vray light light material will not render when in composite or blend material

[chriswhite]

Hi guys,

first post here, and Im pulling my hair out.

 

Setup:

3ds max 2011

vray 2.2

vray physical camera, film speed and shutter speed adjusted for exposure compensation.

1 vray spherical light, 1 ambient

a text object that has been beveled, converted to an editable mesh and given a uvw mapping.

 

Scenario 1: Light material alone- glows like banannas.

Scenario 2: Light material in a composite material-no render. all other materials in stack render properly.

Scenario 3: Light material in vray blend material- as base material, it renders. As a layer, it will not render.

 

Reason I need it to layer: the light material has a transparency map applied to it that makes it useless as a base layer.

 

What I am trying to do: The text object has a base material of a rusted metal, with a reflection map for the clean spots. I added a light material layer, using the reflection map as a transparency map and gave it a satisfying warm orange glow(looks great in the material slot). I then created a 3rd layer that was a copy of the base, pulled the diffuse map down to 60% and whited the diffuse color out, giving the original material an ashy look. the idea is to burn the object with fumefx (flames working great), and cycle the transparency of the materials from normal to glowing to ashy (with a slight underglow).

 

Any help with this odd conundrum would be great.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Nicolai Bongard]

Hey there. Looks like you are out of luck: "The direct illumination options currently only work properly if the VRayLightMtl material is the only material applied on the object. They will not work if the material is part of a complex material like a Multi/sub-object material or a VRayBlendMtl material. This restriction will probably be removed in a future release." - according to this site: http://www.spot3d.com/vray/help/150SP1/vray_light_mtl.htm . I just watched a "Tip of the week" video posted somewhere on these forums, and the subject was vray blend mtl. Apparently glass/transparent materials only work in blend when used as a base.