vray scatter is better to render than instantiated vray proxyes? Why?

[kyouko]

Hello Cg Architects,

 

I want to ask something. Someone know if I do want to use a lot of trees on the same scene, vray proxyes are enough, or the render time using vray scatter is better?

 

Because I want to place Trees but not so randon, (and if it is possible to do the job without buying scatter, will be better to me in this time).

[TheAllusionisst]

Plenty of free "Scatter" like programs on the internet and most let you paint the location if wanted. Itoo software has some great free plugins and one of them "Clone" I believe will work with Vray proxies. I have been so focused on using mental ray for the last couple years, I haven't really kept up on Vray and what works with what.

 

http://www.itoosoft.com/english/menu.php?id=download

[Ricardo Eloy]

In theory, there should be no difference, since scattering is simply a way to copy things...

As Russell said, there's plenty of free scatterers out there. Advanced Painter is a pretty neat one, and you can even use PArray to distribute your proxies if you want.

[TheAllusionisst]

Since I thought I would check it out (Rick's suggestions) and another useful one, I am posting the links while I am at it.

 

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/advanced-painter-0

 

http://www.3rdpole.com/

 

http://www.evvisual.com/maxscript.htm

[kyouko]

Thanks! I will try to use scatter and hand-positioned proxys and keep doing the job.

 

I will try the sugestions, hope to reply soon about em.

[Koper]

We are using vray scatter and the difference are miles ahead of any other app or method out there. Also the functionality of the different ways to apply the scatter throughout the scene.

 

somehow the vray scatter plug-in just makes vray render much much smoother and faster when using forest amounts of proxies. (max also works smoothly) We we're rendering a forest last week of +80 000 vray proxy trees (4 different kinds) with frame times between 7-15min depending on the machine specs.

 

And the vray scatter texture easily give random color to the scatter field, so no tree looks alike

 

You cant go wrong with vray scatter.

 

if you go to rendering.ru then on the home page just beneath the banner/image go to the manual and see the functionality for you're self.

 

But that's just my opinion from experience

[mitchellpeacock]

I second that - since using VrayScatter I now actually enjoy modelling vegetation!

 

Combine it with some good Onyx meshes, or some iCube high poly trees, the vrayscattertexture and you can generate some incredible results with very little time and resource overhead.

 

I love it!

[Eric Sosa]

has anyone tried forest 3.0/3.2 with vray?. did try the demo but max crashes when trying to scat other meshes/objects in the scene an not using the ugly forest default trees.

 

http://www.itoosoft.com/english/menu.php?id=forestpack_description

 

as default forest trees are based on bitmaps over 1-4 planes (4 polygones max), it is suppose to be much faster then regular proxi scatters (with hundrets ot thousand polygones/proxi).

 

in fact, you have to adjust the gamma LUT in order to get an ok render using the plugin ... anoying indeed, tho, it works fantastic with MR!!, awesome visus, realy.

 

...do not feel like switching to mr just because of a vegetation plugin.

 

wish I have a hand of vrayscatter, tho unaffordable (at least 4 me ) when only working as free lancer.

[Itoosoft]

Eric, what Forest version have you tried ?

 

There are not problems to scatter millions of meshes/proxies from Forest 3.2, since we included native shaders for Mental Ray and VRay. In our website you can find plenty of images and some sample scenes (see Urban Park tutorial).

 

This feature was not available in Forest 3.0/3.1, perhaps this was the reason of your crashing issues. Also be sure that you use VRay 1.5 SP2 or greater. With the recent releases it works in VRay getting the same performance than VRayScatter (besides the Mental Ray support).

 

About the gamma adjust, we get good results using VRay and billboards. Be sure that GI is enabled, and as previous use the latest Forest release. We have fixed many issues related with VRay since version 3.0.

 

However, if you have any problem using the plugin, i will be pleased to help you. You can contact us here or posting in our website's forum.

 

Best regards,

 

Carlos.

Itoo Software

Edited March 9, 2010 by Itoosoft

[Eric Sosa]

Eric, what Forest version have you tried ?

 

There are not problems to scatter millions of meshes/proxies from Forest 3.2, since we included native shaders for Mental Ray and VRay. In our website you can find plenty of images and some sample scenes (see Urban Park tutorial).

