Mental Ray - Shaders

[JeffPatton]

Oooook....Just slap a white raytrace material on some spheres, turn on fresnel reflections and throw a white skylight into the scene and turn on final gather.....If you want more reflections put some white cards into the scene.

http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/neil.jpg

If you don't know some of the terms I've used or how to implement them, they are all pretty much the basics of lighting and you should probably start with the tutorials that come with 3dsmax and then read through this thread entirely for more detailed MR info.

Best regards,

JP

[AdrianWilliams]

jeff you did it again :D

Edit:

If you want more reflections put some white cards into the scene.what do you mean by white cards? :hmm:

[ToddD]

Always amazed by Jeff to say the least!!!!
But this 1 was a pretty easy request, as he so brilliantly explained, a carpaint like material, and some self illuminated planes do wonders. A small tip, if you look at Neils original, appears he used some sort of bitmap to give the light some shape(black between). I did the same by creating a plane object, chamfering the edges, and applying a self illuminated mat to the large squares(light) and then inverted my selection, and applied a mat black material. Anyway, did this a while back as a quick test ;)

PS samples are low it was just a test =)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v99/tbonz/blevintest-02.jpg

[JeffPatton]

Todd, you just had to go and put more details in than I did....didn't ya...lol. :)

4th-child: White cards or reflection cards are just planes that have a white material applied to them. Most of the time one will use an output map in the diffuse slot of the white card material just to get a bright white, even color. They are put in scenes to give the objects something interesting to reflect.

JP

[ToddD]

Hehe Jeff, had this 1 sitting on my harddrive, never expected to have a use for it lol I think this is the first thing I did when I got my new rig ;)

[JeffPatton]

Yeah, I've got one or two of those type scenes lying around somewhere too. I think it's a pre-requisite that you have to render those whenever you get a new PC... :thumbsup:

[AdrianWilliams]

i remade that scene fine in max with MR looked really nice but i switched over to brazil it didnt look the same. even with GI turned on? any help as to getting the same effect like MR did?

[JeffPatton]

4th-child: It should be just a matter of setting up the lume server (white GI light), and add some light cards or something....

For those that aren't familiar with light cards (Hell I think that's what they are called.....that's what I'm calling them anyway). Here's an example scene that is lit ONLY from a light card (no actual lights). You will find one omni light in the scene, but it is turned off, just to make sure the default lighting isn't on. And, the glow shader gives some light of course, but that's only the red and blue areas.

Here's the render:
http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/glow-balls.jpg

And here's the scene:
Download scene (http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/glow-balls.zip)

To dim the light, just lower the output amount on the material assigned to the light cards.

JP

[3Drawer]

nice scene jeff!

heres mine:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/3Drawer/3d%20images/spheres2.jpg

render time 1:48h on a P4 2,0ghz 512mb ddr-ram
render: mentalray:buttrock:


cu

3Drawer

ps.: I´ve a NEW MSN adress!


here´s a pic I made with the ICE-Material (downloaded form here
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/3Drawer/3d%20images/ice-sphere.jpg

[3Drawer]

here I used a "glass (lume)" shader instad of the raytrace mat.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/3Drawer/glass_sphere.jpg

Interesting effect I think.
The speher in the front has an "line" look, what do u think?

3Drawer

[AdrianWilliams]

Thx jeff gonna try it right now:D
3Drawer that glass (lume) look sweet!

[AdrianWilliams]

tested out jeffs scene alls ok but i get some strage goings on when i set the viewport to its set to smooth and highlights it keeps filkering and some of the ball keep disappearing and reappearing :shrug:

also 3Drawer what did you add to your black ratrace to get that fuzzy reflection of the white cards?

[alaburb]

see my post below

[externe]

Hello,
First of all, thank you very much. It's really cool. I download your scene, Jeff and test it.
I have 2 questions:
- I try to remove the blue glow by copying the raytrace grey material (my capture below), but I have always a few blue and I can't understand why. Can you tell me why please ?

http://jerjer1.free.fr/ball1.jpg

- I try to obtain the same "white" as you :
http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/neil.jpg

but I can't (always grey or burnt). Can you tell me how you make it, or publish this file for I can see the difference and understand the practice. Thanks.

[ILS]

you are not alone - the same flickering happens on my computer - i don't think the vid card can handle it

for blury reflection you use the metal (lume) i actually discovered its the best thing to use for black leather.

[AdrianWilliams]

thx ILS. but my card should be ok i have an ATI radeon pro 9800 256? :shrug:
externe:
Jeffs instructions were quite clear on how to make this scene set up, try again :D

"Oooook....Just slap a white raytrace material on some spheres, turn on fresnel reflections and throw a white skylight into the scene and turn on final gather.....If you want more reflections put some white cards into the scene."

[alaburb]

I render buildings all day for a famous architect. Often the buildings have a lot of pretty, reflective glass. I also like to use GI Photons to illuminate the interiors of my buildings. Oh, and I usually don't have much time...

My problem:

to make a Mental Ray Glass shader which has all of the reflective qualities and Edge Shadows of the Lume Glass or Physics_Phen Shaders (already so aptly demonstrated earlier here)? But it must transmit all GI Photons from a MR Area Llight WITHOUT USING CAUSTICS!
Remember, we are united in lowering render times...

perhaps we can use Jeff Patton's earlier glass rendering scene as a basis. http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1409473&highlight=glass#post1409473
or better still glaze this sky light:
http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6513&highlight=brazil+mental+ray

I have had limited success in slapping a Transmat Photon shader onto the Photon Slot of a Mental Ray material which has the usual Glass (lume) for Material and Shadow maps. From the diagnostic photon density render I would say it is only about 30-40% effective. Needs to be more.

I imagine that this would be quite a MRay boon to the CG architecural community who are going to VRay to solve problems like this (or else the white window syndrome (http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/room.jpg)).

Thanks for this thread, I only wish that the Mental Ray and Max6 Documentation were so authoritative...

[ToddD]

alaburb (member.php?u=81958) I believe the only way would be to use caustics(seems you figured that out already). ;) I think glass doesn't allow the passage of photons, in the current version of MR. Maybe someone with some arch/vis experience with MR can shed some light(or photons) onto the situation. I have read of people rendering a MR pass, then rendering a scanline pass for glass reflections and compositing the 2 together.

Todd

[ILS]

why don't you turn off the cast shadows for the glass geometry. or like tbonz said render glass as a separate pass.

[JeffPatton]

My question is this:
Is it possible to create a glass material that can transmit ALL the GI photons from an exterior light source (say a simple MR Area Spot) and still preserve the wonderful reflective qualities of a good glass shader (Glass Lume or Physics_Phen). BUT WITHOUT CAUSTICS!

Sure. This won't work with the Physics_Phen glass, because there's not a photon map option with that material. But place the glass_lume material in the surface map of a MR material. Render your GI scene, no photon pass (or very few if any). Now add a photon basic(base) map to the photon map slot of that material. Set the transparancy value to white (255,255,255) for pure transparant. Render again, bingo photon pass through the glass without turning on caustics.

Now, another way to do this with the physics phen glass, or anything else for that matter is to hide the glass, render and store your GI calculation. Then unhide the glass objects and render using your stored GI map. This solution seems to be the easiest and most practical.

extreme - I have no idea why it's leaving some blue glow, very strange. I can replace that material with no problems.

JP

[externe]

Well, I understand why I have always the glowing blue effect. That's simply because I use always the same *.fgm file... So these are old data... Sorry, I'm a newbe.

I try again and again but I can have a white plan and white sphere... :(

I also can't understand why I have a black stroke (below), even I remove the gradient map.
Can someone help me please ?

http://jerjer1.free.fr/ball2.jpg

[3Drawer]

@4th-ChildI use a mental ray material. apply a "metal to shader" (in the surface slot)use a raytrace material apply a MetalLume shader(diffuse) blurry 10; and some noise; regular;size 0,1,Amount 50;Thats all.

@externe
this is because u don´t update the colours... apply all mats new and it will work!

@alaburb
can u post a pic of the prob?

3Drawer

[alaburb]

Mr. Patton,

Many thanks both methods work (the second being so obvious I am ashamed to have wasted your time)... funny the first doesn't seem to show up in the diagnosis render, but looks fine.

YOU HEAR THAT EVERYONE....you can have your GI and your reflective glass too!

[ToddD]

Oh Jeff, I like that last bit of info(about the glass and photons) for sure, thanks for shaing!!!!!!!!

Todd

[AdrianWilliams]

Heres my remake of Jeffs remake of Neil scene
i added a little somthing extra in to it. looks nice huh?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/4th-Child/Final%20Images/MR-Raytrace-and-Lume-Test1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/4th-Child/Final%20Images/MR-Raytrace-and-Lume-Test3.jpg
Render time(s): [16min 2sec] & [ 12min 1sec](had winamp running in the background)
Skylight - Default white
Final Gather Samples - 5000 radius on @ max5.0 min1.0 (just to get smoother shadows for print reasons)
Pixel Samples - 1,16 (0,4)

System:
P4 2.4ghz
1GB DDR

PS: i didnt know FG was view dependant.
PPS: Thx 3Drawer

Edit: Changed some setting on the Glow (lume) nothing big, 3Drawer thx for spotting the probs out :D

[3Drawer]

@externe HERE IS THE SCENE with white and blakck mat: http://3drawer.pid.at/black_white-balls.zip

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/3Drawer/kugelrendering.jpg

rendering time: 2:15 on a P4 2,6Ghz 768MB ram

3Drawer


ps.: @ 4th-child can u share the scene so that I can optimize it? PLZ!Thx!

