The enable/disable button appears to be broken. Enabled or Disabled has the same affect. The clipper object can be anywhere and the mesh position will always be used as the actual clipper.
The replace mesh with clipper, should do just that, but it doesnt. The clipper just turns into the shape of the picked mesh, but I still have to use the mesh to cut, instead of the clipper
Attached a stripped scene
As you can see there is a cube, with 2 cylinders and 2 clippers
Cylinder 1 is associated to clipper 1 (Replace mesh with clipper ENABLED)
Cylinder 2 is associated to clipper 2 (Replace mesh with clipper DISABLED)
However the result of both are the same clipper.zip (43.4 KB)
Actually the “Replace mesh with clipper” toggle only affects the action of the “Pick mesh” button:
- if “Replace mesh with clipper” is ON when you pick a mesh - the mesh will be replaced in the scene with the clipper object
- if “Replace mesh with clipper” is OFF when you pick a mesh - the mesh will NOT be replaced and the clipper will just reference it
Once the mesh is picked - the “Replace mesh with clipper” toggle doesn’t have any effect.
So what is the point then? I just did that test with a new clipper and object. No matter what the state of the “replace mesh with clipper” is in BEFORE I pick the mesh, it results in the same!
Says: “Replace mesh with clipper – Specifies what to do with the mesh that is picked through the Pick mesh button. When enabled, the mesh is moved as a sub-object under the VRayClipper object and the clipper takes the place of the mesh. If disabled, the clipper just references the picked mesh.”
You can clearly see the affect in the viewport. When you click the mesh, the clipper stays in position, but takes the shape of the mesh. Nothing happens to the mesh and it also stays in position. In either cases, you can move the clipper anywhere you want, but the actual object doing the cutting is the original mesh and whatever it’s position is. Something seems wrong here
The clipper now replaces the Box002 and you only have two objects in the scene - Box001 and the clipper. Position of the clipper itself determines where the cutting happens.
If instead of that you created a clipper and chose “Replace Mesh with Clipper” to be OFF and then pick Box002 you get this:
The clipper stays a separate scene node positioned somewhere else and you still have Box002 in the scene as a separate geometry. In this case cutting happens where the clipper mesh (Box002) is located. In this mode the clipper itself acts more like a helper that you can put somewhere on the side. In this mode you can also modify the cutting geometry (Box002).
Overall this is the same as the Mesh light option “Replace mesh with light”.
Exactly, this is what I’m saying, in the scene I sent, I ALWAYS have 5 objects in the scene (1 cube, 2 cylinders and 2 clippers), no matter what state the “Replace Mesh with Clipper” was before I selected it. In your screenshots it seems to work. What I’m saying is in my simple scene, (that I attached) it is NOT working like that, IE the cylinder and clipper is always seperate objects and the clipper DOES NOT replace the mesh
Max 2019.3
VRay #(“4.10.02.00001”, “”, “070d77e4”)
Apologies for the late reply Yavor.
I still think there is something wrong still with that function. When adding the vrayclipper, it is added as a simple plane cutter.
1) You then enable mesh mode, and pick the mesh (with the replace mesh with clipper enabled) - This changes the clipper to the shape of the mesh you picked
2) HOWEVER, you have to REPEAT the operation NOW, to again select the mesh, ONLY THEN does the clipper actually replace the mesh. In my steps, I missed this 2nd step as logically it was already suppose to work in step 1.
So now with that double function out the way, I have another issue, or perhaps a feature request.
1) If I then copy that clipper created in step 1 and 2 above, all works great. It cut holes nicely everywhere
2) However, if I instance that clipper, only the latest copy actually functions and cut holes, the rest that was created (instanced) before the last instance, is ignored. It would be great for it to work as expected, even when instancing it.
Are you clicking the “Pick mesh” button while still in the “Create” panel ? In that case I also get same behavior of the clipper not actually moving like it should. There are some Max complications when still in the creation panel which cause this problem. For the mesh light the pick button is disabled but I’ve missed that part for the VRayClipper.
As for the instancing - you are right it is not really supported for now. Will make a note about that.
