nelpiper Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Hi guys. I use mental ray for my freelance work but I never had to use the mental ray proxy before. This morning I had to and for my shocking, it does not support the materials that are applied to the model!!! What the hell is that? You have to apply a Xref material to the proxy, which will double the work. Does anyone know if there's a fix or service pack or script to address this (that IMO) is a huge drawback? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 Proxies do not store materials within the standalone proxy file. It is best to merge proxies into a scene with materials already applied, or to keep a separate library of proxy materials that you can assign when you place them into your scene. I prefer the first method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex York Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 yes, you're not doubling your work. all you do is map up your object as you normally would then save it (and the others) out to a library file. then merge that in and reapply to the proxies. doesn't take very long. and it means you can just as easily make adjustments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattclinch Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 It is deliberate. We had Jamie Gwilliam demo this for us a few weeks back rather excellently, and as he pointed out, it is done that way to encourage you to vary the materials on objects that are proxied (lets face it, primarily trees...). It is a simple enough process to reapply the original material to all the proxies, but you can vary it with Multi-Sub or Composite materials i believe. Personally i think it is a useful feature designed to stop obvious repetition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex York Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 aye, using a multisub with a few variations is a really nice technique. you can essentially use one multisub mat on a whole tonne of objects. basically it's no different than not using proxies. you probably could script it so that all your mats from various objects are imported into your master scene and reapplied to the proxies of the same name, if you really wanted to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted May 28, 2009 Share Posted May 28, 2009 but you can vary it with Multi-Sub or Composite materials i believe. ....Yes, my only complaint is that I need separate instances of the tree in order to vary the color using this technique. I am still on 2009, but I understand in 2010, there are further shaders for varying color. Hopefully this means I can set a range of color on one shader, and have it randomly select within that range. This would mean I would only need one instance of the proxy to very color, and it also means it would be faster, and easier to manage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 Bumping an old thread - but it is on the same topic. What is the best technique for varying materials of Mrproxy objects? I am populating a car dealership parking lot. i have the proxy objects and material library ready to go. At this point the only method of I know of is instancing the proxy for each identical car. When I need to change the paint color I have to copy the proxy then assign the next material. Is there a way to do this creating only instances? Or is creating one copy per material necessary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Hunt Posted December 8, 2011 Share Posted December 8, 2011 You can apply different materials to instances, just remeamber to have "Apply to instances" turned Off in the material editor jhv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD Posted December 9, 2011 Share Posted December 9, 2011 Awesome! I did not know that check box was there. Thank you Justin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now