[AdrianWilliams]

sure no problem, but i can you tell me where to upload? cause i dont have a site that lets me upload non-image files?!:shrug:

[3Drawer]

just change the zip into jpg. or upload it here : http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php

thx

3Drawer

[ToddD]

Hey Jeff, I am getting considerably darker renders with the 2 methods you mentioned for glass. I used the "Brazil Compare" scene from cgarchitect, added a glass plane to the opening tried both methods mentioned. I'm sure I am missing something, tried upping the energy, and gi photons, as well as the light multiplier-not much difference. Any ideas?

EDIT: upped the photons it worked with the glass lume method ;)

[AdrianWilliams]

Sent 3Drawer :D

[alaburb]

tbonz -

I found that the first method (Basic_Photon) is far from perfect, it seems to still reflect or absorb a lot of photons. I had to cut my energy in half (as compared to no glass at all...).

I would recommend the method of simply saving your GI map. that's most reliable.

[JeffPatton]

LOL, this is getting confusing now...
4th-Child's remake of Jeff's remake of Neil's render.

[3Drawer]

hehe jeff u´r confused?hihi

@4th-Child the file has an error when I open the rar file... don´t know why...pack it again

we can talk about it with msn.. i added u

3Drawer

[externe]

Well... I understand my error. I think omni light when you tell me to put an skylight... So I can't have a good light. Thank you Jeff, 4th-Child and 3Drawer for the help.

http://jerjer1.free.fr/ball3.jpg

[externe]

4th-Child, 3Drawer, can you tell where you post the file ? Here : http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php ?
What's the name of your file ? Thank you.

[3Drawer]

@extern he send me a mail. But if u want u can upload a file on the server.

and nice spheres!

3Drawer

[noclip]

Anyone got any ideas on a shader similar to this:

http://www.chicago-l.org/stations/images/StateSubway/JacksonTunnel07.jpg
I'm reffering to the light by the way.

[AdrianWilliams]

Look and READ back through this thread and look for the test with the glare shader.

[3Drawer]

first u need to unhide the glare shader. Go to max6 root-mentalray-include-lume.mi (into lume.txt !!BUT FIRST BACKUP IT!! )-search in the txt for "glare"-after "helpLink" "/Glare.html", there should stand "hidden".delete this "hidden"-save- change back the *.txt to *.mi. Start max. Mental ray as render. Goto render properties-"render"---camera shaders-output--glare. Pull the gare to the material editor and change the settings like u want.

oh and for the light u could use a "glow" shader in the "mentalray" material (in the surface slot)... then turn on FinalGathering.

hope that helps

3Drawer

[noclip]

I'm not talking about the glare, I'm reffering the the pattern on the actual light.

[noclip]

You can see the pattern on the very left and right sides of the light, it's the standard for flourescent lights.

Jeff: The bump texture.

[JeffPatton]

Are you referring to the red and blue areas on the sides or the bump texture that's on the plastic cover of the light fixture?

[externe]

Hello,
This is just another test.
Someone can told me if it's possible to put objects on others without crossing ohers objects ?
Thank you :)


http://jerjer1.free.fr/ball4.jpg

[AdrianWilliams]

@ noclip: wrong thread

[noclip]

Child- I want to combine the texture with glare to make it look like the light in the photo.

EDIT: Thanks, looks perfect in your example. I tried that and I got this though:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v69/noclip/shit.jpg

[JeffPatton]

http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/florescent.jpg

I used a checker material in the bump map slot and the glass lume material in the surface map slot with the following settings:
surface material = white
diffuse = white
reflectivity = 1.0
transparancy =.7
IOR = 1.1

Blur reflection = ON

Everything else is set to default settings.

[noclip]

Jeff: You sure everything else is on default, because after following your settings mine just looks like a bumpy 100% mirror.

[JeffPatton]

Pretty dang sure. But here's the scene so you can verify (I'm getting older and maybe I overlooked something). I went ahead and added the glare too.

Here's the render:
http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/florescent2.jpg

and the scene itself:
Download scene (http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/florescent2.zip)

[externe]

Jeff, the link is broken. Thanks for the scene.

Another try. I found hard to put the white reflections where you want on the sphere...

http://jerjer1.free.fr/ball5.jpg

[JeffPatton]

Oops, my bad. fixed the link. Told ya I was getting old and forgetful...lol.

[AdrianWilliams]

@noclip: ahh ok lol sry misunderstood you :D

[3Drawer]

Hi!

Here is a Ice material:

mirror1:
http://3drawer.pid.at/ice_mat.zip

mirror2:
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php?act=view&file=aWNlX21hdC56aXA=

sample:http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/store/ICE-mat_sample.jpg


3Drawer

[externe]

Jeff, I don't understand why the tube is glowing. I can't find anything about this in the material. Can you tell me how is glowing ? Thanks :)

http://jerjer1.free.fr/fluo1.jpg

[3Drawer]

@externe

use scattering fore example. Or path follow.

don´t know if there is another way to do that...

and the cylinder is glowing becase of the "glare" shader I think. Or did u use the "glow" shader?or because of the output!

3Drawer

[ILS]

the glare shader is connected to the output shader which is applied to the tube, the glare shader itself is connected in the camera shaders , thus when you render the tube glows.

i'm wondering which would be faster to do glare shader or the glow shader applied to the light tube directly?

[3Drawer]

no why when u apply it to the camera shaders... ALL white and bright objects are glowing. In your case only the light would glowing... what is unrealistic in a scene with more bright places.


3Drawer

[externe]

Well, I found where that make it glow... In the renderer panel.
But if I want to create another Glare (lume) material, I can't, because I can't find it in the list. Someone know why ?

http://jerjer1.free.fr/fluo2.png

[ILS]

i would create the glare material in the material editor, that way you can adjust the properties and then drop it into the output camera shader

[3Drawer]

@externe
do this:
first u need to unhide the glare shader. Go to max6 root-mentalray-include-lume.mi (into lume.txt !!BUT FIRST BACKUP IT!! )-search in the txt for "glare"-after "helpLink" "/Glare.html", there should stand "hidden".delete this "hidden"-save- change back the *.txt to *.mi. Start max. Mental ray as render. Goto render properties-"render"---camera shaders-output--glare. Pull the gare to the material editor and change the settings like u want.

oh and for the light u could use a "glow" shader in the "mentalray" material (in the surface slot)... then turn on FinalGathering.

hope that helps


3Drawer

[Rockachew]

Greetings,


I've been messing around with the dirt map shader. I download the test scene and imported several models and did some test renders and everything works great. I just seem to have one problem and I'm sure it's something probably stupid that I'm overlooking.

I have a scene that I have textured. Mostly wood, with some stones and fabric. Anyway How do I attatch the dirt map shader to model that is textured?

Thanks in advance

[loran]

any news about max7 'mentalray 3.3 new sss skin shader??
it looks so cool!!!



http://www.3dvf.com/DATA/PUBLISH/1231/images/fastssshulk1.jpg

http://www.3dvf.com/DATA/PUBLISH/1231/images/Subsurfacescatternoclie.jpg

http://www.3dvf.com/DATA/PUBLISH/1231/images/fastssshulk3.jpg

[jason-slab]

Rockachew: in the mental ray rendering dialog, in the processing tab, there is a material override, drag your material with the dirtmap shader in onto that slot, that way it will render the whole scene with that material. render out that pass and comp it on your original in your fav composite program!!

hope that helps

|js

[3Drawer]

Hi!
I found a bug in the "Glare" shader...
If u use the "glare" shader and render u´r scen a bug appears:

mental ray fatal error
________________________________________________--
mental ray has encountered a fatal error and the application will now shutdown. The error is:
PHEN 0.2 fatal:[Glare] Streaks image invalid
__________________________________________________
OK


can somebody bugfix this?

thx

3Drawer

ps:the bug DOnt appears if u use a image. Don´t know why but ok...

[3Drawer]

wow loran

the sss skin shader really rocks! Do u know how fast it is?

3Drawer

[loran]

here's the the article about it:


http://www.3dvf.com/modules/publish/_1231_1.html

[ToddD]

Ok so I received a few e-mail/PMs asking how I made the sphere in my version of the "Ode to Blevins". It is NOT a nurbs model ;)
Simply a sphere primitive high in segments I used 88. Next use the slice mod to slice it accordingly(make sure when you slice you set it to "split mesh".) Now you can select the parts as elements, and scale/move them as needed. "Cap" any open sections. The key here is to NOT use meshsmooth, that is why the base sphere has to be high in segments. As anyone who has attempted to make the object has probably found out, meshsmooth is the enemy of this sphere.
I figured this out a couple of months ago when people in another forum were arguing that it was a nurbs model in the original. I experimented for a while, and came to the conclusion that meshsmooth was not in the mix. Have to say I was a bit reluctant to share as I figured this out through a few hours of experimantation(I would encourage the same, experimenting is alot more beneficial), but Jeff has been so generous and forthright, I put aside any reservations in the interest of passing along what I have figured out.
Anyway, Thats it, hope this helps, and have fun ;)
Oh and please lets stay on topic, MRShaders woohooo!!!!!

[3Drawer]

Jeff where are u?....


