Looks much quicker than 2.0 and with 32 bit PSD export, with layered and ordered render elements, and massive matte/mask options, and improved Vray support, everyone should use it!! And finally with 2012 support.
http://www.cebas.com/index.php?pid=news\_next&nid=460
I have looked to find more info specific to Vray but cant. I imagine Danial might add to this more info specific to us Vray guys.
Mark
I wonder if there is an upgrade, because I have an earlier version.
Its great tool but 200£ for it ?! Jezus… those guys are nuts…
Is it not $175, about £100? I no the upgrade cost for 2 lics from 2 to 3 is about £100.
I’m curious to know what “…better compatibility with the V-Ray Framebuffer…” means. I use the V-Ray FB exclusively.
well… it didn’t work with the VFB before, you had to use the MAX buffer.
That is my understanding but the 3.0 verbiage seems to indicate it now might. I don’t have any experience with the software but it seems potentially useful for my workflow. But not if i have to use the Max buffer.
Its € 189,00 - which Is way too much to pay for a little bit of laziness… Id threw 50£ for that but aint spending 200… 
Guess it depends on how much you value your own time… For me it looks very worth the while, and I’m anything but lazy. YMMV. 
/b
Thanks for sharing this here m_hinks.
@DADAL That gets you direct support here in the forums by me. Seriously, there went a lot of development time (german engineering) and dedication into this release and there is more to come.
To give you some insight: psd-manager does not use some 3rd party library to write PSD files. It was developed only for use by psd-manager (Adobe was tight lipped about their file format since version Photoshop 6.0). I have researched the innards of the PSD file format for years to provide the best compatibility, compression and speed possible. Thanks to this psd-manger writes everything on the fly, so the complete PSD file is never held in memory. So you can write a PSD file of 1 GB and use use only maybe 10 MB of RAM and do crazy things like add 500 layers. There are lazier ways to do it - but that’s just not my way of doing it. Who wants to run out of memory when saving a file after a long render session. A nice piece of art wants to be saved in a file format exporter that was developed with the same care and dedication
Let me try to summarize the V-Ray specific changes in psd-manager 3.0:
A PSD file was sometimes exported even though VRay rendering was aborted. This has been solved (Workaround for a VRay 2.0 issue).
The following notes are from the psd-manager 3 help file.
V-Ray Framebuffer:
If you don’t need to save render elements into the PSD file:
Then you can enable the V-Ray Framebuffer as long as you:
This ensures that V-Ray will create the 3ds Max G-Buffer that psd-manager needs to export objects, materials and scene layers. Should you forget to set these options psd-manager will warn you about this. If you don’t want to produce additional files besides the PSD file you can use the *.xxx file format. This is a fake file format that does nothing (a part of psd-manager).
If you want to save render elements into the PSD file:
Then you should disable the V-Ray Framebuffer, this ensures that psd-manager can access the rendered image, render elements and the multi-layered G-Buffer.
V-Ray 32-bit support
VRay only creates a 32-bit 3ds Max Framebuffer if the main render output file format is set to HDR or EXR. There is no option in the V-Ray user interface to set the color precision of the 3ds Max Framebuffer manually (e.g. for PSD export or other file formats that support this). There is a MAXScript property that can be set to enforce the 32-bit 3ds Max framebuffer creation (renderers.current.output_force32bit_3dsmax_vfb = true). When you switch the PSD file format to 32-Bits per Channel (HDR) psd-manager shows a dialog that lets you set this property automatically.
V-Ray Render Elements
psd-manager has built-in presets for all V-Ray 1.5 & V-Ray 2 render elements.
V-Ray Material Effect ID Override
You can use the Material Effect ID Override option available in V-Ray materials. Values in the range 0 to 255 are supported
I wonder if there is an upgrade, because I have an earlier version.
There are direct links at the end of the press release.
I also would like to thank Vlado for his help over the years and all psd-manager users out there that entrust their images to psd-manager.
