How Do You Add IES Data to VRay Lights???

[Michael J. Brown]

I'm trying to light my first VRay interior (with VRay lights - in Max 2008) and cannot for the life of me find where or how to tell the light to use an IES file. I've tried in the Plane, Dome and Sphere lights. And none seem to let me do it.

 

I know I've gotta be missing something. A co-worker who uses Cinema 4D has no problem assigning IES data to his VRay lights. But because the VRay interface is completely different from Max to C4D, he can't help me at all.

[RobNJ73]

VRay 1.5 SP2 has specific VRayIES lights, but from what I understand (haven't upgraded to SP2 here yet), they're still somewhat primitive. I think Max's native photometric lights offer you a little more in terms of control.

 

There's a thread on this at the Chaos Group forums:

 

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=41459

[Michael J. Brown]

Thank for the link Rob.

 

So are you saying that VRay 1.5 (no service pack) has no VRayIES lights? Because I'm showing no option for creating a VRayIES light, and I am not using service pack 2 (yet).

[RobNJ73]

Yep, that's it. The VRayIES light only comes with SP2. I haven't seen any renderings or heard from users about how they are vs. Max's Photometrics, though. All I've seen is Vlado's post saying that the native Photometrics are more advanced.

 

Check out that thread though... there's some good links in there to IES libraries and a link to an IES generator (create your own IES files).

[Michael J. Brown]

thanks.

[Michael J. Brown]

HOWEVER... Will SP2 work with Max 2008? I went to the Chaos website and read their SP2 press release which says "The V-Ray 1.5 Service Pack 2 is compatible with Autodesk® 3ds Max 2009® and Autodesk® 3ds Max Design 2009"

[RobNJ73]

Yep, SP2 should be fine for at least Max 2008 and Max 9. Not sure how far back it goes, but it should work fine with 2008 as per this post from Vlado:

 

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=373431&postcount=19