3Drawer

[AdrianWilliams]

:D coolio, SSS shader looks sweet

[joske]

My problem:

to make a Mental Ray Glass shader which has all of the reflective qualities and Edge Shadows of the Lume Glass or Physics_Phen Shaders (already so aptly demonstrated earlier here)? But it must transmit all GI Photons from a MR Area Llight WITHOUT USING CAUSTICS!
Remember, we are united in lowering render times...

here u can see some of my test regarding this issue :
http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4707&page=4&pp=10

imh exp the best and fastest way to have good reflective glass that has photons going through it without caustics is to use a standard mat with opacity and slight raytrace reflection (adding the transparent photons don't make any diff here) then just drop a glass(lume) shader in the Mray suface slot.

hope this can be of some help to ya alaburb?

result you can see in the far right test of this image :

[francescaluce]

:D coolio, SSS shader looks sweeteh..eh.. and what's if I tell you that are already out.. and you can dw instantly.. just need someone that make the .mi for max.. :)


http://www.alias.com/eng/community/...equestid=136605 (http://www.alias.com/eng/community/downloads/subsurface_scattering_mi_plugin/index.jhtml?&_requestid=136605)



ciao
francesca

[3Drawer]

thats not the same!

The shader of MentalRay 3.3 for max is a SKIN shader... This is just a SSS shader we have looong time ago... just search for "diffusion" or "sss shader" on this thread... nono thats not the same.

3Drawer

[loran]

the new SSS materials in the MAX7 release is divided in 3 materials
1-These include a powerful SSS shader that uses physically accurate calculations to build the highest fidelity translucent materials,

2-an SSS shader optimised for rendering Skin,

3-and a fast SSS shader for compelling results without “absolute physical accuracy”.

[3Drawer]

a fur shader would be cool... also good "toon" shader. And a little bit better GI+FG

hm.. wait till max 8

3Drawer

[Aljoker]

hi everybody


sory for this question, but how can i use mental ray dump map ???

:argh: ..

any tips please.

[3Drawer]

what?

dump map???

There is no dumpmap... bump map pherhaps!

3Drawer

[Aljoker]

what?

dump map???

There is no dumpmap... bump map pherhaps!

3Drawer
:eek: my mistake ,,

yes 3Drawer,, it's bump map which came up with MR.

:blush:

[francescaluce]

thats not the same!

The shader of MentalRay 3.3 for max is a SKIN shader... This is just a SSS shader we have looong time ago... just search for "diffusion" or "sss shader" on this thread... nono thats not the same.poor cousins.. you do not have already mr 3.3 on max, isn't it ?!

anyway I can ASSURE you that are ABSOLUTELY the same shaders will be in max... coz I have here in front of me the .mi file.. and there're already the indications for max7.. also why do you speak if you donno what 'r you doing.. I personally ported the diffusion on maya.. and you on max use the same mi I wrote.. so listen me.. I'm not talking about something was already released.. my 2 cents.



ciao
francesca

[ILS]

i finally found a good use for the mr lights and am rather impressed.

you can use the mr lights instead of the light boxes, just turn on the show icon in render and set the parameters to whatever size of the lightbox you want and render, of course it is also usefull for flourecent light bulbs.

http://img48.exs.cx/img48/6691/light_bulb1.jpg

[SimonReeves]

you sure can

[Arjan]

Ok, I've reinstalled my system, and forgot to back-up some max-files. I found the Dirtmap.ZIP file on the internet, but when I copy the Dirtmap.dll file to the Mental Ray Shader directory, nothing happens in Max?! I think that I'm not installing it proparly.

@Jeff,

Nice work on the interior at page 79!!, is that scene for download? I'm really interessted in how you archieved the realism of lightning and softness.

[Couch]

3Drawer why do you need max 8 if dont really use youre version ?:shrug:
To ALL anybody seen a volumetric shader that has true Volume inside ?

[3Drawer]

ahm ok francescaluce
but does this look like this???
http://www.alias.com/eng/community/downloads/subsurface_scattering_mi_plugin/img/int_img02.jpg
Maya

http://www.3dvf.com/DATA/PUBLISH/1231/images/fastssshulk3.jpg

MAX7

I don´t think so...And how do U know that it is the same???Or are u a betatester of max 7?
And we also does HAVE A DIFFUSION SHADER(SSS_shader)!
The one form max 7 just have more options and is physically correct...

but I don´t want to talk with u about think we both don´t really no...

cu!

3Drawer

[Aljoker]

hi everybody


sory for this question, but how can i use mental ray bump map ???

:argh: ..

any tips please.
i am waiting ......................................

[3Drawer]

@Aljoker
Just use the mentalray connetion for example (also could use the mentalray material).
Scroll down to "mentalray connection".... enable 3D Displacement(3dsmax) and selelct an extrusion map...(noise for example). Render... U can adjust the hight also under "Rendering-Options-Render-scroll down-Displacement"

hope that helps

3Drawer

[francescaluce]

3Drawer.. my friend.. take it easy.. they're the same.. and they are absolutely GREAT!!
I'm just sorry that you have not the mr3.3.. to test it... also they'll be a little different for what regards the implementation coz max handle certain things different than maya.




ciao
francesca

[Aljoker]

@Aljoker
Just use the mentalray connetion for example (also could use the mentalray material).
Scroll down to "mentalray connection".... enable 3D Displacement(3dsmax) and selelct an extrusion map...(noise for example). Render... U can adjust the hight also under "Rendering-Options-Render-scroll down-Displacement"

hope that helps

3Drawer
thanks man,

:thumbsup:

[externe]

Hello, I'm back with my Neil Blevin's spheres.

I have just a question about light card. Is it possible to have light card with gradient opacity ? (I try to find how to do this with the mentalray material, but I can't).
Also, Is it possible to obtain light card with a blurry effect ?

Thank you :)

http://jerjer1.free.fr/ball6.jpg

[ILS]

aljocker

you don't need to use displacement per se, i think i would be faster to use bump map. in the mental connection apply bump shader to the bump slot and in the bump map apply the texture and adjust the multiplier accordingly, i think it would be faster than calculating displacement which sometimes can creat annomalies espesially on the edges of your geometry.

[alaburb]

At the bottom of the Renderer Rollout are some displacement controls. You may find that you can properly control the effect using these. For instance, the Edge Length setting will dramatically effect the smoothness of the effect (how close it matches the resolution of your displacement map, for instance).

I am no expert...does anyone know how to accurately control these settings and can perhaps give us some examples? Unless I am mistaken, displacement mapping does not seem to be Mental Ray's forte.

[Aljoker]

thanks ILS,

this is what i came up with.

i used DGS Material, then i put a SHADER LIST for the diffuse slot. after that i used the bump shader and bitmap inside the shader list.

[JeffPatton]

Externe - you can to use a material to shader map in the surface map of the MR material, or you can just use a standard material for your opacity question.

I'm not sure about your blurry light card question though. I think your maybe wanting blurry reflections instead?

At any rate, here's another tip for you guys:
Think outside the box...You can use the metal (lume) for blurred reflections on more than just metal. It looks good with hardwood floors, etc. Just place it in the reflection map of a standard material, and enable blurry reflections.

Here's a example of the metal lume material in the reflection map of a standard material (for blurred reflections)
http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/Blur-Mtl1.jpg

JP

[3Drawer]

yes ILS but the displacement is much better if u do textures (tiles for example)
Its not faster thats right... but better that bump...

cu

3Drawer

[ToddD]

Good tip about the metal lume Jeff, I have used it on leather, plastic. I find it is a good way to reduce dependency on specular hi-lights...for me at least ;)

[ILS]

i have a question,

only recently, i found out that matte/shadow shader is not supported by mental ray
this problem is slightly touched upon in this thread

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=118924&page=2&pp=15

but i'm not sure how to translate it into max.

EDIT : never mind, i'm an idiot- i had an hdr applied to a sphere and used that as a background and thats why the matte plane showed up.

[Arjan]

Is there a good way of making clouds with Mental Ray? I've always used Afterburn, but that isn't supported in MR!

[francescaluce]

wait for pyrocluster v.3 from cebas.. full support also for mentalray.






ciao
francesca

[ToddD]

Arjan, check out this link, there is a very good method here for making clouds without plug-ins, I tried it last night, and was pleased with the results:

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=163405

[Rens]

Just wondering, is there a way to have the Glare shader render out to a different pass? That would be great.

Thanks, Rens

[3Drawer]

no I don´t think that it is possible Rens Heeren... sorry


3Drawer

[msneath]

Does anyone have a mental ray shader for 3dsmax that has the properties of cement? Just to carify I am in need of a shader not a texture map. The type of cement I have in mind is similar to sidewalk cement. Any help or tips would greatly be appreciated.

Thanks!

[JeffPatton]

msneath - You could either mix one up using noise & stucco maps (procedurals), or download Darktree Simbion 2.5 (http://www.darksim.com/html/download_simbiont2.html)

Then use some the free construction shaders that come with Simbiont:
http://www.darksim.com/Repository/tx_Building/

JP

[Guybrush]

I wanna ask to u guys if theres any known issue with MR using file textures to do displace, im using maya and using a procedural texture, the render takes a couple of seconds, if i try a simple file texture, the render appear to block...it just takes minutes/hours... and nothing happens. i directly connected the file texture to the displacement slot of the shader, perhaps using the MR nodes works better?! thx 4 your help

[3Drawer]

what do u mean????


sorry don´t understand

3Drawer

[Guybrush]

meanwhile i´v managed to resolve the problem, in maya shaders i had to different slots to connect displacement maps, i used the other one and it worked fine :)

final result (the displace was to create some holes on the tyre)

http://homepage.esoterica.pt/%7Enx1auf/p34_115.jpg

[3Drawer]

hehe very nice.

