swimming pool caustic settings

[linopoetti]

Caustics for swimming pool:

Hi everyone my first post after my introduction.

Problem:

I created a scene with 3dsmax2014 and vray 3.0 which has a detached house on a site with a external swimming pool. My problem is getting caustics to the pool correctly. If I describe what I have tried below then you cans see what I have or haven’t done. I have tried to follow some tutorials on the internet with these results.

pool:

Geometry: 2500.0mmx1100.0mm plane 25x80segs

Water mat created from VRayMtl

Reflection glos 1.0, subdivs 20, Fresnel reflection ticked, ior 1.33, max depth 5

Refractions glos 1.0, subdivs 8, (use interpolation and affect shadows not ticked)

Bump in map 2.0, map type noise set to regular.

Vray settings:

Vray GI render setup brute force, Caustics ticked

Vray GI caustics, Search dis 50.0, Max photons 60, Multiplier 5.0

Lights:

Vray sun only, no daylight system: Site dimensions 61000.0x65000.0mm=61x65meters,

Photon emit radius 60000.0mm (system unit settings milimeters)

Vray light properties: Gen caustics ticked, Caustic subdivs 1500, Multiplier 1.0, Gen diff ticked

(When rendered no visible caustics)

Other attempts:

I have tried adding a direct light for just the pool using the include exclude variables-

Vray sun: Turn off vray sun caustics in light settings, exclude the pool water in the light calculations.

Direct light: exclude all accept for pool water.

Also the sun does not penetrate the water if the effect shadows variable is unchecked anyway.

I have tried many ways but with no caustics visible and have run out of ideas, my guess is that it must be something to do with the caustic settings themselves that I do not quite understand even with the vray help file and the tutorials.

Please can someone advise me please

lino

[Nicolai Bongard]

You might want to fake the caustics, have a look here for a neat trick on how to do it: http://www.ronenbekerman.com/making-of-the-house-3d-mental-ray-animation/

[linopoetti]

Nicolai please advise me which free caustics generator to use and where to find it.

all my images are stills how do you use this with 3dsmax?

sorry I am a beginner and not sure how things are done.

[Nicolai Bongard]

I think the caustic generator is just to get the map you can see there. Basically just a seamless water map (like the blue one you can see in the making of article.) So see if you can find a similar texture and put it into a light - it will project the image onto whatever geometry it illuminates, and thus fake the whole caustic thing.

[Amen]

http://www.3dtotal.com/tutorial/3d_studio_max/video_tutorial_vray_caustics/vray_caustics_01.php

 

I still think, this is one of the best tutorials for caustics.

[linopoetti]

Thank you Nicolai, but what I really need to know is what are the correct caustic settings for my model:-

Vray GI render setup Caustics:

Vray GI caustics, Search dis 50.0, Max photons 60, Multiplier 5.0

Lights:

Vray sun only, no daylight system: Site dimensions 61000.0x65000.0mm=61x65meters,

Photon emit radius 60000.0mm (system unit settings milimeters)

Vray light properties: Gen caustics ticked, Caustic subdivs 1500, Multiplier 1.0, Gen diff ticked

If these settings are set correctly then the caustics should work, I think mine are wrong and need correcting.

Can you check them out to see where the errors are please?

[linopoetti]

Thank you Jan K. for the info I will run through that tutorial

and let you know how I got on.

[linopoetti]

I have run through the tutorial fine but when I render it Is all spots over the caustic areas.

I need some help with the Vray light property settings and the render setup GI caustics settings.

please advise me what they should be?

[Amen]

Did you displace your water or model it?

 

The numbers which are used in the example work well for me.

[linopoetti]

Hi Jan K thanks for coming back-

I modelled the water plane with modifiers, shell, noise, and turbosmooth.

It is a pity that I cannot sent the model to you for you to see.

[beestee]

Vray GI caustics, Search dis 50.0, Max photons 60, Multiplier 5.0

 

Looking at the caustics examples in VRay Help it seems that maybe your multiplier is far too low to have any visible effect. In the example images, the multiplier is set to 17000.