Vray light reflecting when not meant to!!! Help

[guitarboy]

Gday all,

 

i know we already have a topic on this, but we arnt getting many answers there, so i decided to create a topic with a heading a little more to the point in the hope of getting some new ppl looking here.

 

The problem me and im sure many others are having is that when i use a vray light, plane, sphere, doesnt matter, im getting the light reflecting even when i tick the invisible box. the best solution to getting rid of this problem is to uncheck the "Specular" option in the Vraylight settings, but i dont know what other effects this has other then just stopping the light reflecting when not supposed to.

 

Is there another way to achieve this, and are there any other effects the occur that happen that im not aware of when i uncheck the specular option???

 

thanks in advance.

[DavidR]

Unchecking specular changes nothing in the lighting -I learned this after switching to Max9/1.5 and seeing relected lights, which didn't happen in 1.47. The same scene rerendered looked identical except for the light reflection. Sometimes I use a Vray light along with geometry with Vraylight mat so I'll get the physical 'light' for the specular I want and the ambient-only Vray light to simulate the light the Vraylight mat doesn't do as well to fill the scene.

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

Gday all,

 

i know we already have a topic on this, but we arnt getting many answers there, so i decided to create a topic with a heading a little more to the point in the hope of getting some new ppl looking here.

 

The problem me and im sure many others are having is that when i use a vray light, plane, sphere, doesnt matter, im getting the light reflecting even when i tick the invisible box. the best solution to getting rid of this problem is to uncheck the "Specular" option in the Vraylight settings, but i dont know what other effects this has other then just stopping the light reflecting when not supposed to.

 

Is there another way to achieve this, and are there any other effects the occur that happen that im not aware of when i uncheck the specular option???

 

thanks in advance.

 

...could you post an image of this? ...or provide a link to the previous thread?

[satch]

try to exclude that thing from the reflection. right click it, choose properties and uncheck include from reflections/refractions.

[sterealkey]

@Satch

 

The problem is that 'the thing' you're referring to is the vray light, and a vray light doesnt have the option to not show in reflections in its properties tab.

 

Like we've established so far -

 

* Turning off specular works - but it turns off specular completely, and we still want some specularity to maintain some level of photorealism, we just dont want that bright ball reflecting (vray light/thing)

 

* Turning on the 'skylight portal' option fixes the reflection, no more bright ball thing, but at the same time it disables the multiplier and the colour of the vray light, and then it takes on the settings of your skylight / GI.

 

 

I cant believe that such a simple thing can be such a b*tch to solve. I bet it is probably really simple. We just need the right person to respond.

 

Please pros, help us out

[guitarboy]

Where oh where have all the pros gone, has anyone been able to confirm if this is a vray 1.5 issue that hasnt occured in the past, or is it something thats always been there with vray and no ones popped in to let us know that magic little step we are missing???

 

and sorry, i havent had a chance to upload a pic of the problem yet, will hopefully do it tomorrow.

[DavidR]

Where oh where have all the pros gone, has anyone been able to confirm if this is a vray 1.5 issue that hasnt occured in the past, or is it something thats always been there with vray and no ones popped in to let us know that magic little step we are missing???

QUOTE]

Fear not citizen, I'll save you! OK, not really, but at the risk of repeating myself, use geometry with Vraylight material to get a specular reflection of a physical light, and have an invisible ambient-only Vraylight right under it to supply the majority of the light filling the scene. EG: in a bathroom, you have a hemishere (to simulat dome-shaped light cover) with light mat for spec and to show in reflections, and a, let's say, 4"x4" Vray light with spec turned off to supply most of the fill just below that. Where's the problem? I don't see it as a bug, just an adjustment to be made when switching to 1.5. Maybe I'm missing something? At times I've had to add a Max omni with spec only to supplement, but maybe I could have avoided that cheat with better knowledge, maybe not.

[guitarboy]

Here are a few quick pics of wat i mean. one with the specular option on, the other with it off, and then a screen shot.

[BrianKitts]

couple things.... first of all it looks like you aren't using gamma correction for lighting your scene, which means you have to crank up your lights harder than you should to get enough illumination. (do a search for LWF), correct lighting levels with proper reflection settings will fix what your fighting. also try to get more lighting out of your environment lighting instead of relying solely on the vray lights.

 

It's not so much that the settings for the lights is wrong... it's more that the way your materials accept the lighting is wrong. So the second part would be to try playing with diffused reflections and fresnel reflections for your flooring, it looks like you have straight reflection which is just unrealistic.

 

Specular is a good thing.... there are only really rare occasions when I turn that option off.

 

 

sidenote, Chris Nichols' GI Interiors DVD would set you free :-)

http://commerce.vismasters.com/catalog/viewproduct.aspx?product=3677

 

 

 

 

hope this helps to steer you in the right direction.

[Fran]

Brian, I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. The situation pictured is not normal under any circumstances. Vray, pre-1.5 handled such scenes just fine without archane workflows.

 

I think it is a bug.

[BrianKitts]

Brian, I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. The situation pictured is not normal under any circumstances. Vray, pre-1.5 handled such scenes just fine without archane workflows.

 

I think it is a bug.

 

I'm confused maybe I'm just misunderstanding the problem..... specular by definition is the highlight created by a direct reflection of a light source, what exactly are we calling the bug?

 

 

edit: hmmm I am starting to see it, cause the one scene that does have the affect specular is bouncing more light in the scene than the other (noticable in the rafters)..... on that note, I'm going to observe fran's signature:D

[DavidR]

Hey guitarboy, what's the problem? Your renders look identical to me except for the big square reflection on the floor. Isn't that what you were after? If not, create geometry for your actual physical light, add vraylight mat, and turn off spec on the Vray light, so you'll get light + correct spec. I do it all the time since 1.5 -it's no problemo. (I certainly don't find it constitutes "arcane workflow"!!).