But are these shadows on the tyre (the 4 things on it)???

3Drawer

[externe]

Hello,
About the material to shader subjection (http://www.cgtalk.com/showpost.php?p=1521478&postcount=1342), I try, I cry... and I don't have no more reflexion :)

Well, I do a little picture to explain what I do for create the material.
Someone see an error in the creation and can tell me what I forgot ?

Thanks :)
http://jerjer1.free.fr/ball7.jpg

[Dj Petro]

I have been trying to come up with a good looking material for a powder coated metal but haven't had much luck with it. My material have been becoming too reflective, then when I adjust the reflection it becomes washed out and I lose the bump of the coating. I just seem to be chasing this one around. Have any of you made a material like this and would be willing to share your technique for achieving it. Thanks

_

[JeffPatton]

externe - What effect are you trying to create? If it's still opacity in MR, there are dozens of way's of making something transparant. I've created a test scene that show a few different ways. All the while using the objects as lights in the process.

Here's the render:
http://jeffpatton.net/Postings/MR-Opacity.jpg

I'm in the process of building my personal website. I've loaded this file on my temporary place holder for what will become my Mental Ray data page. So here's the link:
My Mental Ray holding page (http://jeffpatton.net/Mental-ray.htm)

JP

[3Drawer]

very nice jeff!

How did u make this strange textures?

3Drawer

[externe]

Thank you very much Jeff ! :)
I'm gonna study your scene.

[Ls3D]

I also have learned almost everything I know about MR from this thread and so thanks to everyone and especially to Jeff for the info poop and substantial efforts.

I felt we could use a very basic caustics setup and so I am offering this scene (http://www.ls3d.com/FTP/LS3D_mr-glass-basic-caustic.max) mod to anyone exploring MR in Max. It renders in 10:30 on a 3 Gig P4 with one max spot and MR Omni. Some settings could be silly, so please let me know your observations about the basic setup and how fast your system renders da zine.

-Shea

http://www.ls3d.com/FTP/ls3d-mr-glass-caustic.jpg

[SimonReeves]

i never really played around with caustics apart from made the tutorials that came with [the results were a bit shite]
anyway, did you stick that thing on top of your render? [vray style] or did mr do it

[Ls3D]

Oh that,.. I dropped the info poop in myself.

Not having much luck with Jeff's Subscatter glass.max
Maybe I need to hack some script or unlock some secrete shader?
Any ideas?

-Shea

http://www.ls3d.com/FTP/Subscatter glass_max-test.jpg

[JeffPatton]

Ls3D - That problem cleared up for most people when I posted the .mi files that were in my Mental Ray folder. I won't make you dig through this hellaciously long thread to find them though....here's the link:
Download MI files (http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/mray-files.zip)

JP

[Ls3D]

Many thanks master P! or is it F - How bout Mr. MR?

RE: Thread length - perhaps it is time for a PART TWO MRSD thread?

Any thoughts on photon path volumetrics? Like a volume light that traces photon density...

EDIT: just weeded this from the thread;
http://www.motiondesign.biz/vol_start.html

And your volume-test.zip, sorry for not doing my homework, back to the data mining. :D

-Shea

[JeffPatton]

Well, I've loaded most of my test files from this thread onto my MR info page. I've also added some files that I haven't posted before.

Feel free to go check it out:
http://jeffpatton.net/Mental-ray.htm

@Shea - I've posted a couple of volume examples there too. Maybe one of those will help out?

JP

Edit: D'oh...I just read that you found one of the volume files here.

[samhodge]

http://www.cgcharacter.com/shareware/

check it out

it was promised a long time ago

but now we have done the docs and put it out as shareware

Sam

[3Drawer]

@Ls3D


heres the "volume caustics" thread:
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1492038&posted=1#post1492038

Hope that helps u!

3Drawer

[Lordrych]

So i am working on this skinshader, i have 3dstudio max 6.0 with mental ray. I want to use SSS but I don't know how exactly how to do it? right now i have this shader with a regular iluminosity shader with a falloff in both specular slot and in the illuminosity slot and this is part a of shellac and in the second slot of the shellac is a standard 3d max shader with a gradient in the illuminosity slot, this way it gets a red glow to it like skin when light hits it, i will take sceenshots of it when i get home so you can understand more. Here is a picture to show you what i have so far.

http://www.myzoo2u.com/Baron/skin.gif

[3Drawer]

yeah I´m back! With a new Dual System! I love it!

hehe

3Drawer

[3Drawer]

oh @Lordrych
looks ok but too many shadows! hehe :)

cu

3Drawer


PS:: I´m on holiday till 4th of september CU and have a nice time here!

[asomma]

Hi

I'm currently playing around with zbrush and max/mental ray using the mr_subscatter in the skinshading.


http://home.broadpark.no/~asomma/litenslime.jpg


check out the WIP.
Need some help.

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=165680

[E.S.-Cid]

hi all
juste one question what is FG light ?(in metal ray may be)

[JasonCamp]

hey all , havnt been around in a while because i just upgraded to a p4 3.4 800fsb 2gigs of ddr400 and chaintech mobo.. whoo hoo is doom3 flyin now ,same with everything esp 3ds, in fact thats mainly why i havnt been here lately, i continue to work on THE GOLD ROOM ball room from the movie the shining on my laptop i take to work with me, i bought the dvd yesterday and have been some crappy pictures i got of the net heh now that i captured some stills from the dvd i can see what im working on , er also that the beer tap i made was totaly jacked up and now i have to redo most of it .. aah jeff thx as always you happen to post the files on your mr holding site that ill need to learn off of for this picture im making also does anybody know a good school to go to so i can get a good job doing this ? i went to basic 3ds in a no name college but that was about 6 years ago right now im in the military and due to get out in a year from now

[asomma]

Hey people!

Does somone know why the photometric spotlight does'nt works with mr_subscatter? The other photometric lights works just fine.

Also, it does'nt seem that logarithmic exposure control works with photometric lights. At least not when rendering with mental ray...

If mr_subscatter is a mental ray shader, why does it not work with mental ray lights?


Check out my latest worm!

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?p=1542966&posted=1#post1542966

[JasonCamp]

well i think the expose controlls dont work with mr at all/ i think there only for radioisty { btw i cant spell worth crap } i useually got a mr error message in my mr console window saying that exposeure controllers dont work in mr

[bek]

love your materials!

and your renders! and i amt rying to do some nice textures but in cinema!! so mavbe you can talk about how you dis get that result? well any help is fine! so thanks! and sorry about my english!







Note from moderator
Hey guys, I moved this to the resources forum to have a focussed discussion about the creation of mental ray shaders, please keep it that and that alone. if you are having errors and shaderunrelated questions about mental ray, please use the regular maxforum

Cheers, Equinoxx

'library'
I will try and keep all posted maxfiles up to date in this initial post.

8/26/04 - Update: I've started compiling all this info onto a part of my website.
http://jeffpatton.net/Mental-ray.htm

Get the .MAT file here (http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/CGtalk-mr.zip) updated 1/07/04

Mirrors:

http://www.visualboo.com/misc/mentalray/CGtalk-mr.zip Visualboo
http://www.p1mp.info/CGtalk-MR.zip 10mbit
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/files/3dsmax/CGtalk-MR.zip 10mbit
http://www.ia-stud.hiof.no/~dagtolse/CGtalk-MR.zip 100mbit
http://home.online.no/~quaker/CGtalk-MR.zip 1000mbit

Get the HDRI Files here (http://equinoxx.cgcommunity.com/temp/mrshaders/hdri_files.rar)

http://equinoxx.cgcommunity.com/temp/mrshaders/glass.jpg
Glass - 3s (http://equinoxx.cgcommunity.com/temp/mrshaders/glass_sss.zip) - by Folical9
http://equinoxx.cgcommunity.com/temp/mrshaders/rubber.jpg
Rubber - 3s (http://equinoxx.cgcommunity.com/temp/mrshaders/glass_sss.zip) - by Cabbage

http://equinoxx.cgcommunity.com/temp/mrshaders/metals.jpg



Well, I think I have "issues". I've been on a non-stop SSS/translucency journey since installing my copy of ver.6. I've finally made a glass w/SSS material that I'm pleased with.

It took a while to render (4 hours), but here's my result. I have disabled caustics on my ground plane because I still have a couple of tweaks to make with them. But it does generate caustics. There is only one light used in this scene.


http://www.pixelperfectgraphics.biz/cg_files/sss-glass.jpg

[asomma]

Actually, HELLION, log.exp.contr. works fine with mentalray. Linear dont work, but logarithmic does. I've used it combined with photons and final gather before to achieve the right look.

[mathmaxer]

Hi This is my tests with mental ray

http://www.tariq.uni.cc/site/upl/tariq_house.jpg
http://www.tariq.uni.cc/site/upl/tariq_room.jpg


http://www.tariq.uni.cc/site/upl/tariq_111.jpg

[alaburb]

Is the grass in the top render Mental Ray displacement? If so, can you share shader and settings. This is a Mental Ray shader discussion afterall....

[fabriciomicheli]

any ideas about where can I get help for LUME shaders? ...max's help is not good at all in this matter

I'm working with the translucent shader and that's a pain to get good results. I'll post them soon.
:D

[noclip]

There doesn't seem to be anything about it so I'll throw out a question. Can someone make a good ocean water shader for mental ray?

[Bercon]

noclip, I thought that cgtlakmat.lib came with one?

