The BEST Maya Render nobody talks about!

[wedge]

i got both keys and installed it CORRECTLY, in the paths and everything, but you know what? thing still wouldn't work. i would use the mVL pull down but when i hit render, it just sat there and did nothing.

[stzaske]

You need to do 2 things:

1. Change all your shaders to Virtual Light shaders. With the plugin you'll find 2 new material types available within Maya, use the one called Mvl Functional Shader.

VL will not render if you use standard Maya shaders, it just shuts down quickly.

If you get really adventuresome with Virtual Light Shaders, try downloading this excellent Virtual Light material editor at (http://www.surrealstructures.com/VirtualMaterial.zip)

2. Make sure you have the render directory set correctly. I didn't have a C:\TEMP directory (which is what I think VL defaulted to) and it wouldn't render because of that for me. Once I made sure the directory existed it worked.

Try some of the test scenes that come with the mVL plugin and you'll quickly catch on with how Virtual Light shaders work.

-=STZ=-
www.zaske.com

[ReD_MeRkIn]

vlight also only works with one shader per surface.
it's a bit of a pain, but if you work it right this renderer does give some good results pretty quickly.

[slayerment]

im having trouble getting this to work. i think i got the directorys and everything working. but how do i use it?

[wedge]

it doesn't work with Maya 4.5, so i'll just have to wait for a new mVL...

[stzaske]

Originally posted by slayerment
im having trouble getting this to work. i think i got the directorys and everything working. but how do i use it?

How DO i use it?

Here is my super quick tutorial:

1. Install Virtual Light
2. Install the mVL Maya plugin (and load it in the Plugin Manager).
3. Download the JagDPanther model from MeshFactory.com here (http://www.meshfactory.com/free/jagdpant_obj.zip), then import the OBJ file into a new Maya scene.
4. Create a Polygon Plane and resize it to act as your ground surface. You may need to align it with the Tanks tracks, so the tank does seem to be floating.
5. Open the Hypershader and create a new shader. Select CREATE->MATERIAL->MVL Functional Shader
6. Change the Diffuse color to GREY.
7. Select Edit->Select All, and assign this new shader to all of objects. (** Make sure you assign the shader to EVERY polygon in the scene.
8. You should see a new menu item in Maya labeled mVL...select it open the Render Globals menu and make sure to set these settings:

Folder = (A existing Directory. VL will fail if the DIR does not exist)
Output X = 640
Output Y = 480
Anti-aliasing Level = 1
Adaptive Threshold = .001
In the GI options section make sure to select (check) both the Enable Skylight and Enable Sunlight buttons.
Set Skylight Brightness = 1.0
Set Sunlight Hours = 14
Set Sunlight Minutes = 30
Set Sunlight Samples = 80 (this is important)
Set Sunlight Brightness = 1.0

9. Close the Render Globals window.
10. Render the scene by selecting mVL-> Render Current.

It took my system 368 seconds (around 6 minutes) to render this image (http://steve.zaske.com/tank.jpg).

If you'll notice, I used NO lights in the scene, only Virtual Lights built in "Sun" light.

-=STZ=-
www.zaske.com

[Jozvex]

I've been using it for quite a while, and it's good, but the two main limitations are quite limiting.

Only 60 000 polys maximum per scene, no SubD support.

Though it does have a lot of features like glossy reflections etc.

[dotblend]

i've been using it for a bit more than a year now,
i love it, simply cant do without!

two of the images above are created by me!

[Raptor235]

so what's the release date for maya 4.5

[Raptor235]

I just spent about 2 hours on this and I can't get it to render either hit render and nothing happens followed these instructions and the ones that came with the plugin and nothing oh well...

[tascitus]

in the mvl render options panel make sure the folder field uses c:/whatever and not c:\whatever. this will not render without the proper slash direction.

btw, does it really do nothing? what does the output window say?

[wedge]

it really did nothing. the render window would open and close, and the output window would remain empty.

but there's no mVL for 4.5 yet, so i can't try to fix it right now.

[p242]

when maya4.5 version?

[Ckerr812]

That's all well and good, some really spectacular images there, but what about render times?

[wedge]

the more i look at those images, the more i want to use this renderer.... when can i expect a 4.5 mVL conversion?

[kheemo]

its been 2 days now that Im waiting for their password :hmm:

[stunndman]

Originally posted by kheemo
its been 2 days now that Im waiting for their password :hmm:

give it another try - i received my password instantly (yesterday)

unfortunately i have already deleted the e-mail and can't pass it on

[kheemo]

well I allready sent them 5 email by now .. I got immediattly the one for the maya plugin .. its the renderer itself .. ohh well I will wait another day I guess :rolleyes:




*edit* great I got it ! I retry with a different email account and it work !:buttrock:

[dotblend]

the faster your processor the faster you can render :)

but, it fairly fast it absolutly can compete with maya's build in render!

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