[Christopher Nichols]

This is an interesting point. I just did some tests and see what you mean. Basically the difference happens when reflections turn into specular. Vray uses a special algorithm to separate those. That is how a Domelight with an HDR can produce both specular light and reflections. Using a simple Vray light, and outputing specular and reflection as render elements, you can run some experiments. Make something reflect with a glossy of 1.0 and the light will be show up in the reflection. Set the glossy to a lower number of 0.9 and it will appear in both (split), as you go down more it will be all specular.

 

Technically speaking, doing "invisible" should make it not visible in reflections, and turning off "affect specular" should do just that. But it looks like "affect specular" is doing it all. Not sure why... I will ask Vlado that question. Seems odd indeed. My logic may be wrong, but I will look into this and see what I find...

[aaron-cds]

Here are a few quick pics of wat i mean. one with the specular option on, the other with it off, and then a screen shot.

 

That scene looks familiar.

[guitarboy]

haha, yeah sorry, i saw the image and fell in love with how awesome it looked, got bored one arv and started mucking around with a very simple and basic model based of it just to see if i could work out how to get some of the effects and techniques and stuff.

 

sorry if im not meant to do this, i didnt no. ill move onto a different scene now.

[alfienoakes]

That scene looks familiar.

 

imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.....

[Aaron2004]

Here's a better picture of what I think the problem might be...

[aaron-cds]

sorry if im not meant to do this, i didnt no. ill move onto a different scene now.

 

No problem. It's just polite to give credit when you're copying someone's work. I don't mind if you keep going with it.

 

I'll give you a little hint on mapping the arches. Create a box with the correct UVW mapping and apply a bend modifier.

[Christopher Nichols]

Ok here is the deal.

 

"Invisible" only is invisible to camera, and "affect specular" is affects all form of specular light, including reflections.

[Tim Saunders]

"Invisible" only is invisible to camera, and "affect specular" is affects all form of specular light, including reflections.

 

I hope I don't sound like I'm bagging on you Chris (or anyone else), but didn't we already know this? I have been confused through the entire thread about what the question is. I thought he just wanted to know if there was anything else that he looses by unchecking effect specular? Well, the answer is no. You just loose all reflection of the light.

 

Guitarboy, you posted your screen shot of the difference between effect specular checked and unchecked, and it clearly showed the result, so why did the discussion continue? I just thought the question was answered.

 

And it's not a bug, it's an option. The option has been publicly defined ever sense the release of 1.5 in the spot3d help files. I''m just confused about why everyone is confused. Sorry to sound arrogant.

[Andrew1]

Hey Guys,

 

I encountered the same problem on several occasions,

I have to agree that it seems like a bug,

I remember unchecking the visible in light option in vray 1.47, having great reflections and I did not get the reflection of the light.

In 1.5 there should be an option to just knock that light reflection out, after all when I select invisible why would that render the reflection in any way.

I don't see the light source right ? so why would I see the reflection of the light source ?? seems dumb.

 

Cheers , hope Chaos will correct it in the future.

[rivoli]

actually I find the control you have on lights in 1.5.x far more handy than it used to be in 1.47.x.

 

back in 1.47, I often stumbled into situations where I wanted to keep the speculars from a light but not the actual light visible in scene. this just couldn't be done in one pass, you either had one or the other.

 

now you can have a light visible or not, but still decide if it will affect diffuse, specular or both. this looks like more control over your lighting rather than a bug to me.

[Tim Saunders]

Hey Guys,

 

I encountered the same problem on several occasions,

I have to agree that it seems like a bug,

I remember unchecking the visible in light option in vray 1.47, having great reflections and I did not get the reflection of the light.

In 1.5 there should be an option to just knock that light reflection out, after all when I select invisible why would that render the reflection in any way.

I don't see the light source right ? so why would I see the reflection of the light source ?? seems dumb.

 

Cheers , hope Chaos will correct it in the future.

 

That's what I am saying Andrew. We already answered this question. You have to uncheck affect specular for the light to not be reflected. Did nobody read the updates with the new version? I'll say it again, "it's not a bug, it's an option."

[Andrew1]

When you uncheck the specularity in the light rollout, it will affect the specularity of the entire scene if it is lit with this light, how ever all I want to get rid off is the specular of the light source not the light ambience.

I had a scene with a lotof tiles that carry a bump map after assigning a light source with specular enabled everything looked great except the overbright light source reflection. Now when I uncheck specular in the light roll out

it affected the entire tile wall, I had no specularity and no light source reflection. I would like to maintainthe ambience specularity when I make my light invisible just as it was in vray 1.47 without having to uncheck specular.

A lot of people find this annoying and problematic. Your solution is quite obvious but does not resolve the problem.

I simply had to create one light no ambience just specular move it away so it would not reflect in my cam view and use the light source to light the scene with the specular unchecked.

 

Hope this explains the problem in a simpler way......

 

Cheers !

[Christopher Nichols]

I hope I don't sound like I'm bagging on you Chris (or anyone else), but didn't we already know this? I have been confused through the entire thread about what the question is. I thought he just wanted to know if there was anything else that he looses by unchecking effect specular? Well, the answer is no. You just loose all reflection of the light.

 

Guitarboy, you posted your screen shot of the difference between effect specular checked and unchecked, and it clearly showed the result, so why did the discussion continue? I just thought the question was answered.

 

And it's not a bug, it's an option. The option has been publicly defined ever sense the release of 1.5 in the spot3d help files. I''m just confused about why everyone is confused. Sorry to sound arrogant.

 

To be honest... I forgot. Mainly because I don't care about separating reflection and spec. However, if the render elements can separate reflection and specular, why not the light.