the bottom.
Oh, and if you’ve missed the threads on opacity-mapped leaves vs modeled leaves: vray renders geometry faster than opacity.
That was another of my questions. Using Onyx, how exactly do I create geometry leaves vs opacity mapped? When I export I am not sure which option to use to do that. I would assume using the simplify leaves option in Onyx. Or is it a max function and not an Onyx function?
If you’ve got it (I think it comes standard but I’m not sure), use the Tree Storm plugin for Max rather than exporting as 3ds. It’ll bring in all of the geometry, you can tweak the number of polygons and UV mapping and it automatically applies a multi-sub with all of the correct id’s. All of the tree components will default to vertex colors based on the settings from the standalone onyx. Convert to vraymesh as you describe. Personally though I usually just kill the multisub and apply a straight vray material with vertex colors for the diffuse. They usually come out a little bright so I apply a color correct to the vertex colors to tone down the saturation and gamma. See sample below…
