vray

[trey]

i'm testing out vray for my office.

anyone know the best way and fastest

way to learn vray? or know of where

i can download tutorials for vray?

[plastic]

here:

http://www.vray.info

[trey]

i am totally lost with VRAY.

i use viz 4 right now.

 

1) if i want to do a GI solution, do i still use Viz IES lighting system, or does vray have it's own lighting?

 

2)in regards to material, do i need to replace all my material with vray material?

 

3) is the vray engine totally detached from the viz radiosity solution? meaning, if i wanted to do a GI with vray, do i still need to do Viz solution or do i not deal with Viz rad solution?

 

4) if i have a model that already lit with photometrics lighting with a rad solution, do i need to re-do the lighting with vray?

[plastic]

>>if i want to do a GI solution, do i still use Viz IES lighting system, or does vray have it's own lighting?

 

vray has its own

 

>>in regards to material, do i need to replace all my material with vray material?

 

no, however, for advanced effects, like blurred reflections, or sub surface scattering you have to use the vray material/maps.

 

>>is the vray engine totally detached from the viz radiosity solution? meaning, if i wanted to do a GI with vray, do i still need to do Viz solution or do i not deal with Viz rad solution?

 

yes, its detached. its also not compatible. forget about VIZ radiosity/photometric lights if you use vray.

 

>>if i have a model that already lit with photometrics lighting with a rad solution, do i need to re-do the lighting with vray?

 

you can't render it with vray.

GI and radiosity are two very different beasts. either use GI with vray/brazil/finalrender/light tracer _or_ radiosity.

[matt_vinoir]

trey, did vray load up ok with viz 4? do you have the advanced or standarv vray? I tried to drop it into my viz 4 floder but nothing has happened. I'm not sure what to do with it!

[trey]

matt,

i have the demo version, i'm testing it out to see if it's as good as it sounds. i just dowloaded it from vray.com and followed instructions.

 

let me know if you have any sucess with

vray. it seems to take a million yrs to render out anything.

[matt_vinoir]

guy called kunstraum does some nice stuff both with viz4 and vray. he favour vray as it is much faster and better at exterior scenes. viz 4 seems a bit more suited to interiors.

 

I just want to know how i get my full version to load on viz 4!! anyone help me?

[trey]

who is kunstraum?

do u have his member # or email?

[Wolf]

To install VRay manually,

copy the files to the following folders:

 

VRay40.dll - in MAX root folder

VRender40.dlr - in MAX plugins folder

vraydummy.max - (Advanced version only) in MAX root folder

VRMaxSpawn.exe - (Advanced version only) in MAX root folder

VRayNet40.dlu - (Adavnced version only) in MAX plugins folder

[matt_vinoir]

i think i'll try that wolf, cos i'm desperate to have a go. I keep getting told vray isfaster to get into that viz and the results are always really nice.It is quicker/better for externals isn't it?

[Wolf]

i never get into "my renderer is better than yours" arguements

i like blue boxer shorts on rainy days

and i prefer vray over other renderers

 

totally up to you, on what you are comfortable to use, i like them all, but right now im concentrating on getting good settings with vray

[matt_vinoir]

i'm half in agreement withyou wolf. If we are talknig purely about the quality of image each render produces. I have seen a large quantity from didfferent renderers. The more images you see of each renderer, the more average you can take to get an overall opinion. Having seen generally a hell of alot more or the third party renders and lightscape than i have purely of viz 4 it tells me people dodn't want to work with it. But this could be cos it is quite new compared. I have seen one or two ood images with viz 4 but not enough to make me feel comfortabel using it. Do you know what i mean?

 

In terms of quickest to learn/ render/ gi etc.

I'm told brazil is ruled out as to slow and lightscape needs a lot of precision in the modelling.(as you know! that rules me out!lol)

 

so i'm fairly resigned to using viz, but if all it takes is a plug in renderer like vray on top of viz4 i'd be happy doing that.

 

I've never really heard anyone back up viz 100% to say its great. I hope it will get better, thats all i can say!

[kid]

I'm happy with Max 4, the feature of X-Reffing to dwg files is no good for me, as I model in Rhino. I'm happy rendering with VRay, VirtuaLight, Brazil, and I occasionally fire up C4D. Personally I see Viz 4 as a waste of money because it doesn't add any advantage over my current setup, other people may find it an absolute ncesessity and worth the money. I've seen some good Viz 4 interiors but no exciting exteriors.

[matt_vinoir]

exteriors are more inportant to me than anything else. i'm not some poofy interior designer. I'm architect. The whole idea of it being an architects tool is a bit of a piss take in that respect. Thats why i want to look at vray for renderin. It seems that viz4 will only really a middle man for controlling my models from archicad into vray, bit pointless really eh!

[plastic]

matt,

it depends on the style. the VIZ4/max5 radiosity only works for interiours (great) or for stylized exteriours (that architectual paper-model look). for photorealistic-styled exteriours you will have to use GI sky- and sunlight. for skylight finalrender and brazil produce the most realistic lighting, vray tends to make things look a bit 'cartoonish' (too high contrast with soft shadows, light distribution doesn't look right), brazil has great output but the current public demo doesn't support photon mapping, so its slooow.

finalrender is fast & makes beautyful renders, but its handling can be frustrating (thats why most people say it sucks.)

the max5 light tracer is of very high quality, great soft shadows & color bleeding (a bit like brazil) but it's slooooooow and has problems with intersecting geometry, and artefacts (dark spots) in corners.

finalrender also has this problem.

 

personally i'm pretty happy with the VIZ4/max5 radiosity, since i usually don't go for the 'photorealistic' look. most architects here prefer the stylised look.

 

my opinion on current renderers:

 

vray: unique features (distributed rendering, displacement mapping...), pretty fast, great price, lightning fast development (frequent updates), a real demo is available, BUT i'm not fully happy with the GI quality.

 

finalrender: good output quality, fast, great price, frustrating setup, hard to handle, there is always some 'flaw/artefact' in the output which has to be 'photoshopped'. the next version is around the corner and might kick ass.

 

brazil: best-of-all-output, slooow, will it ever be released?, insane high price (considering network licences), very easy to use & setup, best max integration of all (but vray is close).

 

my current favourite is vray, i will wait for finalrender stage-1 and decide if i will upgrade to it or buy vray instead. brazil is not an option for me.

[nisus]

a small thought on matt's "If we are talknig purely about the quality of image each render produces."

 

I think the artist should drive the vision of an image, renderers are just tools... like a pencil... Everyone can hold it, hardly a few manage to use it well...

 

rgds

 

nisus

[matt_vinoir]

hmm, i don't buy that really. I find that you can be artistic with views and the architecture but the rest is just fiddling around with pull down menus. Hardly an art form!! Doesn't compare to my watercolours. One of the main reasns i did well in uni was that everyone else go heavily into computers towards the end ( albeit bad images thatcame out) so the odd watercolour was a relief to the tutors.

 

I think Marc has got it right. I think if you stick to the white card materials and treat it like a model you get a lovely conceptual feel. All us architects want is that soft shadow gi effect. All the rest is a bonus. Simply compare the same model from Archicad that used n my degee to the same one with a spot of radioisty and it makes a difference to people who haven't seen it before.

 

In honesty, some of these really nice nteriors have been made to look good because a lot of detail has been modelled. I think that means a lot.

 

Finally, a guy that has made some great stuff with viz 4 uses vray and he also likes that stylised effect that marc talked about, With vray you can get a lovely effect like that but in addition the real skylight effects make for a better image. I'm going to try the vray route i think and then keep my ears closed and just get on with learning my own techniques.