[uniaquattro]

HI at all,
i'm newbie for 3D Studio Max and i'd like your help.
I've installated a 3D max 6 and after i get from the LightEngine3d website md_subScatter_shaderPack\mentalray\include, i copy the md_subScatter.mi to include" directory and in the md_subScatter_shaderPack\mentalray\lib\windows" copy the md_subScatter.dll to your mentalray\shaders" director, launch MAX, but the message is:


MI 0.0 warn 122001: standard startup file ray3rc not found
MSG 0.0 error: Shader declaration 'Dirtmap' has no apply type. This shader cannot be used in 3ds max until it has at least one apply type.
LINK 0.0 error 191007: cannot load C:\Programmi\3dmax\mentalray\shaders\/md_subScatter.dll, Impossibile trovare il modulo specificato.
API 0.0 warn 302004: C:\Programmi\3dmax\mentalray\include\md_subScatter.mi, line 43:
while defining declaration "mr_subScatter": declaring nonexisting function mr_subScatter

Why?
Do you have a tips?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Have a good day,
Giulio Golinelli
uniaquattro.com

(sorry for my bad,bad english)

[larsgehrt]

Hi there, this is my first post in this thread, and can only thank you all for your input.

I´ve been working with mental ray for a little while now, iam trying to get a realistic render for my models. In this scene i´ve been working with glas, and water reflections inside the bottle, and i think its come out ok.

I used a standard MR material glas for the bottle, the water is a water material within Viz.5.

If you have any questions or anytihng else iám happy to learn more or tell more. Cheers...


http://www.coldmind.dk/3dempire/flaske.jpg

[fabriciomicheli]

hey larsgehrt!
it looks pretty cool... i just wonder where do those kinda "green reflections" come from? (on the sides of the bottle)...

About the standard material you talk that comes with viz, what is it? raytrace material? or something like the glass architectural material in MAX6...?
and the standard MR glass is the physics based shader?

wow... too many questions he he he... but it deserves it. Good jod man. :thumbsup:

[larsgehrt]

hey fabrizzzio

The water material is just like the architectural glass material in 3D max 6, you just choose water instead. The green reflections you see is a hdri map, a "Park" that i put in the envoirment slot. The glass material is the Glass (Physics_phen).

Thx

[fabriciomicheli]

oh... it's good to see that Physics_phen is so good in render... and it's fast I can say...

I realize that you have transparent shadows... what did you get them man? did u work with caustics? or just the original shadow casting...
because I don't remember if you can get transparent shadows with those shaders...

do you have more renders where you tested materials man? it will be great if we can see them.

[larsgehrt]

For lighting i used a skylight and a area MR omni. The skylight was white with the value 1. The area MR omni i valued 0.8 and gave it a light grey color.

Some of the drops on the bottle i excluded from the light, because the omni is placed a bit low and the shadows where a bit off.

I dont have any more renders at the moment, but i will soon be back with more...

[KMAnStudios]

There doesn't seem to be anything about it so I'll throw out a question. Can someone make a good ocean water shader for mental ray?
If you do a search for ice by jeff patton ( a couple of images of icebergs) it has an ocean shader already in use. You can get it from there is need be.

[Denasen]

Unbelievable chest of Information I am re-reading the 93 again.
If there is a honourable mention or award I would Vote any time for 3 people in all threedy 3d forums I visit for the most educational pixel moving contributions ever!

1. Folical9 alias Jeff Patton alias Photon freak
2. Deetee of the various uploader fame and our one and only
3 Pedzel

I credit everything I have learnt not to manuals or books but to this three great contributors, since I took up 3d seriously last December.

No amount of ink has done so well as the contributions of this 3.

Not to forget BigRans123

I can't thank this guys enough! keep it up

[fabriciomicheli]

yeah... I agree Denasen... Jeff has unleashed all his knowledge into his thread...

By the way Jeff (if you're around)... what can you tell me about translucent lume shaders (I wrote something some posts be4)... I cannot find the right settings to get a good look in a lamp shade, and I've been testing all shaders I can find for Mental Ray. Lume translucent impressed me... but Lume Help is so short... bah... well, maybe you know something about it...

[JasonCamp]

hey jeff i was sifting threw your mr site when i noticed that you have a misdirected link the one with the
http://jeffpatton.net/Postings/MR-Volume.jpg
it takes you to your causistic volume test... unless thats what you wanted then its ok lol
just wandering cut that ^ looks awesome :P

[JeffPatton]

Hellion - Thanks, the link's repaired now.

Fabrizzzio - I didn't have too much success with the translucent lume. I just never liked the results when compaired to other shaders (like the diffusion shader), etc.

Denasen - I'm glad the thread was helpful. I agree on the props to really everyone who contributed here. I think if I were beginning to learn MR, this thread would be invaluable.

Noclip - there's a MR water thread going on now in the regular 3ds forum, you may want to check it out. Some good water results posted there:
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=165311

JP

[herbert west]

Ls3D. I modified your caustics scene (thread 91).

http://www.geocities.com/herbie_west/misc/caustic.htm

I didn't have the same HDR image, so I used the "kitchen.hdr" I had. Anyone downloading the scene, just go to the material editor and replace the instanced HDR image with your own. Also note that I've used "Feet w/Decimal Inches" for scale.

It seems using the "Glass (physics_phen)" MR shader gives the best caustic results with little setup. Also, I've managed to get a quick calculation and render time. About 30 seconds for pre-render calculations, and 1:26 for actual render on P4 2.66GHz.

I learned you have to turn on Final Gather for the skylight in the scene to work its magic, so I turned it on. I was amazed at how few photons (1000) you can get away with and still get a good, realistic caustic effect.

[saiko]

thanks herbert for the shereing the scene!:)
its amezingly fast!!!

[JasonCamp]

thanks for fixin the link ... awesome stuff.. tired a photmetric area light and it looked messed up , was hoping it would work with them so i could do a area like the size of the pane of glass but since the volume raytraces ill just do a square spot light and make the glass a little transparent... the damn transmat photon plane looks funnny heh if you pan out to see it where the light is and there is no pane , i renderd a 100 frame avi file to see how it looked paning ... it looks good enuff to me ,ill toss in a projected tiling smokey like pic and that should do just fine... heh have you tried an omni light .. whoa looks like a big fireball heh, wish there was a way to attach this to a self ilum plane , that would rock.. heh you should have seen me when i watched the avi ... it was like the 1st time i found out how to do the standard scanline volume light way back in 3ds1 ugh...
anyways the scene is coming along nicely currenly tweeking the model to the jack daniels bottle when the bartender pours a glass for jack nicolson, er ill probably have to buy a bottle to scan the label unless i can find a good source... im not all that fond of wiskey tho.. erh soon as i finnish that up its on to a cash register... some assorted glasses. some old bottles of liqure from the 70's (dont even ask how im goin to find lables for that lol) .. some misc stuff .. a back wall... tweek my low res self made hdri "splice and dice captured pics" then the big diliberation of wich comes first the texturing or the lighting, hopefully when it all will be done it will be good enuff to put with the rest of the pics you see on the banners here... heh i have a bunch of other scenes i want to do when im done with all of this, a few i just have been wanting to do sence 3ds1 but i never knew how ... im looking to do this as a carrier can anybody help me plan out what i need to do ... college and such ? im in california right now .. im going to be geting out of the navy in a year from now .. thx all... that is if you read all the way down here lol

[SimonReeves]

so glare works ok for me, but I cant get the streaks to work at allllll, with the streak image in the slot and it turned on it seems the same as it is without it

I've been playing around with the scale and contrast with no luck :shrug:

anyone got it to work?

[3Drawer]

yeah I´m back form holiday! Wow it was hot 46°C!!!


Now I can start with my new homepage! Ahhh great to be back!

cu

3Drawer

[JasonCamp]

ah yes glare ,, that got me too i finnaly figured out that 4 things , glare must be set on 3, the brightness of the light must be a lot brighter then the surrounding area , the streak image must be a simple grayscale image {tga is what i was useing}.. {ie 2 colors 1 white 1 black got the best results with a 6 sided star the white being the star color} and finnaly the size of the streak image is determined buy the resulution of the streak image and the ammound of spread and scale you have , mine was working well with a higher number of spread and my scale was the same number
oh and heh contrast didnt really do much from what i saw.. also if you turn on verbose after it renders it will black out the scene and put up only the glare so you can see what it really looks like , wich helps

[SimonReeves]

ah HELLION, I read your other couple of replys in the thread, sounded like you did get somewhere with it :)

I might try using the glare on a specular pass only, more contrast for it to work with
cheers

[JasonCamp]

yes i got it to work after about 2 weeks of trial and error ... eheh havent used it sence then but here is something i renderd back then .. i can do much better now ... this was a tga file that was a six sided star but the edges of the star still had a gradient falloff if you use just a flat white im pritty sure you get better results ... this one does good tho ..
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/store/glareandglass.jpg

[SimonReeves]

cool nice one, how big was the streaks image? could you post it just incase im missing something :)

[3Drawer]

hellion could u share the object plz???


thx

3Drawer

[SimonReeves]

nice one hellion I've got the hang of it I think :)

[fabriciomicheli]

Fabrizzzio - I didn't have too much success with the translucent lume. I just never liked the results when compaired to other shaders (like the diffusion shader), etc.

hey Jeff! what do you mean when you say DIFUSSION SHADER? I don't know about it? where can i find it?

Another question to the forum: I have a light with standard Volumetric Light Effect (MAX) and when I render this with Mental Ray, it's incredible slow and it has a kinda "pixel" look... (not antialiasing at all)
I tried to render it separately but I don't know how. Working with render elements (atmospehere) doesn't work. It shows a kinda fog that covers all the scene, but not the volumetric lighting that comes from outside a window...
Do you know what's going on with my render?

