Shading language/MetaSL...

V-Ray for Maya V-Ray for Maya :: General
1

Hi,
Here a thread about the “Shading language” in Vray.
I saw in few 3dsmax threads that Chaos Group spoke about MetaSL support in Vray.
Question :
1) Do you think MetaSL is the best choice ? (writed by MentalImage)
2) MetaSL is not “limited” for Vray ? (do you can do all ? Like deform a geometry, generate geometry, etc etc…)
3) And finally, why not create your own Shading language ? like : vraySL or VSL. You will have all the control, implement what you want, and can do a “puissant shading language” like Renderman…
The best will be your own shading language with the same “language type” (or approche) of the RSL or RSL2 (renderman)..
Like :

surface simple( color mayaColor = color(0,1,0);
output color oColor = color(0,0,0); )
{
Oi= Os;
Ci=Oi * Cs * mayaColor;
oColor = mayaColor;
}

Avantage ?
There is a lot of studio with RSL/RSL2 Shaders than MetaSL. Translate the RSL code into your “VraySL” will be easy…

2

Yet another Shading Language? I beg to differ. If not MetaSL then i’d suggest rather going the OSL route than inviting another non-standard shading language.

MetaSL makes sense as in autodesk natively supporting it. I guess that’s one of the biggest reasons.

Regards,
Thorsten

3

We already have support for GLSL with V-Ray extensions for V-Ray for 3ds Max; this has been extended recently to directly support BRDFs, similar to closures in OSL. GLSL is well-known and widely used for writing shaders. The GLSL plugin works for V-Ray for Maya/Standalone too, although we have not yet included it in any installation. If you are interested in it, you can email me to vlado@chaosgroup.com

Our support for MetaSL is based on the said GLSL language (internally we translate the MetaSL shaders to GLSL with our extensions).

MetaSL fits well with the way V-Ray works internally, while OSL is more tricky to implement - it was written with a particular renderer in mind, whereas MetaSL is somewhat more independent of the renderer. And MetaSL was adopted by Autodesk for 3ds Max, which was another reason to choose it :slight_smile:

Best regards,
Vlado

4

Thanks for the insight!

5

Thanks for your answer Vlado !

6

So, Vlado, any video tutorial on the steps necessary on utilizing MetaSL with VRay ?