BKE

Thanks, Juraj, for your opinion, expressed with conviction! The i7 is actually going to be my workstation - and the dual xeon will be the render node. Juraj - are you using your CPU for Vray RT preview, while you work on your scene? Should I consider using my dual xeon to provide a preview? Your thought about the Teslas being 'old' technology is a valid point. It seems that we are ready for a new, higher memory offering from nVidia. Thanks again!

I do residential architectural design work - exteriors with grass and a lot of trees, and interiors. I have a large task list of renderings ahead of me, justifying a hardware upgrade. I have a dual 6 core xeon system and I was going to let that become my render node and build a new i7 3930 or 3960 overclocked workstation for setting up the renderings and working in REVIT, etc. When the render is ready to run, I want to send it over to my node and keep working. Here are my questions: 1) Would I ever need more than 32 gb memory in my V-Ray workstation. (I will let the workstation work along with the node for over night rendering.) I am considering 64gb memory. 2) Should I consider a Tesla GPU to run RT while I am setting up my renders, to see in 'real time' what is coming together? I feel that a 3gb GTX card will not fit most of my scenes. I know some are using RT for production, but I feel like it has a lot of maturing to do. Is ANYONE in architecture using it to simply boost productivity? Thanks in advance for your suggestions/advice!

Anejo suggested: The Adaptive DMC did not help matters. If anything, the strange highlights were enhanced. The Vray Sun parameter WORKED! I brought the photon emit radius to 6" and the shadow bias back to 2.25". I am not certain which one of those were the determining factor. It might actually be the shadow bias. I had 'tweaked it' to make it brighter beneath the porch. However, I adjusted a lot of other settings along the way and did not recall the possibility of that 'tweak' being my problem maker! Thank you. RyderSK suggested: I did not try that on the material since the sun settings corrected the problem. HOWEVER - I researched this and it will help me to keep the grass from making my building green. This is a very user friendly, powerful shader override. Thank you! Ismael suggested: That is a great technical paper to help me understand these settings, thank you. I welcome any other observations of my settings. Thank you all!! Brian

This post has my material settings. The white "Trim Boards" material is casting the unusual light. Thanks!

Thanks, Anejo. I have attached all of the settings as screen shots. I also included my Sun settings. I will put the Material settings in the next reply. Thanks again! Brian

I am a brand new VRAY user. I have been reading/viewing all the tutorials that I can find. I have attached a file to this posting. There are strange highlights on the trim. In some instances, there is window trim that is under an 8'-0" deep porch. Somehow the 1 1/2" deep trim piece is catching light and reflecting it upwards against the building. The trim is a basic white VRAY material. I welcome any suggestions. Thanks!! Brian

Hello! I am new to the forum. When I try to use the Onyx trees in iRay they render without any applied materials. Could you please share with me the steps I need to take to get the Onyx trees to work with iRay? I have already contacted Onyx support. They are very friendly, but do not have subscription and therefore do not have iRay. Best regards, Brian