[JasonCamp]

well i wrote out a long message just now and when i went to go upload the streak file for you guys i just noticed i was useing a tiff file.. come to think of it i think there was a reason for it but i cant remember now why ,
here is the file link for the glare streak,and max file... a 12 for streak size more or less depending on the size of the bright spots .. acually its hard to say really but anything over 2 or 3 and you should start noticeing ... its hard to tweek to just right but you will get it .. also i think i just noticed that contrast is accually the narrowness of the streak , 0 = filling the whole area up to 1 being normal streek ... above 1 geting more narrow
max file link and glare tiff file -> http://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon3.gif (http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php?act=view&file=Z2xhcmVzdHJlYWtzLnppcA==)

ive sence modified the scene ,,, you cant make much out but it deffinatly shows the streak off.. heh!
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/store/glareflare.jpg

[JeffPatton]

Fabrizzzio - Diffusion shader discussion starts around page 71 of this thread.

[ToddD]

Just a note, there is a "search this thread" function at the top of each page, I have found it pretty handy on threads like this 1 ;)

[3Drawer]

I think we should make a new post... because this is to long....


3Drawer

[JasonCamp]

hey did you get the glare file on the privious page ?

[SimonReeves]

yeah dont need another thread because we can search it like tbonz said eh

[JeffPatton]

Yeah, I think it would be a bad idea to start another thread too. I think it would be more confusion. Keep it all in one place to make searching easier. If people just want the nuts and bolts of the thread, they can visit my MR page where I post files and tut's later. Note that I added a link to my MR page on the first post of this thread as well.

[asomma]

I might try using the glare on a specular pass only, more contrast for it to work withHi.
I thought I'd ask here how to composite different passes into a final image. I'm familiar with image/compositing programs such as photoshop and combustion, but I'm not sure witch "layer blending modes" I should use. Is it the same for all passes and such?? Is there something photoshop can't do?

thank you for your answer :)

[cg_crazy]

hey, this might be off-topic, but I am working on a project where a laser is refracted by a lense, and the volumetric light I am using for the laser stops at the lense. There is a point of light on the spot where the laser hits the wall, but the refraction is not repressented by the visible beam. I am using a standard mental ray glass shader with caustics for the lense, and a directional light for the laser. How can I get the volumetric effect to appear refracted by my lense?

[3Drawer]

@Hallion


Yes I get it..Thx!

cu

3Drawer

[BillSpradlin]

If I wanted to convert these files to say Maya format, what would be the best way of going about that? I'm just beginning to teach myself Max but have been using Maya for a while now and wanted to know how I could get some of these shaders ported over. Anyone have any ideas?

[3Drawer]

if u can probgram C# it should be no problem. But I don´t know how to do it... its not so simpel. Sorry pherhaps anotherone know it.


cu


3Drawer

[BillSpradlin]

I was more concerned with the .mat files, I can port the shaders over that are in .dll format so that's not a problem. I was just wanting to know if there was a workflow for converting the .mat materials from Max to a format that Maya could read.

[KMAnStudios]

First off, thanks for all the incredible wealth of info here:) So I thought I'd try to contribute a little.


What I learned about displacement maps:
1. the density of the mesh is actually important. If there is not enough mesh, the displacement will actually "Break" and leave strange gaps.

2. It's a real bear to get objects placed on a surface properly. If you set it on the displaced mesh, the displacement will 'grow' up into the sitting object. This could be really tricky for characters running on a ground if the displacement is sufficiently high. (or in my case, peguins playing on an ice flow)

3. Lordy is it *slow*!! I did a 1024x768 render that took almost 20 hours to finish. Between the water (ocean shader) and the ice (displacement and diffusion) it would really creep where the water and ice met and also crawled where the ice could be seen under the water.

4. I was using Jeff's iceberg material to start off with. Scale is very important as well as the image size. When I was making small renders to check out the texture, it would look completely different upon making a larger render. Details that are buried in the material really pop out when it's large enough to make the detail present. This is especially true if you are using procedurals where the detail can smooth out in a smaller render, but be much more apparent in the larger renders. This also made research of materials very interesting as I thought many times that I had a material with the right look only to do much more tweaking after looking at a larger render. Upshot...I wound up doing region renders to see the material at full res without spending forever waiting on the picture.

I hope this helps someone out.

[3Drawer]

no sorry BillSpradlinu cant use the mat files if MAYA doesn´t support it... sorry!

3Drawer

[3Drawer]

hi!

Ive a question. I want to make a material like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/3Drawer/671.jpg

(the blue circle)

It is form the Splutterfish gallery (and rendered with v-ray).

Can somebody PLZ help me.

Oh and yes I want to make this material in MentalRay!!!

cu

and thx

3Drawer

[3Drawer]

I forgot it... the link to the big version:

http://www.splutterfish.com/sf/gallery_view.php?photo_id=671&screen=5&cat_id=2&action=images

3Drawer

[SimonReeves]

its just glossy reflections, OR just specular

and some bump too

[3Drawer]

yes I know... but I don´t get THIS result.
hm... I´ll try again myself...

But if somebody knows how to make it plz share this material!!

Thx

3Drawer

[JeffPatton]

I would put a noise map in the diffuse slot of a standard material. Color = dark grey and light grey.

Put a similar noise map in the bump map slot, with a very low setting, say 1.0 or less.

Put the metal(lume) material in the reflection map slot and turn on blur reflections. Turn down the overall reflection amount so that it's not too reflective.

Thats my .02 cents worth.

Jeff

[3Drawer]

I´ll try it. Thank you Jeff...


cu

3Drawer

[ToddD]

Here's a test I did, almost the same as what Jeff recommended.
Metal Lume, I left the reflectivity high, but added quite a bit of blur.
Keeping the metal lume samples low added the grain to the reflection, also added a noise map to the bump slot.
3 self illuminated panels for the reflections.
If you want me to share the scene, let me know ;)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v99/tbonz/MATTEST-01.jpg

[JeroenDStout]

2. It's a real bear to get objects placed on a surface properly. If you set it on the displaced mesh, the displacement will 'grow' up into the sitting object. This could be really tricky for characters running on a ground if the displacement is sufficiently high. (or in my case, peguins playing on an ice flow)A little trick I use for when I use displacement (ok, I always use it ;) I'm addicted) is going to the output of the displacement map, use the curves, and lower it all by 1. So it starts at -1 and goes up to 0. This has the effect that the entire surface gets lowered by the displacement value, and then the displacement 'grows' out - so the surface model is the same as the one which is rendered, only the render version is 'dented'.

Hope this helps, it has sure helped me! :bounce:

[depleteD]

Just subscribing to this thread

Props to everyone to createing this amazing resource.

[depleteD]

did u guys cover the speed issues in mental ray, something to do with the contrast issues. on those spinners.

[JasonCamp]

i also would use the same noise map that jeff said for the defuse as the bump map and as well as a anisotropic shader map... then adjust the anisotropic direction in the position that lines it up how you want ... really good results .. , dont set to much bump maping tho just a lil bit should get what you want

ah yes another side note... i give it another week or so and my scene should be ready for lighting and or textureing ... altho i will be out of town here in the next couple of weeks ... we should have internet where we are going ,. altho it might be hectic for a while.. as always my trusty laptop will be coming with me ,, http://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon8.gif on the bad side my rustyy,. er i mean trusty laptop will be coming with me lol... so that means back to a p3 1.2 and 512 megs of ram 16meg vid
instead of p4 3.4 2gigs of ram and 256megs video
thank god they have a hide and unhide for faces uhg and everthing else thats in my scene

[JeffPatton]

Here's my stab at 3Drawer's material request. I ended up using a cellular map for the diffuse and then a noise for the bump. I used a noise map in the specular slot and then applied a metal(lume) to the white color slot of that map...with blur enabled. It's a bit too shiney, but I wasn't going to re-render it just for that.

Here's the render:
http://www.jeffpatton.net/CG-post/thermos-mat.jpg

JP

[fabriciomicheli]

It is form the Splutterfish gallery (and rendered with v-ray).

3Drawer
Hey man! he he he, I don't think that the guys from splutterfish (brazil r/s) show in their gallery a VRay rendered image...

I think that the result you got Jeff it's pretty close to that 3Drawer wanted. Maybe the specular is stronger in your version than in the original one.

[3Drawer]

I also try it... but don´t get the same result as Tbonz816.

Plz share the scene Tbonz816

but ´Jeff your mat is also very good but i´ll take Tbonz816 one.

But BIG thx for help with that material


3Drawer

[ToddD]

Here you go 3Drawer, good luck ;)

[3Drawer]

thank u very much Tbonz816


3Drawer

[ToddD]

You're welcome, hope it helps :thumbsup:

[3Drawer]

yes u help me a lot..

jeff could u plz also share u´r scene now PLZ?

thx

3Drawer

[JasonCamp]

well all this doesnt have anything to do with mr but heh i just found out and thought that some of you might have a wacom tablet so here goes
ive had this wacom tablet for about a year or so now , to help with 2d textures when i 1st pluged it in untell now i aways hated it because when you slow down the damn thing jitters the cursor which in turn fu*ks up your drawing
i thought that thats just how it was , so i never really used it for more then dust which even if its jitterd doesnt really matter all that much
today i got upset paying 80$ for something that acks more as a DUST collector then a DUST drawer.. so i went on the net and did a search to see if there was a driver or patch or something to fix it ... and low and behold walla ! found a site that said if your wacom table is to close to your monitor it will inherit the rf signals and cause a jitter in the movement , well needless to say i moved it about half a foot or more away and it fixed it .. wich now is another problem very slightly though.. sence this damn 22 inch monitor hawgs up most my desk i have to reach far away to use the tablet .. and i have short arms .. lol.. anyway.. thats how you fix that if anybody is having the same problem... ah i can draw worth a crap now ! texturing wont be such a pain !http://www.cgtalk.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[depleteD]

Just a quick question, how do passes work with mental ray? can i do reflection passes somehow?