Best Regards,
Daniel Schmidt - psd-manager Developer
Psssssd… work is under way to support the V-Ray framebuffer render elements. Stay tuned - 3.0 is just the start…
How does it work with Distributed Render? is it capable to generate a PSD file from image chunks computed in various render nodes?
Well done Danial, I very much thank you for your continued development, and can not wait until the VFB will be supported (the last minor anoyance!). I know some people will not realise the benifets, but if they were maybe shown in a video the workflow and the gain to be had, I’m sure they will part with their cash. And as someone else said, I do value my time, and this saves me a LOT of it!
Your support over the forums and email has always been worth the extra buck!
Heya
Thanks dans for this explanation, got me some thinking to do… On a side note, was the plugin tested maybe with 10k-17k tiff 16 bit files and layers? - its what I work on…
On other side it looks like autodesk has similar thing in mind too, http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/ken/subscription\_advantage\_pack\_2012\_adobe\_ae\_interop\_render\_passes\_activeshade\_iray - gotta have to w8 for release b4 jumping in to psd manager 3.
On similar note it looks like Iray Active Shaders is going to giev vray run for its ££ :o They cuda support might be dangerous for RT renders via iray - auc ;s
If you want to save render elements into the PSD file:
Then you should disable the V-Ray Framebuffer, this ensures that psd-manager can access the rendered image, render elements and the multi-layered G-Buffer.
PSD Manager is one tool i use on almost every job but not beeing able to use the VRayFramBuffer when saving render elements (who dosnt saves out render elements?) means that there is no need for us to upgrade. Presets and 32Bit support is not needed here, so i can stick with 2.1. But good to hear that you still make updates.
Sorry but i kinda dont understand the stuff around saving from frame buffer…read your previous post but its a bit confusing.
Does this mean that the PSD manager:
1. is not capable of saving render elements from frame buffer?
2. is able to save render elements through the VFB save dialog?
3. is only able to save PSD file from max standard save output?
Thanks
Thanks, for being open minded about it DADAL. I have tested up to 30.000 by 30.000 pixels (maximum of the PSD format) with 8/16/32-bit - no problem. If we need more I have to implement PSB which supports up to (300k).
What you pointed to is not remotely similar, but If you want to wait for 8-bit PSD output, set all your blending modes by hand each time, waist your time and memory for setting up a few selections with render elements … then do so You might just assemble your PSD in Photoshop then. To support state sets we already introduced the new “Match Render Output” option for the PSD filename.
psd-manager is about saving you time and not going through complicated UIs just to get a few layers into Photoshop.
Daniel
Yes, of course you can use DR.
Daniel
1) If you use the VRayFrameBuffer then you cant save out the render elements using the psd manager. It will write a psd file but without the elements.
2) Not sure
3) that will work without any problems and is my workflow right now.
If you use the 3ds Max Framebuffer UI (Rendered Frame Window) everything works. If you use the V-Ray Framebuffer UI you currently can’t save the render elements into the PSD, but I’m working on it. All other psd-manager features (Selections for Object & Materials & Scene Layers) work if the V-Ray Framebuffer UI is enabled.
No, you set the PSD options up before rendering in the psd-manager UI.
Yes, we follow standard 3ds Max workflow, to be compatible with all renderers.
Thanks for all the interest into how psd-manager works and to psd-manager users jumping in here helping me answer the questions.
Daniel
Thanks for using psd-manager 2.1 Olli96 (you are missing out on the scene layers export, batch render support, speed improvements).
Here is a little feature you may not have heard about. If you render stills and use Object-Ids and Material-Ids for your selections you can now just enter e.g. “1-100” into the ID exit box. psd-manager will figure out all IDs not appearing in the image. So you will have all your selections for Object-Ids & Material-Ids without entering the numbers and can’t forget one. This is also nice if you batch render different camera views where some objects are outside the view, so you don’t get layers for those.
Best Regards,
Daniel Schmidt