 

This feature was not available in Forest 3.0/3.1, perhaps this was the reason of your crashing issues. Also be sure that you use VRay 1.5 SP2 or greater. With the recent releases it works in VRay getting the same performance than VRayScatter (besides the Mental Ray support).

 

About the gamma adjust, we get good results using VRay and billboards. Be sure that GI is enabled, and as previous use the latest Forest release. We have fixed many issues related with VRay since version 3.0.

 

However, if you have any problem using the plugin, i will be pleased to help you. You can contact us here or posting in our website's forum.

 

Best regards,

 

Carlos.

Itoo Software

Hola Carlos.

 

It was Forest 3.0. After your comment, I see why max crashed, even tho I did try with vray ps2 .

 

About the gamma?...yes, Gamma & LUT needs to be adjusted, from the start, if you want to use Forest 3.0 archives (bitmaps). Sorry to say there are ugly, but there are . I had GI enabled but anyway, I had to adjust the gamma in vray settings...again, just to get an ok looking bitmap.

 

I can't find info about Forest 3.2 & vray in your site. Perhaps I have not looked enough.

 

Sure, the use of scattering objects is certainly crucial for such plugin.

 

As I said, I render the demo Urban Park with mentalray and it looked awesome, but at converting to vray everything went nuts.

 

Anyways I am longing to try Forest 3.2...whenever I can purchase it.

 

Saludos ... Eric

[Itoosoft]

Hola Carlos.

 

It was Forest 3.0. After your comment, I see why max crashed, even tho I did try with vray ps2 .

 

About the gamma?...yes, Gamma & LUT needs to be adjusted, from the start, if you want to use Forest 3.0 archives (bitmaps). Sorry to say there are ugly, but there are . I had GI enabled but anyway, I had to adjust the gamma in vray settings...again, just to get an ok looking bitmap.

 

I can't find info about Forest 3.2 & vray in your site. Perhaps I have not looked enough.

 

Sure, the use of scattering objects is certainly crucial for such plugin.

 

As I said, I render the demo Urban Park with mentalray and it looked awesome, but at converting to vray everything went nuts.

 

Anyways I am longing to try Forest 3.2...whenever I can purchase it.

 

Saludos ... Eric

 

Hi Eric,

 

In Forest 3.0 there was a gamma bug that is already fixed. If you have the same problem using version 3.3, please send us a sample image to check it.

 

You can find some information about Forest and VRay in our wesbite (see Forest Pack->Rendering). With Forest 3.3, we also have released a max version of Urban Park scene ready for VRay.

 

Saludos,

Carlos

Itoo Software

[julsumaran]

i just want to know if i need the plugin to render after i created the proxies? i want to render in a network but i will only buy vray scatter for one machine. Please let me know as soon as you can, thank you.

[Koper]

yes you still need it. but with every workstation license you buy you get a certain amount of rendering nodes (not sure how many, maybe 10) thus you can only create vray scatter on 1 machine but still render on other machines. You can also open a vray scatter file on another machine with a rendering node but you can't change any settings.

 

Also, take good notice of the license registration process and choose a computer you know you'll be using for some time as its kinda difficult changing the workstation license from on machine to another

 

g'luck and enjoy!

[Eric Sosa]

Hi Eric,

 

In Forest 3.0 there was a gamma bug that is already fixed. If you have the same problem using version 3.3, please send us a sample image to check it.

 

You can find some information about Forest and VRay in our wesbite (see Forest Pack->Rendering). With Forest 3.3, we also have released a max version of Urban Park scene ready for VRay.

 

Saludos,

Carlos

Itoo Software

 

Hey Carlos thx for the info.

 

Have tried Forest Pack 3.3 LIGHT ...great tool, realy. I see mantalray & vray are fully supported and it works fantastic.

 

Just wonder, can it be used with Max 2010 or 2011? same for the Pro version?

 

saludos

Eric

[Itoosoft]

Just wonder, can it be used with Max 2010 or 2011? same for the Pro version?

 

Hi Eric,

 

Forest Pack 3.3 supports to Max 2010. We just released Forest Pack 3.3.1 for Max 2011, because although the plugins are compatible, there were some changes in the Mental Ray shaders.

 

Regards,

Carlos

Itoo Software

[abdelkader hamza]

thank's for this poste and this explication from all