[3Drawer]

my micoscope "shader"....

sample:::http://3drawer.pid.at/Virus480.jpg




DOWNLOAD:::http://de.geocities.com/drawer_3d/MicrosopeShader_standart.zip (http://de.geocities.com/drawer_3d/MicrosopeShader_standart.zip)

I hope u like it... !

3Drawer

[3Drawer]

@ depleteD

yes u can... Use the "progressing" And select "reflection"... easy

cu

3Drawer

[Denasen]

Jeff could you please post the cylinder scene.....the one you did for 3d drawer. I have use for that file please

[JeffPatton]

Denasen - I've added that material to the .mat file. There's a link to it on the first post of this thread plus I have it at the bottom of my MR page here:
http://www.jeffpatton.net/Mental-ray.htm

Jeff

Edit: It's called JP-textured metal

[3Drawer]

here it is Denasen

http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php?act=dl&file=TVIgQ3lsaW5kZXIgbWF0ZXJpYWwgdGVzdC56aXA


I hope its no problem for u Jeff that i share it... cu

3Drawer

[3Drawer]

shit wrong file... this was the one of Tbonz816 sorry

HERE IS THE FILE OF Jeff Patton:
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php?act=dl&file=TVItdGhlcm1vcyB0ZXguemlw (http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php?act=dl&file=TVItdGhlcm1vcyB0ZXguemlw)

sorry

3Drawer

[externe]

Hello 3Drawer, nice micoscope material,

But in the materail you share, I think you forgot to active self illumination. See below.

http://jerjer1.free.fr/micros1.jpg

Or perharps I forgot something...:shrug:

If you like those images, I think you will like this :

http://www.xvivo.net/Medical2004/Movies/Demo.htm

It will be cool that you share your max scene and that we propose other alternatives here. No ?

[3Drawer]

no i don´t miss something... it illuminates 85%
And sorry I don´t share my private scenes. By the way its rendered with finalRender...

cu

3Drawer

[JeffPatton]

And sorry I don´t share my private scenes. By the way its rendered with finalRender...3Drawer

Then it doesn't belong here in the Mental Ray thread. You should post it in the "free Material library for all thread.

Whenever I've posted materials here, even if they weren't mental ray materials, I made sure I rendered the sample in MR.

JP

[3Drawer]

nono the scene i´ve posted as a sample is rendered in FinalRender. The material is a standart material and every render is able to render it.


and wich ""free Material library for all thread"? should i share the scene or the mat???

questions over questions...

cu

3Drawer

[neods]

Is the lume shader appart of MentalRay, or is it something by Discreet? Does XSI have the lume shader?

Thanks

[Bercon]

Lume: http://www.mentalimages.com/2_1_6_add_on_products/

[vander]

Hi Jeff. I have been accompanying this thread and I am really impressed with your work in Mental Ray.
It is a feather that I use Maya and I cannot use the examples contained in your site to learn more about Mental Ray and Shaders - I am a beginner.

I want to know somebody that participates in this forum has your examples, but adapted for Maya. If yes, please, send for me.

Great work, Jeff

Vander - São Paulo - Brazil
But my English is from Mars.

[emrea]

Great work thank you Jeff,
Let me ask you something about GI-Dome scene.With dome sphere slef ilumn 100% and omni light turned off (so it emits only photons) ,global ilumn enabled or disabled (doesnt matter) and final gather enabled it works like a skylight.Is there any way to do same effect without a dome sphere and with environment map?

[3Drawer]

I´m not Jeff but ok .. hehe

Yes there is a way to do the same effect. Use a "skylight" (form max) and turn ON (!!!) the FinalGathering. U´ll now get the same effect.

cu

3Drawer

[Arxangel]

Okay where can I get this mr_subscatter.mi?

thanks

[3Drawer]

here: http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php?act=dl&file=bXJfc3ViU2NhdHRlcl9taV9hbmRfZGxsLnppcA (28kb)

I also put the dll into the *.zip file . The *.mi goes to: max6 root, mentalray, include
the *.dll goes to : max 6 root, mental ray, shaders

I hope that helps...

cu

3Drawer

[emrea]

i know thank you anyway 3Drawer but is there anyway with environment map? with that kind of lighting setup.Environment map instead of Dome sphere rounding the scene.An environment map which can works as same with that dome sphere.

[JasonCamp]

if you have glass in your scene and its not reflecting correctly make sure you ray bounces are set high enuff in mr .. i had like 3 glasses seting next to eachother and the 2nd and 3rd were not reflecting as if they were transparent ... took me a while before i thought to turn up the raybounces to 12 heh that fixed it

[3Drawer]

@emrea

do u mean HDRI? But u can also put a "normal" bitmap into the slot (under the skylight option in the modify panel). Then u select bitmap... or u copy it form the materialeditor per Drag&Drop as an Instance.

hope that helps

cu

3Drawer

[JeffPatton]

@Emrea - If I understand your question, you want to use an HDRI in the environment map slot with no lights, and have it illuminate a scene? I don't think it's possible without using a skylight (which you can configure to use the environment)

JP

[Arxangel]

Thanks 3DDrawer

Ive been trying to get to that page, and was not able to access the zip files, just the jpg files.


Arxangel

[Raffi_1]

First of all thank you Jeff and all of who contributed to this great great thread, I've been reading this for a non-continuous week and I found it very very helpful, not only helpful but the best mental ray thread ...

I didn't post this to a new thread because I think it is a material and light issue ...
About my problem, I was trying to re-render a scene ((bureau)) I've downloaded from a website - I don't remember exactly where - and it was a vray scene, and all the materials where vray materials and also the lights, so I made new materials most of them where architectural only the floor was DGS mat. with a wood texture, the glass is a raytrace mat. with falloff (per. par.) in the ref. slot, the window mental ray mat. with glass (lume) in surface & edge shadow (lume) in shadow, & Transmat photon (physics) in photon ...

And this is the result I came with after 4:30 hours of rendering , as you can see from the image below it was not finished yet, because it was 4:30 am and it didn't finish rendering ....!!! on my 3 G Pentium 4 and 1.5 G RAM !!!

The file size is 4.95 MB ..

A lot of problems: color bleeding, the wall has a strange look other (than the bump) effect, the overbrightness, strange transition between brightness & dark areas (although I didn't use decay for the lights,............

although I've reduced the color bleed scale of the desk, chair & wall, I still have the problem of color bleeding ... and there is the burning issue also ...

I used only 2 lights: 1 mr area spot for the sun (yellowish color) with raytraced shadows (mult. 1.7), energy 300,000, decay 1.8, GI photons 1,000,000 ... and another mr area omni for sky (blue color) raytraced shadows (mult. 0.65), energy 150,000, decay 1.48, GI photons 1,000,000.........

I used GI & FG:

GI photons 1000 radius = 30 cm

FG samples = 600 , max radius = 2 cm, min. radius = 0.2 cm

Energy = 200,000, Decay = 1.65, GI photons = 2,000,000

http://img69.exs.cx/img69/8659/bur.jpg

Please I need your help on this, what are the best settings for GI & FG ???
This is the file if you need to check (b_tst.rar):
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php
I am using 3ds max in the architectural field, so what are the best settings for interiors and exteriors, lights, Global Illumination and Final Gather, ...........

So please any help would be appreciated from the masters of mental ray, and thank you all especially Jeff...

And thank you again ..

[philipbruton]

raffi_1,

i'm gonna have a look at this today since i got some time to spare, give you an update if i get anything sorted.

Phil b

[philipbruton]

pls, pls, pls..., when people post up scene files that use images in the materials, pist the images too...

so Raffi_1, post up the 3 missing images pls bud, cheers.

Phil b

[Raffi_1]

Thank you philip, and sorry I forgot the pics :thumbsup: , you can download them here:

b_tst_WOOD18.rar
b_tst_pics.rar
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php

[externe]

Raffi, your file b_tst_pics.rar is corrupt. MED_MACOREFIGURED.JPG is Missing

Can you post this one please ? Thanks :)

[Raffi_1]

ok externe ,, MED_MACOREFIGURED is here:

http://img47.exs.cx/img47/8218/MED_MACOREFIGURED.jpg

[ghobii]

I am working on a video project where I want to show a bunch of filmclips all being shown on their own translucent "screens" in a 3d space. The shadows they would cast would look like the videos and the screens they were on would be semi translucent. Like a movie projected on frosted glass.

I haven't been able to come up with anything even remotely close. Could someone at least , maybe give me some ideas as to how to attempt this? I have MAX 6 which I have been using off and on since version 4. The problem being that the "off" times are often months at a time so I end up having to teach myself the basics everytime.

[3Drawer]

@Raffi_1 (http://www.cgtalk.com/member.php?u=89698) vbmenu_register("postmenu_1590323", true);
U should use raytrace mats because they are faster that these arch. materials. I would turn down the energy and turn up the "GI- Reflective/Refractive Trace deph to 10x10x20 (the last is "Sum"). and the setting u write have no effect because every light (spot and omni) has there own ("local" ) setting. So it wouldn care if u write in the rendering option field ( Indirect Illumination) Engery :200.000 because he use the light settings.

But I like the scene.

cu

3Drawer

[herbert west]

I downloaded the scene Raffi_1 posted (pg.98), and had a go at it. The results are here:

http://www.geocities.com/herbie_west/misc/desk_room.htm

The render was almost 19 minutes, but could be considerably less if there weren't arch-mats in the scene. The sampling could be upped a bit, too. I just used Min: 1/4, Max: 4 for the final test render, and Min/Max 1/64,1/16 while getting the color/lighting right. I didn't use FG because it seemed to dim the scene too much, and since I already had good settings for the GI, I just upped the photon count (the one under Global Light Properties) and left it at that. Pre-render calculations are about 10 seconds or so, so it's possible to set a higher number of photons than I used and still not be waiting till the cows come home. :)

(edit) I also didn't download the missing textures and used some of my own, so that's why the color isn't exactly the same as the Ruffi_1's original post.

[herbert west]

I replaced most of the arch-mats (left the floor 'cause it looked cool), and turned on final gather. The final time was only a few minutes more. The result is on the same page as before:

http://www.geocities.com/herbie_west/misc/desk_room.htm

There are a couple light leaks, but I believe that's due to the fact that the desk's geometry is just boxes resting on top of one another (not connected or solid).

[externe]

herbert west, nice !

[Raffi_1]

3Drawer (http://www.cgtalk.com/member.php?u=96194) & herbert west, thank you indeed for your help, nice results herbert .. .. :thumbsup:
The material & Trace deph & energy tips helped a lot thank you 3Drawer .. :thumbsup:


But I think the scene needs some adjustments to become perfect, look for example the same scene done with vray:

http://img73.exs.cx/img73/5015/bureau7.jpg


I think Mental ray is powerful and a better results are expected from it ..

I am testing a new settings for photons, so what do you think about this ??

http://img19.exs.cx/img19/8973/b_photon.jpg

took about 4 minutes 45 seconds ..

Is it better to increase the photons number and to decrease its radius ???
is this the right setting before doing the FG ??

[Raffi_1]

So these are the results using:
3,000,000 2cm
3,000,000 2cm
max trace depth : 10 10 20
Energy: 180,000 Decay: 1.75
GI Photons: 3,000,000

the pics:
GI: time: 6 minutes 35 seconds ( I forgot the glare on )

http://img30.exs.cx/img30/8633/br_photon.jpg


FG (with glare shader): time: 4 hours

http://img53.exs.cx/img53/4828/br2.jpg


It is better than the first one, but there are still some leaks ... :sad: :sad:

[JeffPatton]

I rendered this scene withOUT using GI or FG and using only 3 lights. I need to add a 4th at the floor to cover the bounce light (desk is too dark). I used a photometric area light pointing down from the ceiling (almost pure white). Another photometric area light outside the window pointing inwards (blueish color). Finally, a MR spotlight for the sunlight shining in through window.

The render time was NASTY (almost 4 hours on a dual xeon 3.2 system). But only because I used a very high sample rate on the photometric area lights, and blurred reflections on the floor material (metal lume).

Enough Jibba-jabba, here's the render:
http://www.jeffpatton.net/cg-post/mr-btest.jpg

Jeff

[JeffPatton]

BTW - I just added a interior test scene to my MR page. It uses one photometric area light with GI & FG. Renders fairly quick with very little color bleed. Here's the render:
http://www.jeffpatton.net/Postings/MR-Interior.jpg

And the link to my website is listed below - JP

[externe]

I awake just and see these new posts, and i'm very :bounce:
(sorry for posting just an opinion) :)

[3Drawer]

Its not mental ray.. ok


Rendered with: FinalRender
Rendertime: 21min 41sec
CPU: Dual XEON 1,7Ghz (@ one CPU)
Ram: Rimm-800MHz-512Mb
Mainboard : Supermicro P4DC6+II

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/3Drawer/B-tst.jpg

bye

3Drawer

[Raffi_1]

Thank you Jeff for the new links ..
3Drawer it seems that a challenge between renderers has begun, please continue :applause: :applause:

[JeffPatton]

it seems that a challenge between renderers has begun, please continue :applause: :applause:

WHOAAAA - I'm gonna strongly disagree with that.

I can't sit back and let this thread turn into a render war. Too much good information in here for that to happen. In thinking about it, I should'nt have posted my last two posts here, as they are focused on lighting rather than shaders. I just hated to start a new thread to post updates on my website. I have both Vray and Brazil, but you don't see me posting renders I've made with them here...no point. This thread is specifically about Mental Ray.

By all means, feel free to start a new thread on rendering a specific scene if you guys like, but I ask that we try to stay on topic in this thread (myself included.. :))

JP

[zomboxy]

I agree with Jeff!!

[3Drawer]

nono I don´t whant to make "a challenge between renderers". I just post the result with FinalRender... it has nothing to do with MR.. I know.

here is a test with MENTALRAY:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v88/3Drawer/CA.jpg

bye

3Drawer

[vander]

Thank you for anybody to answer me.

[vander]

I asked if somebody can me to supply some scene done with Maya and Mental Ray for me to study, or if somebody knows some site that supplies the scenes, as in the Jeff's sute, but for Maya and not for Max. I want to learn to use the materials of Mental Ray, like DGS, etc, etc.
Somebody knows why when I place a material DGS in an object and I place transparency in that DGS material... and does no transparency happen?

[vander]

Well... nothing.

Thanks again.

[authentic]

I try to make the dirtmapshader but there is no way. I put it on the volume of a mental ray shader but all is full of white. I also have heard about occlusion pass bt i don't seeit anywhere in max. If someone could post me a very little scene where the ditrtmpa works, it would be very cool.

[BigRanS123]

Man, It has been a while since I have posted in here,

I have been in the works of starting and running my own company and have be using MR more than ever, but have not had time to drop in here and pick up any new techniques or help answer any questions.

In the project that I am on now, I need to get a close up on a fly. I was wondering if any one has come across a good flys eye type MR shader. I have tried to use the standard Oren Nayar Blinn shader, and also a metal shader but I need to get a more realistic looking shader..

I placed a tile shader in the bump and turn the size of the tile down to almost invisible, but have yet to get a real looking eye.

Thanks in advance for any help, and I look forward to getting back in the mix.

[vander]

well, I will install the Max 6 to learn more about mental ray with the shaders of Jeff Patton.

thanks

THE INVISIBLE MAN

[Raffi_1]

is this what are you looking for BigRanS ??

http://img35.exs.cx/img35/3392/eye15.jpg

[virtuALER]

1st o'all, s'rry my baaad English... (and littl' off-top'...)
Well guys, that's blockbusting ! (I mean, ThisThread):thumbsup:
And You are magicians !
My GREAT respect to folical9 (a.k.a. Jeff Patton) and every MR-gurus making these 'researches'.
Great JOB is going on here. (ever thought, how many 3dsmax-MRay-addicted people been produced browsing this topic ?:) )
Just, wanna say, keep on...
For not been too 'off-topic', i'd like to ask did anyone had drop an idea to compile Max-MR-FAQ ? I know, it's a continuously developing theme, but...having MaxMRFAQ will be nice.

P.S. almost in a month there'll be 'Thread's birthday'...any gifts for ourselves? (well, just kidding :) ).
BIG THANKS 2 every MentalRayerMan !

[BigRanS123]

Wow Raffi, that looks great. I would love to know some of the settings that you used for that eye. It does look like you used some sort of a tile texture, but It is hard to tell. Would you be able post a file?

On another note, congrats on a year long thread about pushing the limits of MR. That is a page every 3.65 days. It does not feel like it has been that long, but lets face it, Max 7 is on its way out. That is the endless cycle that we are in. Just about the time you try to get a handle on what is going on, they go and set some more stuff out there for you to play with.

Thanks to Jeff and every one else who has contributed to this great thread.

PS: If you have not played Fable, do that right now. Set aside a few days!! (but that’s a whole different subject!)

[Raffi_1]

Yes BigRanS, I used tile for the bump, and metal (lume) for the reflection with the same tile as a mask.... it needs some other tweaks, so you can check the file and play with the settings ..

the file is in the mental ray uploader: fly_eye
http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/index.php

And before I forget, congr. for this super long thread 100 posts ... wooooow ..
And thanks to Jeff and all contributors ... :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[LiquidMetal]

Does anyone have any links or files for as real of possible skin for max 6 and MR?Tutorials would be good too.

[BigRanS123]

Here is what I ended up with.

I dont think that I will be getting any closer than this to the fly.

Raffi, thanks for the file, the only problem is that the Metal being the reflection was that it would not blur the reflection. I changed it around some, and got what I was looking for.

http://frodo.hiof.no/~deetee/mrupload/store/fly_render1.jpg

[ToddD]

BigRan it looks good, the metal lume in Raffii's material should have a spread value that allows blurring the reflection....I haven't checked the file out myself....

[BigRanS123]

No, I get that. I was just saying that buy having a metal lume in the reflection slot and blurring it would use the feed back that it was getting from the material and applying them to the amount of reflectivity that the final shader would have. By blurring this, you only blurring the "black and white image" that says how reflective it should be and not actually blurring the reflection.

Now that I look at what I have just typed, it makes absolutely no sense.

[JeffPatton]

LOL, you lost me with that one. :thumbsup: